Variations of nNOS and its mRNA in the neurons of the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus in response to stress by immobilization

[EN]Using rats subjected to immobilization stress, the aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase and of its mRNA in the magnocellular neurons of the supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus, which does not have parvocellular neurons or direct neurohaemal connections with the anterior lobe of the hypophysis. nNOS expression was studied with immunohistochemistry using sheep antinNOS serum, and the intraneural detection of nNOS mRNA was accomplished using a nonisotopic in situ hybridization technique, employing a specific biotinylated probe. The acute stress elicited by restraint induced an increase in the overall size of the supraoptic nucleus, together with an increase in the number of magnocellular neurons expressing nNOS immunoreaction. The optical densitometry values of the nNOS immunoreaction, the nuclear areas of the immunoreactive neurons, and the density of neurons showing nNOS mRNA hybrids were higher in the supraoptic nucleus of the stress-treated animals than in the controls, suggesting that nitric oxide of nNOS origin plays an active role in the magnocellular neurons of the hypophyseal-hypothalamic system and the involvement of this system in the stress axis

Validation of the Scale of Basic Psychological Needs towards Physical Exercise, with the Inclusion of Novelty

The purpose of this study was to validate and adapt to the Spanish context of Physical Education, the Spanish version of the Scale of Basic Psychological Needs in the context of physical exercise, with the incorporation of novelty to the scale. The sample that took part in the study was 2372 people from 16 to 48 years old from the province of Almeria. In order to analyze the psychometric properties of the scale, several analyses have been carried out. The results have offered support both for the eight-factor structure and for the higher-order double model where the eight subscales are joined into two constructs called frustration and satisfaction. The structure of both models was invariant with respect to gender and age. Cronbach’s alpha values were above 0.70 in the subscales and scales; and adequate levels of temporal stability. In addition, the subfactors pertaining to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs positively predicted the intrinsic motivation for physical activity, while each of the subfactors of the frustration of psychological needs predicted it negatively. The results of this study provide evidence of the reliability and validity of the BPNS in the Spanish context of physical activity

La incorporación cibernética a las referencias bibliográficas en la investigación periodística

Un capítulo final en toda investigación científica es ocupado habitualmente por la Bibliografía, aparte de cuanto se hubiese referenciado en notas a pie de página en método latino o en el propio texto según pauta anglosajona. Durante años toda cita o uso de fuentes estuvo basado en el formato impreso. El desarrollo informático, primordialmente en los últimos veinticinco años, ha proporcionado la universalidad del Conocimiento mediante el uso de la red cibernética. A través de la misma, sirve incorporar como Bibliografía una serie de nuevos libros y otros soportes que están automatizados en una biblioteca abierta a través de portales o webs concretas. Dentro de la investigación científica, y más concretamente en el ámbito periodístico, percibimos una notable incoherencia entre los nuevos formatos cibernéticos y las referencias bibliográficas que de ellos se hace en las tesis doctorales y artículos científicos, con ubicaciones dentro de apartados con titulaciones clasificatorias diversas, proporcionándose vaguedad metodológica. Al considerar la Bibliografía como un elemento clave en todo proceso investigador, analizamos la realidad referencial tanto impresa como cibernética y aportamos unos elementos instrumentales para avanzar metodológicamente dentro del entorno social con el uso bibliográfico en ambos soportes.In all scientific research there’s always a chapter dedicated to the Bibliography, apart from we index in the footnotes in latin or northamerican method. For many years, all reference or use of information sources has been based on the printed element. However, the computer development, fundamentally of late twenty-five years, has brougth the universal Knowledge across the use of the cybernetic network. According to it, we can incorporate in the Bibliography a set of new books and other supports, which they’re automated in virtual libraries and we can accede to them across the computer hall and specific webs. As a result of that, in the scientific research, and more particularly in the journalistic scope, we perceive in the doctoral thesis and scientific articles a remarkable incoherence in the bibliographic references of the new cybernetic supports. These references usually appear in sections with different classifier titles, implying a methodological indeterminacy. On considerer the Bibliography as a key factor in all research process, we analyse the printed and cybernetic references, and we offer a set of instruments to advance methodologically into the social setting with the bibliographic use in both supports

Variations of neuronal nitric oxide synthase after hypophysectomy suggest a neuroprotective effect of nitric oxide in response to damage of the neurons of the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus in the rat

[EN]The hypothalamic-neurohypophyseal system offers an ideal model to study the processes of nerve degeneration/regeneration after lesions caused by cutting the hypophyseal stalk, or hypophysectomy. Additionally, the magnocellular neurons comprising it contain nitric oxide, and its enzyme, neural nitric oxide synthase, shows important variations in functional alterations of the hypothalamic-neurohypophyseal system. Currently, there is still some controversy as regards whether nitric oxide exerts neurodegenerative or neuroprotective effects in the nervous system. Here we performed a quantitative and qualitative study of the variations in the neuronal activity of nitric oxide synthase, using immunohistochemistry, and of its mRNA, by in situ hybridization, in the magnocellular neurons of the supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus of hypophysectomised rats with survival periods of 10-30 days. Our morphological and morphometric results and those pertaining to neuronal quantification and optical density point to a neuroprotective effect of nitric oxide on magnocellular neurons during the regenerative process of the supraoptic nucleus that occurs after hypophysectom