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The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study SM is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded leading researchers in the fields of adolescent development and neuroscience to conduct this ambitious project. The ABCD Research Consortium consists of a Coordinating Center, a Data Analysis, Informatics & Resource Center, and 21 research sites across the country, which have invited 11,880 children ages 9-10 to join the study. Researchers will track their biological and behavioral development through adolescence into young adulthood.

Arts measures in ABCD include how can arts experiences be best used to enhance development of each individual? How can arts experience be best used to promote health and address developmental disorders? And also, how can neuroscience research provide a foundation for rational approaches to how we integrate arts into development?

ABCD enables us to track a trajectory of broad measures of cortical area thickness of the brain over time and see whether individuals keep on with the mean, go higher, lower, and so forth. And what factors might affect those trajectories.The data shows the relationship between music engagement and brain and behavioral developmental trajectories in childhood and adolescence, using rich characterization of brain, behavior, demographics, and genetics available in ABCD.

Arts experiences in ABCD are captured largely as part of something called the activities questionnaire, which is a pretty detailed questionnaire given to parents, which includes detailed information about participation in a wide range of activities, which include many different sports, but also performance in the arts, music, dance, drama, visual and crafts. Activities such as active engagement, learning, lessons, playing in bands, creating art (school, outside school, private lessons, and self-study). The data offers insights into effects of arts-related activities on cognitive outcomes like fluid and crystallized intelligence, executive function, working memory-specific measures, risk scores for IQ, and educational attainment.

Watch the recording of NADAC's webinar featuring Dr. Gay Dowling, Director of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Project, and Dr. Iversen, a cognitive neuroscientist. Dr. Dowling provides an overview of the ABCD study, while Dr. Iversen discusses the arts-specific measures within the ABCD data and explains how these measures, combined with comprehensive brain and cognitive assessments, reveal the impact of the arts on brain development.

Additional ABCD resources:

• The Sound Health Network

• The ABSD Data Dictionary

• NIMH Data Archive

• ABCD GitHub

• ABCD Study Infographics

This two-phase forensic science study examined how much DNA individuals carry on their skin surface. The main goal for phase 1 was the development of a standardized method to test for human DNA shedding propensity. Shedding propensity is defined as how much DNA a person leaves behind when touching a surface. In phase 1 the research team collected skin surface samples and fingerprints from different locations for 30 volunteers on three different occasions.

The main goal of phase 2 was to use the sampling location established in phase 1 to determine the distribution of different levels of individual shedding propensity in four U.S. ethnic groups and correlate DNA shedding to biological characteristics of these test populations. Biological characteristics (e.g., sunburn or sweating propensity) were collected via a questionnaire or measured via dermatological probes (e.g., sebum and melanin content).

Microhaplotypes (MHs) are an emerging forensic DNA marker characterized by sets of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within a short distance of each other displaying multiple allelic combinations. Although less polymorphic than short tandem repeat polymorphisms (STRs), they have some advantages, such as alleles all of the same size within a locus, absence of stutter artifacts, and lower mutation rates than that of STRs. Several MH-multiplex panels have been reported in the past, including the 74-locus panel developed in the research team's laboratory. Casework implementation of such large panels is only feasible if paired with probabilistic genotyping (PG) as manual deconvolution of complex mixtures would be excessively time consuming and not compatible with conventional forensic DNA laboratory operations.

In this study, DNA-View Mixture Solution and EuroForMix PG software were adapted to processing MH data from 74 loci analyzed on the Ion S5 massively parallel sequencing (MPS) platform. Relative fluorescence unit (RFU) values were replaced by allele-sequence coverage and tested on a set of DNA mixtures. The goals of this project were to (1) adapt and thoroughly test the two PG software platforms for the use multiplex MH data for DNA mixture interpretation, and (2) generate a data repository of mixtures and references that can be used by developers and users to adapt other PG software to intake MH data.

The data are organized into spreadsheet type files. Data consists of likelihood ratios (Log10LR) of possible hypotheses involving mixture samples. Log10LRs are averaged across samples and categorized across 4 population frequencies: African American, European, Asian American, and Southwest Hispanic.

This collection includes 10 focus group transcripts conducted with participants in Geisinger Health System's MyCode Community Health Initiative, an unselected biobank. Geisinger is a large, integrated health system in central and northeast Pennsylvania. Focus groups were conducted at clinics throughout the system's catchment area. Focus group participants were asked to discuss their views of the appropriateness of using their clinical and genomic data to study several phenotypes, including social and behavioral phenotypes.

Introduction and Background. Minorities are less likely to report rapes. The Post Coital DNA Recovery (PCDR) study (2009-14) subjects were white (93%) where expanded collection times were not generalizable to minority populations. Evidence reports health and medical differences between races necessitating duplication of previous research in minority populations.

Aims. (1) What is the time period in which it is possible to collect post-coital DNA in minority women using Y-STR laboratory methods? and (2) when compared to the former study sample of minority and non-minority, what are the physiological conditions, factors, or activities in minority couples that influence post-coital DNA recovery?

Design. The design includes mixed methods duplication perfected in the first study, embracing descriptive and inferential techniques. Qualitative research used semi-structured interviews. Aim 1 analysis used PCDR-M data only. Aim 2 combined data from both PCDR and PCDR-M studies. Combined, DNA recovery, a binary outcome accounting for repeated methods in population regression analysis, used Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) methods.

Fidelity. The strict criteria for adherence included considerable outreach and support of study personnel. PCDR and PCDR-M data combined and compared the two samples, which had specific homogeneity, including same inclusion and elimination criteria in both studies; fidelity to the validated protocol; laboratory method and interpretation for inclusion; duplicate statistical analysis; and interpretation of data. Any variation in key variables met elimination criteria.

Assumptions and Limitations. Assumptions included (1) motivation is altruistic; (2) motivation is incentives and coercion for some; (3) negotiating coitus is difficult and stressful; and (4) similar fidelity and dropout rates. The limitations included (1) a lack of representation for the diverse experiences of rape victims; (2) sample size; (3) self-selection bias; (4) protocol adherence; and (4) advances in laboratory science and DNA kits.

Demographics. Demographic variables included gender, race, and age. Major categories in the dataset included participants' reproductive history, data on female participants' reproductive organs, and childhood abuse.

The database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP) was developed to archive and distribute the results of studies that have investigated the interaction of genotype and phenotype. Such studies include genome-wide association studies, medical sequencing, molecular diagnostic assays, as well as association between genotype and non-clinical traits. The advent of high-throughput, cost-effective methods for genotyping and sequencing has provided powerful tools that allow for the generation of the massive amount of genotypic data required to make these analyses possible.

dbGaP provides two levels of access - open and controlled - in order to allow broad release of non-sensitive data, while providing oversight and investigator accountability for sensitive data sets involving personal health information. Summaries of studies and the contents of measured variables as well as original study document text are generally available to the public, while access to individual-level data including phenotypic data tables and genotypes require varying levels of authorization.

The NIDA Genetics Consortium was created in 1999 and has several overarching missions: (1) identify human chromosomal regions containing genes and/or specific genes that confer susceptibility to drug addiction; (2) create a repository for data (i.e., clinical information and biospecimens containing DNA; (3) generate a database on molecular genetics of drug use disorders and related phenotypes to provide controlled access to collaborative studies with the broader scientific community; and (4) establish a consortium of scientists who meet regularly and collaborate on projects.

Along with the description of the NIDA Genetics Consortium, the Web site outlines policies for access and distribution of DNA and clinical data from NIDA-funded studies on the genetics of addiction vulnerability.