Parental Scaffolding Research Articles

Biological signatures of emotion regulation flexibility in children: Parenting context and links with child adjustment.

Emotion regulation (ER) is a key facet of positive adjustment throughout the lifespan. Recent theoretical and empirical innovations suggest that current methods for assessing ER are limited, because they measure discrete strategy use instead of ER flexibility and are insensitive to ecologically valid social contexts that influence ER. This is particularly important for studying the impact of parenting on ER development during childhood. The current study (N = 93; 47 females; Mage = 6.98, SD = 1.12) examined child ER flexibility during a directed reappraisal task (DRT) with two parenting contexts: passive parent presence or active scaffolding. Two biological signatures of ER flexibility were measured: respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of physiological flexibility; and the late positive potential (LPP), an index of neurocognitive flexibility. Emotion regulation behavior was observed during a frustrating wait, and parents reported on child ER and adjustment. Greater ER flexibility indexed via the LPP and RSA both predicted observed ER during the frustrating wait, but only RSA predicted parent-reported trait ER and fewer adjustment problems. Emotion regulation flexibility indexed by the LPP was bolstered by parent presence and scaffolding of child ER during the DRT, but RSA measures were not sensitive to parenting context. Taken together, the results provide converging evidence for the conceptualization of ER in terms of physiological and neurocognitive flexibility in childhood. Furthermore, among school-aged children, while physiological flexibility broadly predicted parent-reported child adjustment, neurocognitive flexibility may be context-sensitive and predictive of concurrent observed ER.

The dynamics of maternal scaffolding vary by cumulative risk status.

Parental scaffolding, or parenting behaviors that support children's independence and competence, can foster children's self-regulation development. Children facing higher cumulative risk may experience less scaffolding and more directives from parents, but it is unclear how cumulative risk affects the dynamics of parent-child interactions in real time. We examined the role of cumulative risk in mothers' moment-to-moment use of scaffolding and directives in response to preschoolers' off- and on-task behaviors (N = 117). Mothers answered questionnaires about cumulative risk at child age 2.5 years and completed a challenging puzzle task with their preschoolers at age 3 years. Continuous-time multilevel survival analyses revealed differences by cumulative risk in the likelihood of mothers' parenting responses following children's off- and on-task behavioral transitions over the course of the interaction. Specifically, when children went off-task, higher cumulative risk was associated with a lower likelihood of maternal scaffolding, but a comparable likelihood of directives, compared to lower risk mothers. When children got on-task, mothers with higher cumulative risk were less likely to respond with scaffolding and more likely to respond with directives than lower risk mothers. These results suggest that parents at higher risk respond with less scaffolding regardless of child behavior and respond with more directive commands when they may be unnecessary. Findings provide novel, real-time descriptive information about how and when parents experiencing cumulative risk use scaffolding and directive strategies, thus informing microlevel targets for intervention. Implications for the development of self-regulation in children at risk are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Redox Property Tuning in Bipyridinium Salts.

Bipyridinium salts are currently very popular due to their perspective applications in redox flow batteries. Hence, we designed and prepared a series of bipyridiniums based on 2,2′-, 3,3′-, and 4,4′-bipyridine and 2,2′-bipyrimidine. The straightforward synthesis utilizes commercially or readily available starting compounds and their direct N-alkylation, mostly using 1,3-propanesultone. All eleven target derivatives with systematically evolved structure were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, which allowed elucidating thorough structure-property relationships. The electrochemical behavior depends primarily on the parent scaffold, type of N-alkylation, number of quaternized nitrogen atoms, planarity, counter ion as well as the used media. Two derivatives featuring quasi-reversible redox processes were further tested on rotating disc electrode and in a flow battery half-cell. 4,4′-Bipyridinium derivative bearing two sultone residues showed better performance and stability in the flow half-cell with small capacity decays of 0.09/0.15% per reduction-oxidation cycle, based on the number of the utilized redox processes (one/two).

Parental Socialization of Emotion and Psychophysiological Arousal Patterns in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at considerable risk for difficulties with emotion regulation and related functioning. Although it is commonly accepted that parents contribute to adaptive child regulation, as indexed by observable child behavior, theory and recent evidence suggest that parenting may also influence relevant underlying child physiological tendencies. The current study examined concurrent associations between two elements of parental socialization of emotion and measures of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity in 61 children with ASD aged 6 to 10years. To index parental socialization, parents reported on their reactions to their children's negative emotions, and parental scaffolding was coded from a dyadic problem-solving task. Children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), electrodermal reactivity (EDA-R), and RSA reactivity in response to challenge were obtained as measures of the children's physiological activity. Regression analyses indicated that supportive parent reactions were related to higher child baseline RSA, a biomarker of regulatory capacity. Fewer unsupportive parent reactions and higher quality scaffolding were associated with higher EDA-R, a physiological index of inhibition. The identification of these concurrent associations represents a first step in understanding the complex and likely bidirectional interplay between parent socialization and child physiological reactivity and regulation in this high-risk population.

OGG1 co-inhibition antagonizes the tumor-inhibitory effects of targeting MTH1

Cancer cells develop protective adaptations against oxidative DNA damage, providing a strong rationale for targeting DNA repair proteins. There has been a high degree of recent interest in inhibiting the mammalian Nudix pyrophosphatase MutT Homolog 1 (MTH1). MTH1 degrades 8-oxo-dGTP, thus limiting its incorporation into genomic DNA. MTH1 inhibition has variously been shown to induce genomic 8-oxo-dG elevation, genotoxic strand breaks in p53-functional cells, and tumor-inhibitory outcomes. Genomically incorporated 8-oxo-dG is excised by the base excision repair enzyme, 8-oxo-dG glycosylase 1 (OGG1). Thus, OGG1 inhibitors have been developed with the idea that their combination with MTH1 inhibitors will have anti-tumor effects by increasing genomic oxidative DNA damage. However, contradictory to this idea, we found that human lung adenocarcinoma with low OGG1 and MTH1 were robustly represented in patient datasets. Furthermore, OGG1 co-depletion mitigated the extent of DNA strand breaks and cellular senescence in MTH1-depleted p53-wildtype lung adenocarcinoma cells. Similarly, shMTH1-transduced cells were less sensitive to the OGG1 inhibitor, SU0268, than shGFP-transduced counterparts. Although the dual OGG1/MTH1 inhibitor, SU0383, induced greater cytotoxicity than equivalent combined or single doses of its parent scaffold MTH1 and OGG1 inhibitors, IACS-4759 and SU0268, this effect was only observed at the highest concentration assessed. Collectively, using both genetic depletion as well as small molecule inhibitors, our findings suggest that OGG1/MTH1 co-inhibition is unlikely to yield significant tumor-suppressive benefit. Instead such co-inhibition may exert tumor-protective effects by preventing base excision repair-induced DNA nicks and p53 induction, thus potentially conferring a survival advantage to the treated tumors.

Youth’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Service Utilization and Associated Factors in Addis Ababa: Community Based Cross-sectional Study

Background: youth is a period of change and adjustment. It is a period of life in which an individual display significant physiological, psychological and social changes that expose them at high risk of reproductive health problems. Consequently, many youth are less informed, less experienced and less comfortable in utilizing reproductive health services. Objective: this study assessed reproductive health service utilization and associated factors among youths in Addis Ababa, Yeka Sub city (Woreda one), Ethiopia. Methods: a community based cross-sectional study was conducted from September 13, 2020 to October 25, 2020. Three hundred seventy eight youths were selected by systematic random sampling technique and interviewed using structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS windows version 24.0. Multiple logistic regression was run to identify variables that predict RHS utilization. P-values <0.05 were taken as a decision line to consider a variable is statistically significant or not. Results: Three hundred thirty nine (89.4%) respondents were properly filled and returned the questionnaire. One hundred sixty two (47.8%) of them were female and 177 (52.2%) of them were male participants. Two hundred fifty two (74.3%) of the respondents had heard about reproductive health services and 87.3% had knowledge about sexually transmitted infection and 42.8% of the respondents utilized RHS. Age (AOR=0.342, 95% CI: 0.124-1.942), marital status (AOR=3.420, 95% CI: 1.088-11.065), living arrangement (AOR=0.142, 95% CI: 0.032-0630), father education (AOR=6.613, 95% CI: 2.363-18.505), mothers education (AOR=0.334 95% CI: 0.133-1.936) and self-determination (AOR=0.294 95% CI: 0.149-0.581) were predictors of youth reproductive health service utilization. Conclusion: irrespective of the youth knowledge/information about reproductive health service (sexually transmitted diseases and family planning), youths reproductive health service utilization is low. Therefore, life skill training for youth, parental scaffolding and communication with youth, and training and updating care providers in the youth center, capacitating the youth center in terms of resources helps to enhance youth reproductive health service utilization.

Synthetic strategies in curcumin chemistry focused on anticancer applications

In spite of having received considerable interest as a potential anticancer agent over the past two decades, curcumin has not been developed into a sturdy drug candidate yet, mainly due to the challenges imposed by its rapidly metabolizable structure, leading to bioavailability and stability issues, and its aspecific activity. To circumvent these obstacles, chemical modification of the parent scaffold has been shown to involve an eligible approach for the construction of curcuminoids with improved properties. This review article provides a compilation of curcumin modifications and the effect thereof on the anticancer activity displayed by the resulting new analogs.

Mobile app features that scaffold pre‐school learning: Verbal feedback and leveling designs

AbstractGuiding hints and challenge can help scaffold learners to progress beyond what they would achieve independently. The interactive and adaptive capabilities of mobile devices allow educational applications (apps) to support learning through scaffolding designs. However, little research has tested the effects of scaffolding features in apps on young children’s learning. Using a 3 × 2 between‐subjects design, this study experimentally tests how three types of app feedback (nonverbal sounds, verbal encouragement, or scaffolded verbal hints) and two types of leveling (gradual vs. random‐ordered challenge) influence 4–5‐year‐old children’s learning of novel words (N = 240). Results showed that scaffolded feedback was especially useful when provided at the beginning of app play (p &lt; .01), and scaffolded leveling through gradual increases in difficulty supported faster and more accurate responses than random order challenge (p &lt; .001). Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Researchers have worked to apply what we know about traditional in‐person teaching with young learners and how that might translate to digital platforms. Parent and teacher scaffolding has been shown to successfully help young children learn. Guidance through increased difficulty and explanatory feedback can help learners gradually build their skills and reflect more deeply on the content they are learning. What this paper adds This study adds to the newly growing collection of experiments testing the design features of educational pre‐school apps. Findings show that scaffolding through educational app feedback and leveling can support young children learning. Results also show that the impact of scaffolding can depend on when the guidance is presented during app play – at the very beginning of play versus later on. Implications for practice and/or policy Findings can help educators and other consumers identify which types of apps are better for scaffolding young children’s learning. Suggestions are provided to support educational app developers in designing products that are truly effective. Findings suggest that combinations of app designs may differently impact young children’s learning, providing next step testing conditions for educational app designs.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of an antibacterial azaborine retinoid isostere

Our continued synthetic interest in this class of retinoids, CD437 and its analogs, against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has brought us to explore further isosteric substitutions within the scaffold. Although our previous findings have shown promising activity against gram-positive pathogens, their therapeutic viability remained an issue. Specifically, through preliminary analysis, our best performing compound, analog 2, displayed low solubility within serum as well as high affinity for retinoid binding proteins with a concentration dependent relationship. To circumvent this issue, we proposed a class of analogs containing an azaborine substitution in place of the naphthalene moiety. Azaborines have a nitrogen-boron bond substituting a carbon–carbon double bond that alters the electronics of the parent scaffold. This motif has been explored successfully in cancer research but to the best of our knowledge has yet to be applied to antibiotics. Herein, we describe the synthesis of the desired analogs, antimicrobial activity, and surprising physiochemical properties.

Fragment Binding to Kinase Hinge: If Charge Distribution and Local pKa Shifts Mislead Popular Bioisosterism Concepts.

Medicinal‐chemistry optimization follows strategies replacing functional groups and attaching larger substituents at a promising lead scaffold. Well‐established bioisosterism rules are considered, however, it is difficult to estimate whether the introduced modifications really match the required properties at a binding site. The electron density distribution and pK a values are modulated influencing protonation states and bioavailability. Considering the adjacent H‐bond donor/acceptor pattern of the hinge binding motif in a kinase, we studied by crystallography a set of fragments to map the required interaction pattern. Unexpectedly, benzoic acid and benzamidine, decorated with the correct substituents, are totally bioisosteric just as carboxamide and phenolic OH. A mono‐dentate pyridine nitrogen out‐performs bi‐dentate functionalities. The importance of correctly designing pK a values of attached functional groups by additional substituents at the parent scaffold is rendered prominent.

Triple, Mutually Orthogonal Bioorthogonal Pairs through the Design of Electronically Activated Sulfamate-Containing Cycloalkynes.

Interest in mutually exclusive pairs of bioorthogonal labeling reagents continues to drive the design of new compounds that are capable of fast and predictable reactions. The ability to easily modify S-, N-, and O-containing cyclooctynes (SNO-OCTs) enables electronic tuning of various SNO-OCTs to influence their cycloaddition rates with Type I-III dipoles. As opposed to optimizations based on just one specific dipole class, the electrophilicity of the alkynes in SNO-OCTs can be manipulated to achieve divergent reactivities and furnish mutually orthogonal dual ligation systems. Significant reaction rate enhancements of a difluorinated SNO-OCT derivative, as compared to the parent scaffold, were noted, with the second-order rate constant in cycloadditions with diazoacetamides exceeding 5.13 M-1 s-1. Computational and experimental studies were employed to inform the design of triple ligation systems that encompass three orthogonal reactivities. Finally, polar SNO-OCTs are rapidly internalized by mammalian cells and remain functional in the cytosol for live-cell labeling, highlighting their potential for diverse in vitro and in vivo applications.

Drug‐Like Properties in Macrocycles above MW 1000: Backbone Rigidity versus Side‐Chain Lipophilicity

AbstractLarge macrocyclic peptides can achieve surprisingly high membrane permeability, although the properties that govern permeability in this chemical space are only beginning to come into focus. We generated two libraries of cyclic decapeptides with stable cross‐β conformations, and found that peptoid substitutions within the β‐turns of the macrocycle preserved the rigidity of the parent scaffold, whereas peptoid substitutions in the opposing β‐strands led to “chameleonic” species that were rigid in nonpolar media but highly flexible in water. Both rigid and chameleonic compounds showed high permeability over a wide lipophilicity range, with peak permeabilities differing significantly depending on scaffold rigidity. Our findings indicate that modulating lipophilicity can be used to engineer favorable ADME properties into both rigid and flexible macrocyclic peptides, and that scaffold rigidity can be used to tune optimal lipophilicity.

Drug-Like Properties in Macrocycles above MW 1000: Backbone Rigidity versus Side-Chain Lipophilicity.

Large macrocyclic peptides can achieve surprisingly high membrane permeability, although the properties that govern permeability in this chemical space are only beginning to come into focus. We generated two libraries of cyclic decapeptides with stable cross-β conformations, and found that peptoid substitutions within the β-turns of the macrocycle preserved the rigidity of the parent scaffold, whereas peptoid substitutions in the opposing β-strands led to "chameleonic" species that were rigid in nonpolar media but highly flexible in water. Both rigid and chameleonic compounds showed high permeability over a wide lipophilicity range, with peak permeabilities differing significantly depending on scaffold rigidity. Our findings indicate that modulating lipophilicity can be used to engineer favorable ADME properties into both rigid and flexible macrocyclic peptides, and that scaffold rigidity can be used to tune optimal lipophilicity.

Examining Parent–Child Spatial Play Interaction Using Traditional Toys and Touch Screen Tablets

SYNOPSIS Objective . The context of play has changed dramatically over the past decade with the ubiquitous presence of mobile technologies available to children in and outside the home. Despite increasing use of interactive technological devices at home, the quality of parental interactions in these 2D digital play contexts, relative to traditional 3D play contexts, remains relatively unexplored, especially in the domain of geometry. Design . The present study examines parental support and scaffolding of 32 parent–child dyads (16 girls, 16 boys; M age = 51.16 months) engaged in interactive play during two home visits, one involving 3D physical blocks and puzzles and the other with 2D virtual blocks and puzzles presented through apps on a tablet. Parental interactions were assessed for four scaffolding qualities (i.e., affection, encouragement, responsiveness, and teaching) and two interactional styles (i.e., child-directed and parent-directed) for 10 min of each play session. Results . Overall, parents actively scaffolded children with varied positive supports in both play contexts using a predominantly child-directed interactional style. Differences were found for the quality of parental interactions across 3D and 2D play contexts. Fewer parental scaffolds involving responsiveness and teaching were provided in the 2D context. Conclusions . Effective, yet differing, supportive parental scaffolding occurs when parents engage in both traditional and virtual spatial play. Through joint play with their children, parents can support the acquisition of foundational concepts in geometry.

How parental instructions scaffold young children’s learning performance: A cross-cultural comparison between America and China

This study examines cultural differences in the amount and types of parental instructions and their effects on children’s independent performance when working with a puzzle task. Thirty-six Chinese and 36 American children aged 3−4 years and their parents participated in this study. Between the two groups, both similarities and differences were found in the different types of parental instructions. Specifically, no significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the proportion of right/wrong feedback, commanding, and questioning instructions. However, compared to their American peers, Chinese caregivers used more content instructions to instruct their children. Furthermore, culture moderated the relationship between commanding instructions and the children’s learning outcomes. The parents’ commanding instructions were significantly effective in predicting the children’s independent learning outcomes. Such a facilitating effect of commanding instruction was not found in the American group. This study suggests that contemporary American and Chinese caregivers show different preferences regarding the use of different types of parental instructions, leading to different facilitating effects on the children’s learning outcomes.

Let's Cross the Next One: Parental Scaffolding of Prospective Control Over Movement.

This investigation examined parental scaffolding of children's prospective control over decisions and actions during a joint perception-action task. Parents and their 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-year-old children (N=128) repeatedly crossed a virtual roadway together. Guidance and control shifted from the parent to the child with increases in child age. Parents more often chose the gap that was crossed and prospectively communicated the gap choice with younger than older children. Greater use of an anticipatory gap selection strategy by parents predicted more precise timing of entry into the gap by children. This work suggests that social interaction may serve as an important experiential mechanism for the development of prospective control over decisions and actions in the perception-action domain.

Ex‐Solved Ag Nanocatalysts: Ex‐Solved Ag Nanocatalysts on a Sr‐Free Parent Scaffold Authorize a Highly Efficient Route of Oxygen Reduction (Adv. Funct. Mater. 27/2020)

In article number 2001326, WooChul Jung and co-workers utilize a Ag ex-solution as the central strategy to demonstrate impressive oxygen reduction catalytic activity on BaCoO3−δ perovskites. The effective tactics incorporated in this study establish a milestone for the road toward exceptional performance outcomes from fuel cell cathodes in the low-to-intermediate temperature regimens given the use of the parent scaffold-offspring metal catalyst as a key skeleton feature.

Application of Molecular Docking for the Development of Improved HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors

Inhibition of the reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by low molecular weight inhibitors is still an active area of research. Here, protein-ligand interactions and possible binding modes of novel compounds with the HIV-1 RT binding pocket (the wild-type as well as Y181C and K103N mutants) were obtained and discussed. A molecular fragment-based approach using FDA-approved drugs were followed to design novel chemical derivatives using delavirdine, efavirenz, etravirine and rilpivirine as the scaffolds. The drug-likeliness of the derivatives was evaluated using Swiss-ADME. The parent molecule and derivatives were then docked into the binding pocket of related crystal structures (PDB ID: 4G1Q, 1IKW, 1KLM and 3MEC). Genetic Optimization for Ligand Docking (GOLD) Suite 5.2.2 software was used for docking and the results analyzed in the Discovery Studio Visualizer 4. A derivative was chosen for further analysis, if it passed drug-likeliness and the docked energy was more favorable than that of its parent molecule. Out of the fifty-seven derivatives, forty-eight failed in drug-likeness screening by Swiss-ADME or at the docking stage. The final results showed that the selected compounds had higher predicted binding affinities than their parent scaffolds in both wild-type and the mutants. Binding energy improvement was higher for the structures designed based on second-generation NNRTIs (etravirine and rilpivirine) than the first-generation NNRTIs (delavirdine and efavirenz). For example, while the docked energy for rilpivirine was -51 KJ/mol, it was improved for its derivatives RPV01 and RPV15 up to - 58.3 and -54.5 KJ/mol, respectively. In this study, we have identified and proposed some novel molecules with improved binding capacity for HIV RT using a fragment-based approach.

Development of an Observational Parental Scaffolding Measure for Youth with Spina Bifida.

To examine the reliability and validity of a new observational measure of parental scaffolding, as well as the impact of parental scaffolding on academic and social outcomes among youth with spina bifida (SB). As part of a larger study, 137 families of youth with SB participated in family interaction tasks and self-report questionnaires at the baseline assessment. Teachers also reported on youth's academic independence and competence, as well as social skills. Guided by previous research and theoretical formulations, a rational approach to measure development was employed whereby maternal and paternal scaffolding composites were created using the Family Interaction Macro-coding System (Holmbeck, Zebracki, Johnson, Belvedere, & Hommeyer (2007). Parent-child interaction macro-coding manual. Unpublished coding system. Chicago: Loyola University Chicago). The scaffolding measure demonstrated acceptable interrater and scale reliabilities. Additionally, both the maternal and paternal scaffolding composites were significantly associated with scores from self-report questionnaires of parenting behaviors in the expected directions. Maternal scaffolding was positively associated with IQ, academic competence, academic independence, and social self-control in youth with SB, whereas paternal scaffolding was positively associated with social cooperation and social self-control. Differences in scaffolding emerged between mothers and fathers, as well as across demographic variables. Initial findings support the use of the scaffolding measure. Future research should continue to examine the utility of this scaffolding measure in families of youth with SB.

Parental Pre-knowledge Enhances Guidance During Inquiry-Based Family Learning in a Museum Context: An Individual Differences Perspective.

Effective interaction and inquiry are an essential source for children’s learning about science in an informal context. This study investigated the effect of parental pre-knowledge on parent–child interactions (manipulations, parent talk, and child talk) during an inquiry activity in NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam. The sample included 105 parent–child dyads (mean children’s age = 10.0 years). Half of the couples were randomly assigned to the experimental group in which, without the child’s knowledge, the parent was shown the task’s solution prior to the inquiry activity. Results show that parental pre-knowledge affected the way parents interacted and inquired with their child. Compared to parents without pre-knowledge, parents with pre-knowledge inquired longer, posed more open-ended wh-questions and closed questions, and less often interpreted results. Children of parents with pre-knowledge more often described evidence and interpreted results, more often manipulated alone, and solved the task more accurately. These results indicate that parental pre-knowledge brings about parents’ scaffolding behavior. In addition, it was studied how individual differences of parents and children relate to parent–child interaction. Results show that children’s self-reported inquiry attitude was related to their conversation during inquiry, such that they asked fewer closed questions and more open-ended questions. Children’s gender affected the cooperation between parent and child, parents more often manipulated together with boys than with girls, and girls more often manipulated alone. Fathers with pre-knowledge, but not mothers, let their child manipulate more by oneself than fathers without pre-knowledge. This study shows that more knowledge about an exhibit improves a parent’s scaffolding behavior in a science museum. Results are discussed in the context of museum practice.