Co-parenting spouses who live together remain in close physical proximity to each other and regularly engage in reciprocal social interactions in joint endeavors to coordinate their caregiving. Although bi-parental rearing is a common occurrence in humans, the influence of the physical presence of a co-parenting spouse on parental brain responses remains largely unknown. Synchrony is conceptualized as the matching of behavioral and physiological signals between two individuals. In this study, we examined how the presence of a co-parenting spouse influences brain-to-brain synchrony when attending to salient infant and adult vocalizations. We hypothesized that brain-to-brain synchrony would be greater in the presence of a spousal partner. Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used on 24 mother-father dyads (N = 48) to measure prefrontal cortical (PFC) activities while they listened to infant and adult vocalizations in two conditions, together (in the same room at the same time) and separately (in different rooms at different times). Couples showed greater synchrony in the together condition; when comparing fNIRS data between true couples and randomly matched controls, this synchronous effect was only seen in true couples, indicating a unique effect of spousal co-regulation toward salient stimuli. Our results indicate that the physical presence of the spouse might establish synchrony in attentional regulation mechanisms toward socially relevant stimuli. This finding holds implications for the role of the co-parenting spouse in influencing social and parental brain mechanisms.

The Japanese term hikikomori was first used to describe prolonged social withdrawal in the 1990s. Since then, research across the world have reported similar prolonged social withdrawal in many countries outside Japan. This study systematically analyses the evolution of literature on hikikomori in the past 20 years to gain a better understanding of the development of the knowledge base on hikikomori since it garnered attention in Japan. Findings from the scientometric review indicate many perspectives on the etiology of hikikomori including cultural, attachment, family systems and sociological approaches. However, similarities with modern type depression, a novel psychiatric syndrome, have been proposed and there are signs of a recent paradigm shift of hikikomori as a society-bound syndrome rather than a cultural-bound syndrome unique to Japan. As research into hikikomori continues to grow, results from the review also highlight the need for a more universally shared definition of hikikomori in order to better consolidate cross-cultural research for meaningful and valid cross-cultural comparisons which can help to promote evidence-based therapeutic interventions for hikikomori.

Micro RNA (miRNA) research has great implications in uncovering the aetiology of neuropsychiatric conditions due to the role of miRNA in brain development and function. Schizophrenia, a complex yet devastating neuropsychiatric disorder, is one such condition that had been extensively studied in the realm of miRNA. Although a relatively new field of research, this area of study has progressed sufficiently to warrant dozens of reviews summarising findings from past to present. However, as a majority of reviews cannot encapsulate the full body of research, there is still a need to synthesise the diversity of publications made in this area in a systematic but easy-to-understand manner. Therefore, this study adopted bibliometrics and scientometrics, specifically document co-citation analysis (DCA), to review the literature on miRNAs in the context of schizophrenia over the course of history. From a literature search on Scopus, 992 papers were found and analysed with CiteSpace. DCA analysis generated a network of 13 major clusters with different thematic focuses within the subject area. Finally, these clusters are qualitatively discussed. miRNA research has branched into schizophrenia, among other medical and psychiatric conditions, due to previous findings in other forms of non-coding RNA. With the rise of big data, bioinformatics analyses are increasingly common in this field of research. The future of research is projected to rely more heavily on interdisciplinary collaboration. Additionally, it can be expected that there will be more translational studies focusing on the application of these findings to the development of effective treatments.

Genetic research in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has progressed tremendously in recent decades. Dozens of genetic loci and hundreds of alterations in the genetic sequence, expression, epigenetic transformation, and interactions with other physiological and environmental systems have been found to increase the likelihood of developing ASD. There is therefore a need to represent this wide-ranging yet voluminous body of literature in a systematic manner so that this information can be synthesised and understood at a macro level. Therefore, this study made use of scientometric methods, particularly document co-citation analysis (DCA), to systematically review literature on ASD genetic research from 2018 to 2022. A total of 14,818 articles were extracted from Scopus and analyzed with CiteSpace. An optimized DCA analysis revealed that recent literature on ASD genetic research can be broadly organised into 12 major clusters representing various sub-topics. These clusters are briefly described in the manuscript and potential applications of this study are discussed.

Little is known about parenting in the context of developmental disabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), penalized by both lack of data and a research bias toward western societies. In this study, we apply data mining methods on a large (N = 25,048) dataset from UNICEF to highlight patterns of association between developmental disabilities of children and parental involvement. We focus on the co-presence of multiple disabilities and the quality of childcare in three parenting domains: discipline, caregiving, and education. Our results show that, in LMIC, children with more severe developmental conditions are also more likely to receive low-quality parental care. Specific policies of parental training are needed to improve parental practices in LMIC.