RAC1 missense mutations in developmental disorders with diverse phenotypes. De novo missense variants in RAC3 cause a novel neurodevelopmental syndrome. Functional dysregulation of CDC42 causes diverse developmental phenotypes. Activating mutations in PAK1, encoding p21-activated kinase 1, cause a neurodevelopmental disorder.

As I’ve discussed on this newsletter before, parents don’t just parent: they also pass on their genes. The first circle is the basic link between breastfeeding and intelligence, which looks pretty big. But as you add in controls, the circle shrinks further and further. It doesn’t always shrink to fully zero – but it isn’t often the case that a study controls for all the confounding variables we’d want it to. Missing were any controls relating to the parent’s education, or their abilities – or indeed whether they themselves had any learning problems.

11 Apr 2023 --- Research is revealing that exclusively breastfed and mixed-fed children had a lower risk for all-cause special education needs. However, experts warn missing data on the children’s parents’ health, education and IQ restrict the validity of these outcomes.

Infant breastfeeding has been associated with reduced physical and mental health problems in childhood, contributing to special educational needs. The study, which involves more than 190,000 children, found that children exclusively breastfed or fed a mix of formula and breastmilk for the first six to eight weeks of life are at lower risk of having special educational needs and learning disabilities. 12.1% of the children in this research needed special education services overall.

Of the children in the study, 66.2 percent were bottle-fed, 25.3 percent were breastfed, and 8.5 percent were mixed-fed during the first six to eight weeks of life. If one now compares the children who had received breast milk in the first few weeks of their lives with those who only received bottle feeding, it was shown that the latter had a significantly higher risk of suffering from a learning disability at some point or of needing special educational support. One reason for the study was the fact that the number of children with special educational needs is constantly increasing.

Babies who are breastfed for their first six weeks of life are less likely to have behavioral problems or special educational needs, according to a new study. About 12.1% of children had SEN. The study found that both mixed feeding and exclusively breastfeeding were linked to a decrease in risk of developing SEN, at around 10% and 20% less likely than formula feeding, respectively. The study suggests that breastfeeding exclusively in the first few weeks after childbirth could help reduce the risk of learning disabilities and difficulties that ultimately lead to SEN.

Most studies measure mental health and social media use just once and at the same time, finding that people with greater mental health issues tend to use social media more and concluding that social media use contributes to those issues. By measuring social media use and mental health two years apart, this study is able to get a much better sense of whether high social media use causes mental illness or is a symptom, Dr Winstone said.

A new study has found that LGBTQ+ youth in the US are spending significantly more time on their mobile phones than straight young people. Jason Nagata MD, the study’s author and assistant professor of paediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, explained that LGBTQ+ kids could be using their phones at higher levels due to “exclusion” from school activities by their peers.

The study says they spend around 10.4 hours on their screens each day. That’s a whopping four hours more than straight kids. “Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents are more likely to experience school-based bullying and exclusion from peer groups due to their sexual orientation, leading them to spend less time in traditional school activities and more time on screens,” says Nagata in a press statement.

Home – Salk News – AI chatbot ChatGPT mirrors its users to appear intelligent Salk neuroscientist explores how artificial intelligence language models, like the popular ChatGPT chatbot, can further our understanding of the human brain LA JOLLA—The artificial intelligence language model ChatGPT has captured the world’s attention in recent months.