In a new book, MIT literature professor Benjamin Mangrum explores how we deal with our doubts and fears about computing through humor, whether reconciling ourselves to machines or critiquing them.

Childhood maltreatment increases the risk of long-term health and psychological issues, but how it alters children’s development at a biological level remains unclear. In a recent study, researchers from Japan investigated both biological aging and social attention in maltreated preschoolers. Using DNA methylation markers and eye-tracking data, researchers found that abuse accelerates cellular aging and disrupts a child’s attention to people’s eyes—two independent pathways linked to emotional and behavioral difficulties.

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had lower vitamin D3 levels than neurotypical (NT) children, as well as deficits in language, social, and fine motor abilities. Nanotechnology has appeared as a suitable answer to absorption and bioavailability problems related to vitamin D3. The aim was to investigate the influence of vitamin D3-loaded nanoemulsion supplementation on adaptive behavior and language performance in children with ASD compared to the influence of the marketed product of vitamin D3.

Methods: Supplementation of ASD children with an oral vitamin D3-loaded nanoemulsion was performed in Group I while the marketed product of the oral vitamin D3 was used in Group II for 6 months.  Evaluation of their abilities and measuring the plasma levels of two types of vitamin D3 were performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography before and after supplementation.

Results: Supplementation in Group I (N=40) has led to an elevation of levels of 25 (OH) and 1, 25 (OH)2 forms of vitamin D3 (p< 0.0001), to behavioral improvement in the form of a reduction in ASD severity, and to a rise in the social IQ and total language age of ASD children (p=0.0002, 0.04, 0.0009, respectively).  On the other hand, Group II (N=40) did not show adaptive behavioral improvements.

Conclusion: The vitamin D3-loaded nanoemulsion provided better vitamin D3 bioavailability and a true influence on severity, adaptive behavior, fine motor abilities, and language performance, reflecting the desired benefits of the rise of vitamin D3 levels in the blood.