OBJECTIVE: Distress during SARS-CoV-2 outbreak affected also cancer patients\' well-being. Aim of this study was to investigate patient\' reactions and behavior (flexible-adaptive vs. inflexible-maladaptive) during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was designed with a self-report questionnaire, \"the ImpACT questionnaire,\" developed for the study. Regression analysis was performed on data.
RESULTS: Four hundred and forty five cancer patients from 17 Italian regions participated in the study. 79.8% of participants were female (mean age of 58 years). 92.6% of participants reported feeling vulnerable to COVID-19 contagion; 75.6% reported helpless, 62.7% sad, 60.4% anxious, and 52.0% anger. Avoidance of thinking about coronavirus is the principal maladaptive behavior that emerged. Participants who reported feeling anxious were more likely to have fear of staff being infected with COVID-19 (OR = 3.01; 95% CI = 1.49-6.30) and to have disrupted sleep due to worry (OR = 2.42; 95% CI = 1.23-4.83). Younger participants reported more anxiety (OR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.94-1.00); men reported feeling calm more than women (OR = 2.60; 95% CI = 1.27-5.43).
CONCLUSIONS: Majority of cancer patients reported serious concerns regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection; reliable information and psychological support must be offers to respond to these needs.

UNASSIGNED: Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is a rare genetic disorder with delays in language and cognitive development, but, with increased awareness of clinical features and a reliable diagnostic test, WBS is becoming more widely recognized in childhood. Adaptive behavior skills and/or maladaptive behavior are important for the prognosis of individuals with WBS. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and developmental characteristics of patients with WBS and further increase awareness about it by evaluating the adaptive skills and maladaptive behaviors of the patients.
UNASSIGNED: The data of WBS patients followed-up at the Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Unit were reviewed. Patient data on perinatal and postnatal history, developmental stages, physical and neurological examination findings were collected. The International Guide for Monitoring Child Development (GMCD) was administered to each child. In addition, semistructured interviews were conducted with the parents using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second edition (Vineland-II).
UNASSIGNED: A total of 12 patients diagnosed with WBS via detection of the 7q11.23 deletion, of whom 6 were girls, were retrospectively reviewed. The mean age at the time of review was 54.6 ± 32.5 months. The mean age at first presentation to the Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Outpatient Clinic was 15 ± 11.5 months. In the first developmental evaluation using the GMCD, there was a delay in fine and gross motor domains in 6 patients, in the language domains in 4 patients, and in all of the domains in 2 patients. Findings with Vineland-II showed socialization and communication domains as strengths, but the daily living skills and motor skills domains were weaknesses. In terms of maladaptive behavior, the patients tended to frequently have behavioral problems, neurodevelopmental disease, anxiety disorders, eating problems, and sleeping problems.
UNASSIGNED: This retrospective review of 12 patients indicated a general delay in overall development, and confirmed impairment in both adaptive and maladaptive functioning in WBS.

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and especially those with both DS and co-occurring ASD (DS + ASD) commonly display behavioral and psychiatric symptoms that can impact quality of life and places increased burden on caregivers. While the mainstay of treatment in DS and ASD is focused on educational and behavioral therapies, pharmacological treatments can be used to reduce symptom burden. There is a paucity of evidence and limited clinical trials in DS and DS + ASD. Some scientific evidence is available, primarily in open label studies and case series that can guide treatment choices. Additionally, clinical decisions are often extrapolated from evidence and experience from those with ASD, or intellectual disability in those without DS. This article reviews current research in pharmacological treatment in DS, ASD, and DS + ASD, reviews co-occurring neurodevelopmental and mental health diagnoses in individuals with DS + ASD across the lifespan, and describes practical approaches to psychopharmacological management.

UNASSIGNED: Shopping can provide a sense of satisfaction and pleasure; however, if a person\'s excessive involvement in this behavior starts to negatively impact other aspects of their life, similar to other addictive behaviors like excessive internet use, gaming, and gambling, it may be classified as pathological. Given the lack of agreement regarding the classification of excessive shopping tendencies as a separate mental health condition or addictive behavior, taking a socio-emotional approach to explore the psychological factors that precede this behavior, may offer a better comprehension of it.
UNASSIGNED: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between attachment styles and excessive shopping behavior, as well as to investigate the potential mediating effect of defense mechanisms like splitting on this relationship. Using convenience sampling, a group of 457 stock market employees (116 female, 341 male) between the ages of 24 and 60 were recruited. The researchers utilized a set of validated psychological questionnaires to assess the employees attachment styles, shopping addiction, and splitting tendencies.
UNASSIGNED: The results obtained from both the mediation model and path analysis suggest that attachment styles do not have a direct relationship with shopping addiction. Nonetheless, the study supports the impact of insecure anxious and avoidan attachment styles on splitting. Furthermore, the findings confirm that splitting has a mediating effect on the relationship between attachment styles and splitting.
UNASSIGNED: The present study enhanced our comprehension of the subconscious mechanisms underlying shopping tendencies. Specifically, the findings suggest that excessive tendencies towards shopping can be considered a maladaptive response resulting from insecure attachment styles and the unconscious utilization of the splitting defense mechanism.

Severe feather pecking, the pulling out of feathers of conspecifics, is a major welfare issue in laying hens. Possible underlying causes are fearfulness and lack of foraging opportunities. Because early life is a crucial stage in behavioral development, adapting the incubation and rearing environment to the birds\' needs may reduce fearfulness and prevent the development of feather pecking. In a 2 × 2 factorial design study, we investigated whether a green light-dark cycle throughout incubation, which resembles natural incubation circumstances more than the standard dark incubation, and foraging enrichment with live larvae during rearing reduce fearfulness and feather pecking and increase foraging behavior of laying hen pullets from an early age onwards. In this 2-batch experiment, 1,100 ISA Brown eggs were incubated under either 0 h of light/24 h of darkness or 12 h of green LED light/12 h of darkness. After hatching, 400 female chicks (200 per batch) were housed in 44 pens (8-10 chicks per pen). During the entire rearing phase (0-17 wk of age), half of the pens received black soldier fly larvae in a food puzzle as foraging enrichment. We assessed fear of novel objects and humans, feather pecking, plumage condition, foraging behavior, and recovery time after a 3-fold vaccination (acute stressor). A slight increase in the number of foraging bouts was only seen with larvae provisioning (rate ratio 1.19, 95% CI 1.02-1.29, P = 0.008). Neither lighted incubation nor larvae provisioning affected fearfulness, feather pecking, plumage condition or recovery time after vaccination. In conclusion, the present study showed no effects of light during incubation and minor effects of foraging enrichment during rearing on the behavior of laying hen pullets. Further research is recommended on other welfare aspects.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is characterized by variable neurobehavioral abnormalities, which leads to difficulties in developing and evaluating treatments and in determining accurate prognosis. We employed a pediatric cross-sectional sample (1,072 males, 338 females) from FORWARD, a clinic-based natural history study, to identify behavioral subtypes by latent class analysis. Input included co-occurring behavioral conditions, sleep and sensory problems, autistic behavior scales (SCQ, SRS-2), and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist revised for FXS (ABCFX). A 5-class solution yielded the most clinically meaningful, pharmacotherapy independent behavioral groups with distinctive SCQ, SRS-2, and ABCFX profiles, and adequate non-overlap (≥ 71%): \"Mild\" (31%), \"Moderate without Social Impairment\" (32%), \"Moderate with Social Impairment\" (7%), \"Moderate with Disruptive Behavior\" (20%), and \"Severe\" (9%). Our findings support FXS subtyping, for improving clinical management and therapeutic development.

Individuals who are prelingually deaf and have intellectual disabilities experience great challenges in their language, cognitive and social development, leading to heterogeneous profiles of intellectual and adaptive functioning. The present study describes these profiles, paying particular attention to domain discrepancies, and explores their associations with quality of life and maladaptive behavior. Twenty-nine adults with prelingual deafness (31% female) and mild intellectual functioning deficits (mean IQ = 67.3, SD = 6.5) were administered the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II (VABS-II) and an adapted sign language version of a quality of life scale (EUROHIS-QOL 8). Intellectual disability domain discrepancies were characterized as at least one standard deviation difference between the social domain and IQ and the practical domain and IQ, and a significant difference, according to the VABS-II manual, between the social and practical domains. Domain discrepancies were found between intellectual functioning and both the practical (58.6%) and social domain (65.5%). A discrepancy between intellectual and social functioning was significantly associated with a higher level of internalizing maladaptive behavior (T = 1.89, p < 0.05). The heterogeneous profiles highlight the importance of comprehensive assessments for adequate service provision.

UNASSIGNED: At least one in three individuals who are prelingually deaf has special needs, most commonly due to intellectual disabilities. The scant literature on challenging behavior in this population, however, suggests high rates of prevalence and an important need to better understand the contributing factors.
UNASSIGNED: We sought to analyze the prevalence of maladaptive behavior and its association with intellectual functioning, adaptive skills, language skills, and social communication in a population of adults with deafness and special needs.
UNASSIGNED: Participants were 61 individuals from three therapeutic living communities established for people with deafness and special needs. The participants had a mean age of 54.7 years, 64% were male. Intellectual functioning was measured with two versions of the Snijders-Oomen Non-verbal Intelligence Scale. The Vineland-II Scales were used to assess adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Language skills were measured with instruments specifically adapted for this population, including the Reynell Developmental Language Comprehension Scale, the comprehension scale of the Child Development Inventory, and the Profile of Multiple Language Proficiencies. Due to high correlations between instruments, a composite language score was used. A specific questionnaire to measure social communication in adults with intellectual disabilities was also utilized.
UNASSIGNED: The mean nonverbal developmental reference age was 6.5 years, whereas the equivalent for the language measures was about 3.5 years. The prevalence rate of elevated maladaptive behavior was 41% (v-scale score ≥18) and 18% of the participants had a clinically significant score (v-scale score ≥21). Regression analyses showed that only language and social communication skills were significantly associated with maladaptive behavior, while intellectual functioning and adaptive skills were not.
UNASSIGNED: These findings emphasize the importance of the constant promotion of communicative skills, as those people with better language and social communication skills demonstrate lower levels of maladaptive behavior.

The present study assessed the prevalence of clinically significant maladaptive behaviors and associated factors among young male children diagnosed with autism. A cross-sectional study including mothers of 88 male children with autism aged 2 to 5 y old was conducted in the year 2019. Using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), mothers rated their child\'s maladaptive behaviors. CBCL overall scores in the clinically relevant range were found in 76 (86.4%) children with autism (87.5% and 42% children had clinically significant internalizing and externalizing problems, respectively). Withdrawn (94.3%), attention problems (60.2%), and sleep problems (53.4%) were the predominant CBCL syndrome scales. Sociodemographic factors like autism severity and caffeine consumption were found to be significantly associated with maladaptive behaviors. There is an urgent need for designing effective behavioral management strategies incorporating various risk factors to enhance the quality of life among these vulnerable children.

BACKGROUND: Specific medical conditions are more prevalent in Down syndrome (DS) compared to the general population. Medical heterogeneity has also been hypothesized to contribute to variability in outcomes in DS.
OBJECTIVE: This project aimed to examine the association between medical conditions (i.e., gastrointestinal issues, hearing loss, vision problems, and congenital heart defects) and cognition, language, and behavior in children and adolescents with DS.
METHODS: Participants were 73 children and adolescents with DS, ages 6-17 years (M = 12.67, SD = 3.16). Caregivers reported on participants\' medical conditions, social behaviors, maladaptive behaviors, and executive function. Child cognitive abilities were also assessed.
RESULTS: Of the 73 participants, 34.2% had gastrointestinal issues, 12.3% had uncorrected hearing loss, 26.0% had uncorrected vision problems, and 31.5% had congenital heart defects. Participants with gastrointestinal issues had significantly more challenges with social behaviors, maladaptive behaviors, and executive function compared to those without gastrointestinal issues.
CONCLUSIONS: The associations identified between gastrointestinal issues and caregiver-reported behavioral characteristics in youth with DS contributes to our understanding of the interrelation between co-occurring medical conditions and child outcomes and has implications for approaches to care for individuals with DS.