Background Long-term survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for fatigue, sleep problems, and neurocognitive impairment, though the association between these outcomes has not been previously examined. Methods Outcomes were evaluated in 1426 survivors from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study using a validated Neurocognitive Questionnaire. Relative risks for neurocognitive impairment were calculated using demographic and treatment factors, and survivors’ report on the FACIT-Fatigue, the Short Form-36 Vitality Scale (SF-36-V), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Results Neurocognitive impairment was identified in over 20% of survivors, using sibling-based norms for comparison. Multivariable logistic regression models revealed that fatigue (RR=1.34, 1.13–1.59), daytime sleepiness (RR=1.68, 1.55–1.83), poor sleep quality (RR=1.23, 1.01–1.49) and decreased vitality (RR=1.75, 95% CI 1.33–2.30) were all associated with impaired task efficiency. Likewise, fatigue (RR=1.77, 1.23–2.55), sleepiness (RR=1.38, 1.14–1.67) and decreased vitality (RR=3.08, 1.98–4.79) were predictive of emotional regulation problems. Diminished organization was associated with increased sleepiness (RR=1.80, 1.31–2.48) and decreased vitality (RR=1.90, 1.37–2.63). Impaired memory was associated with poor sleep quality (RR=1.45, 1.19–1.76), increased sleepiness (RR=2.05, 1.63–2.58), and decreased vitality (RR=2.01, 1.42–2.86). The impact of fatigue, sleepiness, sleep quality and vitality on neurocognitive outcomes was independent of the effects of cranial radiation therapy, steroids and antimetabolite chemotherapy, sex, and current age. Conclusions Neurocognitive function in long-term survivors of childhood cancer appears particularly vulnerable to the effects of fatigue and sleep disruption. These findings suggest sleep hygiene should be emphasized among survivors, as it may provide an additional mechanism for intervention to improve neurocognitive outcomes.

Although people's handshakes are thought to reflect their personality and influence our first impressions of them, these relations have seldom been formalLy investigated. One hundred twelve participants had their hand shaken twice by 4 trained coders (2 men and 2 women) and completed 4 personality measures. The participants' handshakes were stable and consistent across time and coders. There were also gender differences on most of the handshaking characteristics. A firm handshake was related positively to extraversion and emotional expressiveness and negatively to shyness and neuroticisin; it was also positively related to openness to experience, but only for women. Finally, handshake characteristics were •related to the impressions of the participants formed by the coders. These results demonstrate that personality traits, assessed through self-report, can predict specific behaviors assessed by trained observers. The pattern of relations among openness, gender, handshaking, and first impressions suggests that a firm handshake may be an effective form of self-promotion for women.Handshaking is a common greeting behavior and is often one of the first observations that individuals make of each other upon meeting. Thus, the handshake may be a basis for some of the initial impressions that an individual forms about another. Although handshakes are anecdotally believed to communicate information about a person's personality, little systematic research has been done on the relation between handshaking and personality. Indeed, the extent to which handshaking is sufficiently stable across time and consistent across situations to reflect stable individual differences is largely unknown. Handshaking has also historically been more common among men than it has been among women or between men and women. However, we know little about gender differences in handshaking characteristics or about how gender may be involved in relations between personality, initial impressions, and handshaking. The purpose of the present research is to assess the generalizability of some characteristics of handshaking behavior across time and gender; to test some hypotheses about the relations among handshaking dimensions, personality, and gender; and to evaluate the relation between handshaking dimensions and initial impressions formed about strangers.

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Despite the frequent occurrence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), the neurophysiological factors that distinguish children with TSC from children with TSC presenting with ASD symptoms remain unspecified. Growing evidence suggests that ASD may be characterized by atypical structural and functional connectivity between specific cortical regions. In this exploratory study, we utilized magnetoencephalography to derive resting brain connectivity patterns, in an attempt to identify neurophysiological markers that may differentiate TSC children with ASD (n = 2) from TSC children without ASD (n = 2) and typically developing children (n = 2). Connectivity pattern analysis revealed that TSC children presenting with ASD symptoms can be distinguished from TSC and typically developing children by the presence of long-range, medial, anterior-posterior connections previously observed in adolescents with ASD. While preliminary in nature, our findings support the notion that altered functional connectivity may be a constituent characteristic of ASD and may enable prediction of which TSC children are likely to develop ASD and facilitate early behavioral and medical intervention.