Investigator |
Lisa Berlin Brenda Jones Harden University of Maryland |
Project Description |
This 5-year Early Head Start-University Partnership is being conducted in collaboration with four Early Head Start programs in the greater Washington, DC area. The project involves implementing a supplemental parenting intervention for especially high-risk Early Head Start mother-infant dyads, Dozier’s Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), and evaluating the effects on parenting behaviors and infant stress regulation. Participants are 270 mothers and their infants receiving home-based Early Head Start services. There are three broad objectives: (1) To define criteria for identifying Early Head Start families at risk for experiencing “toxic stress” and validate these criteria empirically: (2) To evaluate through a randomized trial the efficacy and value added of supplementing Early Head Start services with the ABC program; (3) To evaluate the implementation and sustainability of the ABC program within the Early Head Start context. Key outcome assessments include observed parenting behaviors, infant’s stress regulatory behaviors, and infant’s salivary cortisol production during a series of mildly stressful activities. This project is part of Administration for Children and Families Buffering Toxic Stress research consortium. |
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/resource/early-head-start-university-partnership-grants-buffering-children-from |
Social Network and Hormones Study
Investigators |
Serena Weren Graduate Assistant ASU |
Olga Kornienko, PhD Assistant Research Professor ASU |
Gary Hill Professor of Music ASU |
Project Description |
The ASU Marching Band study examines how individual-level characteristics, formal and informal social networks and contextual factors mediate physiological attunement between students in a marching band and if this attunement changes over time. This study focuses on cortisol and testosterone, which are salivary biomarkers that index activity of physiological systems relevant to affect, stress, and social relationships. Behavior and physiological attunement has been observed in other types of relationships and contexts, but there are currently no data for a large musical ensemble. The marching band represents a large sample population where social and performance-based relationships are developed while working towards a common performance goal. Thus, it provides a unique opportunity to investigate how multiple social networks intersect and affect physiological attunement, individual’s functioning, and marching band performance. We use a short-term longitudinal design to examine network selection and social influence processes regarding behavior and physiological outcomes. |
Preventing Respiratory Infections During Early Childhood (PRIDE)
Investigator |
Cynthia Rand, PhD Professor Johns Hopkins School of Medicine |
Project Description |
The purpose of the PRIDE study is to conduct a randomized clinical trial of a home-delivered, motivational interviewing-based secondhand smoke (SHS) reduction intervention combined with a Head Start (HS) -level education program in reducing children’s SHS exposure, compared to a HS-level education program alone. We will enroll 350 Head Start students aged 2-5 years with a caregiver-reported smoker in the home from all 17 Baltimore City HS programs. The primary study outcome measure will be household SHS levels, as measured by home air nicotine levels at six month follow-up. Secondary outcomes include caregiver-reported home and car smoking bans, child’s salivary cotinine levels, children’s respiratory symptoms, caregiver smoking cessation, school absences, and health care utilization measures. |
Pediatric Asthma Alert Intervention (PAAL)
Investigator |
Arlene Butz, ScD, MSN, CPNP Professor Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Nursing |
Project Description |
This is a randomized controlled trial of a clinician and parent feedback intervention for children with persistent asthma and with frequent emergency department (ED) visits for asthma. The specific aim is to determine if providing the child’s primary care provider (PCP) and parent with asthma health information, including cotinine concentrations as a biomarker of second hand smoke exposure, is effective in reducing subsequent ED asthma visits. Overall 300 children have been recruited and are currently being followed for 12 months. Salivary cotinine concentrations are collected at baseline and 12 months post randomization to determine if providing the parent with a child’s cotinine level will motivate the family to institute a total home smoking ban and reduce the child’s exposure to second hand smoke and reduce ED utilization. |
Fetus to Five Study
Investigator |
Sara Johnson, PhD, MPH Assistant Professor Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Janet DiPietro, PhD Professor Associate Dean for Research Johns Hopkins School of Public Health |
Project Description |
The Fetus to Five Study is focused on understanding the development of self-regulation from the prenatal period to age 5. Part of this study is focused on understanding how social experiences shape the development of physiological processes that support cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and physiological self-regulation. Salivary biomarkers are being used to provide a “snapshot” of functioning across a variety of body systems both in the lab and in participating families’ daily lives. |
Assessment of the Impact of Sunflower Oil Emollient Therapy on Neonatkin Barrier Function,al S Nutritional Status, Bacterial Colonization of the Skin, and Markers of Immune Response in Sarlahi, Nepal
Investigator |
Luke Mullany, PhD, MHS Associate Professor Johns Hopkins School of Public Health |
Project Description |
This project will take place over about 12 months and sample 500 preterm and 500 fullterm babies in Sarlahi District in rural Nepal to determine the possible mechanistic reasons for improved health outcomes in neonates receiving full body massage using sunflower seed oil relative to mustard seed oil. These activities broadly relate to four domains: improved skin integrity and function, microbial challenge at the skin, biomarkers of immune responses, and nutritional status. This project will specifically examine whether: trans-epidermal water loss is decreased; skin pH more rapidly stabilizes during the first week of life; there is a difference in stratum corneum protein content and amount; skin condition scores for dryness, rash, and erythema are lower (improved) among babies in the sunflower oil group; overall and organism-specific presence and density of colonization at the axilla, inguinal, and periumbilical region differs between the groups; there are changes in immune response at both the systemic and epidermal innate immunity levels; there are differences in salivary and serum cytokine concentrations over the first week of life using repeat salivary swabs and heelprick blood samples; there are differences in epidermal biomarkers (keratin 1,10,11, involucrin, albumin) and cytokine levels (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α) using a non-invasive skin tape-strip sampling method; weight is higher 7, 28, and 180 days after birth; length is greater at 7, 28 and 180 days after birth; and serum levels of essential fatty acids are improved among babies in the sunflower oil group. |
Evaluating the Potential of Saliva as a Research Specimen for Use in the National Children’s Study
Investigator |
Douglas Granger, PhD Director, Professor Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research |
Project Description |
Saliva, blood, and urine samples will be collected from men and women, mothers and children, in order to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing saliva tests in the National Children’s Study (NCS), which will study the effects that a broad range of environmental exposures may have on the growth, development, and health of children in the US. If saliva tests prove to be as feasible as blood and/or urine tests, it is thought that this may increase the participation of mothers and children in the NCS. Both correlation with blood/urine tests as well as general practicality of proper collection by participants will be analyzed. |
Mrug, S., et al. (2015). Sleep problems predict cortisol reactivity to stress in urban adolescents. Physiology & Behavior. 155:95–101.
Abstract:
This study examined the role of sleep problems and sleep duration on stress-related HPA axis reactivity among urban, low income adolescents. A total of 84 adolescents (M age 13.36 years; 50% male; 95% African American) and their parents provided information on adolescents’ sleep problems and sleep quantity. Adolescents completed a standardized social stress test in the laboratory (the Trier Social Stress Test; TSST). Saliva samples collected before and after the TSST yielded measures of cortisol pre-test, 15 min post-test, and 55 min post-test, as well as overall cortisol secretion and its increase (AUCG and AUCI). More sleep problems and longer sleep duration predicted higher cortisol reactivity to the TSST, particularly among females. Self-reports of sleep were more consistently related to stress-related cortisol reactivity than parent reports. Sleep problems and longer sleep duration may place adolescents at risk for HPA axis hyper-reactivity to stress, contributing to academic, behavioral and health problems.
Portnoy, J., et al. (2015). Digit ratio (2D:4D) moderates the relationship between cortisol reactivity and self-reported externalizing behavior in young adolescent males. Biol Psychol. 112:94-106.
Abstract:
Although reduced cortisol reactivity to stress and increased circulating testosterone level are hypothesized to be associated with higher levels of externalizing behavior, empirical findings are inconsistent. One factor that may account for the heterogeneity in these relationships is prenatal testosterone exposure. This study examined whether the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker of prenatal testosterone exposure, moderates the relationships of testosterone and cortisol reactivity with externalizing behavior. Left and right hand 2D:4D and self-reported externalizing behavior were measured in a sample of 353 young adolescents (M age=11.92 years; 178 females; 79.7% African American). Saliva samples were collected before and after a stress task and later assayed for cortisol. Testosterone levels were determined from an AM saliva sample. 2D:4D interacted with cortisol reactivity to predict externalizing behavior in males, but not females. In males, low cortisol reactivity was associated with higher levels of aggression and rule-breaking behavior, but only among subjects with low 2D:4D (i.e., high prenatal testosterone). Findings suggest the importance of a multi-systems approach in which interactions between multiple hormones are taken into account. Furthermore, results demonstrate the importance of considering the organizational influence of prenatal testosterone in order to understand the activational influence of circulating hormones during adolescence.
Matin, M. J., et al. (2015). Measuring nerve growth factor in saliva by immunoassay: A cautionary note. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 63:235-237.
Abstract:
Nerve growth factor (NGF), a neurotrophin, modulates a diverse set of physiologic processes in the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems. Studies suggest that NGF can be measured in saliva (sNGF). Historically, the method for measuring sNGF involves the off-label use of an enzyme immunoassay designed for use with cell-culture supernatants/tissue extracts (Nam et al., 2007; Ruhl et al., 2004). In a series of experiments we reveal this measurement strategy is subject to non-specific interference by constituents present in oral fluids. We conclude that the measurement of sNGF by this assay is not optimal for use with oral fluid specimens.