Construyendo la Historia

Reseña de: Chartier, Roger, El mundo como representación. Historia cultural: entre práctica y representación, Barcelona, Gedisa, 1992, 276 pp

Effects of palmitoylethanolamide in cocaine-induced behaviours

Aims. Cocaine addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by the compulsion to seek and take the drug. Previous investigations have demonstrated that several drugs of abuse, as cocaine, can alter the levels of lipid-based signalling molecules such as the N-acylethanolamines (NAEs). In addition, NAEs levels in the brain are sensitive to cocaine self-administration and extinction training. In this context, this study aimed to investigate the effect of repeated and acute palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), an endogenous NAE, on the behavioural effects of cocaine using mouse models of conditioned reward and psychomotor activation. Methods. Using male C57BL/6J mice, the ability of repeated PEA injections (1 or 10 mg/kg i.p) to modulate the development of a conditioned place preference (CPP) and behavioural sensitization (BS) induced by cocaine (20 mg/kg i.p.) was evaluated. In addition, the expression of cocaine-induced CPP and BS after acute PEA administration was also studied. Results. PEA (1 and 10 mg/kg i.p) significantly reduced the development of cocaine-induced BS, but did not modify the acquisition of cocaine-induced CPP. Furthermore, both doses of PEA were able to reduce the expression of BS and CPP. Conclusions. Altogether, these findings show that exogenous administration of PEA attenuated psychomotor activation and impaired the expression of CPP induced by cocaine. Our results may be relevant in order to understand the role of NAEs in the development and treatment of cocaine addiction.Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. PSI2013-44901-P, AP2010-2044, FPU13/04819, CD12/0045

Are motorways potential stressors of roadside wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) populations?

Linear infrastructures represent one of the most important human impacts on natural habitats and exert several effects on mammal populations. Motorways are recognized as a major cause of habitat fragmentation and degradation and of biodiversity loss. However, it is unknown whether motorways lead to increased physiological stress reactions in wild animal populations. We analysed faecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM) in wild populations of wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) living in a well-preserved Mediterranean agro-pastoral woodland at different distances (verge, 500 m and 1000 m) from the AP-51 motorway in Spain. Wood mice were captured with Sherman live traps, and fresh faecal samples from 424 individuals were collected and analyzed in the laboratory. The quantification of FCM was performed by a 5a-pregnane-3b,11b, 21-triol-20-one enzyme immunoassay. Results showed that females had higher FCM levels than males, and these levels were higher in breeding females. In addition, FCM levels were positively correlated with body weight of individuals. Wood mice captured where cattle were present showed higher FCM levels than individuals living where cattle were not detected. FCM levels were higher in non-breeding individuals living close to the motorway compared with FCM levels in those individuals captured further from the motorway. This is the first study showing evidence of the motorways' impact on physiological stress reactions in wild wood mice populations. Understanding how free-living animals are influenced by human interventions could help to understand other subtle changes observed in wild animal populations. Since mice are used world-wide as research models these results could open new perspectives testing human influence on the natural environment and trade-offs of species in degraded ecosystemsThis research has been funded by the projects: CENIT-OASIS supported by CDTI of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, REMEDINAL-2 S-2009/AMB/1783 and CCG10-UAM/AMB-5325 (Comunidad de Madrid together with the European Social Fund and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid). A. Navarro-Castilla was supported by a FPU grant from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spai

Extended sensations on interactive telecommunication

Although computer science and telecommunications have evolved from the 90’s to nowadays, the way people communicate each other through electronic devices has stuck since the appearance of the videoconference. The audiovisual interaction seems enough, but we think the sensation of presence gets higher when we allow the person who we are talking to, taking part in our environment using and enriching it. In that way, the interaction is improved with new sensations which come from outside of our device. In this article, we propose a communication service which provides not only videoconference, but manages the smart environment where the interlocutor of the communication is, allowing him to access to any device connected through domotic and/or wireless network. The application is developed under the OSGi open specification and it almost doesn’t imply any cost increase over the bandwidth used during communication. Once explaining the technical foundations, its diverse applications in ubiquitous meetings and on-line games will be commented