Development of a baby's cry

The work is dedicated to studying of development of babies cries forms (systems of acoustic characteristics) during first half-year of life. The main cry functions in the system of baby's interaction with mother is being considered and the acoustic parameters to which mother reacts determining the cause of cry are being revealed.     

Translational Analysis of Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure on Human Infant Cries and Rat Pup Ultrasonic Vocalizations

Spectral and temporal features of human infant crying may detect neurobehavioral effects of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE). Finding comparable measures of rodent ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) would promote translational analyses by controlling the effects of correlated variables that confound human studies. To this end, two studies examined the sensitivity of similar acoustic structures in human infant and rat pup vocalizations to effects of PCE. In Study 1, cry sounds of 107 one month-old infants were spectrum analyzed to create a novel set of measures and to detect the presence of hyperphonation - a qualitative shift to an atypically high fundamental frequency (basic pitch) associated with neurobehavioral insult. Infants with PCE were compared to infants with prenatal polydrug-exposure (PPE) without cocaine and with infants in a standard comparison (SC) group with no prenatal drug exposure. In Study 2, USVs of 118 five day-old rat pups with either PCE, prenatal saline exposure or no prenatal exposures were spectrum analyzed to detect the presence of frequency shifts – acoustic features that have a frequency waveform similar to that of hyperphonation. Results of study 1 showed PCE had two sets of sex-dependent effects on human infants: PCE males had higher pitched cries with more dysphonation (turbulence); PCE females had longer pauses between fewer cry sounds that were of lower amplitude than comparison groups. PCE and PPE infants had more cries with hyperphonation than SC infants. In study 2, PCE pups had a greater percentage of USVs with shift in the acoustic structure than pups in the two control groups. As such, the novel measures of human infant crying and rat pup USVs were sensitive to effects of PCE. These studies provide the first known translational analysis of similar acoustic structures of vocalizations in two species to detect adverse effects of prenatal drug exposure.     

The acoustic space of pain: cries as indicators of distress recovering dynamics in pre-verbal infants

Crying is a vital built-in survival mechanism for the human baby. Yet both the information carried by cries and the factors driving the perception and reaction of adult listeners remain under-investigated. Here, we contrasted the relevance of psycho-acoustic vs. acoustic evaluation for the assessment of distress levels in babies’ cries recorded during baths and during an immunization event. Parents were asked to rate the level of distress experienced by babies from listening to their cries attributed lower pain ratings to mild discomfort (bath) than to distress (vaccination) cries but failed to discriminate between different putative levels of pain experienced during different vaccination sequences. In contrast, vocal ‘roughness’, a composite acoustic factor characterizing the level of aperiodicity of the cries, not only differed between mild discomfort and distress cries but also between the levels of pain experienced during the different vaccination sequences. These observations suggest that acoustic analyses are more powerful than psycho-acoustic evaluations for discriminating distress levels in babies’ cries, and opens the way for the design of a tool based on the acoustics of cries for assessing and monitoring pain levels in pre-verbal infants.     

The early crying paradox

In contemporary Western societies, infants in the first 3 months cry more than at any other time during their life. Although this crying is believed to function to assure nutrition, protection, and mother-infant interaction thought to be essential for later attachment, it also predisposes to complaints of excessive crying (“colic”), discontinuing breast-feeding, and, in the extreme case, child abuse. A resolution of this apparent paradox is proposed based on evidence that elements of caregiving are important determinants of some aspects of early crying. It is argued that early human crying under caretaking conditions typical in Western societies is characterized by prolonged crying bouts, that it is specifically the length of crying bouts (rather than frequency or pattern) that is affected by caregiving practice, and that prolonged crying bouts are probably not characteristic with caretaking practices typical in non-Western societies and possibly in our evolutionary past. It is suggested that caregiving behaviors may recruit normal physiological functions that potentiate cry bout duration in Western caregiving contexts, but reduce it in others. Frequent, short bouts are sufficient, and probably better suited than long bouts, to promote all the positive and presumably adaptive functions claimed for infant crying. Furthermore, they may have provided a mechanism by which infants could enhance their own fitness.     

A 45,XX,-5,-14,+t(5q;14q)mat cri du chat child.

A two-year-old girl has the following features of the cri du chat syndrome: microcephaly, hypertelorism, downward slanting of the palpebral fissures, psychomotor retardation and a cat-like cry. She is only of five patients having the cat cry syndrome with 45 chromosomes. Her karyotype is 45,XX, -5, -14, +t(5; 14)(5qter leads to 5p11: : 14q11 leads to 14qter) with the translocation inherited from her mother and maternal grandmother, each of whom is the carrier of a balanced translocation 46,XX,t(5;14)(p11q11). Normal plasma activity for hexosaminidase B suggests the locus for this enzyme is not located in the delected segment of 5 p.     

Mosaic cri-du-chat syndrome in a girl with a mild phenotype

We report on the clinical observation of a girl patient with few signs of cri-du-chat syndrome. The chromosomal analysis in lymphocyte culture showed 46,XX,del(5)(p15.3) in 38% of cells. Psychological tests revealed motor, perceptive and visual-spatial problems, as well as immaturity and emotional dependence. The phoniatric evaluation showed poor vocabulary, difficulty with repeating words or numbers in sequence, and better receptive than expressive language. The spectrographic measurements showed disturbance of fundamental frequency (F₀) in vocal pronunciation. The anatomic findings of the laryngoscopic evaluation were normal, indicating that the voice and speech problems were functional disorders. The present case revealed moderate clinical signs and vocal disturbance associated with a low percentage of 5p-cells and the breakpoint at 5p15.3. The short terminal deletion with a possible loss of the critical region for cat-like cry and the presence of a normal cell line, explain the cry not so typical at birth (weak but not high-pitched), the intermediate values of F₀, and the moderate mental retardation. This case is compared with other mosaic 5p-patients reported in the literature.     

Sex hormone influence on human infants' sound characteristics: melody in spontaneous crying

The specific impact of sex hormones on brain development and acoustic communication is known from animal models. Sex steroid hormones secreted during early development play an essential role in hemispheric organization and the functional lateralization of the brain, e.g. language. In animals, these hormones are well-known regulators of vocal motor behaviour. Here, the association between melody properties of infants'' sounds and serum concentrations of sex steroids was investigated. Spontaneous crying was sampled in 18 healthy infants, averaging two samples taken at four and eight weeks, respectively. Blood samples were taken within a day of the crying samples. The fundamental frequency contour (melody) was analysed quantitatively and the infants'' frequency modulation skills expressed by a melody complexity index (MCI). These skills provide prosodic primitives for later language. A hierarchical, multiple regression approach revealed a significant, robust relationship between the individual MCIs and the unbound, bioactive fraction of oestradiol at four weeks as well as with the four-to-eight-week difference in androstenedione. No robust relationship was found between the MCI and testosterone. Our findings suggest that oestradiol may have effects on the development and function of the auditory–vocal system in human infants that are as powerful as those in vocal-learning animals.     

Post-natal growth, mother-infant interactions and development of vocalizations in the vespertilionid bat Plecotus auritus

Female brown long-eared bats Plecotus auritus nurse their own young selectively. Choice experiments suggested that females recognized infants by using both olfactory and acoustic cues. Infant isolation calls (i-calls) showed individual variation, and vocal signatures allowed the females to recognize and suckle their own pup. As the pups grew, the i-calls increased in frequency and decreased in duration, and the i-calls appeared to change into orientation cries. Mothers were able to recognize recent calls of their own babies in preference to older calls. Echolocation sounds were distinguishable statistically between lactating females, and the behaviour of the babies during choice experiments suggested that in this species a mutual acoustic recognition occurs. The growth and development of wing shape in P. auritus are described.     

Vocal communication of simulated pain

While evidence suggests that pain cries produced by human babies and other mammal infants communicate pain intensity, whether the pain vocalisations of human adults also encode pain intensity, and which acoustic characteristics influence listeners’ perceptions, remains unexplored. Here, we investigated how trained actors communicated pain by comparing the acoustic characteristics of nonverbal vocalisations expressing different levels of pain intensity (mild, moderate and severe). We then performed playback experiments to examine whether vocalisers successfully communicated pain intensity to listeners, and which acoustic characteristics were responsible for variation in pain ratings. We found that the mean and range of voice fundamental frequency (F0, perceived as pitch), the amplitude of the vocalisation, the degree of periodicity of the vocalisation and the proportion of the signal displaying non-linear phenomena all increased with the level of simulated pain intensity. In turn, these parameters predicted increases in listeners’ ratings of pain intensity. We also found that while different voice features contributed to increases in pain ratings within each level of expressed pain, a combination of these features explained an impressive amount of the variance in listeners’ pain ratings, both across (76%) and within (31–54%) pain levels. Our results show that adult vocalisers can volitionally simulate and modulate pain vocalisations to influence listeners’ perceptions of pain in a manner consistent with authentic human infant and nonhuman mammal pain vocalisations, and highlight potential for the development of a practical quantitative tool to improve pain assessment in populations unable to self-report their subjective pain experience.     

Preterm birth is associated with an increased fundamental frequency of spontaneous crying in human infants at term-equivalent age

Human infant crying has been researched as a non-invasive tool for assessing neurophysiological states at an early developmental stage. Little is known about the acoustic features of spontaneous cries in preterm infants, although their pain-induced cries are at a higher fundamental frequency (F₀) before term-equivalent age. In this study, we investigated the effects of gestational age, body size at recording and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) on the F₀ of spontaneous cries in healthy preterm and full-term infants at term-equivalent age. We found that shorter gestational age was significantly associated with higher F₀, although neither smaller body size at recording nor IUGR was related to increased F₀ in preterm infants. These findings suggest that the increased F₀ of spontaneous cries is not caused by their smaller body size, but instead might be caused by more complicated neurophysiological states owing to their different intrauterine and extrauterine experiences.     

Testosterone and prolactin are associated with emotional responses to infant cries in new fathers

To determine the responsiveness of new fathers and non-fathers toward infant cues, we exposed fathers and non-fathers to infant cries and to control stimuli and we measured affective, heart-rate, and endocrine responses, including salivary testosterone and cortisol and plasma prolactin concentrations prior to and after cry presentations. We found that (1) fathers hearing the cry stimuli felt more sympathetic and more alert compared to groups who did not hear the cries or to non-fathers who heard the cries; (2) fathers and non-fathers with lower testosterone levels had higher sympathy and/or need to respond to the infant cries than fathers with higher testosterone levels; (3) fathers with higher, as opposed to lower, prolactin levels were also more alert and more positive in response to the cries; (4) fathers hearing the cry stimuli showed greater percentage increase in testosterone than fathers not hearing the cry stimuli; (5) experienced fathers hearing the cries showed a greater percentage increase in prolactin levels compared to first-time fathers or to any group of fathers hearing control stimuli; finally, (6) partial correlations with parity and experience entered as a covariates indicated that both experience and testosterone contributed to the variance in fathers' affective responses to infant cries. Taken together, these results indicate that, as with a number of other biparental species, human fathers are more responsive to infant cues than are non-fathers and fathers' responses to infant cues are related to both hormones and to caregiving experience.     

Prolactin responses to infant cues in men and women: effects of parental experience and recent infant contact

We used a longitudinal design to test whether parental experience differentially affects the development of prolactin responses to infant cues in men and women. Couples provided two blood samples at three tests, one test just before their babies were born, and two tests during the early postnatal period (n=21). Nine couples repeated the tests near the birth of their second babies. In the 30 min between the two samples, couples listened to recorded infant cries at the prenatal test and held their baby (fathers) or a doll (mothers) at the postnatal tests. Blood samples were analyzed for prolactin concentrations. Prolactin values were then related to sex and parity differences as well as to questionnaire data concerning emotional responses to infant cries and previous infant contact. We found that (1) prior to the birth of both the first and second babies, women's prolactin concentrations increased after exposure to infant stimuli, whereas men's prolactin concentrations decreased; postnatal sex differences varied with parity; (2) women's prolactin reactivity did not change significantly with parental experience; (3) the same men's prolactin concentrations decreased after holding their first newborns but increased after holding their second newborns; this change was not gradual or permanent; (4) men reporting concern after hearing recorded infant cries showed a different postnatal pattern of prolactin change after holding their babies than men not reporting concern; and (5) men who had little contact with their babies just prior to testing had a more positive prolactin response than men who had recently held their babies for longer periods. Although parental experience appears to affect men's prolactin responses, differences in reactivity were also related to patterns of recent infant contact and individual differences in responses to infant cues.     

Untersuchungen von Proteinpolymorphismen an einer Familie mit gehäuften Chromosomenaberrationen

Summary In a family, two children exhibited chromosome aberrations: a male infant had trisomy G₁ and his sister Bp deficiency (cri du chat-syndrome). Screening for proteinpolymorphisms within three generations revealed heterozygosity for two enzyme variants, LDH BB' and 6-PGD AB, in a number of family members, some of whom were double heterozygotes. Linkage can not be tested since these variants are derived from different sibships. An aunt of the affected children exhibited a LDH isoenzyme pattern as it is to be expected in a protein chimaera. In addition, a high number of aneuploid and polyploid cells, including endomitoses, were present in the blood of this proband, and similarly in her mother. The origin of the chimaera is discussed.

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Mit Unterstüzung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Who Responds to Crying?

!Kung San (Bushman) hunter-gatherers have unusually high levels of mother-infant contact and represent one of the environments of human evolutionary adaptedness (EEAs). Studies among the !Kung show that levels of crying—the most basic sign of mammalian infant distress—are low, and response to crying is high, and some suggest that responses are overwhelmingly maternal. We show that although !Kung mothers respond to crying most often, one-third of crying bouts are managed solely by someone else. Mothers responded to all bouts lasting ≥30 s, but in half of these responses they were joined by one or more others. Mothers are the most consistent responders, but multiple caregiving is common. The mother is rarely alone when her baby cries; others often substitute or join her in interventions. This social support may facilitate the high levels of maternal responsiveness characteristic of the !Kung, and of hunter-gatherers generally, but it is also consistent with recent theory emphasizing nonmaternal care (allocare) and cooperative breeding.     

Physiological reactivity to infant crying: a behavioral genetic study

In this study, we examined adults' cardiac reactivity to repeated infant cry sounds in a genetically informative design. Three episodes of cry stimuli were presented to a sample of 184 adult twin pairs. Cardiac reactivity increased with each cry episode, indicating that subjects were increasingly sensitized to repeated infant distress signals. Non‐parents showed more cardiac reactivity than parents, and males displayed a larger increase in heart rate (HR) in response to repeated cry sounds than females. Multivariate genetic modeling showed that the genetic component of adults' HR while listening to infant crying was substantial. Genetic factors explained 37–51% of the variance in HR and similar genes influenced HR at baseline and HR reactivity to infant crying. The remaining variance in HR across the cry paradigm was accounted for by unique environmental influences (including measurement error). These results point to genetic and experiential effects on HR reactivity to infant crying that may contribute to the explanation of variance in sensitive and harsh parenting.     

Quantitative voice quality analyses of a soprano singing early music in three different performance styles

This paper considers the measurement of voice quality variations relating to three different performance styles of early music singing by a trained soprano. In particular, the various outputs available following the collection of electrolaryngographic data are presented along with acoustic analyses based on the acoustic pressure waveform to enable a comparison of the three different singing styles. Voice quality analysis is based on the output from the electrolaryngograph, that enables a measurement of fundamental period to 1 μs accuracy to be made, enabling fundamental frequency variations including vibrato to be explored. In addition, the percentage of each cycle for which the vocal folds are in contact is measured and varies between the three voice qualities providing insights into the nature of vocal fold vibration in each case. Acoustic output spectral measures are made that are not only based on traditional wide- and narrow-band but also hearing modelling spectrography. These provide a clear indication as to which portions of the spectrum are most prominent in terms of perception of the three different voice qualities. A number of features resulting from the various analyses distinguish the singing styles, thereby providing evidence that the methods used are appropriate for objective characterisation and differentiation of singing styles in early music.     

Twin pregnancy with complete hydatidiform mole and coexisting fetus following ovulation induction with a non-prescribed clomiphene citrate regimen: a case report

Introduction

Until now, studies on paracetamol given intravenously have mainly been performed with the pro-drug propacetamol or with paracetamol in preterm babies above 32 weeks of gestation. Studies in these babies indicate that intravenous paracetamol is tolerated well, however studies on the efficacy of intravenous paracetamol are lacking. There are no pharmacokinetic data on the administration of multiple doses of paracetamol in preterm babies with a gestational age below 32 weeks.

Case presentation

We present a case series of nine Caucasian preterm babies, six boys and three girls, with a mean gestational age of 28.6 weeks (range 25.9 to 31.6 weeks). Case one, a girl with a gestational age of 25 weeks and six days, presented with necrotizing enterocolitis. In the second case, a female baby with a gestational age of 26 weeks and two days presented with hematoma. In case three, a female baby with a gestation of 26 weeks and one day developed intraventricular hemorrhage. In case four, a male baby with a gestational age of 31 weeks and four days presented with pain after vacuum delivery. Case five, a female baby born after a gestation of 29 weeks and six days presented with hematoma. In case six, a male baby with a gestation of 30 weeks and six days presented with hematoma. In case seven, a male baby, born with a gestational age of 30 weeks and six days, presented with caput succedaneum and hematoma. In case eight, a male baby, born after a gestation of 28 weeks and four days, developed abdominal distention. Case nine, a female baby, born with a gestational age of 27 weeks and three days presented with hematoma. These babies were treated with intravenous paracetamol 15 mg/kg every six hours. Serum concentrations and aspartate transaminase were determined after prolonged administration. Pain scores were assessed using the Premature Infant Pain Profile.

Conclusion

Paracetamol serum concentrations ranged from 8 to 64 mg/L after eight to 12 doses of intravenous paracetamol. Adequate analgesia was obtained in seven babies. During paracetamol therapy the median serum level of aspartate transaminase was 20 U/L (range 12 to 186 U/L). This case series indicates that prolonged intravenous administration of paracetamol in preterm babies with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks is tolerated well in the first days after birth. However, in the absence of proper pharmacokinetic data in this age group we cannot advocate the use of paracetamol intravenously.     

Cri du Chat-syndrome mit Chromosomenmosaik 46, XY/46, XY, 5p-

Summary The case of a 2;5 year old boy with the typical features of the Cri du Chatsyndrome is described. The cytogenetical examination of lymphocytes and fibroblasts revealed a mosaicism with an approximated 1:1 relation between normal cells and cells with a deletion of the short arm of a B-chromosome. Autoradiography proved the deleted chromosome to be a chromosome No. 5.     

High-resolution mapping of genotype-phenotype relationships in cri du chat syndrome using array comparative genomic hybridization

We have used array comparative genomic hybridization to map DNA copy-number changes in 94 patients with cri du chat syndrome who had been carefully evaluated for the presence of the characteristic cry, speech delay, facial dysmorphology, and level of mental retardation (MR). Most subjects had simple deletions involving 5p (67 terminal and 12 interstitial). Genotype-phenotype correlations localized the region associated with the cry to 1.5 Mb in distal 5p15.31, between bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) containing markers D5S2054 and D5S676; speech delay to 3.2 Mb in 5p15.32-15.33, between BACs containing D5S417 and D5S635; and the region associated with facial dysmorphology to 2.4 Mb in 5p15.2-15.31, between BACs containing D5S208 and D5S2887. These results overlap and refine those reported in previous publications. MR depended approximately on the 5p deletion size and location, but there were many cases in which the retardation was disproportionately severe, given the 5p deletion. All 15 of these cases, approximately two-thirds of the severely retarded patients, were found to have copy-number aberrations in addition to the 5p deletion. Restriction of consideration to patients with only 5p deletions clarified the effect of such deletions and suggested the presence of three regions, MRI-III, with differing effect on retardation. Deletions including MRI, a 1.2-Mb region overlapping the previously defined cri du chat critical region but not including MRII and MRIII, produced a moderate level of retardation. Deletions restricted to MRII, located just proximal to MRI, produced a milder level of retardation, whereas deletions restricted to the still-more proximal MRIII produced no discernible phenotype. However, MR increased as deletions that included MRI extended progressively into MRII and MRIII, and MR became profound when all three regions were deleted.