Impact of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Resting Cardiac Parameters and Cortisol in Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been associated with changes in psychophysiological and neuroendocrinal parameters. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is considered the treatment of choice for PTSD and is able to regularize altered neurobiological parameters; however, little is known about its effects on these parameters when measured during the therapeutic process. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the impact of CBT on cortisol and cardiac parameters measured at rest during the treatment of PTSD with comorbid major depression. 14 patients were randomized to four months of CBT or a waiting list. As expected, the experimental group had a greater reduction in PTSD symptoms and a large effect size. There was a reduction in the low frequency component of heart rate variability, which achieved borderline statistical significance and a large effect size. Salivary cortisol tended to track the progress of therapy, rising in the period of exposure and decreasing by the end of treatment. Despite the small sample size, this study opens the way for further research into the impact of CBT on the different biological markers of PTSD during the therapeutic process. This can hopefully help to optimize and personalize therapeutic studies while providing clues about modifications in bio behavioral pathological manifestations

Moquegua : ¿cómo vamos en educación?

Reúne información estadística relevante de la situación actual de la educación de la región Moquegua, ha sido hecho para servir como una guía informativa amigable de todos aquellos actores de la región que puedan influir positivamente en su realidad educativa. Entre 2004 y 2013, la tasa media de crecimiento anual del gasto público educativo por alumno fue de 14.6% en inicial, 16.6% en primaria y 11.6% en secundaria. En casi todos estos años dicho indicador en Moquegua superó al nacional en el nivel inicial, primaria y secundaria. En 2014, casi todos los distritos de la provincia de Ilo tienen más del 90% de locales escolares de educación básica con los tres servicios básicos (agua potable, desagüe y electricidad), mientras que en las regiones de Mariscal Nieto y General Sánchez Cerro el porcentaje es menor (76.0% y 54.9% respectivamente) El porcentaje de escuelas moqueguanas con acceso a Internet en primaria pasó de 7.7% en 2005 a 33.1% en 2014, superando ese año al nacional (27.9%). Similarmente, en secundaria, el porcentaje de escuelas moqueguanas con internet pasó de 22.1% a 56.5% frente a 52% de todo el país. El acceso a inicial en Moquegua, medido por la tasa neta de asistencia, tiene una tendencia creciente pasando de 65% a 93% entre el 2004 y 2013, mientras que el acceso a educación primaria se mantiene relativamente estables con tasas que fluctúan alrededor del 93% y 96% respectivamente. Por último en secundaria, el acceso a la educación tiene una tendencia creciente pasando de 83.8% a 94.1%. El indicador en Moquegua de alumnos por docente muestra una ligera tendencia decreciente en los tres niveles. Entre el 2005 y el 2014, este indicador pasó de 14 a 12 alumnos por docente en el nivel inicial, de 10 a 8 en el nivel primario y de 8 a 6 alumnos por docente en el nivel secundaria. En el 2014, el indicador de Moquegua en inicial, primaria y secundaria es inferior al nacional. Moquegua tiene tasas de desaprobación, retiro y atraso inferiores a los valores nacionales. Respecto al atraso escolar, todos los distritos, en primaria y en secundaria, se ubican debajo de 20% (percentil inferior), excepto, en secundaria, los distritos de Carumas, Torata, Chojata e Ichuda ubicados por debajo del 40%. En cuanto al porcentaje de retirados en 2013, todos los distritos del Callao tienen tasas de retiro que las ubica en el percentil más bajo (menor a 8%) tanto en primaria como en secundaria con la excepción, en secundaria, de los distritos Chuchumbaya, Chojata, Quinistaquillas (por debajo del 16%, respectivamente) y Matalaque (por debajo del 24%). distrito de Mi Perú en secundaria (3.2%)

Tonic immobility in PTSD : exacerbation of emotional cardiac defense response.

Among defensive behaviors, tonic immobility (TI) is considered the last defensive resort when life is at extreme risk. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the main psychiatric consequence resulting from exposure to traumatic events. Increasing evidence indicate an association between peritraumatic tonic immobilility and severity of PTSD. Cardiac defense response, a reactivity to perceived danger or threat, has been studied by recording heart rate changes that follows the presentation of an unpredictable intense auditory aversive stimulus. The aim of this study was to investigate potential distinctiveness in cardiac defense response among PTSD patients who presented ? compared to those that did not ? TI reaction in the laboratory setting. Patients (N = 17) completed the TI questionnaire for signs of immobility elicited by passive listening to their autobiographical trauma script. After a while, they were exposed to an intense white noise, while electrocardiogram was recorded. The heart rate during the 80 s after the noise, subtracted from baseline, was analyzed. Higher reports of TI to the trauma script were associated with stronger and sustained heart rate accelerations after the noise. The effects on cardiac defense response add to increasing evidence that some PTSD patients are prone to repeated re-experiences of TI, which may implicate in a potentially distinct pathophysiology and even a new PTSD subtype

Variation in clutch size in relation to nest size in birds

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Impacto da terapia cognitivo-comportamental nos fatores neurobiológicos relacionados à resiliência

A resiliência, como uma variável de desfecho, tem sido largamente negligenciada no campo terapêutico. Nosso objetivo foi investigar os efeitos da terapia cognitivo-comportamental (TCC) nos marcadores neurobiológicos de resiliência em pacientes com transtorno de estresse pós-traumático (TEPT). Nesta pesquisa experimental de caso único, foram acessadas variáveis fisiológicas (frequência cardíaca, frequência respiratória, tônus vagal cardíaco, balanço simpático e condutância da pele) e neuroendócrinas (cortisol e de-hidroepiandrosterona - DHEA) e medidas psicométricas de autorrelato (afeto negativo, resiliência, sintomas de TEPT, depressão, ansiedade e apoio social). Foram medidas as respostas fisiológicas, neuroendócrinas e psicométricas em repouso antes e após quatro meses de TCC. O paciente era um homem de 45 anos que sofreu dois assaltos com arma de fogo e não respondeu adequadamente ao tratamento farmacológico com paroxetina. A TCC levou a uma redução da frequência cardíaca, frequência respiratória, balanço simpático, condutância da pele e cortisol, bem como a um aumento no tônus vagal e DHEA. Além disso, a TCC promoveu redução na pontuação dos sintomas de TEPT, depressão, ansiedade e afeto negativo e aumento da pontuação de resiliência e apoio social. Nossos dados sugerem que a TCC aumenta os fatores relacionados à resiliência (DHEA, tônus vagal, autorrelato de resiliência e apoio social). Isso não é somente "antipatológico", mas também pode ser considerado "pró-bem-estar". Adicionalmente, nossos resultados mostram a relevância da investigação dos efeitos do tratamento psicológico em múltiplos sistemas neurobiológicos no mesmo paciente com TEPT, visando desvendar as bases neurobiológicas dos fatores de resiliência

They know their trauma by heart : an assessment of psychophysiological failure to recover in PTSD.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops following exposure to a traumatic event and is characterized by persistent intense reactivity to trauma relatedcues. Equally important, butless studied, is the fail uretores to rephysiological home ostasis after these excessive reactions. This study investigates psycho physiological markers of sustained cardiac activity after exposure to reminders of traumatic event in PTSD patients. Methods: Participants passively listened to neutral and personal traumatic event while electrocardio- gram was continuously recorded. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were analyzed in 19 PTSD patients and 16 trauma-exposed controls. Results: Both PTSD patients and trauma exposed controls exhibited a significant increase in HR to the exposure of their personal trauma. PTSD patients sustained the increase of HR while controls recovered to basal levels. In PTSD patients, sustained HR was positively associated with re-experiencing symptoms. The PTSD group also showed a reduced HRV (ameasureof parasympathetic influence on the heart) during personal trauma exposure and lack of recovery. Limitations: The sample size was small and PTSD patients were undermedication. Conclusions: Our findings provide an experimental account of the failure of PTSD patients to exhibit physiological recovery after exposure to trauma-related stimuli. PTSD patients exhibited a sustained tachycardia with attenuation of HRV that persisted even after cessation of the stressor. Re-experiencing symptoms facilitated engagement in the trauma cues, suggesting that, in their daily-life, patients most likely present repeated episodes of sustained over-reactivity, which may underpin the emotional dysregulation characteristic of PTSD

Desarrollo integral Agrícola de la franja transversal del norte: diagnóstico integral Sechac

122 páginas pdf.Este trabajo, posee los resultados de la capacitación en servicio impartida por los especialistas del Proyecto de Apoyo IICA/FSB a profesionales, técnicos promotores agrícolas que desarrollan sus actividades. Además hace referencia a aspectos de recursos naturales, agropecuarios, socioeconómicos, infraestructura, organización de empresas y recomendaciones que resumen y señalan los aspectos relevantes en cuanto al desarrollo de la comunidad

Is there tonic immobility in humans? Biological evidence from victims of traumatic stress.

Tonic immobility, characterized by profound motor inhibition, is elicited under inescapable threat in many species. To fully support the existence of tonic immobility in humans, our aim was to elicit this reaction in a laboratory setting and measure it objectively. To mimic exposure to life-threatening events in the lab, trauma-exposed participants with PTSD (n = 18) and without PTSD (n = 15) listened to the script of their autobiographical trauma. Posturography and electrocardiography were employed. Reports of script-induced immobility were associated with restricted area of body sway and were correlated with accelerated heart rate and diminished heart rate variability, implying that tonic immobility is preserved in humans as an involuntary defensive strategy. Immobility reports seemed more evident in PTSD, suggesting that, in some patients, tonic immobility may be elicited during re-experiencing episodes in daily life. This study provided a measure of tonic immobility, a peritraumatic reaction for which cumulative clinical evidence had linked to the severity of PTSD

Connecting the data landscape of long-term ecological studies : The SPI-Birds data hub

The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild. Furthermore, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change). To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolutionary research based on long-term studies of birds, we have created the SPI-Birds Network and Database ()-a large-scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of individually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within year and a half since the establishment, SPI-Birds has recruited over 120 members, and currently hosts data on almost 1.5 million individual birds collected in 80 populations over 2,000 cumulative years, and counting. SPI-Birds acts as a data hub and a catalogue of studied populations. It prevents data loss, secures easy data finding, use and integration and thus facilitates collaboration and synthesis. We provide community-derived data and meta-data standards and improve data integrity guided by the principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), and aligned with the existing metadata languages (e.g. ecological meta-data language). The encouraging community involvement stems from SPI-Bird's decentralized approach: research groups retain full control over data use and their way of data management, while SPI-Birds creates tailored pipelines to convert each unique data format into a standard format. We outline the lessons learned, so that other communities (e.g. those working on other taxa) can adapt our successful model. Creating community-specific hubs (such as ours, COMADRE for animal demography, etc.) will aid much-needed large-scale ecological data integration.Peer reviewe