Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Purpose: To examine how perinatal status (pregnancy through three-months postpartum) affects a woman’s help-seeking (within the criminal justice system and within the emergency medical system) after an assault by her intimate partner.
Methodology: Retrospective review of court records and medical records of the entire population of adult, female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) identified by police request for authorized IPV charges in the year 2000 in a mid-west city. Records review spanned 1999 through 2001.
Results: For the 964 IPV victims, there were 1438 assaults, 4456 emergency department (ED) visits and 634 obstetric events (158 perinatal at the assault). Victims in the perinatal period had fewer recorded injuries than non-perinatal victims (49.6% vs 34.7%). However, perinatal victims were just as likely to seek help as non-perinatal victims: 77.5% called 911 themselves and 8.5% visited an ED vs. 76.3% and 9.0% of non-perinatal victims, respectively. Compared to perinatal victims who have severed the relationship, perinatal victims who are still together with the perpetrator appear less likely to call 911 (73.4% vs 88.6% and more likely to visit an emergency department (9.6% vs 5.7%).
Conclusions: Despite apparently less severe assaults, perinatal victims seek help at rates equal to non-perinatal victims. If perinatal victims remain together with the perpetrator, their help-seeking venue is more likely to be an ED and less likely to be 911, compared to non-perinatal victims.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper will review the extant research on early onset of offending, as well as the rationale for using early offending as a criterion for predicting chronic offending. Specific issues discussed include determining what is considered early onset, an exploration of various biological and psycho-sociological factors that play a significant role in determining early offending in youth, and theoretical frameworks that link early onset to persistence in offending. Finally, this paper will discuss potential interventions that may prevent children from engaging in criminal activity, as well as programs that are designed to alter the course of youth once they have become early criminal offenders.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: Background and Aims: Alternated patterns of limb, muscle and neural activity during newborn leg movements have been well documented across a range of species — including humans — in developmental psychology, neuroscience and ethology. However, fetal and neonatal rats also can exhibit adaptive changes in hindlimb coordination after exposure to an interlimb yoke that tethers the two limbs and constrains movement. In the E20 fetus and P1 infant, conjugate limb movements increase during an initial 30-min period of yoke training and persist for 20-30 min after the yoke is removed, implying that experience can modify basic patterns of interlimb coordination. In this report, we further document that (a) limb coordination is quantitatively altered after experience with an interlimb yoke, (b) prior yoke training affects limb coordination both during subsequent training and expression of species-typical locomotor behavior, and (c) conditions in utero may actually favor the development of an alternated bias through such a learning mechanism.
Methods: Perinatal rats were prepared for behavioral testing as fetuses (E20) or pups (P1-P2). In all experiments, yoke training involved attachment of a length of thread to the ankles of both hindlimbs, enforcing a conjugate pattern of leg movement during a 30-min training period. Behavioral effects of yoke training were assessed by scoring conjugate and alternated leg movements from video recordings, frame-by-frame motion analysis of foot position before and after yoke training (Peak Motus), or (c) automatic tracking of foot position with miniature magnetic sensors (Ascension Technologies Microbird).
Key Results: In the E20 rat fetus, motion analysis confirmed that hindlimb movements quantitatively shifted toward in-phase coordination after yoke training. Prior exposure to yoke training resulted in faster acquisition of conjugate activity during a second training session. This savings was replicated in neonatal rats that were exposed to yoke training on P2, 24-hours after initial training, suggesting a simple form of motor memory. Prior training also altered the coordination of limbs during a test of hindlimb stepping induced pharmacologically (IP injection of 3.0 mg/kg quipazine, a serotonin agonist).
Conclusions: Fetal and neonatal rats clearly can alter basic patterns of interlimb coordination in response to biomechanical constraints of movement. Because the elastic properties of the uterus can create similar constraints under natural conditions in utero, the physics of moving within an elastic envelope may provide an intrinsic form of reinforcement for learning antiphase limb movement.
This research was supported by NIH grant HD33862 to SRR.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: Background and Aims: Brain injury sustained during perinatal periods (late fetal through early neonatal) is often associated with sensory-motor, behavioral-emotional-psychiatric, and/or cognitive-language problems. Unfortunately, these problems may not become apparent until facing school-related functional demands. There is a strong need for early, neonatal identification of brain injuries that are predictive of neurobehavioral outcomes. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) protocols have the potential to provide needed detection and prediction. Usefulness of MRI for early detection of neonatal brain injuries and the ability of neonatal MRI brain injury findings to predict neurobehavioral development through school ages are investigated.
Methods: Neonatal MR brain scans for infants born prematurely or fullterm included standard anatomical and ultra-structural protocols (e.g., T1WI, T2WI, T2*WI, DTI) obtained during natural sleep. Neurobehavioral testing (birth through 5-years) included: neurological examination, spontaneous-movement, hand-use, learning-memory, mental and motor development, Intelligence and language. Information about the child behavior, parent-child relationship, home environment, and socioeconomic status was obtained. Data were analyzed with inferential statistics.
Key Results: Using an MRI sequence sensitive to blood products (T2* [susceptibility] WI), brain hemorrhages were detected in over half of otherwise healthy (including negative ultrasound exams) premature infants (born ≤32 weeks). A surprisingly large number of small hemorrhages were detectable within the first 48-hours postnatal. T2* MRI was significantly more sensitive to preterm intracranial hemorrhage than ultrasound, which appears to underestimate brain bleeds. Different MRI protocols (e.g., T1, T2, T2*) are sensitive to ischemic-hemorrhagic brain injuries within a few days postnatal for preterm infants. However, the MRI scans obtained a few weeks or months postnatal more accurately predicted later neurobehavioral problems than scans obtained closer to birth. An MRI protocol that has ultra-structure resolution (Diffusion Tensor Imaging, DTI) yielded promising results for very early detection of brain injury during the newborn period for both preterm and fullterm infants, and thus, provides the early confirmation of brain injury that will be necessary prior to using neuroprotective agents and strategies. DTI also identify early abnormalities of in maturation of the cerebral cortex in prematurity.
Conclusions: Collectively, evolving multimodal MRI protocols are providing researchers with a window into the brain for studies of human anatomical and behavioral development in health and disease.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: Background and Aims: The neurobehavioral effects of perinatal exposures to methylmercury (MeHg) and environmentally persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are of great concern worldwide. Several studies reported on the association between perinatal exposure to MeHg or PCBs and poorer cognitive functions. These chemicals accumulate in humans mostly through the consumption of food, especially fish and shellfish. From the nutritional perspective, fish is usually recommended for pregnant women because it is rich in nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) essential for developing brain. Therefore, from the perspective of risk assessment, these health hazard issues are particularly of importance in fish-eating populations.
We have been performing a prospective cohort study, the Tohoku Study of Child Development (TSCD), to examine the effects of perinatal exposure to MeHg and PCBs on child development. In the present study, we show the protocols of study and some results about the association of neonatal neurobehavioral status with maternal hair mercury concentration and fish intakes.
Methods: 599 mother-infant pairs were registered between Jan.2001 and Sep.2003 in Sendai, Japan. Various samples including cord blood, maternal hair, and breast milk were collected for chemical analysis. Maternal diet estimated with semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). For the assessment of neurobehavioral development, Neonatal behavioral assessment scale (NBAS) were performed when children were 3 days after birth, and other tests including Bayley scales of infant development, Fagan test of infant intelligence and Kaufman assessment Battery for children were done with growing of the children.
In the analysis of the relation of neonatal neurobehavioral status with hair mercury and fish intake, the subjects were 529 mother-infant pairs whose data about chemical analysis, FFQ and their characteristics are available. Neonatal neurobehavioral status was assessed using the NBAS. Maternal hair sample was taken at 2 days after delivery, and the total hair mercury concentration was measured by cold vapor atomic absorption. Maternal fish intake was estimated using FFQ that was administered at 4 days after delivery. In the statistical analysis, we performed a multiple regression analyses to adjust the effects of confounding factors.
Key Results and Conclusions: We found the association between hair mercury concentration and decreased score of motor cluster, and several positive association of motor cluster with maternal fish intake. These results suggest the both potential risk and benefits of the fish intake.