Factors associated with parent-teacher hyperactivity/inattention screening discrepancy: Findings from a UK national sample.

BACKGROUND: To fulfil the diagnostic criteria of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Fifth Edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), symptoms should be observed in two or more settings. This implies that diagnostic procedures require observations reported from informants in different settings, such as teachers in school and caregivers at home. This study examined parent-teacher agreement in reporting hyperactivity/inattention and its relationship with child's, parent's, and family's characteristics. METHOD: We used data from the 2004 United Kingdom Mental Health of Children and Young People survey, including 7977 children aged 4-17, to investigate cross-informant agreement between parents and teachers on the hyperactivity-inattention subscale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The characteristics of different patterns of informant agreement were assessed using multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS: Cross-informant agreement of parent and teacher was low (weighted kappa = .34, 95% C.I.: .31, .37). Some characteristics, such as male child and parental emotional distress, were associated with higher likelihood of parent-teacher discrepancy. CONCLUSION: We found low informant agreement in the hyperactive/inattention subscale, as hypothesised and consistent with previous studies. The current study has found several factors that predict discrepancy, which were partly consistent with previous research. Possible explanation, implications, and further research on parent-teacher informant discrepancy in reporting hyperactivity/inattention were discussed.

How do socioeconomic attainment gaps in early mathematical ability arise?

Socioeconomic attainment gaps in mathematical ability are evident before children begin school, and widen over time. Little is known about why early attainment gaps emerge. Two cross-sectional correlational studies were conducted in 2018-2019 with socioeconomically diverse preschoolers, to explore four factors that might explain why attainment gaps arise: working memory, inhibitory control, verbal ability, and frequency of home mathematical activities (N = 304, 54% female; 84% White, 10% Asian, 1% black African, 1% Kurdish, 4% mixed ethnicity). Inhibitory control and verbal ability emerged as indirect factors in the relation between socioeconomic status and mathematical ability, but neither working memory nor home activities did. We discuss the implications this has for future research to understand, and work towards narrowing attainment gaps.

Parent Training for ADHD: No Generalization of Effects From Clinical to Neuropsychological Outcomes in a Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: We examined whether neuropsychological function in ADHD can be improved by the New Forest Parenting Programme (NFPP), that combines standard parenting strategies with self-regulatory skills training, or predict ADHD and quality of life (QoL) treatment effects. METHOD: Participants were 93 medication-naive preschool children with ADHD (3-7 years) randomized to either NFPP (n = 49) or treatment as usual (TAU; n = 44) in a recent randomized trial. Laboratory measures of executive function, reaction time variability, and delay of gratification were collected along with parent ratings of ADHD and QoL at baseline and post treatment. Ratings were collected again at 3-month follow-up. RESULTS: NFPP did not improve neuropsychological function (compared to TAU), and baseline neuropsychological function did not predict treatment-related ADHD or QoL effects. CONCLUSION: Although NFPP includes a neuropsychological training element and has been shown to improve several clinical outcomes, it did not improve the neuropsychological functions it targets.

Renal abscesses in children: an 11-year retrospective study and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: There is limited literature on renal abscesses in children and therefore no consensus on management. The objectives of this study were to describe renal abscesses in a contemporary paediatric Australian population and present a 20 year review of the literature. METHODS: An 11 year retrospective comparative study was conducted of paediatric patients with renal abscesses. A literature review of all eight original articles on paediatric renal abscesses from January 2001 to December 2021 was performed. RESULTS: Fourteen children with a mean age of 11 years were diagnosed with a renal abscess on ultrasound and/or computed tomography. The most common presenting symptoms were fever (n = 13, 93%) and flank or abdominal pain (n = 12, 86%). The most common causative organisms were Staphylococcus aureus (n = 7, 50%) and Escherichia coli (n = 4, 29%). All renal abscesses less than 3 cm were managed with antibiotics alone. Five out of nine abscesses 3-5 cm were managed with percutaenous drainage (56%). Two multi-loculated abscesses greater than 5 cm required open drainage in theatre (100%). CONCLUSIONS: The most common causative organism in the North Queensland population was S. aureus, with a higher incidence of MRSA. This should be taken into consideration when prescribing empirical antibiotics. Most renal abscesses in children that are less than 3 cm in size can be managed with antibiotic therapy only. The evidence for management of larger abscesses is less clear, but where clinically appropriate conservative management with antibiotic therapy should be considered in the first instance, with percutaneous drainage in cases of antibiotic failure.

The Effect of Social Presence on Mentalizing Behavior.

Our behavior is frequently influenced by those around us. However, the majority of social cognition research is conducted using socially isolated paradigms, without the presence of real people (i.e., without a "social presence"). The current study aimed to test the influence of social presence upon a measure of mentalizing behavior in adults. Study 1 used a first-order theory of mind task; and study 2 used a second-order theory of mind task. Both studies included two conditions: live, where the task protagonists were physically present acting out the task, or recorded, where the same task protagonists demonstrated the task in a video recording. In both experiments, participants were affected by the social presence and demonstrated significantly different patterns of behavior in response to the presence of real people. This study, therefore, highlights the critical importance of understanding the effect of a social presence in mentalizing research, and suggests that the inclusion of a social presence needs to be given strong consideration across social cognition paradigms.

Why are some inhibitory tasks easy for preschool children when most are difficult? Testing two hypotheses.

Understanding the processes that create inhibitory demands is central to understanding the role of inhibitory control in all aspects of development. The processes that create inhibitory demands on most developmental tasks seem clear and well understood. However, there is one inhibitory task that appears substantially easier than the others: the Reverse Categorization task, in which children are asked to "reverse sort" items (e.g., put large items in a small box and put small items in a large box). This finding is both surprising and problematic because it cannot be explained by any existing account of inhibitory development. Four experiments with 3- and 4-year-olds sought to explain why the Reverse Categorization task is easy. Two experiments (N = 64) investigated the hypothesis that children conceptualize the task in a way that reduces its inhibitory demands; and two experiments (N = 56) tested the hypothesis that the task is easier because children sort items slowly. The data indicate that children spontaneously respond more slowly on the Reverse Categorization task than on other inhibitory tasks and that this slowing reduces the task's cognitive demands. The way in which slowed responding works, and its relation to other inhibition-reducing interventions, is discussed.

Can We Boost Preschoolers' Inhibitory Performance Just by Changing the Way They Respond?

Changing the way children make their response appears to sometimes, but not always, boost their inhibitory control-though interpreting existing findings is hampered by inconsistent methods and results. This study investigated the effects of delaying, and changing, the means of responding. Ninety-six preschoolers (Mage 46 months) completed tasks assessing inhibitory control, counterfactual reasoning, strategic reasoning, and false belief understanding. Children responded either immediately or after a delay, and either by pointing with their finger, or with a hand-held arrow. Delaying boosted performance on all tasks except false belief understanding; arrow-pointing only improved strategic reasoning. It is suggested that delay helps children work out the correct response; it is unlikely to help on tasks where this requirement is absent.

Implementation of an interdisciplinary tracheostomy care protocol to decrease rates of tracheostomy-related pressure ulcers and injuries.

OBJECTIVES: Tracheostomy-related pressure injuries (TRPI) have been demonstrated to occur in approximately 10% of tracheostomy patients. In this study, we present TRPI outcomes after implementation of a standardized tracheostomy care protocol. METHODS: A tracheostomy care protocol was developed by an interdisciplinary quality improvement program and implemented on July 1, 2016. The protocol was designed to minimize factors that contribute to the development of TRPI. Rates of TRPI over the subsequent 20 months were compared to the year before implementation. RESULTS: 9 out of 85 patients (10.6%) developed TRPI in the pre-protocol cohort compared to 0 of 137 (0%) in the post-protocol cohort, which was a statistically significant decrease by Fisher's exact test with a p-value of 0.0001. Pearson's correlation coefficient demonstrated a negative correlation between age and post-operative day of diagnosis (r = -0.641, p = 0.063), indicating that older patients develop TRPI more quickly. CONCLUSIONS: Interdisciplinary peri-operative tracheostomy care protocols can be effective in decreasing rates of TRPI.

Investigating arsenic impact of ACC treated timbers in compost production (A case study in Christchurch, New Zealand).

The arsenic concentration is an important issue in compost production. The main inputs of a compost factory, including kerbsides, green wastes, food industry wastes, and river weeds are investigated in this study. Also, this study investigated how treated timbers, ashes, and other contamination can impact arsenic concentration in compost production. The results showed that most treated timbers and all ashes of treated and untreated timbers contained significant amounts of arsenic. These results revealed that the presence of a small amount of treated timber ashes can significantly increase the arsenic concentration in composts. The results of the study show the arsenic concentration in compost increase during cold months, and it dropped during summer, which would be mostly because of high arsenic concentration in ashes of log burners. This study shows ashes of burning timbers can impact arsenic contamination mostly because of using Copper-Chrome-Arsenic wood preservatives (CCA). Also, the lab results show the arsenic level even in ashes of untreated timber is around 96 ppm. The ashes of H3, H4, and H5 treated timbers contain approximately 133,000, 155,000, and 179,000 ppm of arsenic, which one kg of them can increase arsenic concentration around 10 ppm in 13.3, 15.5 and 17.9 tons of dry compost products. The main problem is many people look at ashes and treated timber as organic materials; however, ashes of treated and untreated timbers contained high concentrations of arsenic. Therefore, it was necessary to warn people about the dangers of putting any ashes in organic waste bins.

The Role of Executive Functions in Socioeconomic Attainment Gaps: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial.

The socioeconomic attainment gap in mathematics starts early and increases over time. This study aimed to examine why this gap exists. Four-year-olds from diverse backgrounds were randomly allocated to a brief intervention designed to improve executive functions (N = 87) or to an active control group (N = 88). The study was preregistered and followed CONSORT guidelines. Executive functions and mathematical skills were measured at baseline, 1 week, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year posttraining. Executive functions mediated the relation between socioeconomic status and mathematical skills. Children improved over training, but this did not transfer to untrained executive functions or mathematics. Executive functions may explain socioeconomic attainment gaps, but cognitive training directly targeting executive functions is not an effective way to narrow this gap.

Understanding Early Inhibitory Development: Distinguishing Two Ways That Children Use Inhibitory Control.

Inhibitory control is the capacity to suppress inappropriate responses. It is central to many aspects of development, most notably executive function and effortful control. Despite its importance, however, there are significant gaps in our understanding of inhibitory control's early development, and several findings that remain hard to explain. Here, a new account of inhibitory control is presented, explaining previous findings by distinguishing between two distinct ways that inhibitory control is used. According to this "Strength/Endurance" account, inappropriate responses which are highly prepotent tax inhibitory strength; whereas inappropriate responses which remain active for a long time tax inhibitory endurance. The developmental trajectories of these two aspects of inhibitory control, and their separate impacts on broader development, are discussed.

Not All Distractions Are the Same: Investigating Why Preschoolers Make Distraction Errors When Switching.

When switching between tasks, preschoolers frequently make distraction errors-as distinct from perseverative errors. This study examines for the first time why preschoolers make these errors. One hundred and sixty-four 2- and 3-year-olds completed one of four different conditions on a rule-switching task requiring children to sort stimuli according to one rule and then switch to a new rule. Conditions varied according to the type of information that children needed to ignore. Children made significantly more distraction errors when the to-be-ignored information was related to the previous rule. When it was not related to a previous rule, even young preschoolers could disregard this information. This demonstrates that distraction errors are caused by children's initial goal representations that continue to affect performance.

Elevated Depressive Symptoms Among Hired Crop Workers in the United States: Variation by Sociodemographic and Employment Characteristics.

We present prevalence rates, along with demographic and economic characteristics associated with elevated depressive symptoms (EDS), in a nationally representative sample of hired crop workers in the United States. We analyzed in-person interviews with 3,691 crop workers collected in 2009-2010 as part of a mental health and psychosocial supplement to the National Agricultural Workers Survey. The prevalence of EDS was 8.3% in men and 17.1% in women. For men, multivariate analysis showed that EDS was associated with years of education, family composition, having a great deal of difficulty being separated from family, having fair or poor general health, ability to read English, fear of being fired from their current farm job, and method of payment (piece, salary, or a combination). Interactions were found between region of the country and family composition. Multivariate analyses for women showed that fear of being fired, fair or poor general health, having children ≤15 years of age, being unaccompanied by their nuclear family, expectation for length of time continuing to do farm work in the United States, and authorization status were associated with EDS. Interactions were found with Hispanic ethnicity and region of the country, as well as presence of the nuclear family and region. The present study identifies important risk factors in this first population-based assessment of EDS in a nationally representative sample of U.S. crop workers. The importance of social support from family, job insecurity, and high prevalence of EDS in female crop workers support the need for screening and outreach in this primarily rural group of men and women crop workers.

Young children can overcome their weak inhibitory control, if they conceptualize a task in the right way.

This article investigates the process of task conceptualization, through which participants turn the instructions on a task into a mental representation of that task. We provide the first empirical evidence that this process of conceptualization can directly influence the inhibitory demands of a task. Data from Experiments 1 and 2 (both n = 24) suggested that robust difficulties on inhibitory tasks can be overcome if preschoolers conceptualize the tasks in a way that avoids the need for inhibitory control. Experiment 3 (n = 60) demonstrated that even when all other aspects of a task are identical, simply changing how the rules are introduced can influence whether such a conceptualization is adopted - thereby influencing children's performance on the task. An appreciation of the process of conceptualization is essential for our understanding of how inhibitory control and knowledge interact in early development.

Neural Correlates of Response Inhibition in Early Childhood: Evidence From a Go/No-Go Task.

We examined the neural correlates underlying response inhibition in early childhood. Five-year-old children completed a Go/No-go task with or without time pressure (Fast vs. Slow condition) while scalp EEG was recorded. On No-go trials where inhibition was required, the left frontal N2 and posterior P3 were enhanced relative to Go trials. Time pressure was detrimental to behavioral performance and modulated the early-occurring P1 component. The topography of ERPs related to response inhibition differed from patterns typically seen in adults, and may indicate a compensatory mechanism to make up for immature inhibition networks in children.

Where does prepotency come from on developmental tests of inhibitory control?

Understanding the processes that make responses prepotent is central to understanding the role of inhibitory control in cognitive development. The question of what makes responses prepotent was investigated using the two most widely studied measures of preschoolers' inhibitory control. Across two experiments, 80 children were tested either on a series of stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) tasks or on a series of Go/No-go tasks. Results indicated that high levels of prepotency on SRC tasks (such as the Day/Night task) occur only under specific conditions; making a verbal response can be highly prepotent if the stimulus and response are associated with each other (e.g., saying "cup" to a cup) but is less prepotent when they are unassociated (e.g., saying "cup" to a doorstop). Action responses (e.g., lifting a cup to your mouth) show little prepotency irrespective of whether the stimulus and response are associated. In contrast, with Go/No-go tasks, a much wider variety of behaviors are highly prepotent regardless of whether the stimulus and response are associated. These data suggest that prepotency arises in very different ways, depending on the type of task used. Although both Go/No-go tasks and SRC tasks can make inhibitory demands, they do so for fundamentally different reasons.

The feasibility of pediatric TORS for lingual thyroglossal duct cyst.

A six-year-old boy who presented with symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea was found to have a midline tongue mass suspicious for lingual thyroglossal duct cyst (TGDC). Surgery was scheduled after workup confirmed the presence of functional, orthotopic thyroid tissue. The surgical robot was used to excise the mass endoscopically without removing any hyoid. He was extubated at the conclusion of the case. The child tolerated a soft diet and was discharged after an uneventful overnight stay in the ICU. Pathology confirmed TGDC. There have been no reported issues in eleven months of follow-up. Our report adds to the scarce literature on performing such a surgery in a child and demonstrates that with the correct circumstances, prompt extubation, discharge, and prolonged remission are possible.

Different Executive Functions Support Different Kinds of Cognitive Flexibility: Evidence From 2-, 3-, and 4-Year-Olds.

Improvements in cognitive flexibility during the preschool years have been linked to developments in both working memory and inhibitory control, though the precise contribution of each remains unclear. In the current study, one hundred and twenty 2-, 3-, and 4-year-olds completed two rule-switching tasks. In one version, children switched rules in the presence of conflicting information, and in the other version, children switched rules in the presence of distracting information. Switching in the presence of conflict improved rapidly between the ages of 3 and 3.5 years, and was associated with better working memory. Conversely, switching in the presence of distraction developed significantly between the ages of 2 and 3 years, and was associated with better inhibitory control.