Neural signatures of predictive language processing in parkinson’s disease with and without mild cognitive impairment

This study was funded by grants from the Fundació la Marató de TV3 2014/U/477 and 20142910, and by financial support from the Center for Biomedical Research and Neurodegenerative Resources (CIBERNED). PLC was funded with a pre-doctoral grant FPU15/05554 (FPU "Ayudas para la Formación de Profesorado Universitario") of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. JP was funded by PERIS (expedient number: SLT008/18/00088) of Generalitat de Catalunya. JK and HB-K were funded by FIS PI18/01717. HB -K was funded by Río Hortega CM17/00209 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain). JM was funded by Río Hortega CM15/00071 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain). None of these funding sources had any involvement in the conduct of the research or the preparation of the article.Cognitive deficits are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), with some PD patients meeting criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). An unaddressed question is whether linguistic prediction is preserved in PD. This ability is nowadays deemed crucial in achieving fast and efficient comprehension, and it may be negatively impacted by cognitive deterioration. To fill this gap of knowledge, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to evaluate mechanisms of linguistic prediction in a sample of PD patients (on dopamine compensation) with and without MCI. To this end, participants read sentence contexts that were predictive or not about a sentence-final word. The final word appeared after 1 second, matching or mismatching the prediction. The introduction of the interval allowed to capture neural responses both before and after sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation and processing. PD patients with normal cognition (N = 58) showed ERP responses comparable to those of matched controls. Specifically, in predictive contexts, a slow negative potential developed prior to sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation. Later, expected words elicited reduced N400 responses (compared to unexpected words), indicating facilitated semantic processing. Besides, PD patients with MCI (N = 20) showed a prolongation of the N400 congruency effect (compared to matched PD patients without MCI), indicating that further cognitive decline impacts semantic processing. Finally, lower verbal fluency scores correlated with prolonged N400 congruency effects and with reduced pre-word differences in all PD patients (N = 78). This relevantly points to a role of deficits in temporal-dependent mechanisms in PD, besides prototypical frontal dysfunction, in altered semantic anticipation and semantic processing during sentence comprehension.Fundació la Marató de TV3 2014/U/477 and 20142910Center for Biomedical Research and Neurodegenerative Resources (CIBERNED)FPU15/05554 (FPU "Ayudas para la Formación de Profesorado Universitario") of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and SportPERIS (expedient number: SLT008/18/00088) of Generalitat de CatalunyaRío Hortega CM17/00209 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain)FIS PI18/01717. HB -KRío Hortega CM15/00071 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain

Alpha power decreases associated with prediction in written and spoken sentence comprehension

Alpha and beta power decreases have been associated with prediction in a variety of cognitive domains. Recent studies in sentence comprehension have also reported alpha and/or beta power decreases preceding contextually predictable words, albeit with remarkable spatiotemporal variability across reports. To contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, and the sources of variability, the present study explored to what extent these prediction-related alpha and beta power decreases might be common across different modalities of comprehension. To address this, we re-analysed the data of two EEG experiments that employed the same materials in written and in spoken comprehension. Sentence contexts were weakly or strongly constraining about a sentence-final word, which was presented after a 1 s delay, either matching or mismatching the expectation. In written comprehension, alpha power (8–12 Hz) decreased before final words appearing in strongly (relative to weakly) constraining contexts, in line with previous reports. Furthermore, a similar oscillatory phenomenon was evidenced in spoken comprehension, although with relevant spatiotemporal differences. Altogether, the findings agree with the involvement of both modality-specific and general-domain mechanisms in the elicitation of prediction-related alpha power decreases in sentence comprehension. Specifically, we propose that this phenomenon might partly reflect richer and more precise information representation when linguistic contexts afford prediction.pre-doctoral grant (FPU "Ayudas para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario") of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport FPU15/0555

Evaluación de la Institucionalidad española para la gobernanza y gestión en el saneamiento de las aguas servidas en zonas rurales en Chile.

En este Trabajo Fin de Máster se estudiarán los problemas de las gestión de las aguas residuales en las zonas rurales chilenas, poniendo como marco comparativo la tecnología e institucionalidad española. Las diferencias sociales y económicas entre las zonas rurales y urbanas son notables. Mientras en las zonas urbanas cuentan con casi un 100% de la depuración de las aguas, en las zonas rurales todavía no se ha completado las redes de saneamiento y en muchos casos no hay sistemas de abastecimiento de agua potable. Se han analizado las tecnologías y cómo el marco normativo español ha evolucionado para una correcta gestión y administración de las plantas depuradoras en zonas rurales. En este proyecto se ha identificado los principales problemas que encontramos en las gestión de los Sistemas Sanitarios Rurales de Chile. Tanto la gestión del agua potable como la gestión de las aguas residuales son llevadas a cabo por comités que en muchos casos no tienen formación, apoyo económico o recursos para llevar a cabo una buena tutela de las plantas. Un insuficiente financiamiento, gestión y mantenimiento inadecuado de las plantas y sistemas de alcantarillado, hacen que en muchos casos estas plantas generen vertidos contaminantes para el medioambiente. Se comprueba que la gestión de las aguas residuales se tiene que tomar como una medida más para abordar el problema de la sequía en Chile. Se ha identificado que el problema no se puede tratar individualmente, sino que tendremos que encontrar una mejora en la gestión de los recursos hídricos del país. La universalización de los sistemas sanitarios pueden llevarse a cabo a través de subsidios, reduciendo la brecha social y económica de las zonas rurales. Los sistemas de recogidas de lluvias, reutilización de las aguas tratadas y las aguas grises o la digitalización de las plantas depuradoras pueden ser soluciones a pequeña escala en la mejora de las gestión del saneamiento rural en Chile.In this master's thesis, the problems of wastewater management in Chilean rural areas will be studied, using Spanish technology and institutions as a comparative framework. The social and economic differences between rural and urban areas are notable. While in urban areas you have almost 100% of water purification. In rural areas, sanitation networks have not yet been completed and in many cases there are no drinking water supply systems. Technologies have been analyzed and how the Spanish regulatory framework has evolved for proper management and administration of sewage treatment plants in rural areas. In this project, the main problems that we find in the management of Rural Sanitary Systems have been identified. Both the management of drinking water and the management of wastewater are carried out by committees that in many cases do not have the training, financial support or resources to carry out a good stewardship of the plants. Insufficient financing, inadequate management and maintenance of sewage plants and systems mean that in many cases these plants generate polluting discharges for the environment. It is verified that wastewater management must be taken as one more measure to address the problem of drought in Chile. It has been identified that the problem cannot be treated individually, but we will have to find an improvement in the management of the country's water resources. The universalization of health systems can be carried out through subsidies, reducing the social and economic gap in rural areas. Rainwater harvesting systems, reuse of treated water and gray water, or the digitization of sewage treatment plants can be small-scale solutions for improving rural sanitation management in Chile.Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Tecnología del Medio AmbienteMáster en Ingeniería Ambienta

Educational opportunities offered by the mills power to promote environmental awareness on rural heritage

A través del presente trabajo pretendemos poner de manifiesto la importancia de los molinos hidráulicos como bienes culturales y como parte del patrimonio en el medio rural. Los molinos hidráulicos jugaron en el pasado un papel importante en las actividades económicas del campesinado, representando una parte del patrimonio rural generado en torno al agua que hoy ha sido parcialmente recuperado con fines museísticos y divulgativos, tras décadas de deterioro y olvido. Con el presente trabajo, pretendemos recuperar para la comunidad en general, y para la comunidad educativa en particular, a través de las visitas didácticas, tanto presenciales como virtuales, los diferentes tipos de molinos que se han generado a lo largo del tiempo y los diferentes usos que se les ha dado en distintos puntos de la geografía española.The objective of this work is to highlight the importance of water mills as cultural heritage and as part of patrimony in rural areas. The water mills in the past played an important role in the economic activities of the peasantry, representing a part of the rural heritage formed around the use of water. After decades of decline and negligence, some of these mills have been partially restored as a museum and also for informative purposes. In this work we demonstrate different types of mills that have been built over time and the diverse functions given to them in distant parts of the Spanish geography

Análisis de los contenidos, visibles e invisibles, del bloque Vivir en sociedad en los nuevos curriculos de Ciencias Sociales de 1º y 2º de Educación Pimaria

Hernández Carretero, Ana M., García Ruiz, Carmen Rosa y Montaña Conchita, Juan Luis de la (eds) (2015) Un enseñanza de las ciencias sociales para el futuro: nuevos recursos para trabajar la invisibilidad de personas, lugares y temáticas. Cáceres: Universidad de Extramadura, AUPDCS[Resumen] Análisis de los contenidos, visibles e invisibles, del bloque "vivir en sociedad" en los nuevos curriculos de Ciencias Sociales de 1º y 2º de Educación Primaria de las diferentes comunidades autónomas españolas tras la aprobación de la LOMCE

Análisis de los contenidos, visibles e invisibles, del bloque "vivir en sociedad" en los nuevos curriculos de ciencias sociales de 1º y 2º de educación primaria

Hernández Carretero, Ana M., García Ruiz, Carmen Rosa y Montaña Conchita, Juan Luis de la (eds) (2015) Un enseñanza de las ciencias sociales para el futuro: nuevos recursos para trabajar la invisibilidad de personas, lugares y temáticas. Cáceres: Universidad de Extramadura, AUPDCS[Resumen] Análisis de los contenidos, visibles e invisibles, del bloque "vivir en sociedad" en los nuevos curriculos de Ciencias Sociales de 1º y 2º de Educación Primaria de las diferentes comunidades autónomas españolas tras la aprobación de la LOMCE

Discurso leído en la solemne apertura del Curso Académico de 1887 a 1888 en la Universidad Literaria de Santiago / por Adolfo Morís y Fernández-Vallín

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Occasional reinforced extinction as a method for relapse prevention: a critical review and future directions.

It is widely known that fear extinction is more vulnerable than the original fear memory, as relapse phenomena have systematically shown in the literature with different species and procedures. One strategy potentially useful to mitigate relapse is the occasional reinforced extinction treatment. In contrast to a standard procedure, this strategy consists of the inclusion of a gradual and sparse number of CS-US pairings within the standard extinction treatment, which may potentiate the effects of the latter. Although it might be a potentially useful technique, the current evidence assessing its effectiveness does not appear to be consistent. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the available literature, highlighting differences in the relapse phenomena being studied, variables of interest and specific effects obtained. The observed methodological variability makes it difficult to draw a robust conclusion of the effectiveness of an occasional reinforced intervention to reduce different forms of relapse as the strategy has not consistently proved a general advantage over standard extinction.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A systematic review of occasional reinforced extinction as a method for relapse prevention.

Introduction Fear extinction is more vulnerable than the original fear memory, as relapse phenomena have systematically shown in the literature with different species and procedures. One strategy potentially useful to mitigate relapse is the occasional reinforced extinction (ORE) treatment. In contrast to a standard procedure, this strategy consists of the inclusion of a gradual and sparse number of CS-US pairings within the extinction treatment. Method Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the available literature on ORE. We conducted the search using three databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycInfo) in July 2022, with an additional citation search. We collected data on different variables of interest, like the relapse phenomena being studied, the outcome measures, or the specific effects obtained. Results A total of 350 studies were identified from the main database search, including 16 in the review. Seventeen additional studies from the citation search were also included. The final sample of 33 reports consisted of 15 empirical and 18 theoretical works. The observed methodological variability makes it difficult to draw a robust conclusion of the effectiveness of ORE to reduce different forms of relapse as the strategy has not consistently proved a general advantage over standard extinction. Conclusion The current evidence assessing the effectiveness of ORE does not appear to be consistent, although there are plenty theoretical studies recommending and discussing the potential effectiveness of such technique. Moreover, the lack of clear laboratory evidence seriously call into question how general the potential benefits of its use in clinical settings would be.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech