Environmental Contributions to Disparities in Learning Disabilities: The Columbia Psychiatry, Psychology, and Public Health Collaborative Learning Disabilities Innovation Hub

哥伦比亚精神病学，心理学和公共卫生协作学习障碍（LD） 创新中心汇集了来自不同领域的专家-LD和神经心理学，儿童精神病学， 认知神经科学、公共卫生和环境科学--以提高我们对 环境相关学习困难（LDiff），从维度和类别上定义为 在阅读和数学的标准化测量中，黑人的表现处于最低的四分位数。 来自经济困难家庭的拉丁裔儿童-产前暴露风险高的人群 神经毒性化学物质和学习问题，他们一直被排除在研究之外。轮毂 将建立基础设施，以（a）促进对复杂病因学和神经基础的创新研究 在经济逆境的背景下，与环境相关的LDIFF，以及（B）培养未来的跨学科 LD学者和尖端神经科学的领导者，并与更广泛的儿童教育 系统该中心将记录产前环境化学品暴露如何有助于实现 美国的差距。从长远来看，该中心将通过识别行为和行为， 从产前暴露到LDiff-途径的神经通路可能会发生变化。 嵌入式研究项目将确定产前暴露的神经和认知途径， 空气污染和早期生活压力（ELS）导致黑人和拉丁裔儿童样本中的LDiff， 青少年。我们将使用新的磁共振成像（MRI）的神经黑色素，一个副产品的中脑 多巴胺和基于模型的功能性MRI，以探测多巴胺能回路和相关的抑制控制（IC） 和强化学习（RL）与产前暴露的关系。我们假设中脑多巴胺 作为一个重要的机制，介导空气污染和ELS的影响领域一般认知因素（IC 和RL）和LDiff。领导核心将建立中心的行政和培训基础设施， 培养下一代跨学科LD研究人员，通过公共卫生和LDiff培训， 创新计划，包括神经科学研究经验，方法和翻译课程， 在教育环境中提供指导和跨学科实习培训。我们继续致力于 从代表性不足的群体中招募早期职业科学家，为他们的研究做准备， 领导层在LD。影响：通过我们的创新，高风险的项目和综合 培训/指导机会，我们将确定新的电路和潜在的修改 环境风险因素牵连在LDiff在儿童从经济上处于不利地位的家庭。 我们将发展知识和行政基础设施，作为未来的基础 环境LD研究中心，能够将我们的研究成果转化为可操作的 预防和干预方案。

The Columbia Psychiatry, Psychology, and Public Health Collaborative Learning Disabilities (LD) Innovation Hub brings together experts from distinct fields–-LD and neuropsychology, child psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience, public health and environmental science–-to improve our etiologic understanding of environmentally-associated learning difficulties (LDiff), defined both dimensionally and categorically by performance in the lowest quartile on standardized measures of reading and math. Our study includes Black and Latinx children from economically disadvantaged families—populations at high risk for prenatal exposure to neurotoxic chemicals and learning problems, who have historically been excluded from research. The Hub will establish infrastructure to (a) foster innovative research into the complex etiology and neural underpinnings of environmentally-associated LDiff in the context of economic adversity, and (b) train future interdisciplinary LD scholars and leaders in cutting-edge neuroscience and to engage with the wider child educational system. The Hub will document how prenatal environmental chemical exposures contribute to the achievement gap in the United States. Long term, the Hub will help close the achievement gap by identifying behavioral and neural pathways from prenatal exposures to LDiff—pathways that may be amenable to change. The Embedded Research Project will identify neural and cognitive pathways through which prenatal exposure to air pollution and early life stress (ELS) lead to LDiff in a sample of Black and Latinx children and adolescents. We will use novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of neuromelanin, a by-product of midbrain dopamine, and model-based functional MRI to probe dopaminergic circuits and related inhibitory control (IC) and reinforcement learning (RL) in relation to prenatal exposure. We hypothesize that midbrain dopamine serves as a critical mechanism mediating air pollution and ELS effects on domain-general cognitive factors (IC and RL) and LDiff. The Leadership Core will establish the Hub's administrative and training infrastructure and foster the next generation of interdisciplinary LD researchers, trained in public health and LDiff through an innovative program including neuroscience research experience, methodological and translational coursework, mentoring and interdisciplinary practicum training in the educational setting. We continue our commitment to the recruitment of early career scientists from underrepresented groups, preparing them for research and leadership positions in LD. IMPACT: Through our innovative, high-risk project and integrated training/mentorship opportunities we will identify novel circuits and potentially modifiable environmental risk factors implicated in LDiff in children from economically disadvantaged families. We will develop an intellectual and administrative infrastructure to serve as a foundation for a future Center for Environmental LD Research, capable of translating our research findings into actionable prevention and intervention programs.