Developmental Approach Research Articles

Age-dependent patterns of schizophrenia genetic risk affect cognition

Cognition shares substantial genetic overlap with schizophrenia, yet it remains unclear whether such genetic effects become significant during developmental periods of elevated risk for schizophrenia, such as the peak age of onset. We introduce an investigative framework integrating epidemiological, developmental, and genetic approaches to determine whether genetic effects shared between schizophrenia and cognition are significant across periods of differing risk for schizophrenia onset, and whether these effects are shared with depression. 771 European-American participants, including 636 (ages 15–84 years) from families with at least two first-degree relatives with schizophrenia and 135 unrelated controls, were divided into three age-risk groups based on ages relative to epidemiological age of onset patterns for schizophrenia: Pre-Peak (before peak age-of-onset: 15 to 22 years), Post-Peak (after peak age-of-onset: 23–42 years), and Plateau (during plateau of age-of-onset: over 42 years). For general cognition and 11 specific cognitive traits, we estimated genetic correlations with schizophrenia and with depression within each age-risk group. Genetic effects shared between deficits in general cognition and schizophrenia were nonsignificant before peak age of onset, yet were high and significant after peak age of onset and during the plateau of onset. These age-dependent genetic effects were largely consistent across specific cognitive traits and not transdiagnostically shared with depression. Schizophrenia genetic effects appear to influence cognitive traits in an age-dependent manner, supporting late developmental and perhaps neurodegenerative models that hypothesize increased expression of schizophrenia risk genes during and after the peak age of risk. Our findings underscore the utility of cognitive traits for tracking schizophrenia genetic effects across the lifespan.

The Role of the Jordanian Family in the Moral Education of its Children from the Perspective of Parents

The study aimed to identify the role of the Jordanian family in moral education of its children from the perspective of parents’, and find out the impact of the study variables; responder variables, parents’ level of education, number of family members, housing and region on the family’s role in the moral education of its children. The study adopted the descriptive developmental approach, and the sample of the study consists of (4000) fathers and mothers from the Jordanian society. A questionnaire was designed to identify the level of the family’s role in the moral education of its children as perceived by the parents. The study instrument was applied to the study sample after verifying its validity and reliability.
 The study results revealed that the overall mean of the level of the Jordanian family’s role in the moral education of its children was large in all fields as the social values field came first, followed by the field of economic values, the field of the protective role, the field of the therapeutic role, the intellectual field, the developmental field and the aesthetic field, respectively.
 The results of the second question showed that there are statistically significant differences in the family’s role in the moral education according to the respondent variable, and the differences appeared in the fields of the family’s developmental role, the therapeutic role, intellectual values, and aesthetic values. The differences were in favor of the fathers. The results also indicated that there are statistically significant differences in the tool of the family’s moral educational role according to the variables of the educational level, income level, number of children, place of residence and region. The differences appeared in all fields of the instrument.

Modelling the structure of Short Gastrulation and generation of a toolkit for studying its function in Drosophila.

ABSTRACTA BMP gradient is essential for patterning the dorsal-ventral axis of invertebrate and vertebrate embryos. The extracellular BMP binding protein Short Gastrulation (Sog) in Drosophila plays a key role in BMP gradient formation. In this study, we combine genome editing, structural and developmental approaches to study Sog function in Drosophila. We generate a sog knockout fly stock, which allows simple reintegration of altered versions of the sog coding sequence. As proof-of-principle, we test the requirement for two cysteine residues that were previously identified as targets for palmitoylation, which has been proposed to enhance Sog secretion. However, we show that the sogC27,28S mutant is viable with only very mild phenotypes, indicating that these residues and their potential modification are not critical for Sog secretion in vivo. Additionally, we use experimental negative stain EM imaging and hydrodynamic data to validate the AlphaFold structure prediction for Sog. The model suggests a more compact shape than the vertebrate ortholog Chordin and conformational flexibility between the C-terminal von Willebrand C domains. We discuss how this altered compactness may contribute to mechanistic differences in Sog and Chordin function during BMP gradient formation.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

Studying children's growth in self-regulation using changing measures to account for heterotypic continuity: A Bayesian approach to developmental scaling.

Self-regulation is thought to show heterotypic continuity-its individual differences endure but its behavioral manifestations change across development. Thus, different measures across time may be necessary to account for heterotypic continuity of self-regulation. This longitudinal study examined children's (N = 108) self-regulation development using 17 measures, including 15 performance-based measures, two questionnaires, and three raters across seven time points. It is the first to use different measures of self-regulation over time to account for heterotypic continuity while using developmental scaling to link the measures onto the same scale for more accurate growth estimates. Assessed facets included inhibitory control, delayed gratification, sustained attention, and executive functions. Some measures differed across ages to retain construct validity and account for heterotypic continuity. A Bayesian longitudinal mixed model for developmental scaling was developed to link the differing measures onto the same scale. This allowed charting children's self-regulation growth across ages 3-7 years and relating it to both predictors and outcomes. Rapid growth occurred from ages 3-6. As a validation of the developmental scaling approach, greater self-regulation was associated with better school readiness (math and reading skills) and fewer externalizing problems. Our multi-wave, multi-facet, multi-method, multi-measure, multi-rater, developmental scaling approach is the most comprehensive to date for assessing the development of self-regulation. This approach demonstrates that developmental scaling may enable studying development of self-regulation across the lifespan.

Morphological Development at the Evolutionary Timescale: Robotic Developmental Evolution.

Evolution and development operate at different timescales; generations for the one, a lifetime for the other. These two processes, the basis of much of life on earth, interact in many non-trivial ways, but their temporal hierarchy-evolution overarching development-is observed for most multicellular life forms. When designing robots, however, this tenet lifts: It becomes-however natural-a design choice. We propose to inverse this temporal hierarchy and design a developmental process happening at the phylogenetic timescale. Over a classic evolutionary search aimed at finding good gaits for tentacle 2D robots, we add a developmental process over the robots' morphologies. Within a generation, the morphology of the robots does not change. But from one generation to the next, the morphology develops. Much like we become bigger, stronger, and heavier as we age, our robots are bigger, stronger, and heavier with each passing generation. Our robots start with baby morphologies, and a few thousand generations later, end-up with adult ones. We show that this produces better and qualitatively different gaits than an evolutionary search with only adult robots, and that it prevents premature convergence by fostering exploration. In addition, we validate our method on voxel lattice 3D robots from the literature and compare it to a recent evolutionary developmental approach. Our method is conceptually simple, and it can be effective on small or large populations of robots, and intrinsic to the robot and its morphology, not the task or environment. Furthermore, by recasting the evolutionary search as a learning process, these results can be viewed in the context of developmental learning robotics.

Students experiences of demotivating online formative assessment strategies at an open distance learning university

There is a growing body of research that suggests that improving the quality of online formative assessment strategies increases students’ motivation to participate in online assessment. However, the way in which course leaders at open distance learning universities communicate the expectations of learning to students through online formative assessment strategies largely determines how students approach online formative assessment tasks. The design of online formative assessment strategies is an important element that is needed to promote an interactive level of engagement needed for motivating students learning online. It is against this background that this paper investigated the experiences of students with demotivating online formative assessment strategies at an open distance learning institution. The study achieved this through phenomenography, a developmental, qualitative and non-dualistic case study research. Twelve purposively selected students from a postgraduate course were interviewed to understand their experiences with demotivating online formative assessment strategies. Students identified seven demotivating online formative assessment strategies that provided insight to course leaders in the production of more motivating assessment strategies. The study achieved this through phenomenography, a developmental, qualitative and non-dualistic research approach that used a case study, to interview twelve purposively selected students from a postgraduate course to understand their experiences with demotivating online formative assessment strategies. From the students’ own perspective, seven online formative assessment strategies that demotivated them to learn were identified to provide insight to course leaders to produce motivating assessment strategies.

Dynamic QTL-based ecophysiological models to predict phenotype from genotype and environment data

BackgroundPredicting the phenotype from the genotype is one of the major contemporary challenges in biology. This challenge is greater in plants because their development occurs mostly post-embryonically under diurnal and seasonal environmental fluctuations. Most current crop simulation models are physiology-based models capable of capturing environmental fluctuations but cannot adequately capture genotypic effects because they were not constructed within a genetics framework.ResultsWe describe the construction of a mixed-effects dynamic model to predict time-to-flowering in the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). This prediction model applies the developmental approach used by traditional crop simulation models, uses direct observational data, and captures the Genotype, Environment, and Genotype-by-Environment effects to predict progress towards time-to-flowering in real time. Comparisons to a traditional crop simulation model and to a previously developed static model shows the advantages of the new dynamic model.ConclusionsThe dynamic model can be applied to other species and to different plant processes. These types of models can, in modular form, gradually replace plant processes in existing crop models as has been implemented in BeanGro, a crop simulation model within the DSSAT Cropping Systems Model. Gene-based dynamic models can accelerate precision breeding of diverse crop species, particularly with the prospects of climate change. Finally, a gene-based simulation model can assist policy decision makers in matters pertaining to prediction of food supplies.

Autism and Down syndrome: early identification and diagnosis.

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Down syndrome (DS) is underestimated because it is necessary to understand which aspects of the behavioral phenotype are related to DS and which are related to ASD. Objective: To conduct a systematic review of the literature on early identification and diagnosis of ASD in patients with DS. Data source: The VHL, MEDLINE, Cochrane, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase databases were searched and data were evaluated using PRISMA. Data synthesis: Out of 1,729 articles evaluated, 15 were selected. Although well studied, identification of ASD in DS can be difficult because of the need to understand which aspects of the behavioral phenotype are related to Down syndrome and which to autism. In this review, the prevalence of ASD was found to range from 12% to 41%. Early identification of autism risk in individuals with Down syndrome is still poorly studied, even though there are screening instruments for infants. Several instruments for diagnosing autism in individuals with Down syndrome were found, but a developmental approach is fundamental for making a clear diagnosis. Conclusions: Screening procedures are important for detecting early signs of autism risk in the first year of life. Careful evaluation methods are needed to establish the diagnosis, which include choosing appropriate tools for evaluation of development and cognition, and analysis of qualitative aspects of social interaction, among others. It has been indicated in the literature that early detection and timely accurate diagnosis, in association with an intervention, may benefit development, quality of life and social inclusion.

A computer simulation of population reproduction rate on the basis of their mathematical models

The article deals with the adoption of computer modeling as one of the leading areas of introduction of modern information technology in the modernization of content, forms and methods of teaching. In order to implement interdisciplinary integrated learning, the possibilities of interdisciplinary integration of learning content have been identified, the practice of using software environments in the process of modeling biological problems based on mathematical models has been analyzed, the possibilities of implementing algorithms of mathematical models in computer modeling have been investigated. A set of research tasks in biology as a basis for the implementation of interdisciplinary integration: nature - mathematics -computer science has been introduced into the educational process. The mathematical models of Verhulst, Arim, Leslie and the exponential law of direct proportional dependence or proportional rate of reproduction depending on the number of individuals of a population were used to design computer models of reproduction of ecological processes. They were implemented using the computer mathematics system MathCad and using programming environments Python, C#, C++. The expediency of the proposed method of interdisciplinary integration of learning content has been justified through a developmental and productive integrated approach, the use of certain collective forms of activity, the practical orientation of professional training disciplines to form algorithmic competence of students as a basis for professional competence in computer modeling of mathematical models of biological processes.

Are filial eldercare norms related to intergenerational solidarity with older parents? A typological developmental approach.

Intergenerational solidarity is multidimensional in nature, but the role of filial eldecare norms in structuring intergenerational solidarity is less understood. We examine how filial eldercare norms expressed in early adulthood and midlife are associated with intergenerational solidarity with older parents and how this association varies across parent-child gender combinations. We used data from 1985 to 2005 waves of the Longitudinal Study of Generation when the generation of interest was 32 and 52 years of age, respectively. A three-step latent class approach, culminating with a multinomial logistic regression, was conducted on a sample of 198 mother-son, 279 mother-daughter, 155 father-son, and 209 father-daughter dyads. A tight-knit intergenerational type was uniquely identified in mother-daughter relations, and a social unsupportive type was uniquely identified in father-son and father-daughter relations. Daughters expressing stronger filial norms in early adulthood were more likely in middle adulthood to belong to a tight-knit relational type with mothers and a social unsupportive and intimate but distant relational type with fathers, compared to a detached relational type; these effects were mediated by contemporaneously measured filial norms. Our study complements previous studies on the relationship between filial eldercare norms and intergenerational solidarity with older parents by showing that these norms exert an influence by virtue of being stable in adult daughters over 20 years into middle age. These findings demonstrate that eldercare norms expressed by daughters prior to their parents' transition to old age structure intergenerational relationships in later life, suggesting that such norms are better considered as long-term endowments than as situational in their origins. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Developmental-Based Classification of Enkephalin and Somatostatin Containing Neurons of the Chicken Central Extended Amygdala.

The central extended amygdala, including the lateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the central amygdala, plays a key role in stress response. To understand how the central extended amygdala regulates stress it is essential to dissect this structure at molecular, cellular and circuit levels. In mammals, the central amygdala contains two distinct cell populations that become active (on cells) or inactive (off cells) during the conditioned fear response. These two cell types inhibit each other and project mainly unidirectionally to output cells, thus providing a sophisticated regulation of stress. These two cell types express either protein kinase C-delta/enkephalin or somatostatin, and were suggested to originate in different embryonic domains of the subpallium that respectively express the transcription factors Pax6 or Nkx2.1 during development. The regulation of the stress response by the central extended amygdala is poorly studied in non-mammals. Using an evolutionary developmental neurobiology approach, we previously identified several subdivisions in the central extended amygdala of chicken. These contain Pax6, Islet1 and Nkx2.1 cells that originate in dorsal striatal, ventral striatal or pallidopreoptic embryonic divisions, and also contain neurons expressing enkephalin and somatostatin. To know the origin of these cells, in this study we carried out multiple fluorescent labeling to analyze coexpression of different transcription factors with enkephalin or somatostatin. We found that many enkephalin cells coexpress Pax6 and likely derive from the dorsal striatal division, resembling the off cells of the mouse central amygdala. In contrast, most somatostatin cells coexpress Nkx2.1 and derive from the pallidal division, resembling the on cells. We also found coexpression of enkephalin and somatostatin with other transcription factors. Our results show the existence of multiple cell types in the central extended amygdala of chicken, perhaps including on/off cell systems, and set the basis for studying the role of these cells in stress regulation.

A Study of Evaluation Influence in Two Child Protection Programs.

Evaluation influence is a reconceptualization of evaluation use that reflects the broad and diffuse impacts an evaluation can have on social programs and policies. This way of thinking about impact provides an opportunity to investigate how and why evaluations influence social programs and policy. Twenty participants (practitioners and managers) from two child protection programs evaluated in the previous 24months were interviewed about the influence of these evaluations, which was complemented with the collection of internal documents about changes to the programs. A qualitative case study analysis of evaluation influence was conducted using the interviews and documents to investigate the influence of two evaluations at different stages in the dissemination process. The participants identified that the evaluations appeared to have significant high-level policy level influence; however, limited examples of influence on practices in the programs were identified. There was some suggestion that the evaluations had increased practitioner interest in working with and participating in program evaluations. The findings suggest the importance of developmental evaluation approaches and practitioner engagement in evaluation to improve the influence and adoption of new knowledge from the evaluation of social programs.

Plant cell division from the perspective of polarity.

The orientation of cell division is a major determinant of plant morphogenesis. In spite of considerable efforts over the past decades, the precise mechanism of division plane selection remains elusive. The majority of studies on the topic have addressed division orientation from either a predominantly developmental or a cell biological perspective. Thus, mechanistic insights into the links between developmental and cellular factors affecting division orientation are particularly lacking. Here, I review recent progress in the understanding of cell division orientation in the embryo and primary root meristem of Arabidopsis from both developmental and cell biological standpoints. I offer a view of multilevel polarity as a central aspect of cell division: on the one hand, the division plane is a readout of tissue- and organism-wide polarities; on the other hand, the cortical division zone can be seen as a transient polar subcellular plasma membrane domain. Finally, I argue that a polarity-focused conceptual framework and the integration of developmental and cell biological approaches hold great promise to unravel the mechanistic basis of plant cell division orientation in the near future.

CHARISMA AND LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKS OF NORBERT ELIAS

Norbert Elias has used the concept of charisma to explain the phenomena of rule, leadership and group domination. In developing his interpretation of charisma, he critically analyzed Max Weber’s texts and applied it within his developmental, processual and figurational approach. He derived from the works of Weber the concept of group charisma and interpreted it as a universal social phenomenon. Elias considered charismatic leadership as a social situation, in which a leader’s individual charisma is fused with group charisma. Individual and group charisma are explained partly as social and psychological phenomena of individual and collective identities and partly by historically determined belief systems. Linking charisma to identity brings Elias close to Durkheim’s conception of religion. In Elias’s interpretation, the phenomenon of charisma is related to idealized individual and collective self-images. Manifestations of charismatic claims on the group level, on the one hand, are attributions to one’s group the qualities of special grace and self-praise, and on the other hand, the prejudiced attitudes to other, excluded groups. The phenomena of group charisma and group disgrace are observable in the established-outsiders power relationships. Elias’s interpretation of charisma complements the existing conceptualizations in social psychology and sociology.

Botulinum therapy in treatment of patients with rosacea

The article deals epidemiology, pathomorphological picture, trigger factors of development, peculiarities of treatment with the use of botulinum therapy for rosacea. A clinical case is presented.Purpose of the article. Consider the pathogenesis of rosacea, investigate the molecular mechanism by which botulinum toxin improves the condition in rosacea.Material and methods. The article presents clinical examples of botulinum therapy in the treatment of patients with rosacea. The epidemiology, pathomorphological picture, developmental trigger factors, diagnostic features and approaches to the treatment of rosacea in modern conditions are considered.Results. Case study results show that intradermal botulinum toxin injections are safe and effective in reducing erythema and flushing in rosacea.Conclusions. Botulinum therapy – may be an alternative therapy for patients with refractory to standard treatment of persistent erythema. The effect after botulinum therapy lasts for 2–4 months. Further research is needed on the effcacy and safety of this technique in patients with different subtypes of rosacea, including those with a combination of subtypes.

From Regulating Emotions to Less Lonely Screen Time: Parents' Qualitative Perspectives of the Benefits and Challenges of Adolescent Pet Companionship.

Adolescence is a prime developmental period to explore human–pet relationships, particularly given that teens are often relying less on their families, and more on other attachment figures such as peers and pets. However, most research on pet companionship is conducted with adults and young children. Moreover, lived experiences around having pets in households with adolescents are underexplored, particularly from parents’ perspectives. This qualitative interview study of 31 parents/guardians in the Northeast U.S. explored perceptions of the benefits and challenges of having pets for their adolescent’s well-being as well as how adolescents affected their pet’s well-being. Our three main themes for perceived benefits of pets included social (e.g., reducing anxiety), physical (e.g., screen time companionship), and emotional (e.g., regulation of difficult emotions such as anger, loneliness). Challenges to adolescent well-being included such social topics as family tension around unevenly shared responsibilities, physical themes such as problematic animal behaviors, and emotional themes related to grieving the passing of pets. We offer a developmental systems approach to understanding pets within adolescent families, noting future directions for developing family interventions to improve pet–adolescent interactions given the demands of child and pet upbringing during adolescence.

A Developmental Approach to Assessing and Treating Agrammatic Aphasia.

There is mounting evidence that the agrammatism that defines Broca's aphasia can be explained in processing terms. However, the extant approach simply describes agrammatism as disparate deficits in a static, mature system. This tutorial aims to motivate and outline a developmental alternative. This alternative is processability theory (PT), a root-to-apex theory of language development, with its origins in the field of second language acquisition, which can connect the findings of aphasia research. This tutorial critically reviews research on agrammatism as a language deficit, a representational deficit, and a processing phenomenon. Given evidence from research applying PT to language disorders, this tutorial outlines PT's multidimensional architecture of language processing. Using an emergence (onset) criterion, PT predicts fixed developmental stages in word order (syntax) and inflection (morphology) and individual differences in the timing of syntax and morphology. To link PT to agrammatism, this theory's applications to diagnosis and teaching are overviewed, and a case study of five individuals with moderate agrammatism is presented. Analysis showed that all individuals were positioned in the early PT stages and differed in their timing of syntax and morphology consistent with theoretical predictions. Evidence from the case study suggests that, although agrammatism results from neural damage and associated language loss, the processing procedures necessary for relearning remain and can be exploited for recovery. A program of diagnosis and intervention is proposed, and future research directions are discussed. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19416488.

Compassion‐supported development: A humanistic approach to counseling supervision

Research supports the positive implications of applying humanistic constructs such as empathy and compassion in counseling supervision. However, there is a clear lack of counseling supervision approaches that utilize compassion, specifically to facilitate the development of counselors-in-training. This article introduces a compassion-supported developmental approach to supervision.

Academic Advising in Civil Engineering: Design and Evaluation of a Hybrid Model

A project to formalise and expand Academic Advising has been implemented at the UCD Civil Engineering School. The goals of this project were twofold: on the one hand, it aimed at training faculty members in Academic Advising roles and providing them with the necessary resources. On the other hand, the project sought to expand student interaction, in particular by engaging students informally in order to build a rapport between them and the academic advisors that we expect will bring long term benefits. The resulting model combines elements of both the prescriptive, e.g., formal training, informative talks on key topics, and developmental approaches, e.g., coffee mornings for students and faculty members. The evaluation of the project was carried out through questionnaires and focus groups. It highlighted very positive feedback from the students, who find these new lines of communication with the academic staff to be useful and productive.

A developmental research-based teacher education: designing and implementing a new program for preservice teachers in France

ABSTRACT In many countries, preservice teachers’ (PTs) education programs neglect the importance of connecting research and practice. Reconciling training and research remains problematic for PTs, who often encounter difficulties in making connections between the academic knowledge acquired in university and their experiences in the classroom. This context inhibits the development of their professional skills. Taking this observation as our starting point, the aim of this article is to conceptualize and to illustrate an alternative approach in order to establish a reciprocal link between training and research, sketching the outlines of a developmental research-based program of teacher education. We begin by studying different training-based approaches to research and their respective limitations, identifying the key principles and steps of a developmental research-based approach to teacher education. Then, we illustrate these principles using data from empirical studies. Finally, we discuss the conditions required for the implementation of such an approach to the teacher education of PTs in France.