Psychiatric and Behavioral Characteristics Among Male Adolescents With Sexually Acting Out Behaviors Admitted to a Residential Treatment Facility.

One quarter of sexual offenses in the criminal justice system are committed by children and adolescents. Mental health conditions, trauma history, and relationship to the victim may play a role in sexually acting out behaviors (SAB). A retroactive chart review was performed to discover commonalities among 109 adolescent males with SAB admitted to a residential treatment facility. Variables of interest included prior mental health diagnoses, trauma history, full scale intelligence quotient (IQ), relationship to the victim, sex of victim, history of multiple offenses, and history of sexually acting out on an individual aged ≤4 years. Results indicated that 70.6% of the sample had a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 24.7% had a full scale IQ <90, 41.3% had sexually acted out on more than one victim, and 22.9% sexually acted out solely on males. Pearson's chi-square analysis indicated a non-significant relationship between diagnostic groups and victim characteristics. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 60(9), 29-36.].

Calcium imaging of infrared-stimulated activity in rodent brain.

Infrared neural stimulation (INS) is a promising neurostimulation technique that can activate neural tissue with high spatial precision and without the need for exogenous agents. However, little is understood about how infrared light interacts with neural tissue on a cellular level, particularly within the living brain. In this study, we use calcium sensitive dye imaging on macroscopic and microscopic scales to explore the spatiotemporal effects of INS on cortical calcium dynamics. The INS-evoked calcium signal that was observed exhibited a fast and slow component suggesting activation of multiple cellular mechanisms. The slow component of the evoked signal exhibited wave-like properties suggesting network activation, and was verified to originate from astrocytes through pharmacology and 2-photon imaging. We also provide evidence that the fast calcium signal may have been evoked through modulation of glutamate transients. This study demonstrates that pulsed infrared light can induce intracellular calcium modulations in both astrocytes and neurons, providing new insights into the mechanisms of action of INS in the brain.