Background: Attachment-based parenting interventions have shown positive effects on early cortisol regulation, a key biomarker. Evaluations to date have focused on diurnal cortisol production in high-risk infants. It is important to understand whether attachment-based intervention may also improve stress-induced cortisol production in typically developing infants. This randomized controlled trial tested an enhanced model of U.S. Early Head Start (EHS) services that combined home-based EHS with a brief, attachment-based parenting intervention, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC). The trial included 153 low-income mothers and their infants (M age 12.4 months [SD = 4.1]). Control participants received home-based EHS plus 10 weekly books. Intent-to-treat analyses using multilevel models revealed a significant indirect intervention effect on infants’ rates of cortisol change in response to a series of mild stressors. The intervention increased maternal sensitivity, which in turn improved cortisol regulation, particularly infants’ rates of cortisol recovery. The findings illustrate the efficacy of EHS plus ABC for supporting infants’ stress-induced cortisol regulation and implicate sensitive maternal behavior as the underlying driver of the intervention effect. Findings are discussed in terms of the preventative value of attachment-based parenting interventions that improve both parenting and infants’ physiological regulation.
Training Award Opportunity to Attend “Spit Camp” at the IISBR
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (IISBR) at the University of California, Irvine is a hub for innovative research and professional training for the use of salivary bioscience methods in psychological research.
With support from the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, we are proud to announce a training scholarship program to support psychologists directly involved in the training of graduate students and other trainees to attend the IISBR Salivary Analyte Basics & Lab Training or “Spit Camp”.
What is Spit Camp?
Spit Camp is an intensive two (or three) day training that combines both lecture/didactic and hands-on laboratory training. Learn More
Why attend Spit Camp?
Great strides have been made in understanding how psychological processes influence health and disease via biological pathways. However, opportunities for psychologists to receive hands-on laboratory training is rare. The minimally-invasive nature of saliva sample collection, and the broad range of potential measurements, enables oral fluids to be employed in a wide range of psychological research. Spit Camp provides an open forum in which attendees learn both basic and advanced strategies for incorporating saliva into research. They will gain practical knowledge/experience in salivary bioscience, while building relationships, collaborations, sharing ideas and getting valuable feedback.
Who is eligible?
Any individual with a relevant and active program of research who is also directly involved in the mentorship of psychology trainees is eligible to apply. Preference will be given to individuals with strong financial need, engagement in mentorship (particularly with underrepresented trainees), and strong potential for contribution to salivary bioscience research.
Awards
In total, four $500 awards will be given to offset the regular cost of attendance. Two awards will be given in Round I and two in Round II. (Note that awardees are responsible for travel and attendance costs exceeding the $500 award.)
- Round I deadline: February 20, 2019
- Round II deadline: May 31, 2019
How to apply?
Please complete this brief Online Application
Adrenal function links to early postnatal growth and blood pressure at age 6 in children born extremely preterm.
Background: Low birth weight in term-born individuals correlates with adverse cardiometabolic outcomes; excess glucocorticoid exposure has been linked to these relationships. We hypothesized that cortisol and adrenal androgens would correlate inversely with birthweight and directly with markers of cardiometabolic risk in school-aged children born extremely preterm; further, preterm-born would have increased cortisol and adrenal androgens compared to term-born children.
Methods: Saliva samples were obtained at age 6 from 219 preterm-born children followed since birth and 40 term-born children and analyzed for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol. Cortisol was also measured at home (awakening, 30′ later, evening).
Results: For preterm-born children, cortisol and DHEA correlated inversely with weight and length Z-scores at 36 weeks PMA and positively with systolic BP. DHEA was higher in preterm-born than term-born children (boys p < 0.01; girls p = 0.04). Cortisol was similar between preterm-born and term-born at study visit; however, preterm-born children showed a blunted morning cortisol. In term-born children, DHEA correlated with BMI (p = 0.04), subscapular, and abdominal skinfold thicknesses (both p < 0.01).
Conclusion: Cortisol and DHEA correlated inversely with early postnatal growth and directly with systolic BP in extremely preterm-born children, suggesting perinatal programming. Blunted morning cortisol may reflect NICU stress, as seen after other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
Magnitude and Chronicity of Environmental Smoke Exposure Across Infancy and Early Childhood in a Sample of Low-Income Children
Introduction: Infants and young children may be at an increased risk for second- and thirdhand exposure to tobacco smoke because of increased respiration rate and exposure to surface residue. However, relatively fewer studies have examined biomarkers of exposure (cotinine) in children under age 4 years. This study examines the magnitude and chronicity of exposure across early childhood among children from low-income families in order to better characterize contextual risk factors associated with exposure.
Methods: A total of 1292 families were recruited in six nonurban counties of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Cotinine was assayed from infant saliva at 6, 15, 24, and 48 months of age (N = 1218), and categorized as low (≤0.45 ng/mL), moderate (0.46-12 ng/mL), or high (≥12 ng/mL) at each time point. Categories were highly correlated across time. Latent class analysis was used to summarize patterns of exposure categories across time.
Results: Magnitude of exposure in this sample was high, with approximately 12% of infants registering cotinine values at least 12 ng/mL, consistent with active smoking in adults. Greater exposure was associated with lower income, less education, more residential instability, and more instability in adult occupants in the home, whereas time spent in center-based day care was associated with lower exposure.
Conclusions: Young children from low-income, nonurban communities appear to bear a higher burden of secondhand smoke exposure than previous studies have reported. Results contribute to understanding populations at greater risk, as well as specific, potentially malleable, environmental factors that may be examined as direct contributors to exposure.
Implications: Results suggest that infants from low-income, nonurban families have higher risk for environmental smoke exposure than data from nationally representative samples. Predictors of exposure offer insights into specific factors that may be targeted for risk reduction efforts, specifically conditions of children’s physical space. In addition to considering the increases in risk when an adult smoker lives in a child’s home, families should also attend to the possible risk embedded within the home itself, such as residual smoke from previous occupants. For high-risk children, day care appears to mitigate the magnitude of exposure by providing extended time in a smoke-free environment.
Postdoctoral Training Fellowship Opening in Prenatal Stress & Developmental Psychopathology at Michigan State University
The Mother-Infant Studies Lab in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University (MSU: http://psychology.msu.edu/ ) seeks a postdoctoral fellow who is interested in understanding the effects of prenatal stress on the mother-infant relationship and infant developmental psychopathology using multi-method approaches including behavioral observation, clinical interview, laboratory tasks, analysis of salivary hormones, heart rate, and fetal movement, among others. The position will center on an NICHD-funded longitudinal study examining the relationship between the timing of intimate partner violence and other stressors in the prenatal period and the development of infant emotion regulation. Fellows are also encouraged to develop related projects.
We are seeking candidates with a doctoral degree in clinical or developmental psychology, or related fields such as human development & family studies or human neuroscience. Successful applicants will have substantive interests in mother-infant research, and a goal of developing expertise in multiple methods to assess physiology and behavior. Research experience with high-risk mothers and young children, as well as with some of the physiological methods used in the lab, are desirable. Strong data analytic skills, particularly for longitudinal analysis, are also desirable. The position offers excellent transdisciplinary training across clinical, developmental, and neuroscience approaches to understanding prenatal stress, the mother-infant relationship, and infant development. The trainee will be supervised by Drs. Alytia Levendosky, Anne Bogat (MSU Department of Psychology), and Joseph Lonstein (MSU Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program).
Michigan State University is located in mid-Michigan and part of the University Research Corridor (http://urcmich.org/about/) that includes MSU, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, offering opportunities for collaboration with some of the nation’s top scientists. This study involves a collaboration with the University of Michigan, Department of Psychiatry.
Qualified individuals must have completed a Ph.D. in clinical or developmental psychology or related field such as human development & family studies or neuroscience by the start date and must be a U.S. citizen or have permanent resident status.
Start Date: July or August, 2019
Applications will be reviewed starting immediately and continue until the position is filled. Please submit your application to http://careers.msu.edu/cw/en-us/job/500343/research-associatefixed-term Please include:
- Cover letter explaining professional developmental goals and research focus
- CV
- Names and email addresses of three references
MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer and is committed to achieving excellence through cultural diversity. The university actively encourages applications and/or nominations of women, persons of color, veterans, and persons with disabilities.
Minimally Invasive Saliva Testing to Monitor Norovirus Infection in Community Settings
Background: Norovirus is a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Routine norovirus diagnosis requires stool collection. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a noninvasive method to diagnose norovirus to complement stool diagnostics and to facilitate studies on transmission.
Methods: A multiplex immunoassay to measure salivary immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses to 5 common norovirus genotypes (GI.1, GII.2, GII.4, GII.6, and GII.17) was developed. The assay was validated using acute and convalescent saliva samples collected from Peruvian children <5 years of age with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-diagnosed norovirus infections (n = 175) and controls (n = 32). The assay sensitivity and specificity were calculated to determine infection status based on fold rise of salivary norovirus genotype-specific IgG using norovirus genotype from stool as reference.
Results: The salivary assay detected recent norovirus infections and correctly assigned the infecting genotype. Sensitivity was 71% and specificity was 96% across the evaluated genotypes compared to PCR-diagnosed norovirus infection.
Conclusions: This saliva-based assay will be a useful tool to monitor norovirus transmission in high-risk settings such as daycare centers or hospitals. Cross-reactivity is limited between the tested genotypes, which represent the most commonly circulating genotypes.
Magnitude and Chronicity of Environmental Smoke Exposure Across Infancy and Early Childhood in a Sample of Low-Income Children
Background: Infants and young children may be at an increased risk for second- and thirdhand exposure to tobacco smoke because of increased respiration rate and exposure to surface residue. However, relatively fewer studies have examined biomarkers of exposure (cotinine) in children under age 4 years. This study examines the magnitude and chronicity of exposure across early childhood among children from low-income families in order to better characterize contextual risk factors associated with exposure.
Methods: A total of 1292 families were recruited in six nonurban counties of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Cotinine was assayed from infant saliva at 6, 15, 24, and 48 months of age (N = 1218), and categorized as low (≤0.45 ng/mL), moderate (0.46-12 ng/mL), or high (≥12 ng/mL) at each time point. Categories were highly correlated across time. Latent class analysis was used to summarize patterns of exposure categories across time.
Results: Magnitude of exposure in this sample was high, with approximately 12% of infants registering cotinine values at least 12 ng/mL, consistent with active smoking in adults. Greater exposure was associated with lower income, less education, more residential instability, and more instability in adult occupants in the home, whereas time spent in center-based day care was associated with lower exposure.
Conclusions: Young children from low-income, nonurban communities appear to bear a higher burden of secondhand smoke exposure than previous studies have reported. Results contribute to understanding populations at greater risk, as well as specific, potentially malleable, environmental factors that may be examined as direct contributors to exposure.
Implications: Results suggest that infants from low-income, nonurban families have higher risk for environmental smoke exposure than data from nationally representative samples. Predictors of exposure offer insights into specific factors that may be targeted for risk reduction efforts, specifically conditions of children’s physical space. In addition to considering the increases in risk when an adult smoker lives in a child’s home, families should also attend to the possible risk embedded within the home itself, such as residual smoke from previous occupants. For high-risk children, day care appears to mitigate the magnitude of exposure by providing extended time in a smoke-free environment.
Gender-based violence and trauma in marginalized populations of women: Role of biological embedding and toxic stress.
Background:
Gender-based violence (GBV) and trauma can dysregulate and recalibrate environmentally sensitive physiological (i.e. central nervous, endocrine, and immune) systems placing survivors at risk for multiple health problems. The researchers build the case that the effects of GBV are likely to be particularly high impact and contribute to health disparities for marginalized survivors of GBV. Further, the researchers underscore a need for a multi-level bio-socio-ecological model that deciphers, characterizes, and explains individual differences in these effects and the need to establish an evidence base from which to derive interventions that address biological effects of toxic stress among marginalized survivors of GBV.
Associations Between Secretory Immunoglobulin A and Social Network Structure.
PURPOSE:
This study investigates the social determinants of health by examining how mucosal immunity is associated with the patterning of social connections in a network. Studies have suggested that social networks have biological underpinnings, but investigations at the scale of networks, rather than individuals, have remained elusive. We integrate salivary bioscience methods with advanced social network modeling to explore the association between salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), a key component of mucosal immunity, and social network structure.
METHOD:
Friendship network data and saliva samples (later assayed for SIgA) were obtained from a large mixed-gender social organization (n = 155, 55% female, M age = 19.5 years).
RESULTS:
Exponential random graph modeling revealed that SIgA levels were positively associated with reporting more friendship ties with community members (i.e., social network activity), after controlling for other processes associated with network structure including preference to befriend others of the same age, gender, and extraversion, increased network popularity of agreeable individuals and those with lower levels of perceived stress, as well as network structural and organizational processes.
CONCLUSION:
By examining a wider range of associations between SIgA and network structure, we pinpoint that SIgA is positively associated with respondent’s sociability. Our findings are consistent with social integration theories linking social relationships to health and highlight the role of humoral immunity as a possible mediator of these associations.
First IISBR Virtual Salivary Bioscience Conference Coming This Spring, 2019.
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (IISBR) at the University of California at Irvine is hosting the first in an annual series of research conferences. The purpose is to provide a mechanism for IISBR affiliated faculty, fellows, and their colleagues and students to connect and share scientific information by presenting new advancements and achievements in salivary bioscience.
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