The influence of environmental distraction on cognitive abilities in ADL performance after frontal brain injured.

Background: Previous studies have reported errors in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) under the presence of distracting objects in dementia and brain injury patients. However, little is known about which distractor-target objects relation might be more harmful for performance. Method: We compared the ADL execution in frontal brain injured patients and control participants under two conditions: One in which target objects were mixed with distractor objects that constituted an alternative semantically related but non-required task (contextual condition) and another in which target objects were mixed with related but isolated distractors that did not constituted a coherent task (non-contextual condition). We separately analyzed ADL commission errors (repetitions, substitutions, objects manipulations, failures in sequence, extra actions) and omissions. In addition, the participants were evaluated with a neuropsychological protocol including a very specific executive functions task (Selective attention, Stimulus-Stimulus and Stimulus-Response conflict). Results: We found that frontal patients produced more commission errors compared to control participants, but only under the contextual condition. No between groups significant differences were found in omissions in both conditions or commission errors in non-contextual conditions. Scores in the Stimulus-Response conflict was significantly correlated with commission errors in the contextual condition. Conclusion: The presence of different non-target objects in ADL performance could require different cognitive process. Contextual ADL conditions required a higher level of executive functions, especially at the level of response (Stimulus-Response conflict). Application to Practice: Occupational therapists should control the presence of objects related to the target task according to the intervention objectives with the patients.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Temporal preparation in patients with Neglect syndrome

The right parietal cortex has been widely associated with a spatial orienting network. Its damage frequently produces the Neglect syndrome consisting in deficits in spatial attention to the left hemifield. Neglect has also been related to temporal deficits (such as the estimation of the duration of a stimulus or the discrimination of two stimuli that occur at the same spatial location but at different time intervals). Such attentional deficits have been much less studied in the temporal as compared to the spatial domain. The current research focused on the study of temporal attention processes in patients with Neglect syndrome, specifically, on temporal preparation. We recruited 10 patients with Neglect syndrome, 10 patients without Neglect syndrome, as well as 11 healthy individuals. Each participant completed an experimental task which measures three main temporal preparation effects described in the literature: Temporal orienting and Foreperiod effects (both related to control mechanisms and prefrontal areas) and Sequential effects (automatic in nature and related to parietal and subcortical structures). The results showed a deficit in the sequential effects only in those patients who suffered from Neglect syndrome. The results suggest a causal relation between Neglect syndrome and the automatic mechanisms of temporal preparation. Since our sample of Neglect patients had suffered lesions mainly in the parietal cortex, the results are discussed taking into account the role of the parietal lobe in the processing of time and the models explaining sequential effects.This work was supported by the Junta de Andalucía (Research Project Reference: SEJ-3054

Effectiveness of a neuropsychological treatment for confabulations after brain injury: A clinical trial with theoretical implications

The study is part of a doctoral dissertation by Estrella Ródenas, supervised by the other three authors.Confabulators consistently generate false memories without intention to deceive and with great feelings of rightness. However, to our knowledge, there is currently no known effective treatment for them. In order to fill this gap, our aim was to design a neuropsychological treatment based on current theoretical models and test it experimentally in 20 confabulators sequentially allocated to two groups: an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received nine sessions of treatment for three weeks (three sessions per week). The sessions consisted of some brief material that participants had to learn and recall at both immediate and delayed time points. After this, patients were given feedback about their performance (errors and correct responses). Pre- and post-treatment measurements were recorded. Confabulators in the control group were included in a waiting list for three weeks, performed the pre- and post- measurements without treatment, and only then received the treatment, after which a post-treatment measurement was recorded. This applied to only half of the participants; the other half quit the study prematurely. Results showed a significant decrease in confabulations and a significant increase in correct responses in the experimental group; by contrast, patients in the control group did not improve during the waiting list period. Only control group patients who subsequently received the treatment after serving as controls improved. The effects of the treatment were generalized to patients’ everyday lives, as reported by relatives, and persisted over time. This treatment seems to be effective and easy to implement and consequently of clinical interest. Moreover, it also has theoretical implications regarding the processes related to the genesis and/or maintenance of confabulations. In particular, results point to a deficit in early stages of memory retrieval with the preservation of later strategic monitoring processes. Specifically, some of the processes involved may include selective attention or early conflict detection deficits. Future research should test these hypotheses.This research was carried out in San Rafael University Hospital in Granada, Spain, and was supported by the research grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education to Juan Lupiáñez (PSI2011-22416 and PSI2014-52764-P) and to María Jesús Funes (PSI2012-34158), the research grant from the Regional Government of Andalusia to María Jesús Funes (SEJ-6351), and the research grant from the Progress and Health Foundation of the Regional Government of Andalusia to Mónica Triviño (PI-0361-2014)

Valores y características de personalidad en estudiantes de Trabajo Social de la Comunidad Valenciana

En el estudio entramos a delimitar el perfil psicosocial de los futuros trabajadores sociales en la Comunidad Valenciana. Para ello se analizan las características de personalidad y los valores (utilizando los cuestionarios CEP y SIV) de una muestra compuesta por los alumnos de 1er curso de las EUTS de Valencia y Alicante. Nuestras conclusiones posibilitan aclarar aspectos axiológicos y metodológicos relacionados con el Trabajo Social

Valores y características de personalidad en estudiantes de Trabajo Social de la Comunidad Valenciana

En el estudio entramos a delimitar el perfil psicosocial de los futuros trabajadores sociales en la Comunidad Valenciana. Para ello se analizan las características de personalidad y los valores (utilizando los cuestionarios CEP y SIV) de una muestra compuesta por los alumnos de 1er curso de las EUTS de Valencia y Alicante. Nuestras conclusiones posibilitan aclarar aspectos axiológicos y metodológicos relacionados con el Trabajo Social

A Classification System for Decision-Making in the Management of Patients with Chronic Conditions

Patients with chronic diseases are frequent users of healthcare services. The systematic use of stratification tools and predictive models for this group of patients can be useful for health professionals in decision-making processes. The aim of this study was to design two new classifier systems for detecting the risk of hospital admission for elderly patients with chronic conditions. In this retrospective cohort study, a set of variables related to hospital admission for patients with chronic conditions was obtained through focus groups, a health database analysis and statistical processing. To predict the probability of admission from the set of predictor variables, a logistic regression within the framework of Generalized Linear Models was used. The target population consisted of patients aged 65 years or older treated in February 2016 at the Primary Health Care Centre of Burjassot (Spain). This sample was selected through the consecutive sampling of the patient quotas of the physicians who participated in the study (1000 patients). The result was two classification systems, with reasonable values of 0.722 and 0.744 for the area under the ROC curve. The proposed classifier systems could facilitate a change in the current patient management models and make them more proactive

A Classification System for Decision-Making in the Management of Patients with Chronic Conditions

Patients with chronic diseases are frequent users of healthcare services. The systematic use of stratification tools and predictive models for this group of patients can be useful for health professionals in decision-making processes. The aim of this study was to design two new classifier systems for detecting the risk of hospital admission for elderly patients with chronic conditions. In this retrospective cohort study, a set of variables related to hospital admission for patients with chronic conditions was obtained through focus groups, a health database analysis and statistical processing. To predict the probability of admission from the set of predictor variables, a logistic regression within the framework of Generalized Linear Models was used. The target population consisted of patients aged 65 years or older treated in February 2016 at the Primary Health Care Centre of Burjassot (Spain). This sample was selected through the consecutive sampling of the patient quotas of the physicians who participated in the study (1000 patients). The result was two classification systems, with reasonable values of 0.722 and 0.744 for the area under the ROC curve. The proposed classifier systems could facilitate a change in the current patient management models and make them more proactive

Neuropsychological results before the treatment.

<p>Mean scores and standard deviations (in parentheses) for each test in both control (pre-waiting) and experimental (pre-treatment) groups, as well as the results of the comparison between them. The scores of the control group are divided into two subgroups ('pure' and 'mixed').</p

CONSORT flow diagram.

<p>The diagram shows the number of participants enrolled and those who were excluded or assigned to each of the two groups (experimental vs. control).</p

Main results of the treatment in the ‘mixed’ control group.

<p>Confabulations decreased and correct responses increased only after the treatment was administered.</p