BACKGROUND: Adaptive behaviour refers to the practical skills necessary for independence and is considered a high-priority intervention target for children with neurogenetic conditions associated with intellectual disability, like Down syndrome (DS). Daily living skills (DLS) are a critical aspect of adaptive behaviour, but they have received little intervention attention, possibly because they involve a wide variety of skills across many settings. The present study aimed to advance DLS intervention science by examining the concurrent and longitudinal association between DLS performances and a cognitive skillset hypothesised to support DLS skill acquisition, executive function (EF).
METHODS: Participants were 71 children with DS between the ages of 2.5 and 8.7 years (M = 5.23 years; standard deviation = 1.65) who completed a battery of adapted EF tasks and a primary caregiver who completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales 3rd Edition Parent/Caregiver Comprehensive Report Form. A subset of caregivers also provided 6- and 12-month follow-up adaptive behaviour information.
RESULTS: Results demonstrated a positive association between EF task performance and DLS standard scores and v-scores both concurrently and longitudinally.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings have implications for potential future intervention approaches that aim to strengthen DLS performances by advancing EF skills in this population.

With rising global temperatures, cities increasingly need to identify populations or areas that are vulnerable to urban heat waves; however, vulnerability assessments may run into ecological fallacy if data from different scales are misconstrued as equivalent. We assess the heat vulnerability of 1983 residents in Vienna by measuring heat impacts, exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity with mirrored indicators in the mapping paradigm (i.e. census tract data referring to the geographic regions where these residents live) and the surveying paradigm (i.e. survey data referring to the residents\' individual households). Results obtained in both paradigms diverge substantially: meteorological indicators of hot days and tropical nights are virtually unrelated to self-reported heat strain. Meteorological indicators are explained by mapping indicators (R2 of 15-40 %), but mostly not by surveying indicators. Vice versa, experienced heat stress and subjective heat burden are mostly unassociated with mapping indicators but are partially explained by surveying indicators (R2 of 2-4 %). The results suggest that the two paradigms do not capture the same components of vulnerability; this challenges whether studies conducted in the respective paradigms can complement and cross-validate each other. Policy interventions should first define which heat vulnerability outcome they target and then apply the paradigm that best captures the specific drivers of this outcome.

Adults with Intellectual Disability who show severe challenging behaviour need intensive individual support. If intensive support proves to be insufficient, extra intensive support can be provided in the Netherlands, which is characterized by more time for individual care. The present study evaluates the impact of extra intensive support over time. Client characteristics of adults receiving intensive support (IS, N=70) or extra intensive support (IS+, N=35) are compared and the impact of provided support on challenging behaviour (Developmental Behaviour Checklist-Adults), adaptive behaviour (Vineland II), and Quality of Life (San Martin Scale) is evaluated over a three years period. Compared to adults receiving intensive support, those receiving extra intensive support initially showed higher intensity of challenging behaviour, higher number of mental health diagnoses and stronger focus on goals to reduce challenging behaviour. Over time, intensity of challenging behaviour decreased in adults receiving extra intensive support, although Quality of Life and adaptive functioning did not improve. Results show that the indications for receiving extra intensive support are clear and that the extra support is effective over time. It is concluded that extra individual support is serving those who need this support.

Instrumental conditioning is a crucial part of adaptive behaviour, allowing agents to selectively interact with stimuli in their environment. Recent evidence suggests that instrumental conditioning cannot proceed without stimulus awareness. However, whether accurate unconscious instrumental responding can emerge from consciously acquired knowledge of the stimulus-action-outcome contingencies is unknown. We studied this question using instrumental trace conditioning, where participants learned to make approach/avoid decisions in two within-subject modes: conscious (stimuli in plain view) and unconscious (visually masked). Both tasks were followed by an unconscious-only instrumental performance task. We show that even when the contingencies are reliably learned in the conscious mode, participants fail to act upon them in the unconscious responding task. We also replicate the previous results that no instrumental learning occurs in the unconscious mode. Consequently, the absence of stimulus awareness not only precludes instrumental conditioning, but also precludes any kind of instrumental responding to already known stimuli. This suggests that instrumental behaviour is entirely supported by conscious awareness of the world, and corroborates the proposals that consciousness may be necessary for adaptive behaviours requiring selective action.

Mucolipidosis type II (MLII), an ultra-rare lysosomal storage disorder, manifests as a fatal multi-systemic disease. Mental inhibition and progressive neurodegeneration are commonly reported disease manifestations. Nevertheless, longitudinal data on neurocognitive testing and neuroimaging lack in current literature. This study aimed to provide details on central nervous system manifestations in MLII. All MLII patients with at least one standardized developmental assessment performed between 2005 and 2022 were included by retrospective chart review. A multiple mixed linear regression model was applied. Eleven patients with a median age of 34.0 months (range 1.6-159.6) underwent 32 neurocognitive and 28 adaptive behaviour assessments as well as 14 brain magnetic resonance imagings. The scales used were mainly BSID-III (42%) and VABS-II (47%). Neurocognitive testing (per patient: mean 2.9, standard deviation (SD) 2.0) performed over 0-52.1 months (median 12.1) revealed profound impairment with a mean developmental quotient of 36.7% (SD 20.4) at last assessment. The patients showed sustained development; on average, they gained 0.28 age-equivalent score points per month (confidence interval 0.17-0.38). Apart from common (63%) cervical spinal stenosis, neuroimaging revealed unspecific, non-progressive abnormalities (i.e., mild brain atrophy, white matter lesions). In summary, MLII is associated with profound developmental impairment, but not with neurodegeneration and neurocognitive decline.

Challenges in conceptualising resilience have impeded advancements in resilience science. In response, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed a general framework for harmonising the conceptualisation of resilience as a dynamic process determined by multiple systems and levels of analysis. Consistent with the NIH Resilience Framework, this paper presents a conceptual model of resilience applied to military service members. This model encompasses four core components necessary for resilience research: (1) the presence of significant challenge, (2) successful adaptation in response to the challenge, (3) the capacity for resilience (i.e., protective factors), and (4) the processes (i.e., mechanisms) by which protective factors exert positive effects on an individual\'s response. Guided by this conceptual model, we outline key methodological recommendations to advance resilience research and illustrate each using the Advancing Research on Mechanisms of Resilience study as an exemplar. We emphasise the need for future research to examine resilience as a dynamic process and apply a multilevel approach. We hope to provide a basic road map to those interested in improving the rigour of future research on resilience in a military context, the results of which can inform the development of interventions.

Introduction Some children with motor disabilities show low cognitive levels. However, the influence of motor disabilities on children\'s intelligence remains to be fully elucidated. This study aimed to clarify the intellectual characteristics of children with upper limb deficiencies and the influence of upper limb impairments on intelligence. Methods The participants were 10 children from four to six years of age with congenital unilateral transradial or transcarpal limb deficiencies who received prosthetic interventions. The children\'s intelligence and adaptive behaviors, including motor skills, were examined using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, respectively. Results There were no significant characteristics or discrepancies in cognitive level in children with upper limb deficiencies. The Adaptive Behavior Composite Score of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale was significantly positively correlated with the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Conclusions The children with congenital limb deficiencies showed average cognitive levels. Expansion of adaptive behaviors, including appropriate complementation of disabilities, may promote intellectual development in children with motor disabilities.

OBJECTIVE: While research indicates that both the core features of autism and associated developmental skills influence adaptive behaviour outcomes, results to date suggest greater influence of the latter than the former, and little attention has been given to how the interaction of both together might impact functional disability. Seeking to expand understanding of associations between young children\'s core social autism features, developmental skills, and functional ability/disability, we specifically tested whether early developmental skills might have a moderating effect on the association between early social features and subsequent functional disability.
METHODS: Data from 162 preschool children were available for this study. These included time-1 measures of social autism features (ADOS-Social Affect score) and developmental skills (MSEL-Developmental Quotient; DQ), and a measure of functional ability/disability (VABS-Adaptive Behaviour Composite; ABC) available at follow-up 1-year later (time-2).
RESULTS: Time-1 ADOS-SA and MSEL-DQ scores were concurrently associated with one another, and both prospectively associated with time-2 VABS-ABC scores. Examination of partial correlations (i.e., controlling for MSEL-DQ) demonstrated that the association of time-1 ADOS-SA and time-2 VABS-ABC was accounted for by shared variance with DQ. Formal moderation analysis returned a non-significant overall interaction term, but showed a lower-bound region of significance whereby the association of time-1 ADOS-SA with time-2 VABS-ABC was significant for children with baseline DQ ≤ 48.33.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results add to a body of empirical evidence consistent with an understanding of the needs of and resources available to autistic people through a \'cognitive compensation\' lens.

Humans lived as hunter-gatherers for more than 95% of our evolutionary history, thus studying contemporary hunter-gatherer populations offers insight into the conditions children may be psychologically adapted to. Here, we contrast hunter-gatherer childhoods with those of WEIRD (Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic) societies and consider the implications for children\'s mental health. Hunter-gatherer infants receive continuous physical contact and more sensitive and responsive caregiving than is typical of WEIRD societies, due to the extensive involvement of alloparents (non-parental caregivers) who generally provide 40-50% of their care. Alongside positive attachment outcomes, alloparenting likely reduces the harms of family adversity and risk of abuse/neglect. From late infancy, hunter-gatherers spend their time in mixed-age \'playgroups\' where they learn via active play and exploration without adult supervision. This contrasts with WEIRD norms surrounding the need for adult supervision of children, as well as with the passive teacher-led classrooms, which could potentially lead to suboptimal learning outcomes and pose difficulties to children with ADHD. Based on this preliminary comparison, we consider practical solutions to potential harms arising from discordance between what children are adapted to and exposed to. These include infant massage and babywearing; increased sibling and extra-familial involvement in childcare; and educational adjustments.

We developed a mechanism model which allows for simulating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission dynamics with the combined effects of human adaptive behaviours and vaccination, aiming at predicting the end time of COVID-19 infection in global scale. Based on the surveillance information (reported cases and vaccination data) between 22 January 2020 and 18 July 2022, we validated the model by Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) fitting method. We found that (1) if without adaptive behaviours, the epidemic could sweep the world in 2022 and 2023, causing 3.098 billion of human infections, which is 5.39 times of current number; (2) 645 million people could be avoided from infection due to vaccination; and (3) in current scenarios of protective behaviours and vaccination, infection cases would increase slowly, levelling off around 2023, and it would end completely in June 2025, causing 1.024 billion infections, with 12.5 million death. Our findings suggest that vaccination and the collective protection behaviour remain the key determinants against the global process of COVID-19 transmission.