Intervenciones en convivencia en una escuela secundaria pública de La Plata

El presente trabajo se enmarca en las actividades del Centro de Extensión de Atención a la Comunidad de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. La intervención se desarrolló en una escuela de educación secundaria de la ciudad de La Plata (Prov. De Bs. As) entre los meses de abril y noviembre del ciclo lectivo 2016 y en respuesta a la demanda espontánea de la institución escolar. La UNLP concibe a la extensión como el medio para lograr su función social, contribuyendo al tratamiento de los problemas que afectan al bienestar de la comunidad (Estatuto UNLP, 2008). Se vincula a los otros pilares que forman parte de la vida académica: la docencia y la investigación.Facultad de Psicologí

The Impact of a Community-based Pilot Health Education Intervention for Older People as Caregivers of Orphaned and Sick Children as a Result of HIV and AIDS in South Africa

The increasing HIV and AIDS epidemic in South Africa poses a substantial burden to older people, in particular older women who mainly provide care for sick adult children and their grandchildren who have become orphaned and rendered vulnerable by the death or illness of their parents. In this study, 202 isiXhosa speaking older caregivers from Motherwell in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were trained to provide care for grandchildren and adult children living with HIV or AIDS. Based on a community needs assessment, a health education intervention comprising four modules was designed to improve skills and knowledge which would be used to assist older people in their care-giving tasks. Some topics were HIV and AIDS knowledge, effective intergenerational communication, providing home-based basic nursing care, accessing social services and grants, and relaxation techniques. Structured one-on-one interviews measured differences between pre-intervention and post-intervention scores among those who attended all four modules vs. those that missed one or more of the sessions. The results demonstrated that older people who participated in all four workshops perceived themselves more able and in control to provide nursing care. The participants also showed a more positive attitude towards people living with HIV or AIDS and reported an increased level of HIV and AIDS knowledge. The results provided valuable information upon which the development of future interventions may be based and psychosocial and structural needs of the older caregivers may be addressed by relevant stakeholders

Within-sibship genome-wide association analyses decrease bias in estimates of direct genetic effects

Estimates from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of unrelated individuals capture effects of inherited variation (direct effects), demography (population stratification, assortative mating) and relatives (indirect genetic effects). Family-based GWAS designs can control for demographic and indirect genetic effects, but large-scale family datasets have been lacking. We combined data from 178,086 siblings from 19 cohorts to generate population (between-family) and within-sibship (within-family) GWAS estimates for 25 phenotypes. Within-sibship GWAS estimates were smaller than population estimates for height, educational attainment, age at first birth, number of children, cognitive ability, depressive symptoms and smoking. Some differences were observed in downstream SNP heritability, genetic correlations and Mendelian randomization analyses. For example, the within-sibship genetic correlation between educational attainment and body mass index attenuated towards zero. In contrast, analyses of most molecular phenotypes (for example, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol) were generally consistent. We also found within-sibship evidence of polygenic adaptation on taller height. Here, we illustrate the importance of family-based GWAS data for phenotypes influenced by demographic and indirect genetic effects

The crude ostracism detection system: Pupils react to minimal cues of exclusion

When people are rejected by others, they typically feel an immediate sense of pain—referred to as social pain. Social pain is hypothesized to be the alarm response of a “quick and crude” ostracism detection system, a system that is highly sensitive to even minimal signs of exclusion. Physiological reactivity has been found to accompany this social pain, but it is unclear whether the physiological mechanism underlying the ostracism detection system is also “quick and crude.” To test whether physiological reactivity to exclusion is “quick and crude,” the present study investigated whether pupil dilation (an index of physiological reactivity) differs when detecting exclusion from human entities versus nonhuman entities and when experiencing versus witnessing exclusion using a Cyberball paradigm. Experiment 1 showed that pupil size decreased less when viewing players who were exclusive than those who were inclusive, regardless of whether the players were human (i.e., undergraduate students) or nonhuman (i.e., computerized) entities. The same pupil reactivity pattern was observed in Experiment 2 after participants watched interactions in which another person was included or excluded by human or nonhuman entities. In Experiment 3, participating in real-life interactions with human players did not cause pupil reactivity to be greater to human players compared to nonhuman players, but pupil size again decreased less when viewing exclusive players compared to inclusive players. Across all three experiments, pupil size decreased less when viewing players who were exclusive than inclusive regardless of the social identity of the players. These findings support the idea of a highly sensitive, “quick and crude” physiological mechanism that underlies the ostracism detection system. 11Nssciscopu

Perinatal Lethality and Endothelial Cell Abnormalities in Several Vessel Compartments of Fibulin-1-Deficient Mice

The extracellular matrix protein fibulin-1 is a distinct component of vessel walls and can be associated with other ligands present in basement membranes, microfibrils, and elastic fibers. Its biological role was investigated by the targeted inactivation of the fibulin-1 gene in mice. This led to massive hemorrhages in several tissues starting at midgestation, ultimately resulting in the death of almost all homozygous embryos upon birth. Histological analysis demonstrated dilation and ruptures in the endothelial lining of various small vessels but not in that of larger vessels. Kidneys displayed a distinct malformation of glomeruli and disorganization of podocytes. A delayed development of lung alveoli suggested impairment in lung inflation. Immunohistology demonstrated the absence of fibulin-1 in its typical localizations but no aberrant patterns for several other extracellular matrix proteins. Electron microscopy revealed intact basement membranes but very irregular cytoplasmic processes of capillary endothelial cells in the organs that were most severely affected. Absence of fibulin-1 caused considerable blood loss but did not compromise blood clotting. The data indicate a strong but restricted abnormality in some endothelial compartments which, together with some kidney and lung defects, may be responsible for early death