Experimental models of the human brain are needed for basic understanding of its development and disease 1. Human brain organoids hold unprecedented promise for this purpose; however, they are plagued by high organoid-to-organoid variability 2,3. This has raised doubts as to whether developmental processes of the human brain can occur outside the context of embryogenesis with a degree of reproducibility comparable to the endogenous tissue. Here, we show that an organoid model of the dorsal forebrain can achieve reproducible generation of a rich diversity of cell types appropriate for the human cerebral cortex. Using single-cell RNA sequencing of 166,242 cells isolated from 21 individual organoids, we find that 95% of the organoids generate a virtually indistinguishable compendium of cell types, through the same developmental trajectories, and with organoid-to-organoid variability comparable to that of individual endogenous brains. Furthermore, organoids derived from different stem cell lines show consistent reproducibility in the cell types produced. The data demonstrate that reproducible development of complex central nervous system cellular diversity does not require the context of the embryo, and that establishment of terminal Users may view, print, copy, and download text and data-mine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the full Conditions of use:

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This study tested the multi-society generalizability of an eight-syndrome assessment model derived from factor analyses of American adults’ self-ratings of 120 behavioral, emotional, and social problems. The Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach and Rescorla 2003) was completed by 17,152 18–59-year-olds in 29 societies. Confirmatory factor analyses tested the fit of self-ratings in each sample to the eight-syndrome model. The primary model fit index (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) showed good model fit for all samples, while secondary indices showed acceptable to good fit. Only 5 (0.06%) of the 8,598 estimated parameters were outside the admissible parameter space. Confidence intervals indicated that sampling fluctuations could account for the deviant parameters. Results thus supported the tested model in societies differing widely in social, political, and economic systems, languages, ethnicities, religions, and geographical regions. Although other items, societies, and analytic methods might yield different results, the findings indicate that adults in very diverse societies were willing and able to rate themselves on the same standardized set of 120 problem items. Moreover, their self-ratings fit an eight-syndrome model previously derived from self-ratings by American adults. The support for the statistically derived syndrome model is consistent with previous findings for parent, teacher, and self-ratings of 1½–18-year-olds in many societies. The ASR and its parallel collateral-report instrument, the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL), may offer mental health professionals practical tools for the multi-informant assessment of clinical constructs of adult psychopathology that appear to be meaningful across diverse societies.

Understanding youths' emotional/behavioral problems is a challenge to mental health professional. Within assessment methods, one of the most used is empirically based assessment, on which syndromes are elaborated based on statistical analyzes of cooccurrence of problems based on epidemiological researches. The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) provides the Youth Self-Report (YSR) as a tool to access adolescents' problems. On this form, youths give information regarding their competences and emotional/behavioral problems. Several studies have been conducted in order to validate the YSR on different countries, considering the importance of standardization of the assessment procedures for the culture where they will be used. The aim of this study was to validate the Youth Self-Report (YSR) for assessing Brazilian youths. A total of 540 referred and 2886 non-referred youths, aged 11 to 18 years old, from four of the five regions of Brazil, filled out the form. Socioeconomic data were also collected. Results indicate good model fit indexes for the Brazilian population (RMSEA = 0.032), internal consistency and discriminate capacity for the problems scales. Less expressive results were found for the competence scales. Sex and age differences followed the patters established by studies from several societies. Country region and socioeconomic had low impact on the results. Taken together, the results indicate the validity and reliability of the YSR for the Brazilian population, and indicate the appropriate norms for the use of the questionnaire in this country.

This study tested for similarities and differences across societies in self-ratings of problems, personal strengths, and aspects of adaptive functioning on the Adult Self-Report (ASR) for nonclinical samples of adults ages 18 to 59 in 17 societies ( N = 10,197). Results indicated considerable consistency across societies regarding mean ratings on the ASR problem items. Most effect sizes (ESs) for societal differences in problem scales were small (2–5%). Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses indicated that culture clusters and society accounted for small percentages of variance in Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems scores, with most of the variation accounted for by individual differences within societies. In contrast to the small effects of society on problem scores, for the ASR Personal Strengths scale the societal ES was 34% and culture cluster accounted for 12% of the variance. Worse reported relations with spouse/partner were associated with higher problem scores. Overall, findings indicated considerable similarity but also some important differences in self-reported problems and adaptive functioning across 17 societies.

Background. To compare Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) findings for a large Brazilian general population sample with those for US children considering: (a) mean problem item ratings; (b) fit of the US-derived CBCL 8-syndrome model; (c) scale internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alphas; (d) effects of society, age, gender on CBCL problem scores; and (e) ability to discriminate referred from non-referred children. Methods. Parents of 1228 non-referred 6-to-11-year-olds from three different regions of Brazil and 247 referred 6-to-11-year-olds from one clinic rated their children's behavioural and emotional problems using the CBCL/6-18. Results. Results for mean item ratings and scale internal consistencies were very similar to those found in the US and in Uruguay. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that Brazilian data showed the best fit to the US 8-syndrome model of all countries studied to date. Gender patterns were comparable to those reported in other societies, but mean problem scores for non-referred Brazilian children were higher than those for US children. Therefore, the CBCL discriminated less well between non-referred and referred children in Brazil than in the US. Conclusions. Overall, our findings replicated those reported in international comparisons of CBCL scores for 31 societies, thereby providing support for the multicultural robustness of the CBCL in Brazil.