Eating habits, physical activity, consumption of substances and eating disorders in adolescents

The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between adolescents with a high or low risk of developing an eating disorder (ED) in different health behaviors (eating habits, physical activity and the consumption of substances) per gender. The EAT-40 and the Inventory of Behavioral Health in Scholars were applied to 2142 middle school students from Alicante (Spain), of whom 52.8% were girls and 47.2% were boys, with an average age of 13.92 years old (Sd = 1.34). Results indicated that girls with a high risk of developing an ED consumed fewer meals, ate fewer unhealthy foods, followed more diets and paid more attention to nutritional components. Furthermore, they also performed more physical activity with the objective of losing weight, and consumed more tobacco, alcohol and medicines. Boys at high risk of developing an ED followed more diets and paid more attention to nutritional components. For boys, no more differences were found. These results suggest that any program directed at the prevention of ED should not only include nutritional education, but should also seek to promote regular physical activity with objectives other than weight loss or the burning of calories.     

Differential efficacy between cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based therapies for chronic pain: Systematic review

Background/Objective: To assess the differential efficacy between mindfulness-based interventions and cognitive-behavioral Therapy (CBT) on chronic pain across medical conditions involving pain. Method: ProQuest, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Pubmed, and Embase databases were searched to identify randomized clinical trials. Measurements of mindfulness, pain, mood, and further miscellaneous measurements were included. Results: 18 studies met the inclusion criteria (fibromyalgia, n = 5; low back pain, n = 5; headache/migraine, n = 4; non-specific chronic pain, n = 4). In fibromyalgia, mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) was superior to the usual care and Fibroqol, in impact and symptoms. In low back pain, MBSR was superior to the usual care, but not to CBT, in physical functionality and pain intensity. There were no studies on differential efficacy between mindfulness and CBT for headache and non-specific chronic pain, but Mindfulness interventions were superior to the usual care in these syndromes. Conclusions: Mindfulness interventions are superior to usual cares in all diagnoses, but it is not possible to conclude their superiority over CBT. Comparisons between mindfulness interventions are scarce, with MBSR being the most studied. In central sensitization syndromes, variables associated with pain tend to improve with treatment. More research is needed to differentiate diagnosis and intervention.     

Adjective Checklist to Assess the Big Five Personality Factors in the Argentine Population

The aim of this work was to develop an adjective checklist to assess the Big Five personality factors in the Argentine population. The new instrument was administered to pilot (n= 112), validation (n= 372), and replication (n= 309) samples. The final version of the checklist included 67 adjectives encompassing its 5 dimensions. Factor analysis results were consistent with the Five-factor model. Internal consistency of scales was very good and convergent correlations with the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John, Donahue, & Kentle, 1991) were substantial. Face validity, as evaluated by 2 independent raters, was good. Preliminary evidence of validity for the checklist is presented. Finally, the Adjective Checklist for Personality Assessment and BFI are compared, taking into consideration their psychometric properties in our cultural context. Study limitations and future research are discussed.     

Facilitation and transfer with narrative thematic versions of the THOG task

This article reports two experiments investigating the use of narrative form in the presentation of thematic versions of Wason's (1977) THOG problem. Experiment 1 demonstrated that narrative thematic versions that use actions of characters to present the elements of the problem are easier to solve than the classic version. This result was found both for a problem that used thematic examples and for a problem that used the same geometric figures as the classic THOG. Results also suggested that the presence of a character who creates the comparison properties to be used in applying the disjunction rule was useful in separating those properties from the properties of the positive example. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the solution of a narrative thematic version of the THOG could lead to improved performance on the classic abstract THOG, but only when the examples in the narrative version were the geometric figures. Issues of transfer with the THOG problem are discussed.     

AF-DX 116, a Presynaptic Muscarinic Receptor Antagonist, Potentiates the Effects of Glucose and Reverses the Effects of Insulin on Memory

Male Swiss mice were tested 24 h after training in a one-trial step-through inhibitory avoidance task. Low subeffective doses of -(+)-glucose (10 mg/kg, ip), but not its stereoisomer -(−)-glucose (30 mg/kg, ip), administered immediately after training, and AF-DX 116 (0.3 mg/kg, ip), a presynaptic muscarinic receptor antagonist, given 10 min after training, interact to improve retention. Insulin (8 IU/kg, ip) impaired retention when injected immediately after training, and the effects were reversed, in a dose-related manner, by AF-DX 116 (0.3, 1.0, or 3.0 mg/kg, ip) administered 10 min following insulin. Since AF-DX 116 possibly blocks autoreceptors mediating the inhibition of acetylcholine release from cholinergic nerve terminals, the present data support the view that changes in the central nervous system glucose availability, subsequent to modification of circulating glucose levels, influence the activity of central cholinergic mechanisms involved in memory storage of an inhibitory avoidance response in mice.     

Virtual reality and acrophobia: one-year follow-up and case study.

We present a study with 10 subjects being exposed to three sessions of simulated heights in a virtual reality (VR) system. Among the participants we highlight a 66-year-old man blind in his left eye. The participants show significant progress in anxiety, avoidance, and behavior measurements when confronted with real height circumstances. The results obtained 1 year later at follow-up are statistically significant in the Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT) and the Attitudes Toward Heights Questionnaire (ATHQ), but not the Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ).     

Retrieval-induced forgetting in perceptually driven memory tests

Recent data (T. J. Perfect, C. J. A. Moulin, M. A. Conway, & E. Perry, 2002) have suggested that retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) depends on conceptual memory because the effect is not found in perceptually driven tasks. In 3 experiments, the authors aimed to show that the presence of RIF depends on whether the procedure induces appropriate transfer between representations and competition rather than on the nature of the final test. The authors adapted the standard paradigm to introduce lexical categories (words that shared the first 2 letters) at study and practice. Direct and indirect fragment completion tests were used at retrieval. The results showed significant RIF effects in perceptually driven tasks. Furthermore, they indicated that the presence of RIF effects depended on using adequate cuing to induce competition during the retrieval practice and on the final memory test tapping the inhibited representation.     

The development of cued versus contextual conditioning in a predictable and an unpredictable human fear conditioning preparation

In this human fear conditioning study, the online development of conditioned US-expectancy to discrete cues and background contexts was measured in two groups. In the paired group (n=30), the CS was systematically followed by an aversive shock (US). In the unpaired group (n=30), CS and US were presented explicitly unpaired. Using US-expectancy ratings, we replicated the basic finding already illustrated in humans with startle modulation. In the paired group, the CS elicited more US-expectancy than the context, whereas in the unpaired group, the context elicited more US-expectancy than the CS. Interestingly, we also observed a trial-by-trial development of conditioning to the context in the unpaired group as indicated by a significant linear trend. This gradual development and the evidence for the role of US-expectancy in contextual fear add to the idea that cued and contextual fear rely on the same basic associative processes.     

Emergence of attributional style and its relation to depressive symptoms

The development of depressive attributional style (AS) and its role as a cognitive diathesis for depression were examined in children and adolescents (Grades 2-9). In a 4-wave longitudinal study of 3 overlapping age cohorts, AS, negative life events, and depressive symptoms were evaluated every 12 months. Consistency of children's attributions across situations was moderately high at all ages. The cross-sectional structure of AS changed with age, as stability became a more salient aspect of AS than internality and globality. The structure of AS also changed, becoming more traitlike as children grew older. In longitudinal analyses, evidence of a Cognitive Diathesis x Stress interaction did not emerge until Grades 8 and 9, suggesting that AS may not serve as a diathesis for depression at younger ages. Results suggest that attributional models of depression may require modification before they are applied across developmental levels.