Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale (VAX) in a Spanish sample

In these times of pandemic, the acceptance or rejection of vaccines has become increasingly clear, with a considerable rise in the anti-vaccine movement in Spain. It is important to understand the attitudes that lead a person to refuse vaccination in order to develop more effective public health campaigns. The objective of this study has been to study the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) scale in a Spanish sample. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling have been used to study the psychometric properties of the VAX. Likewise, the measurement invariance by gender and educational level has been studied. The structure of four related factors for VAX is confirmed, as well as its predictive value, since the factor 'trust in the benefit of the vaccine' clearly predicts the choice to be vaccinated. The strong measurement invariance by gender and educational level is also confirmed. The comparison of latent means between groups indicates that there are no differences by gender in any factor. However, people with a high educational level present higher scores in factors 'concern about unforeseen future effects', 'concern about commercial effects and speculation' and 'preference for natural immunity'. The VAX is presented as a reliable and valid tool to assess four different factors related to attitudes towards vaccines in Spain. Future studies of its cross-cultural invariance may help to determine the main factors that lead people not to be vaccinated in order to develop more effective public health campaigns

Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance by Gender of the Abbreviated Three-Item Version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in a Colombian Sample

(1) Background: The need to offer brief scales with items that can be answered with few response options is increasingly important in order to be able to access a broad range of the population. The three-item version of Diener's Satisfaction with Life Scale has recently been proposed. The objective of this study is to study the psychometric properties of the three-item version of this Scale with five response options, as well as the measurement invariance by gender, in a Colombian sample; (2) Methods: A confirmatory factor model of the three items of the scale together with the Flourishing Scale has been tested, and the measurement invariance by gender of the model has been studied. The results offer a very satisfactory fit of the model, showing good evidence of construct and criterion validity, good indicators of reliability and measurement invariance by gender; (4) Conclusions: The three-item version of the Life Satisfaction Scale, previously adapted to the Colombian population with five response options, is presented as a valid and reliable measurement tool. In future studies, it would be convenient to study the test-retest reliability, as well as its psychometric properties in different samples and at a cross-cultural level

Editorial: Methodological issues in psychology and social sciences research

In recent decades, the classical methods of studying the psychometric properties of tests have advanced to evolve into new innovative statistical methods, which allows obtaining a new view of the data. In this sense, progress has been made in the use of item response theory and in the use of structural equation models. Likewise, classical statistical inference methods have advanced in hypothesis testing and Bayesian statistics is rapidly making its way both in experimental studies and in psychometric studies. The aim of this issue has been to contribute to the dissemination of new research methodologies in quantitative and qualitative analysis in Psychology, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness and advantages of the new methods compared to classic psychometric tools and methods. Manuscripts on methodological issues of current interest, meta-analyses or systematic reviews, articles that introduce new applications on various procedures used in solving problems in Psychology, and reviews of statistical software have been welcomed. Likewise, researchers from other areas were invited to make presentations in which the relevance for psychology of the procedures developed in other fields could be verified. In this issue, 17 manuscripts have been submitted, of which 12 have been accepted. A total of 34 authors have participated in this special issue. We can see that four types of manuscripts have been published: (1) Development of scales and psychometric validation studies, (2) Theoretical and/or opinion articles, (3) Simulation studies, and (4) Systematic reviews or meta-analysis

Cambios en la variabilidad interanual del Pacífico Tropical como respuesta a un forzamiento del Atlántico Ecuatorial

Previous studies have reported that the tropical Atlantic has had an influence on tropical Pacific interannual variability since the 1970s. This variability is studied in the present work, using simulations from a coupled model in the Indo-Pacific but with observed sea surface temperature (SST) prescribed over the Atlantic. The interannual variability is compared with that from a control simulation in which climatological SSTs are prescribed over the Atlantic. Differences in the Pacific mean state and in its variability are found in the forced simulation as a response to a warming in the equatorial Atlantic, characterized by a cooler background state and an increase in the variability over the tropical Pacific. A striking result is that the principal modes of tropical Pacific SST interannual variability show significant differences before and after the 1970s, providing new evidence of the Atlantic influence on the Pacific Ocean. Significant cooling (warming) in the equatorial Atlantic could have caused anomalous winds in the central-easter Pacific during the summer since 1970s. The thermocline depth also seems to be altered, triggering the dynamical processes involved in the development of El Niño (La Niña) phenomenon in the following winter. An increase in frequency of Niño and Niña events favouring the Central Pacific (CP) ones is observed in the last three decades. Further analyses using coupled models are still necessary to help us to understand the causes of this inter-basin connection.Trabajos previos han puesto de manifiesto como el Atlántico Tropical influye en la variabilidad interanual del Pacífico a partir de los años 70. El presente trabajo estudia la variabilidad del Pacífico Tropical a partir de simulaciones realizadas con un modelo acoplado en el Indo-Pacífico que considera la Temperatura de la Superficie del Mar (TSM) observada en el Atlántico como forzamiento externo. Los resultados de esta simulación son comparados con los obtenidos en una simulación de control, con TSM climatológicas en el Atlántico. La simulación forzada muestra cambios en el estado base y la variabilidad del Océano Pacífico relacionados con un calentamiento en el Atlántico ecuatorial, destacando un aumento de la variabilidad y un enfriamiento del Pacífico ecuatorial. Además, los principales modos de variabilidad del Pacífico antes y después de los 70 son diferentes, reafirmándose la influencia del Atlántico sobre el Océano Pacífico. Un enfriamiento (calentamiento) en el Atlántico ecuatorial podría generar vientos anómalos en el centro-este de la cuenca del Pacífico durante el verano desde dicha década. La profundidad de la termoclina también se modificaría, desencadenándose los procesos dinámicos involucrados en el desarrollo de El Niño (La Niña) en el invierno siguiente. Los resultados muestran un aumento de la frecuencia de Niños y Niñas, favoreciéndose los eventos del Centro del Pacífico (CP) en las últimas décadas. Estudios adicionales mediante el uso de modelos acoplados serían necesarios para poder comprender las causas de la conexión entre cuencas

Adaptation and Measurement Invariance by Gender of the Flourishing Scale in a Colombian Sample

There is increasing interest in the study of flourishing as an indicator of subjective wellbeing. The objective herein was to adapt and study the psychometric properties of Diener's Flourishing Scale (FS) among the Colombian population. Accordingly, a cross-sectional study was conducted with a non-probability sample of 1255 Colombian adults. The scale's structure, invariance by gender, and convergent and concurrent validity were studied from a confirmatory perspective using structural equation models. The confirmatory factor analysis showed excellent fit indicators for the one-dimensional structure (CFI = 0.985, RMSEA = 0.039, SRMR = 0.020) as well as for the convergent (CFI = 0.909, RMSEA = 0.050, SRMR = 0.063) and concurrent (CFI = 0.966, RMSEA = 0.036, SRMR = 0.041) validity models. The correlations calculated among flourishing with positive and negative effects (PANAS), satisfaction with life (SWL), and optimism and pessimism (LOT) were statistically significant and as expected. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender was confirmed. Percentiles were provided for the total score. The FS scale was a valid and reliable measure to assess high levels of wellbeing among the Colombian population

Metaphors set in motion in the context of L2 academic spoken discourse

Theoretical and applied research in physical motion events (MEs) (Talmy, 2000; Ibarretxe-Antuñano, 2017) has shown that (1) speakers tend to organize MEs around a specific semantic component resulting in at least two different lexicalization patterns (satellite-framed and verb-framed languages), with different narrative styles (Slobin, 1996, 2004); (2) the use of specific patterns may also depend on genre and discourse (Caballero, 2017); and (3) the adoption of the narrative style of an L2 is challenging (Cadierno, 2008). These findings seem to also apply to metaphorical motion events (MMEs) (Özçalışkan, 2005; Ibarretxe-Antuñano & Caballero, 2014). This study analyses the linguistic realizations and discourse functions of MMEs in the specific context of oral EMI seminars to examine ME prevalence and the impact inter-typological differences may have on the production of MMEs. Data from three seminars from METCLIL corpus were selected to compare MME verb production by English L1 speakers (n=4) and L2 English speakers (satellite-framed: n=4; verb-framed: n=9). Results show that (i) individual variables (speakers’ L1 typology or lecturer’s input) do not seem to have a determining impact on MME employment, while (ii) contextual factors (to-be-performed activities) have been shown to have a more salient role in MME usage and performance of discursive functions

The biological function of the proto-oncogene Cot/tpl-2

Capítulo 2.-- Editor: Pedro A. Lazo.Cot, as well as its murine homologue tpl-2, was discovered in a COOH–terminal truncated form that unmasks the transformation capacity of the protein. The COOH-terminal domain of wt Cot contains an amino acid sequence that is a recognition signal for degradation via proteasome, besides, this domain of wt Cot is also an autoinhibitory domain of the specific activity of the wild type form. These data explain the transformation capacity of trunc-Cot/tpl-2, that when overexpressed is capable of activating several MAP kinases pathways as well as AP-1, NFAT, and NF-κB2 transcriptional activities. Earlier sobreexpression experiments lead to the proposal that Cot/tpl-2 could be involved in proliferative signalling, but the use of new technologies such as genetically modifies mice and interference RNA end up with the already accepted hypothesis that Cot/tpl-2 is involved in immune innate and adaptive processes. Cot/tpl-2 is activated in response to the activation of the TLR/IL-1 receptor superfamily as well as in response to the activation of some receptors of the TNF family. Independently of the cell system it is accepted that in resting cells Cot/tpl-2 forms a stable and inactive complex with p105 NF-κB among other proteins to protect it from degradation, adequate TLR/IL-1R stimulation induces the activation of the IKK complex that targets p105 NF-κB to be rapidly degraded by the proteasome pathway to p50 NF-κB, a subunit of the NF-κB transcription factor. Consequently Cot/tpl-2 is released from the complex and susceptible to transduce the activatory signal, leading to the activation of the MEK1-Erk1/Erk2 pathway. However, actually it is not completely understood all the requests that Cot/tpl-2 needs to be fully active and to this end it is also accepted that Cot/tpl2 requires to be phosphorylated. In addition the possibility that the requirements vary from cell system to cell system cannot be excluded. Physiologically, Cot/tpl-2 is involved in provoking innate immunity to establish adaptive immunity. In fact it is the unique MAP3K that activates Erk1/Erk2 when the TLRs/IL-1 receptors are activated and mediates the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNFα, IL-1, or IL-6. More recently it has been shown that Cot/tpl-2 has the capacity to regulate the balance between Th1 and Th2 cytokines. All these data indicate that, although mutations in Cot gene result in the expression of a protein linked with cell malignancies, physiologically wt Cot/tpl-2 is involved in innate and adaptive immunity.Our research is supported by the Plan Nacional (SAF 2008-00819) and Mutua Madrileña.Peer Reviewe

Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) in the General Colombian Population

(1) Background: Diener's Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences (SPANE) assesses the presence and intensity of positive and negative affects, since these are considered basic aspects of the study of well-being. This article studies its psychometric properties in the general Colombian population. (2) We conducted a cross-sectional study of a sample of 1255 Colombians and we used structural equation modeling to confirm the bifactor structure. Additionally, we studied invariance by gender, and convergent and concurrent validity. (3) We found acceptable fit indicators for the bifactor model (CFI = 0.889, RMSEA = 0.046, SRMR = 0.059) as well as for the convergent (CFI = 0.909, RMSEA = 0.050, SRMR = 0.063) and concurrent (CFI = 0.966, RMSEA = 0.036, SRMR = 0.041) validity models. We did not confirm total invariance across gender, although we found configural and metric invariance, so percentiles by sex were provided. (4) Conclusions: The SPANE is a valid and reliable measure to assess well-being among the Colombian population, although we alert researchers to the risk of comparing affectivity average scores between sexes

Ocean dynamics shapes the structure and timing of Atlantic Equatorial Modes

A recent study has brought to light the co‐existence of two distinct Atlantic Equatorial Modes during negative phases of the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability: the Atlantic Niño and Horse‐Shoe (HS) mode. Nevertheless, the associated air‐sea interactions for HS mode have not been explored so far and the prevailing dynamic view of the Atlantic Niño has been questioned. Here, using a forced ocean model simulation, we find that for both modes, ocean dynamics is essential to explain the equatorial SST variations, while air‐sea fluxes control the off‐equatorial SST anomalies. Moreover, we demonstrate the key role played by ocean waves in shaping their distinct structure and timing. For the positive phase of both Atlantic Niño and HS, anomalous westerly winds trigger a set of equatorial downwelling Kelvin waves (KW) during spring‐summer. These dKWs deepen the thermocline, favouring the equatorial warming through vertical diffusion and horizontal advection. Remarkably, for the HS, an anomalous north‐equatorial wind stress curl excites an upwelling Rossby wave (RW), which propagates westward and is reflected at the western boundary becoming an equatorial upwelling KW. The uKW propagates to the east, activating the thermocline feedbacks responsible to cool the sea surface during summer months. This RW‐reflected mechanism acts as a negative feedback causing the early termination of the HS mode. Our results provide an improvement in the understanding of the TAV modes and emphasize the importance of ocean wave activity to modulate the equatorial SST variability. These findings could be very useful to improve the prediction of the Equatorial Modes