Effect Of Developmental Age Research Articles

359. Effects of Developmental Age and Length of Illness in Major Depressive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies

359. Effects of Developmental Age and Length of Illness in Major Depressive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies

Acoustics of Emotional Prosody Produced by Prelingually Deaf Children With Cochlear Implants.

Purpose: Cochlear implants (CIs) provide reasonable levels of speech recognition quietly, but voice pitch perception is severely impaired in CI users. The central question addressed here relates to how access to acoustic input pre-implantation influences vocal emotion production by individuals with CIs. The objective of this study was to compare acoustic characteristics of vocal emotions produced by prelingually deaf school-aged children with cochlear implants (CCIs) who were implanted at the age of 2 and had no usable hearing before implantation with those produced by children with normal hearing (CNH), adults with normal hearing (ANH), and postlingually deaf adults with cochlear implants (ACI) who developed with good access to acoustic information prior to losing their hearing and receiving a CI.Method: A set of 20 sentences without lexically based emotional information was recorded by 13 CCI, 9 CNH, 9 ANH, and 10 ACI, each with a happy emotion and a sad emotion, without training or guidance. The sentences were analyzed for primary acoustic characteristics of the productions.Results: Significant effects of Emotion were observed in all acoustic features analyzed (mean voice pitch, standard deviation of voice pitch, intensity, duration, and spectral centroid). ACI and ANH did not differ in any of the analyses. Of the four groups, CCI produced the smallest acoustic contrasts between the emotions in voice pitch and emotions in its standard deviation. Effects of developmental age (highly correlated with the duration of device experience) and age at implantation (moderately correlated with duration of device experience) were observed, and interactions with the children’s sex were also observed.Conclusion: Although prelingually deaf CCI and postlingually deaf ACI are listening to similar degraded speech and show similar deficits in vocal emotion perception, these groups are distinct in their productions of contrastive vocal emotions. The results underscore the importance of access to acoustic hearing in early childhood for the production of speech prosody and also suggest the need for a greater role of speech therapy in this area.

Effects of Developmental Age on Symptom Reporting and Neurocognitive Performance in Youth After Sports-Related Concussion Compared to Control Athletes.

There is increased necessity to focus research on school-aged athletes with sports-related concussion (SRC). This study assessed differences in symptom reporting and neurocognitive performance in youth athletes who sustained a sports-related concussion. A total of 1345 concussed and 3529 nonconcussed athletes (ages 8-21) completed the Immediate Post-concussive Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT). Analyses of covariance were conducted in order to assess differences in neurocognitive performance and symptom reporting between the sports-related concussion and control groups across age ranges. Longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling was employed to examine age and its relationship with rates of sports-related concussion recovery in neurocognitive performance. Results revealed athletes aged 13 to 15 had significantly lower neurocognitive performance scores compared to same-aged athletes without a history of sports-related concussion. With respect to the hierarchical linear modeling results, age was identified as a unique predictor of symptom recovery, particularly for ages 8 to 12. Results provide a better understanding of typical symptom reporting and neurocognitive outcomes for younger athletes across different ages.

The Characteristics and Age Effects of Emotional Lability in ADHD Children With and Without Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Objective: This study evaluated the concurrent validity of emotional lability (EL) in children with ADHD. Method: A total of 2,015 children with ADHD and 745 typically developed controls (TDCs) were assessed and compared on EL. Results: ADHD participants expressed higher EL scores than TDCs, not influenced by gender or IQ. Higher levels of EL symptoms were found in children with comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and with ADHD-combined subtype. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses showed a strong screening efficacy of EL symptoms on ADHD. The effect of developmental age on EL showed a desisting pattern in TDCs, as opposed to a persisting pattern in ADHD (not influenced by ODD comorbid status). ODD symptoms in ADHD showed an ascending pattern. Conclusion: EL can potentially serve as a sentinel index for the presence of ADHD, especially when the ADHD presentation is atypical. ODD may embody a developmental entity distinct from EL.

Effects of developmental age, brain region, and time in culture on long‐term proliferation and multipotency of neural stem cell populations

Neural stem cells (NSCs) in the murine subventricular zone (SVZ) niche allow life-long neurogenesis. During the first postnatal month and throughout aging, the decrease of neuroblasts and the rise of astrocytes results in diminished neurogenesis and increased astrocyte:neuron ratio. Also, a different neurogenic activity characterizes the SVZ periventricular region (LV, lateral ventricle) as compared to its rostral extension (RE). In order to investigate whether and to what extent these physiological modifications may be ascribed to intrinsic changes of the endogenous NSC/progenitor features, we performed a functional analysis on NSCs isolated and cultured from LV and RE tissues at distinct postnatal stages that are marked by striking modifications to the SVZ niche in vivo. We evaluated the effect of age and brain region on long-term proliferation and multipotency, and characterized the cell type composition of NSC-derived progeny, comparing this make-up to that of region- and age-matched primary neural cultures. Furthermore, we analyzed the effect of prolonged in vitro expansion on NSC functional properties. We documented age- and region-dependent differences on the clonogenic efficiency and on the long-term proliferative capacity of NSCs. Also, we found age- and region-dependent quantitative changes in the cell composition of NSC progeny (decreased quantity of neurons and oligodendrocytes; increased amount of astroglial cells) and these differences were maintained in long-term cultured NSC populations. Overall, these data strengthen the hypothesis that age- and region-dependent differences in neurogenesis (observed in vivo) may be ascribed to the changes in the intrinsic developmental program of the NSC populations.

Immunological responses of swine to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection.

The immunology of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRS) begins with an initial encounter of PRRSV with the pig. Regardless of the route of entry of PRRSV--via inhalation, intramuscular vaccination, insemination, or other routes--productive infection occurs predominately in alveolar macrophages of the lung. Thus, innate responses of the lung and the alveolar macrophage comprise the initial defense against PRRSV. The virus appears not to elicit innate interferon and cytokine responses characteristic of other strongly immunogenic viral pathogens, and its effects are consistent with induction of a weak adaptive immune response. Humoral and cell-mediated immunity is induced in due course, and results in clearance of virus from the circulation but not from lymphoid tissues, where the infection becomes persistent. Subsequent reexposure to PRRSV elicits an anamnestic response that is partially to completely protective. Within this unconventional picture of anti-PRRSV immunity lie a variety of unresolved issues, including the nature of protective immunity within individual pigs and among pigs in commercial populations, the efficacy of protective immunity against genetically different PRRSV isolates, the effects of developmental age, sex, genetics, and other host factors on the immune response to PRRSV, and the possible suppression of host immunity to other pathogens.

Effects of developmental age, ambient temperature, and dietary alterations on Δ12 desaturase activity in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus

Effects of developmental age, ambient temperature, and dietary alterations on Δ12 desaturase activity in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus

Effects of developmental age, ambient temperature, and dietary alterations on delta(12) desaturase activity in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus.

Double bond formation in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) is mediated by desaturase enzymes. Certain insect species have been found to possess a Delta(12) desaturase, previously thought to occur exclusively in plants. We have begun to characterize this enzyme to determine its relatedness to those found in plants and animals. Desaturase activity can be altered significantly by a number of environmental factors in protozoa, cyanobacteria, plants, fish, and rats. We present evidence here that Delta(12) desaturase activity in Acheta domesticus is affected by developmental stage, starvation, dietary alterations, and fluctuations in ambient temperature. Highest activity is observed during the middle of the penultimate instar and 3 to 6 days after adult emergence. Starvation markedly decreases Delta(12) activity, whereas resumption of feeding on fat-free or low fat diets increases activity.

Effect of Developmental Age and Hyperoxia Exposure on Kinase and Phosphatase Activities in Newborn Rat Lungs

To better understand the biochemical events accompanying lung alveolarization and development, we studied the specific activity of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) and the type 2A protein phosphastase (PP2A), and the activity and protein content of the calcium- and lipid-dependent protein kinase (PKC) in cytosolic preparations of lungs. Lungs were obtained from rat pups on day 2 of life and on days 7, 14, and 27 from pups exposed to hyperoxia (>95% 02, days 4–14; 65% 02 days 15–27) or normoxia from day 4 onwards. There were no significant changes in PKA specific activity with developmental age or hyperoxic exposure. PKC specific activity increased significantly (P < .05) in normoxic animals from day 2 {64 + 13.5 pmol phosphate released/min/mg protein) to day 14 (105+ 9). The increase was sustained to day 27. There was no effect on PKC activity due to hyperoxia alone (ANOVA). This increase in PKC activity was accompanied by an increase in the mass of the δ, ε and ς, isoforms of PKC in normoxic pups. The y isoform of PKC was undetectable in all samples whereas the α and β isoforms were detectable but showed no changes with developmental age. PP2A specific activity increased significantly (P < .05) from 13.3 ± 0.5 nmol phosphate released/mini mg protein on day 2 to 17.7 ± 0.9 on day 7 in normoxic pups, then returned to day 2 level at advanced developmental age. Hyperoxia exposure prevented the increase in enzyme activity observed on day 7 in normoxic animals. These data suggest that protein phosphorylation May-June be one mechanism by which alveolarization is regulated in developing lungs.

Mineral metabolism in the developing turkey embryo—I. The effects of developmental age and shell-less culture on trace element contents of selected tissues

1. 1. Turkey embryos were incubated in ovo or in long-term shell-less culture ( ex ovo) for 14, 18, 22 or 26 days. The embryos incubated ex ovo exhibited a progressive decline in the rate of growth and were hypocalcemie and hypoproteinemic compared to their in ovo counterparts from day 18 to day 26 of incubation. 2. 2. The ratio of the concentrations of α-fetoprotein and albumin (AFP/A) in serum was determined for both groups of embryos. The AFP/A ratio may be useful as a biochemical index to stage avian embryonic development. Using this index it was concluded that ex ovo embryos exhibited a progressive developmental retardation compared to in ovo embryos. 3. 3. Significant differences were observed in serum trace element concentrations for embryos incubated in ovo vs ex ovo. Most notably, serum copper concentration was significantly lower in ex ovo embryos on days 18 and 22 of incubation and significantly higher on day 26 of incubation compared to serum from embryos incubated in ovo. 4. 4. Livers from embryos incubated ex ovo exhibited significant differences trace element levels compared to those incubated in ovo. By day 26 of incubation the concentration and total amount of zinc and iron were markedly elevated, whereas copper was greatly reduced in the livers of embryos incubated ex ovo compared to the corresponding in ovo levels. 5. 5. Hearts from embryos incubated ex ovo contained less zinc and copper and more iron by day 26 of incubation than those from embryos incubated in ovo. 6. 6. Long-term shell-less culture of turkey embryos is a unique model system with which to study the effects of altered growth and development on the ontogeny of embryonic mineral homeostasis.

Approach responses of Gallus domesticus chicks: Genetic stock, time of day, and developmental age effects

Response, approach, and stay-near tendencies of 248 purebred and 270 crossbred domestic chicks exposed to an audiovisual imprinting model at 24±2 hr post-hatching were examined for genetic and non-genetic effects. No sex or sex linked maternal differences were found, but genetic stock of the subjects was found to be an important consideration. Length of incubation period varied greatly among genetic stocks. Significant, but low correlations between length of incubation period and behaviour responses were found. Relationships between time-of-day tested and behaviour responses could not be described with precision.