The neurophysiological correlates of the triarchic model of psychopathy: An approach to the basic mechanisms of threat conditioning and inhibitory control.

The psychopathic traits boldness, meanness, and disinhibition are theorized to be underlined by trait fearlessness and externalizing vulnerability as etiologic neurobiological processes. However, little is known about the neurophysiological correlates of these traits. In this work, we explored how the three traits are associated with event-related potential (ERP) components targeted at the etiological processes in a partial delayed threat conditioning task and in a go/no-go task. Fifty community-dwelling volunteers (25 women), without history of neurological or psychiatric conditions, were recruited and assessed for psychopathic traits using the triarchic psychopathy measure. Participants performed a threat conditioning task, and a go/no-go task while undergoing an electroencephalography recording. Results from the threat conditioning task showed that boldness was significantly associated with reduced late positive potential. Concerning the go/no-go task, disinhibition was significantly associated with reduced error-related negativity ERP component. Overall, distinct psychopathic traits were found to be associated with distinct neurophysiological correlates of threat conditioning and response inhibition. This is consistent with models of psychopathy entailing trait fearlessness and externalizing proneness, and related brain mechanisms, as distinct processes underlying the expression of psychopathic traits.

The multiple facets of psychopathy in attack and defense conflicts.

With respect to De Dreu and Gross's article, we comment on the psychological functions for attack and defense, focusing on associations between individual differences in psychopathic personality traits and the behavioral patterns observed in attack-defense conflicts. We highlight the dimensional nature of psychopathy and formulate hypothetical associations between distinct traits, their different behavioral outcomes, and associated brain mechanisms.

Extraction and characterization of collagen from Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic squid and its potential application in hybrid scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Collagen is the most abundant protein found in mammals and it exhibits a low immunogenicity, high biocompatibility and biodegradability when compared with others natural polymers. For this reason, it has been explored for the development of biologically instructive biomaterials with applications for tissue substitution and regeneration. Marine origin collagen has been pursued as an alternative to the more common bovine and porcine origins. This study focused on squid (Teuthoidea: Cephalopoda), particularly the Antarctic squid Kondakovia longimana and the Sub-Antarctic squid Illex argentinus as potential collagen sources. In this study, collagen has been isolated from the skins of the squids using acid-based and pepsin-based protocols, with the higher yield being obtained from I. argentinus in the presence of pepsin. The produced collagen has been characterized in terms of physicochemical properties, evidencing an amino acid profile similar to the one of calf collagen, but exhibiting a less preserved structure, with hydrolyzed portions and a lower melting temperature. Pepsin-soluble collagen isolated from I. argentinus was selected for further evaluation of biomedical potential, exploring its incorporation on poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) 3D printed scaffolds for the development of hybrid scaffolds for tissue engineering, exhibiting hierarchical features.