Podem canviar les nostres idees socio-polítiques un cop som adults?

Contràriament a l'enfocament tradicional, que diu que les variacions en els valors i orientacions socio-polítiques es donen principalment durant l'adolescència i principi de l'edad adulta, aquesta tesi doctoral llegida a la UAB ha intentat mostrar com els adults ajustem constantment les nostres idees i creences polítiques al temps en què vivim. El treball conclou que els models vigents fins ara eren clarament insuficients per explicar les variacions que s'han donat durant els últims trenta anys en les democràcies industrials.Contrariamente al enfoque tradicional, que dice que las variaciones en los valores y orientaciones sociopolíticas se dan principalmente durante la adolescencia y principio de la edad adulta, esta tesis doctoral leída en la UAB ha intentado mostrar cómo los adultos ajustamos constantemente nuestras ideas y creencias políticas al tiempo en que vivimos. El trabajo concluye que los modelos vigentes hasta ahora eran claramente insuficientes para explicar las variaciones que se han dado durante los últimos treinta años en las democracias industriales

White matter integrity related to functional working memory networks in traumatic brain injury

Objective: This study explores the functional and structural patterns of connectivity underlying working memory impairment after severe traumatic axonal injury. Methods: We performed an fMRI n-back task and acquired diffusion tensor images (DTI) in a group of 19 chronic-stage patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and evidence of traumatic axonal injury and 19 matched healthy controls. We performed image analyses with FSL software and fMRI data were analyzed using probabilistic independent component analysis. Fractional anisotropy (FA) maps from DTI images were analyzed with FMRIB's Diffusion Toolbox. Results: We identified working memory and default mode networks. Global FA values correlated with both networks and FA whole-brain analysis revealed correlations in several tracts associated with the functional activation. Furthermore, working memory performance in the patient group correlated with the functional activation patterns and with the FA values of the associative fasciculi. Conclusion: Combining structural and functional neuroimaging data, we were able to describe structural white matter changes related to functional network alterations and to lower performance in working memory in chronic TBI

White Matter/Gray Matter Contrast Changes in Chronic and Diffuse Traumatic brain Injury

Signal-intensity contrast of T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans has been associated with tissue integrity and reported as a sign of neurodegenerative changes in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. After severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), progressive structural changes occur in white (WM) and gray matter (GM). In the current study, we assessed the signal-intensity contrast of GM and WM in patients with diffuse TBI in the chronic stage to (1) characterize the regional pattern of WM/GM changes in intensity contrast associated with traumatic axonal injury, (2) evaluate possible associations between this measure and diffusion tensor image (DTI)/fractional anisotropy (FA) for detecting WM damage, and (3) investigate the correlates of both measures with cognitive outcomes. Structural T1 scans were processed with FreeSurfer software to identify the boundary and calculate the WM/GM contrast maps. DTIs were processed with the FMRIB software library to obtain FA maps. The WM/GM contrast in TBI patients showed a pattern of reduction in almost all of the brain, except the visual and motor primary regions. Global FA values obtained from DTI correlated with the intensity contrast of all associative cerebral regions. WM/GM contrast correlated with memory functions, whereas FA global values correlated with tests measuring memory and mental processing speed. In conclusion, tissue-contrast intensity is a very sensitive measure for detecting structural brain damage in chronic, severe and diffuse TBI, but is less sensitive than FA for reflecting neuropsychological sequelae, such as impaired mental processing speed

Transcranial magnetic stimulation as a complementary treatment for aphasia

Functional brain imaging with nonfluent aphasia patients has shown increased cortical activation (perhaps ‘‘overactivation’’) in right (R) hemisphere language homologues. These areas of overactivation may represent a maladaptive strategy that interferes with, rather than promotes, aphasia recovery. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a painless, noninvasive procedure that utilizes magnetic fields to create electric currents in discrete brain areas affecting about a 1-cm square area of cortex. Slow frequency, 1 Hz rTMS reduces cortical excitability. When rTMS is applied to an appropriate cortical region, it may suppress the possible overactivation and thus modulate a distributed neural network for language. We provide information on rTMS and report preliminary results following rTMS application to R Broca’s area (posterior, R pars triangularis) in four stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia (5–11 years after left hemisphere stroke). Following 10 rTMS treatments, significant improvement in naming pictures was observed. This form of rTMS may provide a novel, complementary treatment for aphasia.This research was supported by NIH grant DC05672 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Bethesda, MD; and in part by the Medical Research Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC; and NIH grant NCRR MO1 RR01032 to the Harvard-Thorndike General Clinical Research Center at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and NIH NIDCD grant P30 DC05207 to the Harold Goodglass Aphasia Research Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MAMedicin

Control biológico de las plagas de moscas en el ganado

[ES] La lucha mediante el control biológico de plagas es un aspecto desconocido porque lo habitual es el control químico. En este artículo se explica en qué consiste el control biológico de la mosca del ganado y se exponen algunos datos de los trabajos realizados tanto a nivel de campo como experimental.Guzmán, A.; Beitia, F.; Tormos, F.; Calatayud, I.; Pérez Baena, I.; Peris Palau, B. (2018). Control biológico de las plagas de moscas en el ganado. Albéitar (Online). (213):32-33. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/122229S323321

Nano-volume well array chip for large-scale propagation and high-resolution analysis of individual cancer stem cells

Copyright: © 2014 Clausell-Tormos J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Cellular heterogeneity represents an increasingly appreciated aspect for research in life science. To address this issue, we have developed a nano-volume well array chip that allows larger-scale isolation and propagation of single cells. Notably, the chip enables single-cell analysis of freshly isolated primary cells at a high-resolution. With an average height of 130 ± 10 μm and an average diameter of 80 ± 10 μm, each nano-volume well can hold up to 0.4 nL of volume, and is compatible with both adherent as well as 3D suspension cultures. Simultaneous time-lapse imaging of thousands of nano-volume wells allows to monitor cell division, as well as tracking of cell fate, and/or alterations in the microscopic cellular morphology and/or markers expression. To demonstrate its application, we employed the system for propagating and tracking of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs). CSCs could be monitored over three consecutive days by time-lapse high-resolution imaging at the single-cell level. We could demonstrate that non-CSCs do not dedifferentiate into CSCs, while CSCs were able to give rise to both CSCs and non-CSCs by undergoing symmetric and asymmetric division, respectively. Altogether, we have developed a novel nano-volume well array chip that significantly ameliorates clonal propagation and high-resolution image analysis of rare cells

Effects of Aerobic Exercise, Cognitive and Combined Training on Cognition in Physically Inactive Healthy Late-Middle-Aged Adults: The Projecte Moviment Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Lifestyle interventions are promising strategies to promote cognitive health in aging. Projecte Moviment examines if aerobic exercise (AE), computerized cognitive training (CCT), and their combination (COMB) improves cognition, psychological health, and physical status compared to a control group. We assessed the moderating role of age and sex and the mediating effects of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), physical activity (PA), and psychological health on intervention-related cognitive benefits. Methods: This was a 12-week multi-domain, single-blind, proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial (RCT). 96 healthy adults aged 50-70 years were assigned to AE, CCT, COMB, and a wait-list control group. The per protocol sample, which completed the intervention with a level of adherence > 80%, consisted of 82 participants (62% female; age = 58.38 ± 5.47). We assessed cognition, psychological health, CRF, and energy expenditure in PA at baseline and after the intervention. We regressed change in each outcome on the treatment variables, baseline score, sex, age, and education. We used PROCESS Macro to perform the mediation and moderation analyses. Results: AE benefited Working Memory (SMD = 0.29, p = 0.037) and Attention (SMD = 0.33, p = 0.028) including the Attention-Speed (SMD = 0.31, p = 0.042) domain, compared to Control. COMB improved Attention (SMD = 0.30, p = 0.043), Speed (SMD = 0.30, p = 0.044), and the Attention-Speed (SMD = 0.30, p = 0.041) domain. CTT group did not show any cognitive change compared to Control. Sportive PA (S-PA) and CRF increased in AE and COMB. Age and sex did not moderate intervention-related cognitive benefits. Change in S-PA, but not in CRF, significantly mediated improvements on Attention-Speed in AE. Conclusion: A 12-week AE program improved Executive Function and Attention-Speed in healthy late-middle-aged adults. Combining it with CCT did not provide further benefits. Our results add support to the clinical relevance of even short-term AE as an intervention to enhance cognition and highlight the mediating role of change in S-PA in these benefits

Sense of Coherence Mediates the Relationship Between Cognitive Reserve and Cognition in Middle-Aged Adults

In recent years, supported by new scientific evidence, the conceptualization of cognitive reserve (CR) has been progressively enriched and now encompasses not only cognitive stimulating activities or educational level, but also lifestyle activities, such as leisure physical activity and socialization. In this context, there is increasing interest in understanding the role of psychological factors in brain health and cognitive functioning. In a previous study, we have found that these factors mediated the relationship between CR and self-reported cognitive functioning. In this study, we have confirmed an association between two important constructs included in the psychological wellbeing and salutogenic models, 'purpose in life' and 'sense of coherence,' CR, as assessed using a questionnaire, and cognitive functioning, as evaluated using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Results from 888 middle-aged healthy participants from the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative indicate that both sense of coherence (SoC) and CR were positively associated with verbal memory, reasoning and attention, working memory, and global cognition. Moreover, the relation between CR and cognitive functioning in the different domains is partially mediated by SoC. When we controlled for brain integrity, introducing into the model neurofilament light chain measures, the mediator role of SoC was confirmed for reasoning and attention and global cognition. However, purpose in life was not associated with cognitive functioning. These results reveal the central role of the SoC construct, which mediates the association between classic CR estimates and cognitive functions, potentially representing a modifiable target for interventions that aim to promote brain health

Effects of Aerobic Exercise, Cognitive and Combined Training on Cognition in Physically Inactive Healthy Late-Middle-Aged Adults : The Projecte Moviment Randomized Controlled Trial

Lifestyle interventions are promising strategies to promote cognitive health in aging. Projecte Moviment examines if aerobic exercise (AE), computerized cognitive training (CCT), and their combination (COMB) improves cognition, psychological health, and physical status compared to a control group. We assessed the moderating role of age and sex and the mediating effects of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), physical activity (PA), and psychological health on intervention-related cognitive benefits. This was a 12-week multi-domain, single-blind, proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial (RCT). 96 healthy adults aged 50-70 years were assigned to AE, CCT, COMB, and a wait-list control group. The per protocol sample, which completed the intervention with a level of adherence > 80%, consisted of 82 participants (62% female; age = 58.38 ± 5.47). We assessed cognition, psychological health, CRF, and energy expenditure in PA at baseline and after the intervention. We regressed change in each outcome on the treatment variables, baseline score, sex, age, and education. We used PROCESS Macro to perform the mediation and moderation analyses. AE benefited Working Memory (SMD = 0.29, p = 0.037) and Attention (SMD = 0.33, p = 0.028) including the Attention-Speed (SMD = 0.31, p = 0.042) domain, compared to Control. COMB improved Attention (SMD = 0.30, p = 0.043), Speed (SMD = 0.30, p = 0.044), and the Attention-Speed (SMD = 0.30, p = 0.041) domain. CTT group did not show any cognitive change compared to Control. Sportive PA (S-PA) and CRF increased in AE and COMB. Age and sex did not moderate intervention-related cognitive benefits. Change in S-PA, but not in CRF, significantly mediated improvements on Attention-Speed in AE. A 12-week AE program improved Executive Function and Attention-Speed in healthy late-middle-aged adults. Combining it with CCT did not provide further benefits. Our results add support to the clinical relevance of even short-term AE as an intervention to enhance cognition and highlight the mediating role of change in S-PA in these benefits