ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Pediatric SARS-CoV-2 data remain limited and seropositivity rates in children were reported as <1% early in the pandemic. Seroepidemiologic evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 in children in a major metropolitan region of the US was performed. METHODS: Children and adolescents ≤19 years were enrolled in a cross-sectional, observational study of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence from July-October 2020 in Northern Virginia, US. Demographic, health, and COVID-19 exposure information was collected, and blood analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein total antibody. Risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity were analyzed. Orthogonal antibody testing was performed, and samples were evaluated for responses to different antigens. RESULTS: In 1038 children, the anti-SARS-CoV-2 total antibody positivity rate was 8.5%. After multivariate logistic regression, significant risk factors included Hispanic ethnicity, public or absent insurance, a history of COVID-19 symptoms, exposure to person with COVID-19, a household member positive for SARS-CoV-2 and multi-family or apartment dwelling without a private entrance. 66% of seropositive children had no symptoms of COVID-19. Secondary analysis included orthogonal antibody testing with assays for 1) a receptor binding domain specific antigen and 2) a nucleocapsid specific antigen had concordance rates of 80.5% and 79.3% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A much higher burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by seropositivity, was found in children than previously reported; this was also higher compared to adults in the same region at a similar time. Contrary to prior reports, we determined children shoulder a significant burden of COVID-19 infection. The role of children's disease transmission must be considered in COVID-19 mitigation strategies including vaccination.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/blood , COVID-19/epidemiology , SARS-CoV-2 , Adolescent , Antibodies, Viral/blood , Antigens, Viral , COVID-19/immunology , COVID-19 Serological Testing , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Multivariate Analysis , Pandemics , Risk Factors , Seroepidemiologic Studies , United StatesABSTRACT
In recent decades there has been great progress in discovering the conditions under which cue competition occurs during animal learning. In humans, however, the evidence remains equivocal regarding the degree to which stimuli compete with one another for behavioral control. We report here the results of a single experiment wherein thirty-nine college students completed a novel cue competition task with visual and tactile stimuli. Participants visually and/or haptically examined a series of novel objects. They were then asked to select the objects with which they had interacted from a larger pool of both novel and familiar objects. Potentiation (or facilitation) by simultaneous visual and haptic inspection was possible. Alternatively, stimulus elements may have competed with one another (i.e., overshadowing), which would present as poorer recognition at test for objects to which participants had simultaneous, dual-modality training exposure. We report the latter effect. We situate these findings in the broader context of associative learning and suggest that our data is relevant to applied settings.
Subject(s)
Cues , Recognition, Psychology , Touch Perception , Visual Perception , Adolescent , Animals , Female , Humans , Male , Photic Stimulation , Physical Stimulation , Young AdultABSTRACT
Despite increasing interest in understanding psychopathic traits in youth, the role of early environmental factors in the development of psychopathic traits is not well understood. No prior studies have directly examined the relationship between early life events and psychopathic traits. We examined links between life events in the first 4 years of life and indices of the core affective and interpersonal components of psychopathy. Additionally, we examined relationships between early life events, psychopathic traits, and attachment to parents among 206 adjudicated adolescents. Results indicated that the total number of early life events was positively correlated with indices of the affective component of psychopathy. Moreover, psychopathic traits moderated the relationship between the number of early life events and later reports of attachment to parents. Findings suggest that early environmental factors could have important implications for the development of psychopathic traits and may impact attachment to parents for youth with psychopathic traits.
