Behavioral Profiles of Adolescent Alcohol-Preferring/Non-preferring (P/NP) and High/Low Alcohol-Drinking (HAD/LAD) Rats Are Dependent on Line but Not Sex

Initial contact with alcohol generally occurs during adolescence, and high consumption during this period is associated with increased risk for later alcohol (AUDs) and/or substance use disorders (SUDs). Rodents selectively bred for high or low alcohol consumption are used to identify behavioral characteristics associated with a propensity for high or low voluntary alcohol intake. The multivariate concentric square field™ (MCSF) is a behavioral test developed to study rodents in a semi-naturalistic setting. Testing in the MCSF creates a comprehensive behavioral profile in a single trial. The current aim was to examine the behavioral profiles of adolescent, bidirectionally selectively bred male and female high alcohol-consuming (P and HAD1/2) and low alcohol-consuming (NP and LAD1/2) rat lines, and outbred Wistar rats. Alcohol-naïve rats were tested once in the MCSF at an age between postnatal days 30 and 35. No common behavioral profile was found for either high or low alcohol-consuming rat lines, and the effect of sex was small. The P/NP and HAD2/LAD2 lines showed within pair-dependent differences, while the HAD1/LAD1 lines were highly similar. The P rats displayed high activity and risk-associated behaviors, whereas HAD2 rats displayed low activity, high shelter-seeking behavior, and open area avoidance. The results from P rats parallel clinical findings that denser family history and risk-taking behavior are strong predictors of future AUDs, often with early onset. Contrarily, the HAD2 behavioral profile was similar to individuals experiencing negative emotionality, which also is associated with a vulnerability to develop, often with a later onset, AUDs and/or SUDs.

Lateral Line Ablation by Toxins Results in Distinct Rheotaxis Profiles in Fish

Zebrafish lateral line is an established model for hair cell organ damage, yet few studies link mechanistic disruptions to changes in biologically relevant behavior. We used larval zebrafish to determine how damage via ototoxic chemicals impact rheotaxis. Larvae were treated with CuSO4 or neomycin to disrupt lateral line function then exposed to water flow stimuli. Their swimming behavior was recorded, and DeepLabCut and SimBA software were used to track movements and classify rheotaxis behavior. Lateral line-disrupted fish performed rheotaxis, but they swam greater distances, for shorter durations, and with greater angular variance than controls. Further, spectral decomposition analyses demonstrated that lesioned fish exhibited toxin-specific behavioral profiles with distinct fluctuations in the magnitude, timing, and cross-correlation between changes in linear and angular movements. Our observations support that lateral-line input is needed for fish to perform rheotaxis efficiently in flow and reveals commonly used lesion methods have unique effects on behavior.

Cognitive and Behavioral Profiles of Children with Aspartylglucosaminuria: A Case Series

Aspartylglucosaminuria (AGU) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder with an autosomal recessive inheritance. It affects the aspartylglucosaminidase (AGA) gene and causes a deficiency in activity of the enzyme N-aspartyl-β-glucosaminidase with resultant accumulation of glycoasparagines in body tissues. Children with AGU present with developmental delays in cognitive and language skills. Currently, information on cognition and behavior of children with AGU is limited. This case series presents the neuropsychological and behavioral profiles of three children with AGU assessed at two time points. All the three children had full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in the intellectual disabled range (<70). IQ had declined since their previous cognitive assessment 1 to 2 years prior. Other cognitive skills were significantly below expected levels. Parents reported several behavioral problems and adaptive difficulties. The findings challenge current beliefs that cognition is impaired but stable in children with declines seen in a short time.

Students’ Physical Activity Profiles According to Children’s Age and Parental Educational Level

The aim of this study was to identify different profiles of physical activity (PA) behaviors according to the school student’s age stage and their parents’ or guardians education level. Seven hundred twenty-seven students and parents of different educational stages were invited to take part in this study. The participants included, Preschool (1 to 5 years old), Primary School (6 to 11 years old), Secondary School (12 to 15 years old), and High School (16 to 18 years old). A questionnaire to assess the educational level of parents (low, intermediate, and high) and their child’s PA level and sedentary behaviors across various age stages was administered. The results showed a number of different physical activity profiles for preschool (4), primary (6), secondary (7) and high school (2) students. Primary and secondary school children’s behavioral profiles were reported to differ significantly between both physical activity levels and sedentary behaviors, while preschool students’ behavioral profiles only differed between sedentary behaviors. Higher parental education was most prevalent in clusters with significantly higher levels of PA in primary and secondary students, while there were equivocal trends for parental education level influencing behavioral profiles of high school students. These findings suggest there is some association between the behavioral profiles of student’s physical activity and sedentary behavior, and parental education level, most noticeably during the early to middle age stages.

Translating additive connectors from English into Spanish and vice versa

This contrastive study aims to analyze and compare the usages of one type of sentence connectors, reinforcing additive connectors, in English and in Spanish through a corpus-based approach, which relies on bidirectional translation data. The analysis includes behavioral profiles of each of the list of connectors in each language, comparisons among them, comparisons between original texts and translated texts in both directions, cross-register differences, translational options, and the connectors’ mutual correspondence, which shows the degree of equivalence of each pair of connectors based on how often they are translated into each other. The results show important differences in the use of reinforcing additive connectors, mainly connected with (a) the more even distribution in English as compared with the great predominance of one connector in Spanish, además; (b) a more marked tendency for explicitation in Spanish and for the use of zero translation in English; (c) generally low mutual correspondence values, which seem to reflect high language variation, richness, and complex mapping of resources utilized to connect sentences.

Effects of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Emotional and Behavioral Profiles of Preschool Italian Children with and without Familial Risk for Neurodevelopmental Disorders

The effects of COVID-19 containment measures on the emotional and behavioral development of preschoolers are not clear. We investigated them within an ongoing longitudinal project including typically developing children (TD) and children at high familial risk for neurodevelopmental disorders (HR-NDD) who were potentially more vulnerable. The study included ninety children aged 2–6 years (TD = 48; HR-NDD = 42). Before the emergency phase (T0), all children received a clinical assessment, including the parent questionnaire Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1.5–5 (CBCL 1.5–5). The same questionnaire was filled out again during the emergency (T1), together with an ad-hoc questionnaire investigating environmental factors characterizing the specific period. Changes in the CBCL profiles between T0 and T1 were evaluated. Overall, irrespective of familial risk, the average T-scores on specific CBCL scales at T1 were higher than at T0. Associations emerged between delta scores reflecting worsening scores on specific CBCL scales and clinical and environmental factors. Our results confirmed the negative impact of the lockdown on preschool children’s emotional/behavioral profiles, and highlight the need for strategic approaches in the age range of 2–6 years, especially for more susceptible children owing to environmental factors and pre-existing emotional problems.