Culture and the assumptions about appearance and reality: a scientometric look at a century of research

Introduction

People represent the world in terms of two constructs: how something appears on the surface (appearance) and what it is underneath that surface (reality). Both constructs are central to various bodies of literature. What has not been done, however, is a systematic look at this collection of literature for overarching themes. Motivated by this research gap, the present scientometric review aimed to identify the common themes that penetrate through a century of scholarly work on appearance and reality. In doing so, this review also sketched a scientometric outline of the international network, pinpointing where the work was carried out.

Methods

With CiteSpace software, we computed an optimized document co-citation analysis with a sample of 4,771 documents (1929-2022), resulting in a network of 1,785 nodes.

Results and discussion

We identified impactful publications, summarized major intellectual movements, and identified five thematic clusters ("Perception of Counseling Services", "Appearance and Reality in Sociocultural Evolution," "Cultural Heritage and Identity," "Media and Culture," and "Cultural Identity"), all with theoretical and pragmatic implications which we discuss. A deeper look at these clusters reveals new empirical questions and promising directions for future research.

Neural Processing of Sexist Comments: Associations between Perceptions of Sexism and Prefrontal Activity

Sexism is a widespread form of gender discrimination which includes remarks based on gender stereotypes. However, little is known about the neural basis underlying the experience of sexist-related comments and how perceptions of sexism are related to these neural processes. The present study investigated whether perceptions of sexism influence neural processing of receiving sexist-related comments. Participants (N = 67) read experimental vignettes describing scenarios of comments involving gender stereotypes while near-infrared spectroscopy recordings were made to measure the hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal cortex. Results found a significant correlation between participants' perceptions of sexism and brain activation in a brain cluster including the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. There was a significant gender difference where female participants showed a stronger negative correlation compared to male participants. Future research can expand on these initial findings by looking at subcortical structures involved in emotional processing and gender stereotype application as well as examining cultural differences in perceptions of gender stereotypes and sexism.

Short Report: Lack of Diurnal Variation in Salivary Cortisol Is Linked to Sleep Disturbances and Heightened Anxiety in Adolescents with Williams Syndrome

Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine the potential relationship between sleep patterns, cortisol levels, and anxiety profiles in adolescents with Williams Syndrome (WS) compared to typically developing adolescents. Method: Thirteen adolescents with WS and thirteen TD adolescents (age range 12–18 years) were recruited. Participants were provided with a “testing kit”, containing instructions for collecting data through a sleep diary, MotionWare actigraphy, the Childhood Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), and the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, and a salivary cortisol collection kit. Results: Adolescents in the WS group did not show diurnal variation in salivary cortisol. Significantly higher scores were reported for two CSHQ subsections, night wakings and parasomnias, in the WS group. Regarding the actigraphy, only significantly longer sleep latency was observed in the WS group. In comparison to the TD group, the WS group had significantly higher anxiety. As expected, the TD group showed typical diurnal variation in cortisol, whereas the WS group showed a flattened cortisol profile throughout the day. Conclusions: From the developmental perspective, this study provides new data supporting the conclusion that sleep problems are not transient but continue to persist into adolescence in WS. Future studies ought to consider examining the role of cortisol and its interplay with anxiety levels and sleep problems across the lifespan in individuals with WS.

Probing the association between maternal anxious attachment style and mother-child brain-to-brain coupling during passive co-viewing of visual stimuli

Brain-to-brain coupling during co-viewing of video stimuli reflects similar intersubjective mentalisation processes. During an everyday joint activity of watching video stimuli (television shows) with her child, an anxiously attached mother's preoccupation with her child is likely to distract her from understanding the mental state of characters in the show. To test the hypothesis that reduced coupling in the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) would be observed with increasing maternal attachment anxiety (MAA), we profiled mothers' MAA using the Attachment Style Questionnaire and used functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess PFC coupling in 31 mother-child dyads while they watched three 1-min animation videos together. Reduced coupling was observed with increasing MAA in the medial right PFC cluster which is implicated in mentalisation processes. This result did not survive control analyses and should be taken as preliminary. Reduced coupling between anxiously-attached mothers and their children during co-viewing could undermine quality of shared experiences.

Self-perceived loneliness and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic: a two-wave replication study

The global Covid-19 pandemic has forced countries to impose strict lockdown restrictions and mandatory stay-at-home orders with varying impacts on individual's health. Combining a data-driven machine learning paradigm and a statistical approach, our previous paper documented a U-shaped pattern in levels of self-perceived loneliness in both the UK and Greek populations during the first lockdown (17 April to 17 July 2020). The current paper aimed to test the robustness of these results by focusing on data from the first and second lockdown waves in the UK. We tested a) the impact of the chosen model on the identification of the most time-sensitive variable in the period spent in lockdown. Two new machine learning models - namely, support vector regressor (SVR) and multiple linear regressor (MLR) were adopted to identify the most time-sensitive variable in the UK dataset from Wave 1 (n = 435). In the second part of the study, we tested b) whether the pattern of self-perceived loneliness found in the first UK national lockdown was generalisable to the second wave of the UK lockdown (17 October 2020 to 31 January 2021). To do so, data from Wave 2 of the UK lockdown (n = 263) was used to conduct a graphical inspection of the week-by-week distribution of self-perceived loneliness scores. In both SVR and MLR models, depressive symptoms resulted to be the most time-sensitive variable during the lockdown period. Statistical analysis of depressive symptoms by week of lockdown resulted in a U-shaped pattern between weeks 3 and 7 of Wave 1 of the UK national lockdown. Furthermore, although the sample size by week in Wave 2 was too small to have a meaningful statistical insight, a graphical U-shaped distribution between weeks 3 and 9 of lockdown was observed. Consistent with past studies, these preliminary results suggest that self-perceived loneliness and depressive symptoms may be two of the most relevant symptoms to address when imposing lockdown restrictions.

Dataset of parent-child hyperscanning functional near-infrared spectroscopy recordings

The term “hyperscanning” refers to the simultaneous recording of multiple individuals’ brain activity. As a methodology, hyperscanning allows the investigation of brain-to-brain synchrony. Despite being a promising technique, there is a limited number of publicly available functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning recordings. In this paper, we report a dataset of fNIRS recordings from the prefrontal cortical (PFC) activity of 33 mother-child dyads and 29 father-child dyads. Data was recorded while the parent-child dyads participated in an experiment with two sessions: a passive video attention task and a free play session. Dyadic metadata, parental psychological traits, behavioural annotations of the play sessions and information about the video stimuli complementing the dataset of fNIRS signals are described. The dataset presented here can be used to design, implement, and test novel fNIRS analysis techniques, new hyperscanning analysis tools, as well as investigate the PFC activity in participants of different ages when they engage in passive viewing tasks and active interactive tasks.

Measurement(s)	Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent Response
Technology Type(s)	Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
Factor Type(s)	Parenting Stress • Parental Bonding • Attachment Style
Sample Characteristic - Organism	Homo sapiens
Sample Characteristic - Location	Singapore

Habilitation of sleep problems among mothers and their children with autism spectrum disorder: Insights from multi-level exploratory dyadic analyses

Few habilitation strategies for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) consider their sleep-related problems. Together with the fact that caregivers of children with ASD also face issues with sleep, there may be yet-to-be uncovered relationships between caregiver-child sleep patterns and sleep quality, offering a key opportunity for clinicians to consider the needs of both child and caregiver in terms of sleep. 29 dyads of mothers and their children with ASD were recruited for this cohort study and both subjective (self-report questionnaires and sleep diaries) and objective (cortisol samples and actigraphy) measures of sleep were collected to investigate significant predictors of sleep quality. Comparative, correlational, and hierarchical analyses were conducted. Findings indicated that both mother and child experience sleep deprivation in terms of shorter sleep duration and poor sleep quality in terms of longer sleep onset latencies and a higher frequency of wake bouts. Exploratory hierarchical analyses also found that child-related sleep difficulties such as sleep disordered breathing and night waking significantly predict mothers’ sleep quality, which may point to the bi-directional influence of mother-child sleep. Based on these findings, it is recommended that clinicians adopt a family systems perspective and consider the sleep environment of the household, particularly that of the caregiver and child, when designing interventions for sleep-related problems in ASD. Finally, there is a need for additional support to promote good quality sleep among caregivers of children with ASD to bolster out-of-clinic care.

A Machine Learning Perspective on fNIRS Signal Quality Control Approaches

Despite a rise in the use of functional Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study neural systems, fNIRS signal processing is not standardized and is highly affected by empirical and manual procedures. At the beginning of any signal processing procedure, Signal Quality Control (SQC) is critical to prevent errors and unreliable results. In fNIRS analysis, SQC currently relies on applying empirical thresholds to handcrafted Signal Quality Indicators (SQIs). In this study, we use a dataset of fNIRS signals (N = 1,340) recorded from 67 subjects, and manually label the signal quality of a subset of segments (N = 548) to investigate the pitfalls of current practices while exploring the opportunities provided by Deep Learning approaches. We show that SQIs statistically discriminate signals with bad quality, but the identification by means of empirical thresholds lacks sensitivity. Alternatively to manual thresholding, conventional machine learning models based on the SQIs have been proven more accurate, with end-to-end approaches, based on Convolutional Neural Networks, capable of further improving the performance. The proposed approach, based on machine learning, represents a more objective SQC for fNIRS and moves towards the use of fully automated and standardized procedures.

Alterations in Cortisol Profiles among Mothers of Children with ASD Related to Poor Child Sleep Quality

Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience poorer sleep, but studies have not yet used objective measures to investigate how child and caregiver sleep affect each other. In this study, 29 mothers and their child with ASD aged between 6 and 16 years were recruited. Questionnaires measuring child autism, maternal depression, and maternal and child sleep quality were administered. Cortisol salivary samples were also obtained from the mothers over the course of a day. Results revealed that maternal depression is significantly correlated with their subjective sleep quality, sleep latency and daytime dysfunction. Child sleep quality was also found to be significantly correlated with ASD severity. In terms of maternal cortisol profiles, a significant number of mothers showed a flattened diurnal cortisol expression, and children of mothers with a flattened cortisol profile had significantly more sleep problems. Overall, results suggest that maternal and child sleep are affected by the child’s disability but also are mutually related. Future studies may consider employing measures such as actigraphy or somnography to quantify sleep quality and establish causal pathways between sleep, cortisol expression and caregiver and child outcomes. The present study has clinical implications in examining family sleep when considering treatment for ASD.

Improving the Efficacy of Deep-Learning Models for Heart Beat Detection on Heterogeneous Datasets

Deep learning (DL) has greatly contributed to bioelectric signal processing, in particular to extract physiological markers. However, the efficacy and applicability of the results proposed in the literature is often constrained to the population represented by the data used to train the models. In this study, we investigate the issues related to applying a DL model on heterogeneous datasets. In particular, by focusing on heart beat detection from electrocardiogram signals (ECG), we show that the performance of a model trained on data from healthy subjects decreases when applied to patients with cardiac conditions and to signals collected with different devices. We then evaluate the use of transfer learning (TL) to adapt the model to the different datasets. In particular, we show that the classification performance is improved, even with datasets with a small sample size. These results suggest that a greater effort should be made towards the generalizability of DL models applied on bioelectric signals, in particular, by retrieving more representative datasets.

Reduced Perceived Trustworthiness during Face Mask Wearing

To curb the diffusion of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), governments worldwide have introduced different policies, including lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask wearing. Face mask wearing, especially, has an impact on the formation of first impressions, given that when meeting someone for the first time, individuals rely on the only available piece of information, the newly met person's aesthetic appearance, in order to make initial estimations of other traits, such as competence, intelligence, or trustworthiness. However, face mask wearing affects the aesthetic appearance of an individual, creating uncertainty which, in turn, has been reported to reduce others' perceived trustworthiness. In this paper, the influence of face mask wearing on strangers' perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is assessed to verify the impact of this policy on impression formation. Participants (N = 71) have been instructed to assess the trustworthiness and the aesthetic appearance of a selection of 96 images depicting individuals of different ages (children, adults, and older adults), gender (men and women), and ethnicity (Asians or Caucasians). Participants were randomly divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. Participants in the experimental group (N = 38) rated faces of individuals wearing a face mask, while participants in the control group rated the same faces but in the absence of a face mask. Images were presented in random order. For each face, participants were asked to rate the aesthetic appearance and perceived trustworthiness of the stranger on two different 100-point Likert scales. Results demonstrate that (i) the correlation between perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is not affected by the presence of a face mask, and (ii) age, but not ethnicity and gender, influences the magnitude of differences in perceived trustworthiness levels during mask wearing.

Developmental disabilities across the world: A scientometric review from 1936 to 2020

BACKGROUND

Developmental disabilities have been largely studied in the past years. Their etiological mechanisms have been underpinned to the interactions between genetic and environmental factors. These factors show variability across the world. Thus, it is important to understand where the set of knowledge obtained on developmental disabilities originates from and whether it is generalizable to low- and middle-income countries.

AIMS

This study aims to understand the origins of the available literature on developmental disabilities, keeping a focus on parenting, and identify the main trend of research.

METHODS AND PROCEDURE

A sample of 11,315 publications from 1936 to 2020 were collected from Scopus and a graphical country analysis was conducted. Furthermore, a qualitative approach enabled the clustering of references by keywords into four main areas: "Expression of the disorder", "Physiological Factors", "How it is studied" and "Environmental factors". For each area, a document co-citation analysis (DCA) on CiteSpace software was performed.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Results highlight the leading role of North America in the study of developmental disabilities. Trends in the literature and the documents' scientific relevance are discussed in details.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Results demand for investigation in different socio-economical settings to generalize our knowledge. What this paper adds? The current paper tries to provide insight into the origins of the literature on developmental disabilities with a focus on parenting, together with an analysis of the trends of research in the field. The paper consisted of a multi-disciplinary and multi-method review. In fact, the review tried to integrate the analysis of the relation between developmental disabilities with a closer look at the scientific contributions to the field across the world. Specifically, the paper integrates a total of 11,315 papers published on almost a century of research (from 1936 to 2020). An initial qualitative analysis on keywords was combined to a subsequent quantitative approach in order to maximize the comprehension of the impact of almost a century of scientific contributions. Specifically, documents were studied with temporal and structural metrics on a scientometric approach. This allowed the exploration of patterns within the literature available on Scopus in a quantitative way. This method not only assessed the importance of single documents within the network. As a matter of fact, the document co-citation analysis used on CiteSpace software provided insight into the relations existing between multiple documents in the field of research. As a result, the leading role of North America in the literature of developmental disabilities and parenting emerged. This was accompanied by the review of the main trends of research within the existing literature.

The relation between oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms, adult attachment and Instagram sociability: An exploratory analysis

Oxytocin is a primary neuropeptide which coordinates affiliative behavior. Previous researchers pointed to the association between genetic vulnerability on Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) and environmental factors (e.g., social relationships) to comprehend social behavior. Although an extensive knowledge of in-person social interactions has been obtained, little is known about online sociability. A gene-environment perspective is adopted to examine how OXTR and adult attachment moderate Instagram behavior. The genetic factors within the regions OXTR/rs53576 (A/A homozygotes vs G-carriers) and OXTR/rs2254298 (G/G homozygotes vs A-carriers) were assessed. The Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) questionnaire was used to collect participants' (N = 57, 16 males) attachment with a partner. The number of posts, followed people ("followings") and followers were obtained from Instagram, and the Social Desirability Index (SDI) was calculated as the ratio of followers to followings. Interaction effects between OXTR groups and ECR-R scores on the number of posts and SDI were hypothesized. Results showed an effect of rs53576 on the number of Instagram followings. Specifically, people with A/A OXTR/rs53576 genotype had more followings than G-carriers independent of the anxiety or avoidance felt towards their partner. These preliminary results offer insights into future investigations on social media behavior.

Influences of Social Distancing and attachment styles on the strength of the Halo Effect

The Halo Effect is a widely studied phenomenon that interests multiple disciplines. The relationship between Aesthetics Appearance and perceived Trustworthiness has especially gathered the attention of social scientists. While experimental works compared the strength of the Halo Effect in different situations (e.g. different genders' faces), little is known about the stability of the Halo. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been urged to distance ourselves from others. Similar suggestions may alter the relationship between Aesthetic Appearance and Perceived Trustworthiness. Moreover, previous works reported that individuals' attachment styles affected their emotional responses to the pandemic. Individuals' attachment styles may influence the magnitude of change of the Halo. Here we investigate how priming (Social Distancing or Contact with others) affects the strength of the Halo Effect, with respect to individuals' attachment styles. Participants (N = 298) rated the Aesthetics and Perceived Trustworthiness of strangers' faces (N = 96) presented twice, before and after the presentation of a prime. Results revealed that individuals' attachment styles affect the strength of the Halo. However, we found no evidence supporting the fact that different attachment styles lead to differences in the magnitude of changes after priming. Results help shed light on how attachment styles influence individuals' impression formation.

Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships

Humans are evolutionary-driven to adult mating and conceive social expectations on the quality of their affiliations. The genetic susceptibility to adverse environments in critical periods can alter close relationships. The current research investigates how the promoter region of the Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR) and perceived caregiving behavior in childhood could influence the social expectations on close adult relationships. For this purpose, 5-HTTLPR data was collected from the buccal mucosa of 65 Italian individuals (33 males). The participants filled (a) the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) to provide the levels of care and overprotection from mother and father, and (b) the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) to report the social expectations on the intimate relationship assessed in terms of anxiety and avoidance from the partner. An interaction effect between 5-HTTLPR and PBI dimensions on the ECR-R scores was hypothesized. Results confirmed that the interplay between the genetic groups and history of maternal overprotection predicted avoidance experienced in romantic relationships in adulthood. Moreover, both adult anxiety and avoidance felt in an intimate relationship were found to covary as a function of maternal overprotection. The present work proposes further evidence of the genetic and parental mechanisms regulating social expectations involved in close relationships.

Modulation of Instagram Number of Followings by Avoidance in Close Relationships in Young Adults under a Gene x Environment Perspective

Social networking sites have determined radical changes in human life, demanding investigations on online socialization mechanisms. The knowledge acquired on in-person sociability could guide researchers to consider both environmental and genetic features as candidates of online socialization. Here, we explored the impact of the quality of adult attachment and the genetic properties of the Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR) on Instagram social behavior. Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire was adopted to assess 57 Instagram users' attachment pattern in close relationships with partners. Genotypes from the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 region were extracted from the users' buccal mucosa and analyzed. Users' Instagram social behavior was examined from four indexes: number of posts, number of followed users ("followings") and number of followers, and the Social Desirability Index calculated from the followers to followings ratio. Although no interaction between rs25531 and ECR-R dimensions was found, an association between avoidance in close relationships and Instagram number of followings emerged. Post hoc analyses revealed adult avoidance from the partner predicts the Instagram number of followings with good evidence. Moreover, users reporting high avoidance levels displayed fewer followings than users who reported low levels of avoidance. This research provides a window into the psychobiological understanding of online socialization on Instagram.

Hacking Trust: The Presence of Faces on Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) Affects Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness is a core concept that drives individuals’ interaction with others, as well with objects and digital interfaces. The perceived trustworthiness of strangers from the evaluation of their faces has been widely studies in social psychology; however, little is known about the possibility of transferring trustworthiness from human faces to other individuals, objects or interfaces. In this study, we explore how the perceived trustworthiness of automated teller machines (ATMs) is influenced by the presence of faces on the machines, and how the trustworthiness of the faces themselves is transferred to the machine. In our study, participants (N = 57) rated the trustworthiness of ATMs on which faces of different age, gender, and ethnicity are placed. Subsequently, the trustworthiness of the ATMs is compared to the trustworthiness ratings of faces presented on their own. Results of our works support the idea that faces’ trustworthiness can be transferred to objects on which faces are presented. Moreover, the trustworthiness of ATMs seems to be influenced by the age of presented faces, with ATMs on which children faces are presented are trusted more than the same machines when adults’ or elders’ faces are presented, but not by the ethnicity (Asian or Caucasian) or gender (male or female) of presented faces.

The Recognition of Cross-Cultural Emotional Faces Is Affected by Intensity and Ethnicity in a Japanese Sample

Human faces convey a range of emotions and psychobiological signals that support social interactions. Multiple factors potentially mediate the facial expressions of emotions across cultures. To further determine the mechanisms underlying human emotion recognition in a complex and ecological environment, we hypothesized that both behavioral and neurophysiological measures would be influenced by stimuli ethnicity (Japanese, Caucasian) in the context of ambiguous emotional expressions (mid-happy, angry). We assessed the neurophysiological and behavioral responses of neurotypical Japanese adults (N = 27, 13 males) involved in a facial expression recognition task. Results uncover an interaction between universal and culturally-driven mechanisms. No differences in behavioral responses are found between male and female participants, male and female faces, and neutral Japanese versus Caucasian faces. However, Caucasian ambiguous emotional expressions which require more energy-consuming processing, as highlighted by neurophysiological results of the Arousal Index, were judged more accurately than Japanese ones. Additionally, a differential Frontal Asymmetry Index in neuronal activation, the signature of an approach versus avoidance response, is found in male participants according to the gender and emotional valence of the stimuli.

An Analysis of the Generalizability and Stability of the Halo Effect During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak

The influence on the global evaluation of a person based on the perception of a single trait is a phenomenon widely investigated in social psychology. Widely regarded as Halo effect, this phenomenon has been studied for more than 100 years now, and findings such as the relationship between aesthetic perception and other personality traits-such as competence and trustworthiness-have since been uncovered. Trustworthiness plays an especially crucial role in individuals' social interactions. Despite the large body of literature published on the Halo effect, and especially on the relationship between aesthetic appearance and perceived trustworthiness, little is known about the overall generalizability of the effect, as almost all of the studies have been conducted on adult participants from Western countries. Moreover, little is known about the stability of the effect over time, in the event of major destabilization, such as the outbreak of a pandemic. In this work, the cross-cultural generalizability of the Halo effect is investigated before and during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the generalizability and stability over time of the Halo effect is presented. Participants (N = 380, N = 145 Asians, N = 235 Caucasians) have been asked to rate the aesthetic appearance and perceived trustworthiness of a set of human faces of different ages, gender, and ethnicity. Result of our analysis demonstrated that the Halo effect (Aesthetic × trustworthiness) is influenced by the age of presented faces, but not by their gender or ethnicity. Moreover, our results show that the strength of the effect can be affected by external events and that the volatility is higher for adults' than children's faces.

Deep Neural Networks and Transfer Learning on a Multivariate Physiological Signal Dataset

While Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) and Transfer Learning (TL) have greatly contributed to several medical and clinical disciplines, the application to multivariate physiological datasets is still limited. Current examples mainly focus on one physiological signal and can only utilise applications that are customised for that specific measure, thus it limits the possibility of transferring the trained DNN to other domains. In this study, we composed a dataset (n=813) of six different types of physiological signals (Electrocardiogram, Electrodermal activity, Electromyogram, Photoplethysmogram, Respiration and Acceleration). Signals were collected from 232 subjects using four different acquisition devices. We used a DNN to classify the type of physiological signal and to demonstrate how the TL approach allows the exploitation of the efficiency of DNNs in other domains. After the DNN was trained to optimally classify the type of signal, the features that were automatically extracted by the DNN were used to classify the type of device used for the acquisition using a Support Vector Machine. The dataset, the code and the trained parameters of the DNN are made publicly available to encourage the adoption of DNN and TL in applications with multivariate physiological signals.

Predictors of Contemporary under-5 Child Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Machine Learning Approach

Child Mortality (CM) is a worldwide concern, annually affecting as many as 6.81% children in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). We used data of the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) (N = 275,160) from 27 LMIC and a machine-learning approach to rank 37 distal causes of CM and identify the top 10 causes in terms of predictive potency. Based on the top 10 causes, we identified households with improved conditions. We retrospectively validated the results by investigating the association between variations of CM and variations of the percentage of households with improved conditions at country-level, between the 2005–2007 and the 2013–2017 administrations of the MICS. A unique contribution of our approach is to identify lesser-known distal causes which likely account for better-known proximal causes: notably, the identified distal causes and preventable and treatable through social, educational, and physical interventions. We demonstrate how machine learning can be used to obtain operational information from big dataset to guide interventions and policy makers.

Child disability and caregiving in low and middle income countries: Big data approach on open data

BACKGROUND

The presence of child disabilities might affect the amount of caregiving attention the child receives, with potential ramifications on the development of the child and increasing the likelihood of developing a more severe condition. Little is known about the association between child disabilities and caregiving practices in less developed countries, penalized by both lack of data and a research bias toward western societies.

METHOD

In this study, we apply data mining methods on a large (N = 29,525) dataset from UNICEF to investigate the association between caregiving practices and developmental disabilities of the children, and highlight the differences between intellectual and other disabilities.

RESULTS

Our results highlight that, compared to other types of disabilities, intellectual disabilities increased the risk of being neglected by the caregiver in those activities oriented to the cognitive development. The education of the caregiver and the socioeconomical development of the country are actively involved in the moderation of the risk.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated that educational policies of parental training, such as psychoeducation regarding intellectual disabilities and destigmatization campaigns, are needed to benefit parental practices in low- and middle-income countries.

A Machine Learning Approach for the Automatic Estimation of Fixation-Time Data Signals' Quality

Fixation time measures have been widely adopted in studies with infants and young children because they can successfully tap on their meaningful nonverbal behaviors. While recording preverbal children's behavior is relatively simple, analysis of collected signals requires extensive manual preprocessing. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of using different Machine Learning (ML)-a Linear SVC, a Non-Linear SVC, and K-Neighbors-classifiers to automatically discriminate between Usable and Unusable eye fixation recordings. Results of our models show an accuracy of up to the 80%, suggesting that ML tools can help human researchers during the preprocessing and labelling phase of collected data.

Comparison of Wearable and Clinical Devices for Acquisition of Peripheral Nervous System Signals

A key access point to the functioning of the autonomic nervous system is the investigation of peripheral signals. Wearable devices (WDs) enable the acquisition and quantification of peripheral signals in a wide range of contexts, from personal uses to scientific research. WDs have lower costs and higher portability than medical-grade devices. However, the achievable data quality can be lower, and data are subject to artifacts due to body movements and data losses. It is therefore crucial to evaluate the reliability and validity of WDs before their use in research. In this study, we introduce a data analysis procedure for the assessment of WDs for multivariate physiological signals. The quality of cardiac and electrodermal activity signals is validated with a standard set of signal quality indicators. The pipeline is available as a collection of open source Python scripts based on the pyphysio package. We apply the indicators for the analysis of signal quality on data simultaneously recorded from a clinical-grade device and two WDs. The dataset provides signals of six different physiological measures collected from 18 subjects with WDs. This study indicates the need to validate the use of WDs in experimental settings for research and the importance of both technological and signal processing aspects to obtain reliable signals and reproducible results.

Oxytocin Receptor Gene Polymorphisms and Early Parental Bonding Interact in Shaping Instagram Social Behavior

Human beings engage in multiple social interactions daily, both in person and online. There are, however, individual differences in the frequency and quality of these interactions. This exploratory study focuses on online interactions and aims to model these differences by looking at potential environmental and genetic factors. The environmental factor is the childhood parental relationship, as reported by the participants in the dimensions of the Parental Bonding Instrument (N = 57, 41 females). At a genetic level, buccal mucosa cell samples were collected to assess participants' genetic susceptibility, and OXTr regions rs2254298 (G/G homozygotes vs. A-carriers) and rs53576 (A/A homozygotes vs. G-carriers) were analyzed. To capture participants' online activity, Instagram was probed. The number of people that the individual follows ("followings"), followers, and posts were used as a proxy for the quantity of interaction, and a Social Desirability Index (SDI) was computed as the ratio of followers to followings. An interaction between OXTr groups and parental bonding scores on the number of followings and posts was hypothesized. A gene-environment interaction for OXTr/rs2254298 on the number of Instagram posts was identified. In line with the hypothesis, participants with a genetic risk factor (A-carriers) and a history of low paternal care showed fewer Instagram posts than those without this risk factor (G/G genotype). Moreover, an interaction effect between maternal overprotection and OXTr/rs2254298 on the Instagram SDI was detected. These findings could represent an indirect pathway through which genes and parental behavior interact to shape social interactions on Instagram.

Parents' Past Bonding Experience with Their Parents Interacts with Current Parenting Stress to Influence the Quality of Interaction with Their Child

Healthy dyadic interactions serve as a foundation for child development and are typically characterised by mutual emotional availability of both the parent and child. However, several parental factors might undermine optimal parent-child interactions, including the parent's current parenting stress levels and the parent's past bonding experiences with his/her own parents. To date, no study has investigated the possible interaction of parenting stress and parental bonding history with their own parents on the quality of emotional availability during play interactions. In this study, 29 father-child dyads (18 boys, 11 girls; father's age = 38.07 years, child's age = 42.21 months) and 36 mother-child dyads (21 boys, 15 girls; mother's age = 34.75 years, child's age = 41.72 months) from different families were recruited to participate in a 10-min play session after reporting on their current parenting stress and past care and overprotection experience with their parents. We measured the emotional availability of mother-child and father-child play across four adult subscales (i.e., sensitivity, structuring, non-intrusiveness, non-hostility) and two child subscales (i.e., involvement and responsiveness). Regression slope analyses showed that parenting stress stemming from having a difficult child predicts adult non-hostility, and is moderated by the parents' previously experienced maternal overprotection. When parenting stress is low, higher maternal overprotection experienced by the parent in the past would predict greater non-hostility during play. This finding suggests that parents' present stress levels and past bonding experiences with their parents interact to influence the quality of dyadic interaction with their child.

Physical presence of spouse enhances brain-to-brain synchrony in co-parenting couples

Co-parenting spouses who live together remain in close physical proximity to each other and regularly engage in reciprocal social interactions in joint endeavors to coordinate their caregiving. Although bi-parental rearing is a common occurrence in humans, the influence of the physical presence of a co-parenting spouse on parental brain responses remains largely unknown. Synchrony is conceptualized as the matching of behavioral and physiological signals between two individuals. In this study, we examined how the presence of a co-parenting spouse influences brain-to-brain synchrony when attending to salient infant and adult vocalizations. We hypothesized that brain-to-brain synchrony would be greater in the presence of a spousal partner. Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used on 24 mother-father dyads (N = 48) to measure prefrontal cortical (PFC) activities while they listened to infant and adult vocalizations in two conditions, together (in the same room at the same time) and separately (in different rooms at different times). Couples showed greater synchrony in the together condition; when comparing fNIRS data between true couples and randomly matched controls, this synchronous effect was only seen in true couples, indicating a unique effect of spousal co-regulation toward salient stimuli. Our results indicate that the physical presence of the spouse might establish synchrony in attentional regulation mechanisms toward socially relevant stimuli. This finding holds implications for the role of the co-parenting spouse in influencing social and parental brain mechanisms.

Strangers, Friends, and Lovers Show Different Physiological Synchrony in Different Emotional States

The mere copresence of another person synchronizes physiological signals, but no study has systematically investigated the effects of the type of emotional state and the type of relationship in eliciting dyadic physiological synchrony. In this study, we investigated the synchrony of pairs of strangers, companions, and romantic partners while watching a series of video clips designed to elicit different emotions. Maximal cross-correlation of heart rate variability (HRV) was used to quantify dyadic synchrony. The findings suggest that an existing social relationship might reduce the predisposition to conform one’s autonomic responses to a friend or romantic partner during social situations that do not require direct interaction.

Effects of Baby Schema and Mere Exposure on Explicit and Implicit Face Processing

In an increasingly multicultural society, the way people perceive individuals from the same vs different ethnic groups greatly affects their own and societal well-being. Two psychological effects that influence these perceptions are the Mere-Exposure Effect (MRE), wherein familiarity with certain objects or persons suffices for people to develop a preference for them, and the Baby Schema (BS), a set of specific facial features that evokes caregiving behaviors and an affective orientation in adults. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether these two effects play a role in implicit physiological responses to babies vs. adults faces belonging to participants in-group vs. out-group. In study 1, the pupillary diameter of 62 Caucasian participants (M = 31; F = 31) who observed adult and infant faces of different ethnic groups (Caucasian, Chinese) was measured. In study 2, brain waves of 38 Caucasian participants (M = 19; F = 19), who observed the same set of faces, were recorded using EEG. In both studies, adults explicit preferences (i.e., attitudes) toward faces were assessed using questionnaires. In Study 1, females showed greater attention to infant than adult faces (BS effect) in both pupils, regardless of the ethnic group of the face. By contrast, males attended to infant more than adult faces for out-group faces only (BS effect). In Study 2, greater left posterior-parietal alpha activation toward out-group compared to in-group adult faces was found in males (MRE). Participants with a low BS effect toward in-group baby faces exhibited greater left posterior alpha activation to out-group than in-group baby faces (MRE). These findings reveal how different levels of sensitivity to in-group infants may moderate perceptions of both in-group and out-group baby faces. Questionnaire measures on attitudes showed that males and females preferred in-group to out-group adult faces (MRE). Participants in Study 2 also reported a greater preference for infants than adults faces (BS effect). These findings explicate the roles of gender and the Baby Schema effect in moderating implicit processing of in-group and out-group faces, despite their lack in moderating explicit reports. Contradictory findings at the implicit (physiological) and explicit (self-report) levels suggest that differential processing of faces may occur at a non-conscious level.

Parenting Stress Undermines Mother-Child Brain-to-Brain Synchrony: A Hyperscanning Study

Synchrony refers to the coordinated interplay of behavioural and physiological signals that reflect the bi-directional attunement of one partner to the other’s psychophysiological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state. In mother-child relationships, a synchronous pattern of interaction indicates parental sensitivity. Parenting stress has been shown to undermine mother-child behavioural synchrony. However, it has yet to be discerned whether parenting stress affects brain-to-brain synchrony during everyday joint activities. Here, we show that greater parenting stress is associated with less brain-to-brain synchrony in the medial left cluster of the prefrontal cortex when mother and child engage in a typical dyadic task of watching animation videos together. This brain region overlaps with the inferior frontal gyrus, the frontal eye field, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which are implicated in inference of mental states and social cognition. Our result demonstrates the adverse effect of parenting stress on mother-child attunement that is evident at a brain-to-brain level. Mother-child brain-to-brain asynchrony may underlie the robust association between parenting stress and poor dyadic co-regulation. We anticipate our study to form the foundation for future investigations into mechanisms by which parenting stress impairs the mother-child relationship.

[Core biopsy in the preoperative diagnosis of breast carcinoma]

BACKGROUND

In spite of the widespread use of cytological smears for the diagnosis of breast cancer lesions, many surgeons are still reluctant to accept the cytological report as the only criterion for performing definitive surgery. Modern surgical strategy requires a preoperative planning of the surgical treatment which is possible with the use of core biopsy (CB) or FNB (fine needle biopsy) for the diagnosis of tissue specimens.

METHODS

The authors report their five-year experience with this technique and evaluate its diagnostic usefulness and substitution of interoperative biopsy. The histological examination of 92 palpable breast lesions, clinically and mammographically detected, was performed with CB, and diagnosis was confirmed with the surgical sample in 80 cases.

RESULTS

A definitive histological diagnosis was obtained with CB in 90% of cases. Only nine cases required confirmation with frozen section diagnosis at the time of definitive surgery. The sensibility of CB was 93%, specificity and predictive value of a positive result were 100%, and diagnostic efficiency was 95%.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms the usefulness of the systematic use of CB for accurate preoperative diagnosis of breast cancer, and the simplicity, safety and accuracy of this method also make ultrasound-guided CB applicable to non-palpable lesions.

[A rare cause of acute abdomen: perforation of cecal diverticulum]

The Authors, after a brief review of the literature on the frequency and localization of large bowel diverticular disease report a case of perforation of a cecal diverticulum operated on emergency. They also add some brief comments on the interesting aspects of the case, its diagnostic difficulties and operating technique.

[A rare occurrence of adrenal ectopy im the spermatic cord. A short clinical note]

The authors describe a rare case of adrenal ectopy in the spermatic cord of a child, casually discovered during surgery of inguinal hernia. The adrenal cortex was totally represented.

[A personal variant of the Vayre and Petit Pazos technique in the surgical repair of inguinal hernia]

The authors describe a personal modification of Vayre and Petit Pazo's surgical technique for the cure of the inguinal hernia, that is a different application of the mersilene mesh. Out of 1,200 operations performed for the inguinal hernia repair from 1979 throughout 1988, the technique was used in 50 cases with good results and without recurrences at a follow up ranging from six months to seven years.

[Traumatic and foreign body lesions of the colon and rectum. Clinical and therapeutic considerations]

On the basis of observations made in 69 patients with traumatic lesions and those caused by foreign bodies in the colon and rectum, supplemented by the data emerging from literature, some clinical and therapeutic considerations are expressed on the subject. A tactic of treatment based on the material examined and, in the present state, advisable as a possible plan of treatment for the said lesions is also proposed.