The microbiota-gut-brain axis: from dysbiosis to neurodegenerative disease

Treballs Finals de Grau de Farmàcia, Facultat de Farmàcia i Ciències de l'Alimentació, Universitat de Barcelona, 2022. Tutor/a: Raquel Martín VenegasThe relation between the gut and the brain has been discussed for years, but the concept of gut microbiota (GM) has not been linked for so long. Having suggested its involvement in neurodegenerative disorders, this literature review aims to summarise the current knowledge on the possible bidirectional pathways that could explain it, while discussing the composition and alterations of the GM and the main pathological features that characterise neurodegeneration. It also presents the existing scientific evidence on the use of GM as a therapeutic target, accompanied by a systematic review-meta-analysis that evaluates the indication of one of the possible interventions: the faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). GM is made up of the trillions of microorganisms in the gut, mostly bacteria, which interact dynamically with the host, contributing to both health and disease. These, through neural, endocrine and immune pathways, based on mechanisms that require further research, can modify the gut-brain axis promoting neurodegenerative processes such as neuroinflammation, protein misfolding and loss of integrity of the intestinal and blood-brain barriers, thus facilitating the passage of components derived from a deregulated GM that has been characterised in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients. Although more studies are needed, the promising results obtained in animal and more limited human trials, using GM modulating interventions such as oral bacteriotherapy or FMT, give hope for the cure and early detection of these increasingly prevalent diseases

Cayley graphs and endomorphism monoids

Treballs finals del Màster en Matemàtica Avançada, Facultat de Matemàtiques, Universitat de Barcelona: Curs: 2022-2023. Director: Kolja Knauer[en] Since its first steps at the hands of Euler, graph theory has gradually become a field of great interest and innovation for the mathematical community. From its surprising capability to simplify the formulation of applied problems to the rich complexity that some of its natural problems contain, even in finite settings (being the field to see the first computer-assisted proof in mathematics), the list of its merits and uses seems to only grow in length, keeping the promise of attracting research for the times to come. For the untrained eye, however, it could appear as a branch with few theoretically rich connections to other fields of mathematics aside from topology (via graph embeddings), which is a misconception. In a certain way, disproving this thought is the main focus of this project, as the aim is to show the connections between graph theory and abstract algebra (semigroup and monoid theory specifically), hoping to put both in a more interesting light. Specifically, we introduce and talk about the basic tools of the field (mainly the Cayley graph construction, and a fairly young generalization of it by Yongwen Zhu as seen in [10]), introduce some recent interesting results in the literature by many authors, mostly by K.Knauer and coauthors (as in references [5], [7], [6]) and try to put together a comprehensive guide to try and understand the main difficulties and ideas used in one of the main lines of work in the field. This can be exemplified in our in-depth study of some families of outerplanar graphs as monoid graphs, or our brief study of $K_4 \sqcup C_5$ as a non monoid but possibly semigroup graph. Both questions were originally raised by K.Knauer and Puig i Surroca in their work referenced in [5]

Cayley graphs and endomorphism monoids

El tema principal del treball és l’estudi de diverses famílies especials de grafs simples com a grafs de Cayley de monoides i semigrups (és a dir, que es poden obtenir a partir de grafs de Cayley traient-ne els arcs múltiples, les direccions i els loops), tot seguint la línia d’algunes preguntes presents al paper On monoid graphs de K. Knauer i G. Puig i Surroca. A nivell estructural, el projecte intenta arribar a aquestes preguntes de manera natural, progressant des de propietats bàsiques sobre grafs i semigrups a alguns petits resultats originals

Validación de la Estimación Cognoscitiva de los Procesos de Regulación Emocional para la Emoción de Amor

Love is an emotion able to produce pleasure, plenty and happiness as well as displeasures taking as examples: fear, uncertainty when there is a possibility to loss a love object (e.g. Hatfield & Waster, 1978; Retana, 2004). Based on this, the importance of emotional regulation (ER) is evident in the interpersonal harmony and the successful adjustment to the social environment (Valiente & Eisenberg, 2006). ER is seen as five cognitive mechanisms (situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change and response modulation) which define the ways to respond particularly to each emotion (Gross & Thompson, 2007). Taking into account this, we evaluated those processes in love emotion in 201 Mexican adults. Findings show on one hand, the tendencies of particular ways to respond to love in the interpersonal context and on the other hand, the applicability, validity and reliability of the measure in this emotion

The Lexical Paradox of Boomerang Terms: Terminological Dependency of Modern Greek in the Environmental Domain

Terminological dependency refers to the relations between the specialized terms of different languages when these relations are asymmetrical or hierarchical, i.e. linguistic subordination. In EcoLexicon (http://ecolexicon.ugr.es), a multilingual environmental knowledge base, and in its lexicographical counterpart MeteoTrad (www.meteotrad.com), there is a dependency relation between English and the rest of the languages. In this paper, we analyse the degree of dependency of a series of specialized English terms in relation to other terms in Modern Greek. These examples reflect the impact of English on the Greek language in certain subdomains of the environment. Paradoxically, Greek is still used to designate new concepts that the Greek community itself imports (αντιδάνεια, Rückwanderer, or “remigrant terms”). In Greek, this leads to morphological and conceptual adaptations as well as clashes in both general language words and specialized terminology. An explanation of this phenomenon is important for terminology theory since it can shed light on the specification and evaluation of hierarchical relations that underlie conceptual structure in different languages

Bem-estar subjetivo: papel da ruminação, otimismo, resiliência e capacidade de receber apoio

Subjective well-being includes having positive / negative emotional experiences, prosperity and satisfaction with life. In addition, it depends on multiple psychosocial factors such as: rumination, optimism, resilience and the ability to receive support, which have been studied in particular and need to be examined together. Therefore, this study was set out to: 1) Identify the effect of the aforementioned variables on subjective well-being in adults, and 2) Explore their differences based on gender, age and schooling. There was a voluntary participation of 404 Mexican adults aged between 18 to 64 (M=37.56), with minimum secondary schooling. The findings show the significant role of some factors of optimism, resilience and rumination in the prediction of subjective well-being as well as differences in self-confidence, (optimism), negative emotional experience (well-being), the ability to receive support between genders, and the tendency to experience  more optimism, resilience and well-being as the individual gets older and schooling is higher. These results show how the positive features and life experience were associated with other kind of positive experiences for the well-being of individual.El bienestar subjetivo comprende experiencias emocionales positivas/negativas, prosperidad y satisfacción con la vida. Además, depende de múltiples factores psicosociales como: la rumia, el optimismo, la resiliencia y la capacidad para recibir apoyo, mismos que han sido estudiados en particular y necesitan ser examinados en conjunto. Por ello, este estudio se propuso: 1) identificar el efecto de las variables mencionadas en el bienestar subjetivo en adultos, y 2) explorar sus diferencias a partir del sexo, edad y escolaridad. Se contó con la participación voluntaria de 404 adultos mexicanos de entre 18 y 64 años (M=37.56), con escolaridad mínima de secundaria. Los resultados muestran el papel significativo de algunos factores del optimismo, resiliencia y rumia en la predicción del bienestar subjetivo, así como diferencias en auto-confianza (optimismo), experiencia emocional negativa (bienestar subjetivo) y capacidad de recibir apoyo entre sexos, y la tendencia a experimentar más optimismo, resiliencia y bienestar conforme se tiene más edad y escolaridad. Estos resultados muestran como los atributos positivos y la experiencia de vida se asociacian con otras experiencias positivas en pro del bienestar del individuo.O bem-estar subjetivo abrange experiências emocionais positivas/negativas, prosperidade e satisfação com a vida. Além disso, depende de múltiplos fatores psicossociais, como: ruminação, otimismo, resiliência e capacidade de receber apoio, que foram estudados em particular e precisam ser examinados em conjunto. Para isso, este estudo se propôs a: 1) identificar o efeito das variáveis mencionadas no bem-estar subjetivo de adultos e 2) explorar suas diferenças a partir do sexo, idade e escolaridade. Contou-se com a participação voluntária de 404 adultos mexicanos entre 18 e 64 anos (M = 37,56), com escolaridade mínima de ensino médio. Os resultados mostram o papel significativo de alguns fatores de otimismo, resiliência e ruminação na predição do bem-estar subjetivo, bem como diferenças na autoconfiança (otimismo), experiência emocional negativa (bem-estar subjetivo) e capacidade de receber apoio entre os sexos, e tendência a experimentar mais otimismo, resiliência e bem-estar à medida que se tem mais idade e formação. Esses resultados mostram como os atributos positivos e a experiência de vida foram associados a outras experiências positivas para o bem-estar do indivíduo

FIR, cuarta edición

Faedpyme Internacional Review (FIR), continua siendo una revista en crecimiento y, con este número llegamos a nuestro segundo año y nos reafirmamos en el objetivo de consolidarnos como revista científica en el ámbito de la dirección de empresas (dirección, marketing, finanzas, contabilidad, recursos humanos, gestión del conocimiento, sistemas de información, estrategia, etc.) y por ello nos ponemos a disposición de los investigadores del ámbito iberoamericano como medio para la difusión y discusión de sus investigaciones

Avaliação psicológica da comunicação relacional não verbal

Relational communication represents the primary interaction mechanism between members of a close relationship, as it plays a role in developing bonds—either of intimacy or hostility—between the people in the relationship across both communication channels (verbal and non-verbal). Due to its complex nature, non-verbal communication has not been easily or frequently operationalized (for example, Burgoon & Hale, 1987; Kahn, 1970; Riggio, 2006), and even less so in the context of the Mexican culture, which is characterized by the great importance of personal relationships (Díaz, 1994). Thus, the aim of this study is to develop and validate two self-reports on participants’ perspectives of messages received based on their partners’ non-verbal behavior. The study used a non-probability sample of 367 adults with partners in Mexico City, who responded to the “Non-Verbal Communication Scale – Perception” and the “Non-Verbal Communication Scale – Interpretation” self-reports. The results showed two valid and reliable measures whose factors were strongly supported by the literature on personal relationships and communication.La comunicación relacional representa el principal mecanismo de interacción entre los miembros de una relación cercana, por lo que en sus dos vías (verbal y no-verbal) contribuye a desarrollar un vínculo ya sea de intimidad o de hostilidad entre sus miembros. La comunicación no verbal, por su carácter complejo, no ha sido fácil o frecuentemente operacionalizada (p. e., Burgoon y Hale, 1987; Kahn, 1970; Riggio, 2006) y aún menos en el contexto de la cultura mexicana, la cual se caracteriza por el gran peso que tienen las relaciones personales (Díaz, 1994). Por lo anterior, el propósito del presente estudio fue desarrollar y validar dos autorreportes desde la visión del participante con respecto a los mensajes recibidos a partir del comportamiento no verbal de su pareja. Para ello, se trabajó con una muestra no probabilística de 367 adultos de la Ciudad de México con pareja, quienes respondieron a la “Escala de comunicación no verbal - percepción” y la “Escala de comunicación no verbal - interpretación”. Los resultados mostraron dos medidas válidas y confiables cuyos factores se apoyan fuertemente en la literatura sobre relaciones personales y comunicación. A comunicação relacional representa o principal mecanismo de interação entre os membros de uma relação próxima, razão pela qual em suas duas vias (verbal e não verbal) contribui para o desenvolvimento de um vínculo, seja de intimidade ou de hostilidade entre seus membros. A comunicação não verbal, por seu caráter complexo, não tem sido fácil ou frequentemente operacionalizada (p. e., Burgoon e Hale, 1987; Kahn, 1970; Riggio, 2006) e ainda menos no contexto da cultura mexicana, a qual se caracteriza pelo grande peso que as relações pessoais têm (Díaz, 1994). Portanto, o propósito do presente estudo foi desenvolver e validar dois “autorrelatórios” a partir da visão do participante a respeito das mensagens recebidas a partir do comportamento não verbal de seu/sua companheiro/a. Para isso, trabalhou-se com uma amostra não probabilística de 367 adultos da Cidade do México com casal, os quais responderam à “Escala de comunicação não verbal – percepção” e à “Escala de comunicação não verbal – interpretação”. Os restados mostraram duas medidas válidas e confiáveis, cujos fatores se apoiam fortemente na literatura sobre relações pessoais e comunicação