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Biol Psychiatry 2022 Jun;91(11):918-919

McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, and the Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC. Electronic address:

Neuroimage 2022 May 16:119319. Epub 2022 May 16.

Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

The development of perinatal brain connectivity underpins motor, cognitive and behavioural abilities in later life. Diffusion MRI allows the characterisation of subtle inter-individual differences in structural brain connectivity. Individual brain connectivity maps (connectomes) are by nature high in dimensionality and complex to interpret. Read More

Dev Neurosci 2022 May 19. Epub 2022 May 19.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Approximately 1 million infants born with HIE each year survive with cerebral palsy (CP) and/or serious cognitive disabilities. While infants born with mild and severe HIE frequently result in predictable outcomes, infants born with moderate HIE exhibit variable outcomes that are highly unpredictable. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2022 May 16;132:108711. Epub 2022 May 16.

Omakase Consulting S.L., Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address:

Introduction: Dravet Syndrome (DS) is a severe, developmental epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) that begins in infancy and is characterized by pharmaco-resistant epilepsy and neurodevelopmental delay. Despite available antiseizure medications (ASMs), there is a need for new therapeutic options with greater efficacy in reducing seizure frequency and with adequate safety and tolerability profiles. Fenfluramine is a new ASM for the treatment of seizures associated with DS as add-on therapy to other ASMs for patients aged 2 years and older. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022 May 19;119(21):e2122544119. Epub 2022 May 19.

Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), College de France, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, 75005 Paris, France.

SignificanceSynaptogenesis and neural network remodeling are at their maximum during the perinatal period of human brain development. Perturbations of this highly sensitive stage might underlie the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. Subchronic neonatal administration of phencyclidine, a drug of abuse, has been used to model schizophrenia in rodents. Read More

J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2022 May 19. Epub 2022 May 19.

Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.

Context: Congenital hyperinsulinism (HI) results in severe, persistent hypoglycemia and is associated with high risk of neurodevelopmental deficits. Sixty percent of HI cases are unresponsive to diazoxide, the only FDA-approved drug. Somatostatin analogs are used off-label as second line treatment; the long-acting somatostatin analogue, lanreotide, has been used to treat HI over the past decade. Read More

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2022 May 19. Epub 2022 May 19.

Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 6363 Alvarado Ct., Ste 103, San Diego, CA 92120, USA.

Despite the proposed early-life origins of attachment style and its implications for risk for psychopathology, little is known about its neurodevelopmental course. Adolescence represents a key transition period when neural substrates of emotion regulation and reward undergo dramatic maturational shifts. Thus, maladaptive coping strategies associated with insecure attachment styles may have an exaggerated effect during adolescence. Read More

Autism Res 2022 May 19. Epub 2022 May 19.

Division of Developmental Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Functional abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are highly heterogenous, and impairments can overlap with non-ASD neurodevelopmental disorders. We compared the profiles of children assessed for ASD with and without an ASD diagnosis using a retrospective cohort study of 101,739 children born in British Columbia (2000-2008). The children were grouped into the following five comparison groups: (1) ASD- (n = 1131), (2) ASD+ (n = 1583), (3) Ministry of Education designated ASD+ (n = 654), (4) special need other than ASD (n = 11,663), and (5) typically developing (n = 86,708). Read More

Psychol Med 2022 May 19:1-10. Epub 2022 May 19.

Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Background: Pre-pandemic psychological distress is associated with increased susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but associations with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity are not established. The authors examined the associations between distress prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent risk of hospitalization.

Methods: Between April 2020 (baseline) and April 2021, we followed 54 781 participants from three ongoing cohorts: Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII), Nurses' Health Study 3 (NHS3), and the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) who reported no current or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection at baseline. Read More

Oxid Med Cell Longev 2022 9;2022:2606880. Epub 2022 May 9.

Department of Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald 17475, Germany.

Cerebral oxygenation disturbances contribute to the pathogenesis of brain lesions in preterm infants with white matter damage. These children are at risk of developing long-term neurodevelopmental disabilities. Preterm birth is associated with sudden hormonal changes along with an untimely increase in oxygen tissue tension. Read More

CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets 2022 May 17. Epub 2022 May 17.

School of medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

The effects of a sufficient amounts of vitamins and nutrients on the proper function of the nervous system have always been regarded by scientists. In recent years, there are many studies have been done on controling or improving the symptoms of neurological and behavioral disorders which is created by changes in the level of vitamins and other nutrition, such as omega-3 and iron supplements. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that causes disruption individual communication, especially in social interactions. Read More

Mol Ther 2022 May 17. Epub 2022 May 17.

Rosamund Stone Zander Translational Neuroscience Center, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address:

We are in an emerging era of gene-based therapeutics with significant promise for rare genetic disorders. The potential is particularly significant for genetic central nervous system (CNS) disorders which have begun to achieve Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for select patient populations. This review summarizes the discussions and presentations of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-sponsored workshop "Gene-based Therapeutics for Rare Genetic Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders" which was held in January 2021. Read More

Mol Autism 2022 May 18;13(1):21. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.

Background: Neuroimage literature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a moderate-to-high risk of bias, partially because those combined with intellectual impairment (II) and/or minimally verbal (MV) status are generally ignored. We aimed to provide more comprehensive insights into white matter alterations of ASD, inclusive of individuals with II (ASD-II-Only) or MV expression (ASD-MV).

Methods: Sixty-five participants with ASD (ASD-Whole; 16. Read More

Mol Autism 2022 May 18;13(1):22. Epub 2022 May 18.

Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, Roche Innovation Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Background: Understanding the development of the neuronal circuitry underlying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is critical to shed light into its etiology and for the development of treatment options. Resting state EEG provides a window into spontaneous local and long-range neuronal synchronization and has been investigated in many ASD studies, but results are inconsistent. Unbiased investigation in large and comprehensive samples focusing on replicability is needed. Read More

BMC Pediatr 2022 May 18;22(1):293. Epub 2022 May 18.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Background: Congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV) is the most common known viral cause of neurodevelopmental delay in children. The risk of severe cerebral abnormalities and neurological sequelae is greatest when the infection occurs during the first trimester of pregnancy. Pre- and postnatal imaging can provide additional information and may help in the prediction of early neurological outcome. Read More

Nat Rev Neurol 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

Neuroscience Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

Sci Rep 2022 May 18;12(1):8295. Epub 2022 May 18.

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), Chennai, India.

While standard graph-theoretic measures have been widely used to characterize atypical resting-state functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), geometry-inspired network measures have not been applied. In this study, we apply Forman-Ricci and Ollivier-Ricci curvatures to compare networks of ASD and typically developing individuals (N = 1112) from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange I (ABIDE-I) dataset. We find brain-wide and region-specific ASD-related differences for both Forman-Ricci and Ollivier-Ricci curvatures, with region-specific differences concentrated in Default Mode, Somatomotor and Ventral Attention networks for Forman-Ricci curvature. Read More

Cell Rep 2022 May;39(7):110811

Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, Hugh Robson Building, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, UK; Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, University of Edinburgh, Hugh Robson Building, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, UK. Electronic address:

Defects in primary cilia, cellular antennas that control multiple intracellular signaling pathways, underlie several neurodevelopmental disorders, but it remains unknown how cilia control essential steps in human brain formation. Here, we show that cilia are present on the apical surface of radial glial cells in human fetal forebrain. Interfering with cilia signaling in human organoids by mutating the INPP5E gene leads to the formation of ventral telencephalic cell types instead of cortical progenitors and neurons. Read More

Genes Brain Behav 2022 May 18:e12811. Epub 2022 May 18.

Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Sex chromosomal trisomies (SCT) are associated with impairments in executive functions in school-aged children, adolescents, and adults. However, knowledge on preschool development of executive functions is limited but greatly needed to guide early intervention. The current study examined emerging executive functions in young children with SCT. Read More

Int J Neurosci 2022 May 18:1-17. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Demiroğlu Bilim University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with complex etiology. In this study, we aimed to determine the ameliorating effects of vardenafil in the ASD rat model induced by propionic acid (PPA) in terms of neurobehavioral changes and also support these effects with histopathological changes, brain biochemical analysis and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) findings. Twenty-one male rats were randomly assigned into 3 groups. Read More

JAMA Psychiatry 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York.

Importance: Schizophrenia is associated with major cognitive deficits and has been conceptualized as both a neurodevelopmental and a neurodegenerative disorder. However, when deficits develop and how they change over the course of illness is uncertain.

Objective: To trace cognition from elementary school to old age to test neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative theories of psychotic disorders. Read More

Matern Child Health J 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, United States.

Objectives: Assessing the impact of interdisciplinary training programs is highly desirable and needed. However, there are currently no established methods to prospectively assess long-term outcomes of trainees compared to individuals who did not receive training. Our objective was to test the feasibility of a longitudinal, prospective cohort design to evaluate training outcomes, and to use this method to evaluate Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Related Disorders (LEND) training outcomes. Read More

BMC Proc 2022 May 17;16(Suppl 3). Epub 2022 May 17.

BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, 950 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4H4, Canada.

Patient navigation (PN) represents a branch of service delivery traditionally aimed at coordinating disjointed care services for patients with particular health conditions (e.g., cancer, HIV, diabetes). Read More

BMC Pediatr 2022 May 17;22(1):290. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Pediatrics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China.

Background: Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is an important cause of mortality and morbidity. Effective indicators for the early diagnosis of brain injury after HIE and prognosis are lacking. This study aimed to examine the predictive value of serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE), amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), alone and in combination, for the neurological outcomes in neonates with HIE. Read More

J Hum Genet 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

Laboratory of Regulatory and Functional Genomics, Fondazione IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy.

The search for aetiology of Mendelian disorders is traditionally based on the observation of clinical phenotypes and molecular screening of associated genes. However, a disease-specific diagnosis can be challenging. In this study we detail how the combinatorial genomic and epigenomic assessment allowed to find the underlying molecular event of a clinical case that remained misdiagnosed for years. Read More

Sci Rep 2022 May 17;12(1):6505. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Neurodevelopmental Disorder Genetics, Institute of Brain Science, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Science, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 467-8601, Japan.

CUX2 gene encodes a transcription factor that controls neuronal proliferation, dendrite branching and synapse formation, locating at the epilepsy-associated chromosomal region 12q24 that we previously identified by a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in Japanese population. A CUX2 recurrent de novo variant p.E590K has been described in patients with rare epileptic encephalopathies and the gene is a candidate for the locus, however the mutation may not be enough to generate the genome-wide significance in the GWAS and whether CUX2 variants appear in other types of epilepsies and physiopathological mechanisms are remained to be investigated. Read More

Res Dev Disabil 2022 May 14;127:104256. Epub 2022 May 14.

Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare (RKBU Central Norway), Department of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, St.Olavs University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address:

Background: Current research suggest that motor and language impairments are common and closely related in infants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In older children, less is known about how these impairments are related to each other.

Aims: The current study explored the co-occurrence and potential impact of motor and language impairments in a sample of school-aged children evaluated for ASD by Norwegian specialist health services. Read More

J Dev Behav Pediatr 2022 May 17. Epub 2022 May 17.

Psychometrics Division Pearson Clinical, Bloomington, MN.

Objective: The development of executive function (EF) in infants and toddlers has received increased interest by clinicians and researchers. Higher rates of deficits in EF have been reported in at-risk groups of infants such as those born extremely preterm. These deficits play an important role in the etiology of early neurodevelopmental problems and are predictive of subsequent nonoptimal educational outcomes. Read More

Glia 2022 May 17. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Neonatology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Preterm infants often show pathologies of the cerebellum, which are associated with impaired motor performance, lower IQ and poor language skills at school ages. Using a mouse model of inflammation-induced encephalopathy of prematurity driven by systemic administration of pro-inflammatory IL-1β, we sought to uncover causes of cerebellar damage. In this model, IL-1β is administered between postnatal day (P) 1 to day 5, a timing equivalent to the last trimester for brain development in humans. Read More

Curr Top Med Chem 2022 May 9. Epub 2022 May 9.

Departamento de Ciencias Médicas. División de Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad de Quintana Roo. Chetumal, Quintana Roo. México.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed primarily in children, although it is also present in adults. Patients present inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity symptoms that create difficulties in their daily lives. Pharmacological treatment with stimulants or non-stimulants is used most commonly to reduce ADHD symptoms. Read More