A psychosocial pathway to paranoia : The interplay between social connectedness and self-esteem

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABThe quantity and quality of social contacts have been related to self-esteem, and both social relationships and self-esteem have been implicated in the pathways to paranoia. However, how social relationships interplay with self-esteem to trigger paranoia is not well understood. This study aims to investigate whether different measures of social connectedness (social support, loneliness, and desired friendship), as well as the frequency of social contact, impact paranoia and other positive and negative psychotic-like experiences (PLE) through the indirect effect of self-esteem. Data from a sample of 169 nonclinically ascertained participants oversampled for schizotypy scores were analyzed using two different approaches: retrospective trait-like and ecological momentary measures of social connectedness. Results showed that self-esteem mediates the pathways from poor social support and social longing, but not from loneliness, to paranoia and other cognitive PLE. In contrast, pathways from social connectedness toperceptual PLE and negative PLE were not mediated by self-esteem. Results were consistent across trait-like and momentary measures. Finally, self-esteem was not implicated in the pathways from the frequency of social contact and paranoia or other forms of PLE. These results provide a comprehensive picture of how social connectedness drives specific symptoms of psychosis through self-esteem. Findings underscore the need to explore separately the quality and quantity of social relationships and suggest that the subjective experience of meaningful social bonds is key social determinants of mental health. Therefore, addressing inadequacies of social connectedness could substantially improve symptomatic and functional outcomes of psychosis

The role of temperature in the magnetic irreversibility of type-I Pb superconductors

Evidence of how temperature takes part in the magnetic irreversibility in the intermediate state of a cylinder and various disks of pure type-I superconducting lead is presented. Isothermal measurements of first magnetization curves and magnetic hysteresis cycles are analyzed in a reduced representation that defines an equilibrium state for flux penetration in all the samples and reveals that flux expulsion depends on temperature in the disks but not in the cylinder. The magnetic field at which irreversibility sets in along the descending branch of the hysteresis cycle and the remnant magnetization at zero field are found to decrease with temperature in the disks. The contributions to irreversibility of the geometrical barrier and the energy minima associated to stress defects that act as pinning centers on normal-superconductor interfaces are discussed. The differences observed among the disks are ascribed to the diverse nature of the stress defects in each sample. The pinning barriers are suggested to decrease with the magnetic field to account for these results

The impact of family environment on self-esteem and symptoms in early psychosis

Expressed emotion (EE) and self-esteem (SE) have been implicated in the onset and development of paranoia and positive symptoms of psychosis. However, the impact of EE on patients' SE and ultimately on symptoms in the early stages of psychosis is still not fully understood. The main objectives of this study were to examine whether: (1) patients' SE mediated the effect of relatives' EE on patients' positive symptoms and paranoia; (2) patients' perceived EE mediated the effect of relatives' EE on patients' SE; (3) patients' SE mediated between patients' perceived EE and patients' symptomatology; and (4) patients' perceived EE and patients' SE serially mediated the effect of relatives' EE on patients' positive symptoms and paranoia. Incipient psychosis patients (at-risk mental states and first-episode of psychosis) and their respective relatives completed measures of EE, SE, and symptoms. Findings indicated that: (1) patients' perceived EE mediated the link between relatives' EE and patients' negative, but not positive, SE; (2) patients' negative SE mediated the effect of patients' perceived EE on positive symptoms and paranoia; (3) the association of relatives' EE with positive symptoms and paranoia was serially mediated by an increased level of patients' perceived EE leading to increases in negative SE; (4) high levels of patients' distress moderated the effect of relatives' EE on symptoms through patients' perceived EE and negative SE. Findings emphasize that patients' SE is relevant for understanding how microsocial environmental factors impact formation and expression of positive symptoms and paranoia in early psychosis. They suggest that broader interventions for patients and their relatives aiming at improving family dynamics might also improve patients' negative SE and symptoms

Plant identification via adaptive combination of transversal filters

For least mean-square (LMS) algorithm applications, it is important to improve the speed of convergence vs the residual error trade-off imposed by the selection of a certain value for the step size. In this paper, we propose to use a mixture approach, adaptively combining two independent LMS filters with large and small step sizes to obtain fast convergence with low misadjustment during stationary periods. Some plant identification simulation examples show the effectiveness of our method when compared to previous variable step size approaches. This combination approach can be straightforwardly extended to other kinds of filters, as it is illustrated with a convex combination of recursive least-squares (RLS) filters.Publicad

Evaluación de la efectividad en salud pública: Fundamentos conceptuales y metodológicos

ResumenEn los últimos años ha aumentado de forma notable el interés por la evaluación de las intervenciones en salud, especialmente en relación a su utilidad social y su eficiencia económica. Sin embargo, todavía estamos lejos de tener un grado suficiente de consenso en los aspectos básicos de la evaluación, como son la terminología, la finalidad y la metodología de trabajo. En este marco se revisan las principales definiciones y clasificaciones de la evaluación aplicada a los programas y políticas en salud pública. En relación a la evaluación de resultados, se presentan los principales diseños evaluativos y sus componentes, y se revisan las amenazas a la validez interna de los resultados de los diseños evaluativos débiles. Se analizan y discuten las características de las intervenciones de salud pública que limitan las opciones de evaluación con diseños tradicionales. Entre estas limitaciones destacan la complejidad de las intervenciones, que habitualmente tienen múltiples componentes, y la dificultad de establecer un grupo de comparación sin intervención, en especial mediante asignación aleatoria. Para finalizar, se describe una propuesta de evaluación a partir de diseños evaluativos débiles, consistente en la valoración de la adecuación y la plausibilidad. La adecuación estaría determinada por la existencia de un cambio observable en los indicadores de resultados, y podría ser suficiente para tomar decisiones bajo determinadas condiciones; otras veces sería necesario analizar la plausibilidad, o atribución de los resultados observados al programa.AbstractIn the last few years, interest has markedly increased in evaluating health programs, especially their social utility and economic efficiency. However, consensus on key issues in evaluation, such as terminology, goals and methods is still a long way off. In this context, we review the main definitions and classifications of evaluation applied to public health programs and policies. We describe the main evaluation designs and their components, focusing on outcome evaluation. Threats to the internal validity of the results of weak evaluation designs are also discussed. The characteristics of public health interventions that limit evaluation with traditional designs are also analyzed. These limitations include the complexity of interventions, usually with multiple components, and the difficulty of forming an equivalent control group with no intervention, especially through random assignment. Finally, a two-step approach to evaluation through weak designs, which takes into account adequacy and plausibility, is described. Adequacy consists of the observation of a change in the selected indicators after the intervention, and would be sufficient to take decisions under certain conditions; at other times, plausibility would need to be analyzed, defined as attribution of the results to the program or intervention

The Tyrrhenian Basin: fault activity migration, focusing of deformation, break up, magmatism and fast mantle exhumation

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2015 (EGU2015), 12-17 April 2015, Vienna, Austria.-- 1 pageWe present a new interpretation of the creation of the geological domains and the processes forming the Tyrrhenian basin by rifting of Cratonic Variscan lithosphere. The basin is not presently extending, but its crustal structure preserves information of the temporal evolution of rifting processes. Our work is based on the tectonic structure and stratigraphy of over 3000 km of calibrated multichannel seismic data and full coverage multibeam bathymetry of the basin. From these data circa 2000 km are new and about 1000 are vintage data. The seismic data are used to understand the formation of the domains (continental, backarc magmatism, exhumed mantle) defined with our recently published, under review, or submitted 5 acrossthe-basin wide-angle reflection and refraction transects. The 5 transects provide the Vp distribution of the crustand upper mantle. This information has allowed defining the petrological nature and distribution of the geological domains, and to infer the importance of magmatism in the rifting process, to constrain the location of break up and the expanse of the region of mantle exhumation. The seismic reflection images have been interpreted to map in time and space the evolution of the deformation across the basin. We analyzed the tectonic structure and mapped the calibrated stratigraphy across the basin to understand the temporal evolution and styles of faulting processes. The stratigraphy provides also constraints on the rates at which the different processes of extension, magmatism, break up and mantle exhumation have occurred. The basin has opened with different extension factors from north to south. The northern region stopped opening after a relatively low extension factors. Towards the south extension increased up to full crustal separation. Here extension in some areas was coeval with abundant magmatism. Changing in the locus of faulting and rates of extension led to break up and to a surprisingly fast mantle exhumation. Subsequent fissural large-scale extrusive volcanism produced volcanic ridges and tall seamounts. The sequence of events, the rates at which the events occurred, and the resulting configuration of geological domains in the basin, are all in contrast with conventional models of rifting of continental lithosphere and melting of asthenospherePeer Reviewe

Review of the role of fluid dairy in delivery of polyphenolic compounds in the diet: chocolate milk, coffee beverages, matcha green tea, and beyond

Dairy-based functional beverages have been a growing segment as consumer demands for health foods have shifted focus from simply enhancing lifespan to protecting health. Green tea is often limited in use because of poor bioavailability and disagreeable taste. However, milk is considered an ideal platform for the delivery of active polyphenolic compounds in green tea. Furthermore, the antioxidant enzymatic activity and antioxidant index of polyphenols in green tea have been known to be protected through interaction with dairy proteins inside the unstable intestinal environment. In addition, consumption of green tea infused with milk has been found to have a significant impact on reducing skin wrinkles and roughness in elderly subjects, through a decrease in lipid peroxidation and a concomitant reduction in oxidative stress. A similar affinity has been observed between antioxidants in coffee and milk proteins. Dark chocolate has been known to contain significant phenolic content and antioxidant activity. The activation of protein complex NF-kappa B, which is responsible for cell survival, was found to be significantly reduced upon consumption of cocoa with water, whereas consuming cocoa with milk had no effect on the bioavailability of the phenolic compounds in cocoa. The popularity of dairy as the source for polyphenol fortified beverages in the diet will be dictated by optimization of the technology for maximizing the bioavailability of the antioxidants.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Large slip, long duration, and moderate shaking of the Nicaragua 1992 tsunami earthquake caused by low near-trench rock rigidity

Large earthquake ruptures propagating up to areas close to subduction trenches are infrequent, but when they occur, they heavily displace the ocean seafloor originating destructive tsunamis. The current paradigm is that the large seafloor deformation is caused by local factors reducing friction and increasing megathrust fault slip, or prompting the activation of ancillary faults or energy sources. As alternative to site-specific models, it has been proposed that large shallow slip could result from depth-dependent rock rigidity variations. To confront both hypotheses, here, we map elastic rock properties across the rupture zone of the M S 7.0- M W 7.7 1992 Nicaragua tsunami earthquake to estimate a property-compatible finite fault solution. The obtained self-consistent model accounts for trenchward increasing slip, constrains stress drop, and explains key tsunami earthquake characteristics such as long duration, high-frequency depletion, and magnitude discrepancy. The confirmation that these characteristics are all intrinsic attributes of shallow rupture opens new possibilities to improve tsunami hazard assessment

Sample selection via clustering to construct support vector-like classifiers

This paper explores the possibility of constructing RBF classifiers which, somewhat like support vector machines, use a reduced number of samples as centroids, by means of selecting samples in a direct way. Because sample selection is viewed as a hard computational problem, this selection is done after a previous vector quantization: this way obtaining also other similar machines using centroids selected from those that are learned in a supervised manner. Several forms of designing these machines are considered, in particular with respect to sample selection; as well as some different criteria to train them. Simulation results for well-known classification problems show very good performance of the corresponding designs, improving that of support vector machines and reducing substantially their number of units. This shows that our interest in selecting samples (or centroids) in an efficient manner is justified. Many new research avenues appear from these experiments and discussions, as suggested in our conclusions.Publicad