Clinical Research Directory

The Playful Learning in Infancy Program

In the Playful Learning in Infancy Program, parents receive research-based educational guidance on playful interactions with their infants aged 0-1 year. They learn to recognize their infants' cues indicating readiness to engage in play and they are introduced to specific, developmentally appropriate activities for interactive engagement. The guidance is delivered to parents during routine home visits by public health visitors. The aims of the Playful Learning in Infancy Program are to 1) promote playful interactions between infants and parents, parental attitudes towards play, and infant socioemotional development; 2) enhance the language and knowledge of playful learning in infancy among frontline staff; and 3) evaluate the Playful Learning in Infancy Program for potential testing in a future large-scale RCT study. Evaluation is based on a parallel group study design, with half of the participants receiving care as usual and half of the participants receiving care as usual along with the Playful Learning in Infancy Program.

Rosie the Chatbot: Leveraging Automated and Personalized Health Information Communication

Rosie the Chatbot is an educational chatbot that moms can have on their computers or cellphones and will work by moms typing in their questions about pregnancy, health, infant milestones, and other variety of health related topics and receiving back a response immediately. Rosie only provides information from verified sources such as children's hospitals, health organizations and government agencies. Rosie does not ask moms to provide any personal information on her or her child, her chat is completely confidential, it works in English and Spanish and will be free.

Intervening With Opioid-Dependent MothersMothers and Infants

This study will assess the efficacy of the modified Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (mABC) Intervention, adapted for use with peripartum mothers receiving medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. The investigators expect that mothers who receive the modified Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up Intervention will show more nurturing and sensitive parenting and more adaptive physiological regulation than parents who receive a control intervention. The investigators expect that infants whose mothers receive the modified Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up will show better outcomes in attachment, behavior, and physiological regulation than infants of parents who receive the control intervention.

Breastfeeding Education Support Tool

The proposed project seeks to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of the Breastfeeding Education Support Tool for Baby (BEST4Baby) intervention, an mHealth-supported community-based peer counselor breastfeeding intervention for mothers in India. Given that rates of optimal infant feeding practices have remained stagnant over the past two decades in India, and that India is the most populous country and icontributes one-fifth of all global live births, this project could have major global health implications if the intervention is found to improve maternal breastfeeding practices and infant clinical outcomes. The project will also provide evidence needed to adopt BEST4Baby nationally and in other low resource communities.

Mother Infant Nutrition Study

Early life influences (including the intrauterine environment, birth weight, and early postnatal growth) shape subsequent weight trajectories and future chronic disease risk. The MINT study will evaluate whether maternal fat mass changes are associated with specific maternal weight trajectories during pregnancy, and with neonatal adiposity at birth. The study is a prospective observational cohort currently enrolling women in early pregnancy,and following mothers and infants after birth.

Cortical Tracking of Speech in the First Year of Life

The goal of this observational study is to investigate early neural mechanisms underlying the processing of spoken language, specifically the phenomenon of cortical tracking, and to determine whether these mechanisms can serve as early predictors of later language development outcomes in infants, including both typical and atypical trajectories. The main questions it aims to answer are: * How do infants with and without a familial history of language and learning impairments differ in their neural ability to track speech and non-speech auditory stimuli at an early stage of development (around 8 months of age)? * To what extent do early cortical tracking mechanisms predict later language abilities, including both receptive and expressive skills, measured at approximately 18 months of age? Researchers will compare infants with a familial risk for language and learning impairments (FH+) to infants without such risk (FH-) to determine whether differences in early neural processing of auditory stimuli are associated with later language outcomes. Participants will: * undergo a neurophysiological assessment involving non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) recording while being exposed to auditory stimuli, including: speech stimuli (pre-recorded simple stories in Italian, presented in infant-directed speech); non-speech stimuli (musical sounds matched for rhythmic and acoustic properties) * take part in a developmental assessment at approximately 8 months of age, including standardized measures of cognitive and early linguistic abilities * be involved in a follow-up assessment approximately 10 months later (around 18 months of age), during which standardized tests will evaluate language comprehension and production abilities * have additional background information collected, including family history of language and learning disorders and socio-demographic characteristics, to better understand potential risk and protective factors The study follows a longitudinal design and uses non-invasive procedures that do not require active responses from the infant.

Mediterranean Diet on Pregnancy and Foetus Development

The Mediterranean-style diet has been associated with longevity, long-life wellbeing, lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Research is pointing to the benefits that MeD could have in pregnant. Pregnancy is a very complex period and recently, the attention has been focused on the possibility that healthy dietary patterns positively influence pregnancy and the development of organs in the offspring. The mechanisms through which MeD influences pregnancy and fetal growth may partly depend on its antinflammatory properties and possibly on changes in epigenetic mechanisms. Systemic inflammation might contribute to the association between maternal obesity and less favorable neurodevelopmental outcomes. The investigators aim to define how maternal adhesion to MeD may affect pregnancy and new-born development, hence representing a notable burden from a public health and social perspective. Main objective of this project is to build up a birth cohort suitable to investigate the role of maternal dietary habits on maternal and new-born health, with special focus on MeD and its possible mechanism of action through epigenetic and inflammation changes. To establish a mother/new-born cohort, collect detailed information on maternal dietary habits and set-up a biobank of biological samples to evaluate the association between dietary habits and pregnancy outcomes. The investigators will recruit 2000 pairs (mother, new-born) in different obstetrics departments. To investigate the association between maternal dietary habits, foetal growth and offspring development and possible mediation by the inflammation profile of the mother. To understand whether maternal dietary habits are associated with epigenetic changes in the offspring and if this process is driven by the inflammation profile of the mother. Venous blood samples will be obtained at the baseline and at each gestational period for ultrasound at 11-13 gestational weeks, 20-22 weeks and 30-32 weeks. Women will be followed-up with standard clinical and 2D ultrasound examinations at gestational weeks 11-13, 20-22 and 30-32 to evaluate the fetal growth. Offspring development will be assessed at 6, 12, 18, 24 months of age. After delivery, the investigators will collect umbilical cord blood and saliva samples from new-born using standard procedures. To understand if new-born epigenetics is associated with infant physical and neurocognitive development in the following 2 years.

Project Sueño: Sleep & Understanding Early Nutrition in Obesity

The purpose of the study is to understand how mothers think and feel about feeding their babies and putting them to sleep, understand more about programs that can support mothers taking care of babies, and how professionals can be most helpful in helping mothers make decisions about their baby's feeding and sleeping. The overarching goal is to prevent early life obesity and progression to metabolic syndrome in high-risk populations, starting with healthy toddler weights by age 2 years.

The Impact of Music Medicine on Preterm Brain Development and Behavior

The investigators are conducting a two-site randomized control trial with the aim of defining the impact of music (M) without or with parent voice (MPV) on very preterm infants' acute and cumulative stress, intranetwork connectivity on term brain MRI, and language and other neurodevelopmental outcomes at two years corrected age. This is based on the hypothesis that infants in MPV arm are expected to experience the greatest benefit compared with infants receiving standard care.

Measurement of Energy Metabolism in Infants

The purpose of this study is to measure energy expenditure during the first 3 months of life in infants.

Mobile Health Intervention for Infants in Guatemala (18-m Intervention)

Promoting optimal development for children at risk in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is an important global health priority. Supporting caregivers to provide nurturing care is an evidence-based strategy, however feasibility of scaling-up this supporting is limited by competing demands on health workers' time. For infant development, mHealth technologies have the potential to solve this problem by providing tailored content directly to caregivers, involving and empowering them to promote infant development, promoting and facilitating interactions with health workers when areas of concern are identified and, therefore, expanding the reach of healthcare systems. Following a pilot feasibility study, this current study will examine the effectiveness of a caregiver-directed smartphone application to directly engage first-time caregivers in rural Guatemala and support early childhood development.

Understanding Early Development of Infants and Toddlers

The goal of this observational study is to analyze early development in infants and young children from a biopsychosocial perspective, with a particular focus on cognitive, language, motor, social-emotional, and adaptive functioning during the first years of life. The study will include infants and young children from 16 days of age up to 42 months of age, assessed during a single diagnostic session conducted by qualified specialists. The developmental assessment will include standardized diagnostic tasks and direct observation of behavior in the form of play and natural interaction, carried out in the presence of a parent or legal guardian. In addition, information regarding the child's everyday functioning will be collected from parents or caregivers using standardized questionnaires, including data on social-emotional competencies, communication, and adaptive skills. The main research questions addressed by this study are: What is the developmental profile of infants and young children in the first years of life? What relationships exist between different domains of early development within a biopsychosocial model of child functioning? Can specific developmental patterns be identified that indicate an increased risk of developmental difficulties in early childhood? How does age differentiate the structure and variability of developmental functioning across assessed domains? The study is non-invasive and observational in nature. Data will be analyzed exclusively in aggregated form and will contribute to a better understanding of early child development as well as to the development of norms and tools supporting early diagnosis and developmental intervention.

Continuous Delivery Room Skin-to-skin-study for Moderate and Late Preterm Infants

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to compare the effect of direct skin-to-skin contact in moderate and late preterm infants. The main questions it aims to answer are: * does skin-to-skin contact in moderate and late preterm infants influence gene expression in the stress signaling pathway? * does skin-to-skin contact in moderate and late preterm infants improve the short- and long-term outcome? Participants will either get immediate separation after vaginal birth or receive immediate skin-to-skin contact. Researchers will compare these two groups to answer the proposed questions.

A Safety and Feasibility Trial Protocol of Metformin in Infants After Perinatal Brain Injury

Infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) are at high risk for neurodevelopmental impairment, despite current standards of care. Adjunctive treatments to promote brain repair are needed. The antidiabetic drug metformin has recently been recognized as a neurorestorative agent, but, to date, has not been used in infants. Herein, the investigator describes a clinical trial with the aim of demonstrating the safety and feasibility of metformin use to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants with HIE.

Neuroimaging of Babies During Natural Sleep to Assess Typical Development and Cerebral Palsy

Background: Early diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP) is crucial, enabling intervention when neuroplasticity is at its highest. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays a vital role in CP diagnosis. Currently, diagnostic MRI of newborns and infants with suspected brain damage relies heavily on structural MR images. The current study aims to i) establish procedures for clinical infant and toddler MRI during natural sleep, ii) use advanced MRI sequences, such as advanced diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), that may be more sensitive in detecting early brain damage, and iii) map relationships between early brain development, and motor function and development. Methods: The NIBS-CP study will enroll approximately 200 infants either at risk for CP or typically developing. Infants will be followed longitudinally (for three waves) between 3 months and 2 years of age with cerebral MRI at 3 Tesla and comprehensive assessments of motor and cognitive functioning. The MRI protocol includes advanced diffusion-weighted imaging, high-resolution structural MRI, and MR spectroscopy. The motor and cognitive assessments include Hand Assessment in Infants, Alberta Infant Motor Scales, Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination, Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Bayley Scales of Infant Development, and Ages and Stages Questionnaires. NIBS-CP aims to establish normative material on early brain development of Danish children and conduct normative modeling of typical and atypical development to identify deviations in brain development at the level of the single child. Discussion: Identifying predictive brain structural features of motor function and motor development is key to the future use of early MRI in the clinical work-up, as this promotes early diagnosis and (clinical) intervention strategies tailored to the individual child.

Infant-Maternal Partnership and Cognitive Training Study for Preterm Infants

This study will test the hypothesis that in preterm infants a caregiver-implemented early developmental intervention (EDI) using finger puppets to develop joint attention and encourage interactive communication with routine EDI care including Bookworm training compared with routine EDI care including Bookworm training alone will increase the Ages and Stages Questionnaire® score at 12 months corrected age.

Effect of Partially Hydrolyzed, Whey-based Infant Formulas on Growth and Tolerability in Healthy Term Infants

This study will assess the effect of partially hydrolyzed, whey-based infant formulas on growth and gastrointestinal tolerance in healthy term infants.

Behavioral Assessment Method Index

The overall goal of this study is to develop and improve assessment methods for children with and without perinatal arterial ischemic stroke (PAS)/hemiparetic cerebral palsy (HCP). The focus is on behaviors of the arms and hands and includes other domains of child development like fine motor, gross motor, language, cognition, and social-emotional skills. This study involves 1) the use of data, including video recordings, from "I-ACQUIRE - Perinatal Arterial Stroke: A Multi-site RCT of Intensive Infant Rehabilitation" (NCT03910075) and 2) a prospective longitudinal observational data collection with a typically developing cohort using a comprehensive assessment battery (play, fine motor, gross motor, language, cognition, and social emotional skills). The current study is called the BAM Index. No intervention or treatment is provided as part of the BAM Index. The I-ACQUIRE study is an RCT that includes an intervention. The BAM index study is a use of data from the I-ACQUIRE cohorts and a prospective observational study of a typically developing cohort (children without stroke or cerebral palsy) over time. The results of this work will develop, test, refine, and validate a new methodology based on reach-and-grasp and other behaviors related to child development that will have profound and lasting impact on assessment and selection of treatment strategies for pediatric physical rehabilitation of children. The use and reuse of video technology is also well-suited to remote or virtual assessment. This proposal will add to our current knowledge by 1) yielding a psychometrically robust and alternative approach to measuring upper extremity function in children with stroke and/or hemiparetic cerebral palsy and 2) defining specific parameters about how to promote closer-to-normal upper extremity function in children with motor disability.

Pilot Study: A Telehealth Intervention for Caregivers of Infants With Early Signs of ADHD

This project will build on the investigators' work focused on early identification of ADHD, expanding to the development of a feasibility/pilot intervention involving early intervention for such infants. The investigators will evaluate the effectiveness of a telehealth-delivered, caregiver-implemented supportive intervention for infants/toddlers show early self-regulation difficulties.

Enfamil NeuroPro Study

This study will compare infant gut bacteria for infants who have been fed a standard infant formula (Enfamil Infant); infants who have been fed a new infant formula designed to be more similar to breast milk (Enfamil NeuroPro); and breastfed infants. These formulas are currently available on the market and meet FDA requirements for infant formula.

Investigating Fit and Satisfaction of the Prone Positioner

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the use of the Prone Positioner in pediatric patients with tracheostomies (trachs). The main question\[s\] it aims to answer are: * What is the fit and satisfaction of the device? * Does the device fulfill the goal of allowing infants with trachs participate in tummy time * What aesthetic feedback will the study team receive on the prone positioner from families, therapists, and nursing staff. Participants will be placed in the Prone Positioner, they will be monitored for their comfort/satisfaction with use, and how well they are able to be receive ventilation while in the device. Parents of these infants, as well as healthcare providers, will be surveyed on thoughts/suggestions for the Prone Positioner.

An Examination of Infants' Microbiome, Nutrition, and Development Study.

This study is examining the relationship between infant nutrition, gut health, and development. The fecal microbiota changes and develops, in large part due to the food that infants eat. These changes are important for many aspects of development. This study is designed to examine how the fecal microbiota changes when exclusively breastfed infants are first introduced to solid food, and how changes of the fecal microbiota are related to other aspects of development.

Association of Digital Aid Use With Infant Sleep and Maternal Mental Health

The goal of this study is to better understand the use of the Huckleberry app, a pediatric sleep guidance app and the impacts on infant sleep and maternal mental health.

Maternal Abdominal Morphology Assessment

Previous studies have shown that pancreas size tends to be smaller in individuals with diabetes compared to those without diabetes. The investigators have recently found that pancreas size increases during pregnancy. The MAMA study aims to examine changes in the pancreas that occur during pregnancy, in both pregnant mothers and their babies, and find out how they are affected by maternal diabetes. The MAMA study is a prospective cohort study that will follow women and their babies through pregnancy and one year postpartum. Women aged 18-54, who are under 14 weeks pregnant are being recruited to participate in the MAMA study.