Air pollution, cognitive deficits and brain abnormalities: a pilot study with children and dogs

Exposure to air pollution is associated with neuroinflammation in healthy children and dogs in Mexico City. Comparative studies were carried out in healthy children and young dogs similarly exposed to ambient pollution in Mexico City. Children from Mexico City (n: 55) and a low polluted city (n:18) underwent psychometric testing and brain magnetic resonance imaging MRI. Seven healthy young dogs with similar exposure to Mexico City air pollution had brain MRI, measurement of mRNA abundance of two inflammatory genes cyclooxygenase-2, and interleukin 1 beta in target brain areas, and histopathological evaluation of brain tissue. Children with no known risk factors for neurological or cognitive disorders residing in a polluted urban environment exhibited significant deficits in a combination of fluid and crystallized cognition tasks. Fifty-six percent of Mexico City children tested showed prefrontal white matter hyperintense lesions and similar lesions were observed in dogs (57%). Exposed dogs had frontal lesions with vascular subcortical pathology associated with neuroinflammation, enlarged Virchow-Robin spaces, gliosis, and ultrafine particulate matter deposition. Based on the MRI findings, the prefrontal cortex was a target anatomical region in Mexico City children and its damage could have contributed to their cognitive dysfunction. The present work presents a groundbreaking, interdisciplinary methodology for addressing relationships between environmental pollution, structural brain alterations by MRI, and cognitive deficits/delays in healthy children.     

Promoting Positive Attitudes Toward People With Down Syndrome: The Benefit of School Inclusion Programs1

The effects of school inclusion programs on male and female nondisabled students' stereotypes and attitudes toward people with Down syndrome were studied. Nondisabled students (11–15 years of age) from schools with and without inclusion programs reported positive and negative attitudes toward people with Down syndrome. As hypothesized, girls and students attending schools with inclusion programs showed more favorable attitudes toward people with Down syndrome than did boys and students attending schools without inclusion programs, respectively. Interaction effects of school system and sex of participant suggest that boys' attitudes, in particular, benefit from inclusive schooling. The study provides evidence for the effectiveness of inclusion programs in ameliorating prejudice and intergroup anxiety; and in promoting positive attitudes, affect, and trust.     

Spiritual Exercises in Augustine’s Confessions

Confessions, the narrative of Augustine’s spiritual journey, has been a source of inspiration to readers through many centuries. It addresses the universal striving of the individual towards a ‘way of living’ characterized by internal coherence and an experience of the transcendent. Augustine, using a method of inquiry and engagement, guides the reader through some fundamental exercises: remembering one’s story; facing inner restlessness; entering into dialogue with God; ordering of human love; centering in Christ; participating in a community of faith; living as a pilgrim. Together, they constitute a didactic instrument for the spiritual development of his readers. This paper reconstructs that central purpose in a coherent and practical model.     

Could there be exactly two things?

Many philosophers think that, necessarily, any material objects have a fusion (let’s call that doctrine “Universalism”). In this paper I point out a couple of strange consequences of Universalism and related doctrines, and suggest that they are strange enough to constitute a powerful argument against those views.     

Long-term exposure to environmental enrichment since youth prevents recognition memory decline and increases synaptic plasticity markers in aging

Aging-associated brain changes include functional alterations that are usually related with memory decline. Epidemiological reports show that a physically and intellectually active life provides a protective effect on this decline and delays the onset of several neurodegenerative diseases. The cellular mechanisms behind the behavioral-based therapies, such as environmental enrichment (EE) exposure, as a method for alleviating age-related memory impairments, are still unknown. Although some reports have shown the benefits of EE exposure in cognitive outcomes in old mice and in animals with experimental neurodegenerative conditions, the effects of lifelong animal exposure to EE have not been explored in detail. In the present work we tested in a rat model the effects of intermittent lifelong exposure since youth to EE on behavioral performance, object recognition memory and anxiety level, as well as on some morphological and biochemical markers of brain plasticity such as hippocampal neurogenesis, synaptophysin content and synaptic morphology. We found that environmental factors have a positive impact on short-memory preservation, as well as on the maintenance of synapses and in the increase in number of new generated neurons within the hippocampus during aging.     

The mapping of Spanish social psychology through its conferences: a bibliometric perspective

This study of papers gathered from the proceedings presented at Spanish social psychology conferences explores the use of bibliometrics for studying scientific disciplines. A reference database of all the papers included in the conference proceedings of events held from 1983 to 2000 was generated and classified by thematic area, paper type and author institutional affiliation. The references were laid out on contingency tables and mapped with correspondence analysis. The results show that there is a growing number of co-authored papers and a predominance of empirical over theoretical paper types. Some institutions have a higher concentration of theoretical papers while others work mostly in the areas of organizational and health psychology. In terms of empirical papers, there is a tendency towards generating more qualitative-based studies over the span of time captured by this work. There are also a number of papers written about such areas as cultural psychology that points to the emergence of an interest in critical social psychology. Concluding remarks underline the role of conferences and scientific meetings as an important indicator of the dynamic development of a scientific discipline.     

What is behind a summary-evaluation decision?

Research in psychology has reported that, among the variety of possibilities for assessment methodologies, summary evaluation offers a particularly adequate context for inferring text comprehension and topic understanding. However, grades obtained in this methodology are hard to quantify objectively. Therefore, we carried out an empirical study to analyze the decisions underlying human summary-grading behavior. The task consisted of expert evaluation of summaries produced in critically relevant contexts of summarization development, and the resulting data were modeled by means of Bayesian networks using an application called Elvira, which allows for graphically observing the predictive power (if any) of the resultant variables. Thus, in this article, we analyzed summary-evaluation decision making in a computational framework.     

Commentary: Are There Good Reasons to Adopt Dynamic Systems Approaches for Explaining Deductive Reasoning?

The focus of this commentary is twofold. First, I examine Faiciuc’s attempts to counter symbolic computationalism as a major theoretical framework for the study of deductive reasoning. Second, I wish to see how far the author goes in her defense of Dynamic Systems Approaches (DSAs) as a more promising framework for explaining logical reasoning. When reading her work, I posed two versions of the same for/against question to myself: How strong is the case against symbolic computationalism? And, on the basis of the author’s argumentation, would one feel justified in adopting DSAs instead? I examine each question in turn, and come to similar conclusions. The article by Faiciuc tackles issues of relevance to any serious effort toward reflecting on the two perspectives being compared. Unfortunately, however, references to studies supporting her claims are rather thin. A better-informed answer to the question raised in the title of the article is still to be given.     

Spatial reconstruction of human motion by means of a single camera and a biomechanical model

The value of the results of the inverse dynamic analysis procedures used in the study of human tasks is dependent on the quality of the kinematic and kinetic data supplied to the biomechanical model that supports it. The kinematic data, containing the position, velocity and acceleration of all anatomical segments of the biomechanical model, result from the reconstruction of human spatial motion by means of the evaluation of the anatomic points positions that enable to uniquely define the position of all anatomical segments. Furthermore, the motion data must be kinematically consistent with the structure of the biomechanical model used in the analysis. The traditional photogrammetric methodologies used for the spatial reconstruction of the human motion require images of two or more calibrated and synchronized cameras. This is due to the fact that the projection of each anatomical point is described by two linear equations relating its three spatial coordinates with the two coordinates of the projected point. The need for the image of another camera arises from the fact that a third equation is necessary to find the original spatial position of the anatomical point. The methodology proposed here substitutes the projection equations of the second camera with the kinematic constraint equations associated with a biomechanical model in the motion reconstruction process. In the formulation the system of equations arising from the point projections and biomechanical model kinematic constraints, representing the constant length of the anatomical segments, are solved simultaneously. Because the system of equations has multiple solutions for each image, a strategy based on the minimization of a cost function associated to the smoothness of the reconstructed motion is devised. It is shown how the process is implemented computationally avoiding any operator intervention during the motion reconstruction for a given time period. This leads to an automated computer procedure that ensures the uniqueness of the reconstructed motion. The result of the reconstruction process is a set of data that is kinematically consistent with the biomechanical model used. Through applications of the proposed methodology to several sports exercises its benefits and shortcomings are discussed.     

ACACIA: an agent-based program for simulating behavior to reach long-term goals

We present ACACIA, an agent-based program implemented in Java StarLogo 2.0 that simulates a two-dimensional microworld populated by agents, obstacles and goals. Our program simulates how agents can reach long-term goals by following sensorial-motor couplings (SMCs) that control how the agents interact with their environment and other agents through a process of local categorization. Thus, while acting in accordance with this set of SMCs, the agents reach their goals through the emergence of global behaviors. This agent-based simulation program would allow us to understand some psychological processes such as planning behavior from the point of view that the complexity of these processes is the result of agent–environment interaction.