Background: This article explores parental responsiveness – the ability of a parent to react to a child’s needs adequately, promptly, and with tenderness and synchrony. Parental responsiveness can be measured using observational and self-report scales. The purpose of this study was to explore whether individual differences in empathy and attachment in mothers and fathers and their satisfaction with their relationship are predictors of parental responsiveness toward infants. Moreover, self-report and observational measures of parental responsiveness were compared.Participants and procedure: A total of 110 triads (mother, father, and child aged 6-10 months) took part in the free play procedure and parents’ behav-iors towards their children were assessed using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale. Moreover, they filled out a set of question-naires measuring parental self-reported responsiveness, empathy, experiences in close relationships and romantic relation-ship satisfaction.Results: Higher empathic concern was connected with higher responsiveness and this was seen in both individual and partner measures. At the individual level, measures of responsiveness (self-report and observational) were not congruent and proba-bly depended on other variables. In couples, there were positive correlations in three aspects of their family functioning: observed and self-reported parental responsiveness as well as relationship satisfaction.Conclusions: This study revealed differences between self-reported and observational measures of parental responsiveness, indicating that their results may not always be congruent and could depend on other variables.

Background Parental responsiveness is a parent’s predisposition to react to their child’s verbal and non-verbal cues promptly and adequately. There is no self-report scale that measures this type of behavior. The aim of this study was to construct a valid and useful scale to measure this...

Background: Physical activity reduces psychosocial stress in pregnant women. Stress levels might be self-reported (psychosocial) or measured with biomarkers, one of which is hair cortisol concentration (HCC). Additionally, personality has been associated with stress and physical activity. Methods: The first aim of our study was to explore the differences in self-reported stress assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and in HCC with regard to physical activity level in pregnant (N = 29) and non-pregnant (N = 21) women. The second aim was to analyze the correlations among perceived stress, HCC, frequency of exercise and personality in the two groups separately. Results: There was a significant difference in frequency of exercise and self-reported stress between the two groups, with a lower level in pregnant women, but no differences in HCC and in personality were found. In the group of pregnant women, there was a significant negative correlation between HCC and frequency of exercise sessions, with the latter correlating positively with openness to experience. In the group of non-pregnant women, perceived stress negatively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability. HCC correlated negatively with conscientiousness. Conclusions: Our findings indicate the importance of physical activity programs dedicated to pregnant women for their life quality.

Background: Sanfilippo syndrome B (or mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIB [MPS IIIB]) is a severe inherited metabolic disorder caused by mutations in the NAGLU gene, encoding α‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase. Dysfunction of this enzyme results in impaired degradation of heparan sulfate, one of glycosaminoglycans, and accumulation of this complex carbohydrate in lysosomes. Severe symptoms occurring in this disease are related to progressive neurodegeneration and include extreme hyperactivity, sleeping problems, aggressive‐like behavior, reduced fear, and progressive mental and cognitive deterioration. No cure is currently available for Sanfilippo disease.Methods: Clinical characterization of the patient's symptoms has been performed. Biochemical analyses included glycosaminoglycan level determination and measurement of α‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase activity. Molecular analyses included exome sequencing and detailed analysis of the NAGLU gene. Psychological tests included assessment of attention, communication and behavior.Results: We describe a patient with an untypically mild phenotype, who was diagnosed at the age of 13 years. Many cognitive, communication, and motoric functions were preserved in this patient, contrary to vast majority of those suffering from MPS IIIB. The patient is a compound heterozygote (c.638C>T/c.889C>T) in the NAGLU gene, and relatively high residual activity (about 25%) of α‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase was measured in serum (while no activity of this enzyme could be detected in dry blood spot).Conclusions: We suggest that the mild phenotype might arise from the partially preserved function of the mutant enzyme (p.Pro213Leu), suggesting the genotype‐phenotype correlation in this case.