Estudio de polimorfismos genéticos asociados con la inhibición global y selectiva de respuestas

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Psicología, leída el 27/01/2021. Tesis formato europeo (compendio de artículos)This doctoral dissertation titled “Study of genetic polymorphisms associated with global and selective response inhibition” delves into the study of the genetic correlates of these two types of inhibition. Global or simple response inhibition refers to the ability to suppress a single planned or already initiated motor response after the appearance of a single stop stimulus, and previous studies show that it is at least partially heritable. Its genetic basis has been studied mainly through association studies of candidate polymorphisms in genes linked to dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline neurotransmission. These studies yield contradictory results, in that associations found have not always been replicated, or even occur in opposite directions. On the other hand, selective response inhibition refers to the ability to suppress a response to some specific stimuli and continue to emit it to other stimuli. It has recently been observed that participants can adopt various strategies to complete selective response inhibition tasks, some of which are characterized by selective inhibition to some stimuli and not others as theoretically expected, but others by indiscriminate inhibition to all stimuli. To our knowledge, the genetic correlates of selective inhibition have not been explored until now. Therefore, the first objective of this doctoral dissertation was to systematically review and meta-analyse previous literature to identify which candidate polymorphisms of the monoaminergic pathways are associated with behavioural correlates of global response inhibition, in adult and non-clinical populations. These correlates are the percentage of commission errors derived from Go/No-Go tasks and the Stop-Signal Reaction Time (or SSRT) derived from Stop-Signal tasks. The second objective has been to examine for the first time the genetic correlates of selective response inhibition in an experimental study with adult and non-clinical populations. This study focused on dopaminergic polymorphisms due to a stronger theoretical rationale involving dopamine as an essential neurotransmitter for the function of brain areas possibly required for selective inhibition (such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the striatum)...La presente tesis doctoral titulada “Estudio de polimorfismos genéticos asociados con la inhibición global y selectiva de respuestas” profundiza en el estudio de los correlatos genéticos de estos dos tipos de inhibición. La inhibición global o simple de la respuesta se refiere a la capacidad de suprimir una única respuesta motora planeada o ya iniciada tras la aparición de un único estímulo de parada, y estudios previos demuestran que es al menos parcialmente heredable. Su base genética se ha estudiado sobre todo a través de estudios de asociación de polimorfismos candidatos en genes vinculados con la neurotransmisión de la dopamina, serotonina y noradrenalina. Estos estudios obtienen datos contradictorios, en tanto que las asociaciones encontradas no siempre se han replicado, o incluso ocurren en dirección opuesta. Por otra parte, la inhibición selectiva de respuestas se refiere a la capacidad para suprimir una respuesta ante determinados estímulos, pero continuar emitiéndola ante otros. Se ha observado recientemente que los participantes pueden adoptar diversas estrategias para completar las tareas de inhibición selectiva de respuesta, algunas de las cuales se caracterizan por inhibir selectivamente ante unos estímulos y no otros como se esperaría teóricamente, pero otras por inhibir indiscriminadamente ante todos los estímulos. Los correlatos genéticos de la inhibición selectiva no han sido explorados hasta ahora, según nuestro conocimiento. Por lo tanto, el primer objetivo de esta tesis doctoral fue realizar una revisión sistemática y meta-analítica de la literatura previa para conocer qué polimorfismos candidatos de las vías monoaminérgicas se asocian con correlatos conductuales de la inhibición global de la respuesta en población adulta. Estos correlatos son el porcentaje de errores de comisión derivado de las tareas tipo Go/No-Go y el tiempo estimado de inhibición (SSRT por sus siglas en inglés) derivado de las tareas tipo Stop-Signal. El segundo objetivo fue examinar, por primera vez, los correlatos genéticos de la inhibición selectiva de respuestas en un estudio experimental con población adulta. Este estudio se centró en polimorfismos dopaminérgicos debido a una mayor fundamentación teórica que implica a la dopamina como neurotransmisor esencial en el funcionamiento de áreas cerebrales posiblemente requeridas para la inhibición selectiva (como la corteza prefrontal dorsolateral y el estriado)...Fac. de PsicologíaTRUEunpu

On the effect of thin film growth mechanisms on the specular reflectance of aluminum thin films deposited via filtered cathodic vacuum arc

The optimisation of the specular reflectance of solar collectors is a key parameter to increase the global yield of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. In this work, the influence of filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition parameters, particularly working pressure and deposition time, on the specular and diffuse reflectance of aluminium thin films, was studied. Changes in specular reflectance, measured by ultraviolet–visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (UV-vis-NIR) spectro photometry, were directly correlated with thin film elemental concentration depth profiles, obtained by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), and surface and cross-sectional morphologies as measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and profilometry. Finally, atomic force microscopy (AFM) provided information on the roughness and growth mechanism of the films. The two contributions to the total reflectance of the films, namely diffuse and specular reflectance, were found to be deeply influenced by deposition conditions. It was proven that working pressure and deposition time directly determine the predominant factor. Specular reflectance varied from 12 to 99.8% of the total reflectance for films grown at the same working pressure of 0.1 Pa and with different deposition times. This transformation could not be attributed to an oxidation of the films as stated by RBS, but was correlated with a progressive modification of the roughness, surface, and bulk morphology of the samples over the deposition time. Hence, the evolution in the final optical properties of the films is driven by different growth mechanisms and the resulting microstructures. In addition to the originally addressed CSP applications the potential of the developed aluminium films for other application rather than CSP, such as, for example, reference material for spectroscopic diffuse reflectance measurements, is also discussed

The development of selective stopping: qualitative and quantitative changes from childhood to early adulthood

Although progress has been made in elucidating the behavioral and neural development of global stopping across the lifespan, little is known about the development of selective stopping. This more complex form of inhibitory control is required in real-world situations where ongoing responses must be inhibited to certain stimuli but not others, and can be assessed in laboratory settings using a stimulus selective stopping task. Here we used this task to investigate the qualitative and quantitative developmental changes in selective stopping in a large-scale cross-sectional study with three different age groups (children, preadolescents, and young adults). We found that the ability to stop a response selectively to some stimuli (i.e., use a selective strategy) rather than non-selectively to all presented stimuli (i.e., use a global, non-selective strategy) is fully mature by early preadolescence, and remains stable afterwards at least until young adulthood. By contrast, the efficiency or speed of stopping (indexed by a shorter stop-signal reaction time or SSRT) continues to mature throughout adolescence until young adulthood, both for global and selective implementations of stopping. We also provide some preliminary findings regarding which other task variables beyond the strategy and SSRT predicted age group status. Premature responding (an index of “waiting impulsivity”) and post-ignore slowing (an index of cognitive control) were among the most relevant predictors in discriminating between developmental age groups. Although present results need to be confirmed and extended in longitudinal studies, they provide new insights into the development of a relevant form of inhibitory controlThis work was supported by grants PSI2017-84922-R (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO, Spain) and SI1/PJI/2019-00061 (Comunidad de Madrid, Spain; V PRICIT

Uso de museos y exposiciones de Madrid para el estudio del cambio social. Una propuesta de mejora en las prácticas docentes de los estudios de comunicación

Este proyecto de innovación docente se propone alinear las necesidades docentes de la enseñanza del Cambio Social, la necesaria formación en contenidos audiovisuales y la disposición de los museos y exposiciones de abrirse a público joven y convertirse en espacios formativos y de reflexión sobre el cambio social. Es clara la necesidad de las profesiones comunicativas de encontrar nichos de empleo

Making Musical Works in Renaissance Spain

Producción CientíficaWhy is it that Renaissance musicians (in Spain in this case) could identify as the same work compositions that today might be seen as different? Wherein was the commonality? Current ontologies of music, deeply rooted in modern theories and aesthetics revolve around the notion of musical masterpieces that exist as static monuments of musical art. Not only inadequate from a historical point of view, such a conceptualisation impacts heavily on the way we perform music, how we study it and how we think about it today. Scholars such as Treitler and Strohm have proposed substituting composition over practice to highlight the act of performance over prior creation as a way of shifting the focus in the development of contemporary historiography. In parallel with recent studies on contrapuntal improvisation they have stressed the need to incorporate oral traditions within music history and to stimulate reconsideration conceptualisation of “making musical works” in the Renaissance, and the very nature of the works themselves. Starting with the notion of the Renaissance “musical work” as a group of fluid, dynamic multiplicities, this book explores varied approaches to the “musical work.” It includes lexicological analyses of Renaissance musical terminology, source studies that identify the changing practices and identities of specific works, and broader questions such as interrelationships between music, architecture and rhetoric, o between space and work. The book is further enriched by a study of the 15,000 musical works that resided in the library of Ferdinand Columbus, that survive as indices, never studied or published.Departamento de Música y Expresión MusicalEste trabajo forma parte del proyecto de investigación “La obra musical renacentista: fundamentos, repertorios y prácticas” HAR 2015-70181-P (MINECO/FEDER, UE

Analysis of parainflammation in chronic glaucoma using vitreous-oct imaging

Glaucoma causes blindness due to the progressive death of retinal ganglion cells. The immune response chronically and subclinically mediates a homeostatic role. In current clinical practice, it is impossible to analyse neuroinflammation non-invasively. However, analysis of vitreous images using optical coherence tomography detects the immune response as hyperreflective opacities. This study monitors vitreous parainflammation in two animal models of glaucoma, comparing both healthy controls and sexes over six months. Computational analysis characterizes in vivo the hyperreflective opacities, identified histologically as hyalocyte-like Iba-1+ (microglial marker) cells. Glaucomatous eyes showed greater intensity and number of vitreous opacities as well as dynamic fluctuations in the percentage of activated cells (50–250 microns2 ) vs. non-activated cells (10–50 microns2 ), isolated cells (10 microns2) and complexes (>250 microns2 ). Smaller opacities (isolated cells) showed the highest mean intensity (intracellular machinery), were the most rounded at earlier stages (recruitment) and showed the greatest change in orientation (motility). Study of vitreous parainflammation could be a biomarker of glaucoma onset and progression. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/)

The genetics of self-reported trait impulsivity: Contribution of catecholaminergic gene variants in European ancestry individuals

Increased trait impulsivity is a core element in several mental disorders. Given the durable and consistent nature of trait impulsivity, studies have explored its relation to stable biological measures. Variation in catecholaminergic neurotransmission by genetic variants could be one of these biological substrates. Here, 905 participants of European-ancestry completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale–11 and were genotyped in three single nucleotide polymorphisms related to catecholaminergic neurotransmission: the DRD2/ ANKK Taq1A, the C957T DRD2 and the Val158Met of the COMT gene. We found significant main effects of Val158Met and C957T on BIS-11 score. Also, interactions with gender were significant in both SNPs with a tendency to slightly different genotype and allele associations with the BIStotal score between male and female participants. Whereas in females, higher impulsivity scores were obtained by participants with the Val158Met heterozygous genotype (Met/Val), data indicate a trend towards a higher impulsivity score in male Val-allele carriers. In the case of C957T, only a tentative association between male Tallele carriers and higher impulsivity scores in comparison to CC genotype carriers could be established. No significant associations were found between BIS-11 and Taq1A. We provide further evidence for a gender-specific implication of Val158Met and C957T in trait impulsivity

Empoderamiento y feminismo comunitario en la conservación del maíz en México

Articulo científico para revista indizada.El objetivo es analizar, desde una perspectiva basada en el feminismo comunitario, el proceso de empoderamiento de las mujeres que conforman un grupo de ocho integrantes matlatzincas de la comunidad de San Francisco Oxtotilpan, México, a través de prácticas productivas, alimentarias y culturales en torno al maíz nativo. Los datos fueron recogidos durante 2014 y 2015 con técnicas etnográficas que incluyen: observación participante, historias de vida, grupos focales, entrevistas semiestructuradas y a profundidad. Son mujeres que muestran cinco dimensiones de poder (social, corporal, material, simbólico y cognitivo) que repercuten en la preservación del maíz nativo, al generar la masa crítica necesaria para incorporar a otras mujeres en acciones favorables para la soberanía alimentaria

Challenge B: Human sciences in transition scenarios

Coordinators: Josep Martí Pérez (IMF, CSIC), Idoia Murga Castro (IH, CSIC).This challenge is formulated in terms of “humanities in transition,” that is, their approach and articulation in the face of the changes they must undergo to achieve the social weight that, due to their intrinsic relevance, should correspond to them. Faced with these situations that would demand a reinforcement in research and dissemination in diverse aspects of the humanities, from multiple perspectives, paradoxically an adverse panorama is drawn for the development and dissemination of humanistic knowledge, which concerns different factors. Some are related to the consideration of the area of knowledge itself, its organization within the scientific system, the questioning of its own limits, and the interaction with another knowledge. Considering current transition scenarios does not mean having to abandon old objectives, but it adds to the work conducted new objects of study closely related to current reality, such as: the informational revolution; the relations with the ecosystem and the environmental crisis; globalization; the intensification of human mobility and migration flows; the growing economic and social inequality; the frictions derived from the articulation of collective identities; the decolonization of discourses; demographic dynamics; integration of technological advances; and viability and support for alternative models of society.Peer reviewe

Investigación joven con perspectiva de género II

Actas del II Congreso de jóvenes investigadorxs con perspectiva de género (Getafe, 26 y 27 de junio de 2017) organizado por el Instituto Universitario de Estudios de Género de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid