Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder that adversely impacts child development and health conditions, and is often associated with significant behavioral challenges. In particular, children with PWS typically exhibit extremely high levels of maladaptive behavior (e.g., excessive food seeking, hording, and binging; temper tantrums;…

Synthetic biology is the application of engineering and mathematical principles to develop novel biological devices and circuits. What separates synthetic biology from traditional molecular biology is the development of standardized interchangeable DNA "parts," just as advances in engineering in the nineteenth century brought about standardized…

Introduction: Genes have been suggested to interact with predictors of school performance, but evidence is scarce. The purpose was to examine whether a hyperactive temperament leads to different school performance, depending on variability in a serotonin receptor gene (5-HTR2A). Method: The participants were a population-based sample of 909 girls…

Background: Difficulties in communication and reciprocal social behavior are core features of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and are often present, to varying degrees, in other family members. This prospective longitudinal infant sibling study examines whether social-communicative features of family members may inform which infants are at…

Background: In addition to their more clinically evident abnormalities of social cognition, people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) manifest perturbations of attention and sensory perception which may offer insights into the underlying neural abnormalities. Similar autistic traits in ASC relatives without a diagnosis suggest a continuity…

To further the understanding of the effects of early experiences, 9-month-old infants were observed during a frustration task. The analytical sample was composed of 348 linked triads of participants (adoptive parents, adopted child, and birth parent[s]) from a prospective adoption study. It was hypothesized that genetic risk for externalizing…

In his book, "A Whole New Mind", Daniel Pink champions the benefits of right-brained thinking: creativity, flexibility, empathy, and meaning. He stresses the need to not only be logical, but also aware of emotion; to not only be sequential, but also conceptual; and to not only be calculating, but also recognize value. The project described in this…

The concepts behind the technology of genetic modification of organisms and its applications are complex. A diverse range of opinions, public concern and considerable media interest accompanies the subject. This study explores the knowledge and attitudes of science teachers and senior secondary biology students about the application of a rapidly…

Nationwide, more than 13.5 million children have special healthcare needs and with increases in the prevalence and diagnosis of development disabilities, this number can be expected to increase in the coming years. For any child with special needs, it is very important that they have a medical home from which all services can be coordinated. The…

Using a longitudinal, prospective adoption design, the authors of this study examined the effects of the environment (adoptive parents' depressive symptoms and responsiveness) and genetic liability of maternal depression (inferred by birth mothers' major depressive disorder [MDD]) on the development of fussiness in adopted children between 9 and…

There is a scarcity of empirically validated treatments for infants and toddlers under age 3 years with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), as well as a scarcity of empirical investigation into successful intervention characteristics for this population. Yet early screening efforts are focused on identifying autism risk in children under age 3 years.…

Background: The differentiation hypothesis posits that the underlying liability distribution for psychopathology is of low dimensionality in young children, inflating diagnostic comorbidity rates, but increases in dimensionality with age as latent syndromes become less correlated. This hypothesis has not been adequately tested with longitudinal…

Including more than one child per family in research enables the identification of nonshared family effects (resulting in sibling differentiation) as well as shared family effects (resulting in sibling similarity). This paper describes a model used to disentangle shared from nonshared processes in links between parenting and children's behavior.…

A recent focus on contemporary evolution and the connections between communities has sought to more closely integrate ecology with evolutionary biology. Studies of coevolutionary dynamics, life history evolution, and rapid local adaptation demonstrate that ecological circumstances can dictate evolutionary trajectories. Thus, variation in species…

Major advances in fundamental science are developed using model systems. Classic examples of model systems include Mendel's work with the common garden pea ("Pisium sativa"), classic inheritance work by Morgan with the fruit fly ("Drosophila"), developmental studies with the nematode ("C. elegans"), and transposable elements in maize ("Zea…