Aplicación de un programa de estimulación cognitiva en adolescentes con un trastorno de la conducta alimentaria: un estudio piloto / Application of cognitive remediation therapy in adolescents with an eating disorder: A pilot study

Los recientes hallazgos neuropsicológicos señalan ciertos déficit cognitivos entre los pacientes con trastorno de la conducta alimentaria (TCA), como la rigidez cognitiva y la focalización excesiva en los detalles. En este contexto, emerge la terapia de estimulación cognitiva aplicada al campo de los TCA. En el presente estudio se aplica un programa de estimulación cognitiva en un grupo de pacientes diagnosticado de un TCA (n= 11), de entre 13 y 19 años (M= 16,18; DT= 1,99). Se analizaron las dimensiones cognitivas de coherencia central y flexibilidad cognitiva, mediante el "Test de copia y reproducción de memoria de figuras geométricas complejas" (REY) y el "Test de rastreo" (Trail Making Test, TMT), además de variables clínicas relevantes. El tratamiento estuvo formado por 10 sesiones semanales de 45 minutos. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la relevancia del tratamiento para mejorar la coherencia central en pacientes con un TCA. Se plantea la necesidad de continuar investigando la eficacia de dicha terapia con estudios controlados aleatorizados, con grupos de control y desde una perspectiva transdiagnóstica

Recent studies have shown that patients with an eating disorder have deficits in neuropsychological functioning. Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) was developed to improve these cognitive deficits. The objective of this study was to apply a CRT to a group of adolescents with an eating disorder (n= 11), whose age ranged between 13 and 19 (M= 16.18, SD= 1.99). Central coherence and cognitive flexibility were analyzed by means of the Rey Complex Figure Test and the Trail Making Test, and other clinical measures. Ten weekly 45-minute sessions were designed. The results of this study indicated that CRT is outstanding to improve central coherence in patients with an eating disorder. Further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of CRT in this clinical population. Future research may incorporate randomized controlled trials with control groups as well as the use of a transdiagnostic perspective

Involvement of chlororespiration in chilling stress in the tropical species Spathiphyllum wallisii.

Spathiphyllum wallisii plants were used to study the effect of chilling stress under high illumination on photosynthesis and chlororespiration. Leaves showed different responses that depended on root temperature. When stem, but not root, was chilled, photosystem II (PSII) was strongly photoinhibited. However, when the whole plant was chilled, the maximal quantum yield of PSII decreased only slightly below the normal values and cyclic electron transport was stimulated. Changes were also observed in the chlororespiration enzymes and PGR5. In whole plants chilled under high illumination, the amounts of NADH dehydrogenase (NDH) complex and plastid terminal oxidase (PTOX) remained similar to control and increased when only stem was chilled. In contrast, the amount of PGR5 polypeptide was higher in plants when both root and stem were chilled than in plants in which only stem was chilled. The results indicated that the contribution of chlororespiration to regulating photosynthetic electron flow is not relevant when the whole plant is chilled under high light, and that another pathway, such as cyclic electron flow involving PGR5 polypeptide, may be more important. However, when PSII activity is strongly photoinhibited in plants in which only stem is chilled, chlororespiration, together with other routes of electron input to the electron transfer chain, is probably essential.

Malestar psicológico y emoción expresada en cuidadores de pacientes con un trastorno de la conducta alimentaria / Expressed emotion and psychological distress in caregivers of patients with an eating disorder

El objetivo principal del presente estudio fue evaluar el nivel de emoción expresada y de malestar psicológico en cuidadores de pacientes con un trastorno de la conducta alimentaria, considerando las diferencias en función de las características sociodemográficas y clínicas. Participaron 53 cuidadores de pacientes con un trastorno de la conducta alimentaria que estaban siendo atendidas en la unidad de trastornos alimentarios del hospital de San Juan, Alicante. El 39.6% de los cuidadores fueron hombres y el 60.4% mujeres con edades comprendidas entre los 23 y los 69 años. El cuestionario utilizado para evaluar la emoción expresada fue el de Nivel de Emoción Expresada, (LEE) y para evaluar el malestar psicológico utilizamos la Escala de Ansiedad y Depresión Hospitalaria (HADS) y un cuestionario de salud general, (GHQ-12). Los resultados mostraron que no había diferencias estadísticamente significativas atendiendo al diagnóstico de la paciente, edad de los cuidadores y cuidadores primarios y secundarios, sin embargo se encontraron diferencias significativas en relación al género del cuidador, parentesco y al tiempo de evolución del problema. Además, los cuidadores con mayor emoción expresada presentaban más ansiedad y de-presión que los cuidadores con menor emoción expresada

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the level of expressed emotion and psychological distress in caregivers of patients with an eating disorder, considering the differences in terms of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Fifty-three caregivers of patients with an eating disorder participed. The 39.6% of caregivers were men and 60.4% women, aged between 23 and 69 years old. The questionnaire used to assess expressed emotion was the Spanish version of the Level of Expressed Emotion (LEE) and for assessing distress the Spanish version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The results showed no statistically significant differences in expressed emotion in relation to the patient diagnosis and age of the caregivers. Significant differences were found regarding the type of relationship, the gender of the caregiver and illness duration; the caregivers with higher EE had more anxiety and depression than caregivers with lower EE

Codimension-three bifurcations in a Bénard-Marangoni problem.

This Brief Report studies the linear stability of a thermoconvective problem in an annular domain for relatively low (~1) Prandtl (viscosity effects) and Biot (heat transfer) numbers. The four possible patterns for the instabilities, namely, hydrothermal waves of first and second class, longitudinal rolls, and corotating rolls, are present in a small region of the Biot-Prandtl plane. This region can be split in four zones, depending on the sort of instability found. The boundary of these four zones is composed of codimension-two points. Authors have also found two codimension-three points, where some of the former curves intersect. Results shown in this Brief Report clarify some reported experiments, predict new instabilities, and, by giving a deeper insight into how physical parameters affect bifurcations, open a gateway to control those instabilities.

[Utility of the clinical risk index for babies (CRIB) as a predictor of hospital death and intraventricular hemorrhage in very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight neonates]. / Utilidad del CRIB para predecir la muerte hospitalaria y la hemorragia intraventricular en los prematuros de muy bajo peso y extremado bajo peso al nacer.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the utility of the CRIB score as a predictor of hospital death and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in very low birth weight (VLBW) and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) neonates. METHOD: A prospective cohort of VLBW neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit from January 2002 to December 2004 was studied. The data was assessed following the protocol of the SEN 1500 multicenter study. This protocol included assessment of the CRIB score in the first 12 hours of life. Data for the entire group, as well as for two subgroups divided according to birth weight (BW) - VLBW neonates (between 1000 and 1500 g) and ELBW neonates (below 1,000 g) - were evaluated. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (Az) was calculated to assess the utility of CRIB score, BW and gestational age (GA). Two multivariate models were used. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 163 patients. The mean (+/-SD) birthweight was 1.114 (+/-270) g and gestational age (+/-SD) was 29 (+/-3) weeks. The Az for hospital death was 0.757 for the CRIB, 0.758 for BW and 0.703 for GA. The Az for IVH was 0.66 for the CRIB, 0.62 for BW and 0.64 for GA. In the multivariate models for hospital death and IVH, the CRIB was the best predictor. The Az of the CRIB for hospital death was 0.77 for VLBW neonates (p < 0.001) and 0.63 for ELBW neonates (p = 0.82). CONCLUSIONS: The predictive utility of the CRIB for hospital death and IVH is similar to that of BW. In the stratification by groups of weight, we found that the CRIB was the best predictor of hospital death in the group weighing > 1,000 g but was no better than chance in the group weighing < 1,000 g.