Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids at birth and cognitive function at 7 y of age

OBJECTIVE

During the central nervous system (CNS) growth spurt, rapid accretion of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) takes place. This particularly concerns docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) and arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n-6), which are thought to play important roles in CNS development and function. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive performance at 7 y of age and LCPUFA levels in umbilical venous plasma phospholipids, representing the prenatal fatty acid availability, and in plasma phospholipids sampled at 7 y.

DESIGN

As part of a follow-up study, the cognitive performance of 306 children, born at term, was assessed at 7 y of age with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. Backward stepwise regression analysis was used to study the relationship between the outcomes and LCPUFA status. Social class, maternal intelligence and parenting skills were included as covariables, among others.

RESULTS

Results show no significant association with either DHA or AA at birth and the cognitive performance at 7 y of age. The LCPUFA levels at 7 y were not associated with these outcomes either. Consistent with the literature, significant relationships were found between cognitive outcome measures and maternal education, maternal intelligence and the child's birthweight.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, our results do not provide evidence for a positive association between cognitive performance at 7 y and LCPUFA status at birth or at 7 y of age.

Preliminary evaluation of a resiliency-based preschool substance abuse and violence prevention project

The Resilient Children Making Healthy Choices (RCMHC) Project is an early childhood prevention initiative designed to promote health and social competence in young children by training their teachers in skills aimed at nurturing children's resilient development. Through a model program implemented in ten Head Start and other community-based preschool classrooms, teachers were trained in the use and integration of resiliency-based substance abuse/violence prevention strategies in their teaching practices. Analysis of outcome data from a pre-post comparison group design revealed increases in teacher interactional skills designed to enhance children's resiliency, and improvements in children's prosocial behaviors.

Age at natural menopause in a population-based screening cohort: the role of menarche, fecundity, and lifestyle factors

OBJECTIVE

To verify whether a population-based hypothesis (age at menarche and age at natural menopause have an inverse relationship) also applies at the level of the individual and to investigate what other factors predict age at natural menopause.

DESIGN

Prospective cohort study (the Doorlopend Onderzoek Morbiditeit/Mortaliteit [DOM] project).

SETTING

Prevention Breast Cancer Screening Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

PATIENT(S)

A cohort of 3,756 Dutch women, born between 1911 and 1925, participating in a population-based breast cancer screening program, who experienced a natural menopause. Three samples of women were studied: a sample who did not use oral contraceptives (OCs) (n = 3,347), a sample of OC users (n = 409), and a combined sample of OC users and nonusers (n = 3,756).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)

Age at menopause and menarche, fertility patterns, OC use, height, weight, smoking, and demographic variables.

RESULT(S)

No relation was found between age at menarche and age at natural menopause. The total percentage of variance in age at natural menopause explained by multiple regression including all factors was minimal, ranging from 1.3% to 9.7% in OC users. Linear regression analysis indicated a slight secular trend in age at menopause.

CONCLUSION(S)

Frisch's hypothesis could not be corroborated at the individual level. These results suggest that age at menarche and menopause should be treated as independent risk factors for breast cancer. Modification of age at menopause by lifestyle factors (except possibly for OC use) appears minimal.

A longitudinal study of predictors of spatial ability in adolescent females

This study examined the longitudinal predictability of spatial ability in late-adolescent females by retesting 11-year-old girls studied by Newcombe and Bandura at age 16. Spatial ability at age 16 was predicted longitudinally from masculinity of the ideal self on a scale of intellectually relevant attributes at age 11, wanting to be a boy at age 11, and, negatively, by feminine expressivity at age 11. No timing of puberty or lateralization effects were observed. The findings strengthen evidence that sex-related differences in spatial ability could be experientially determined, and help to focus the search for exactly how this occurs. The findings also cast doubt on the idea that sex-related differences in spatial ability could be caused by sex differences in timing of puberty or lateralization, although other biological mechanisms remain plausible.

Associations of timing of puberty, spatial ability, and lateralization in adult women

The purpose of this study was to determine whether timing of puberty is related to spatial ability in adult women, and whether, if so, the relation could be attributed to timing-related differences in hemispheric specialization and/or timing-related differences in personality and spatial activity. 53 female undergraduates were given 2 tests of spatial ability, tests of both right-hemispheric and left-hemispheric specialization using tachistoscopic procedures, several tests assessing masculinity and femininity, and a questionnaire on spatial activity. They were also asked to recall their age at menarche. Later age at menarche was associated with greater right-hemispheric advantage on the dot location task but not with higher spatial ability. Spatial ability in this sample was in fact correlated with greater left-hemispheric advantage on the dot location task, as well as with more balanced hemispheric specialization on the syllable task. It is suggested that variability in findings regarding cognitive correlates of timing of puberty may be related to variability in strategies for approaching tasks. The implications of these data for efforts to explain sex-related differences in spatial ability are discussed.