Hippocampal PKA/CREB pathway is involved in the improvement of memory induced by spermidine in rats

Spermidine (SPD) is an endogenous polyamine that modulates N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function, and has been reported to facilitate memory formation. In the current study we determined whether or not the PKA/CREB signaling pathway is involved in SPD-induced facilitation of memory of inhibitory avoidance task in adult rats. The post-training administration of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) inhibitor, N-[2-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinoline sulfonamide [H-89, 0.5 ρmol intrahippocampal (ih)] or the antagonist of the NMDA receptor polyamine-binding site (arcaine, 0.02 nmol ih) with SPD (0.2 nmol ih) prevented memory improvement induced by SPD. Intrahippocampal administration of SPD (0.2 nmol) facilitated PKA and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation in the hippocampus 180 min, but not 30 min, after administration, and increased translocation of the catalytic subunit of PKA into the nucleus. Arcaine (0.02 nmol) and H-89 (0.5 ρmol) prevented the stimulatory effect of SPD on PKA and CREB phosphorylation. These results suggest that memory enhancement induced by the ih administration of SPD involves the PKA/CREB pathways in rats.     

Cognitive-behavioral intervention among women with slight menopausal symptoms: a pilot study

Menopause is associated with a considerable variety of physical, psychological and social symptoms that can be treated using cognitive-behavioral techniques. In the present study, 21 women took part in an eight-week group intervention consisting of weekly two-hour sessions to address their slight symptoms related to the climacteric stage of life. The intervention included: psycho education on menopause, relaxation techniques, nutrition and fitness exercises, Kegel exercises, and problem-solving techniques. A control group was included that did not receive treatment and consisted of 28 women. The results revealed a significant reduction in most symptoms (including depression and anxiety) after intervention as compared to the baseline period. No changes appeared in the control group. The relevance of this work lies in the potential element of prevention this therapeutic package could offer to relieve various symptoms, slight and incipient, during the perimenopausal stage.     

Animacy in the adjunction of Spanish RCs to complex NPs

The present paper focuses on the role of animacy in the processing of relative clauses (RCs) after complex NPs. We follow research by the Desmet et al. team on Dutch in exploring the role of animacy in Spanish RCs. We present data from a corpus study and two self-paced experiments and we compare the three studies and the Dutch and Spanish results. Our main objective is to fill important gaps in past research on the processing of adjunction ties in Spanish and to offer a more detailed exploration of grain effects in exposure-based accounts. In particular, we have sought both to analyse the match between corpus studies and online processing in Spanish much more closely than it has been until now and to see whether animacy could revert the well-established tendency of Spanish RCs to attach high inside the complex noun phrase.     

Self-concept in adults from Spain and Portugal

The aim of this work is to confirm the penta-factorial validity of the AF5 Self-Concept Questionnaire in Spanish and Portuguese adults. From the responses of a total of 2058 adults (1508 Spanish, 73.3%, and 550 Portuguese, 26.7%) was analyzed the reliability of the instrument, was compared the validity of the 5 oblique factor model proposed by the authors versus unifactorial and the orthogonal alternative models, and was studied the invariance of the Portuguese translation. The results of structural equation modeling supported the authors' penta-factorial model. The multi-group factorial invariance showed that Portuguese translation of the AF5 does not change neither the original factor weights, nor the variances and covariances of the factors. Finally, the reliability was good for the original Spanish version and Portuguese translation.     

Effects of the lexical-semantic variables in visual word recognition

In languages with a deep orthography such as English, a number of studies have shown the effects of lexical and semantic variables on word recognition. In languages with a shallow orthography such as Spanish the regularity of the grapheme - phoneme correspondences may mean that lexical and semantic variables could have less relevant roles. In this study, three variables were tested: frequency, age of acquisition and imageability. These three variables were factorially manipulated in three lexical decision task and three word naming tasks. The results show that in lexical decision both frequency and age of acquisition influence reaction times but imageability was not significant. In the word reading task, only the age of acquisition had a significant effect. The implications of these results for models of reading in Spanish are discussed.     

Relationship between dispositional optimism/pessimism and stress coping strategies

Recent studies confirm that dispositional pessimism is related with a worse state of physical health, in comparison with dispositional optimism . The efficacy of stress coping strategies has been considered as a mediating mechanism in this relationship. The aim of the present study is to analyze in a sample of university students (n = 200) the association between dispositional optimism/pessimism and different categories of self-reported somatic symptoms , and evaluate the possible mediation of the stress coping strategies in this relationship. The results indicate that: 1) pessimism is positively related with the report of physical symptoms, whereas optimism is negatively associated to somatic complaints; and 2) this relationship can be mainly explained by the differential utilization of the coping strategy denominated self-criticism (characteristic of pessimism).     

Validation of a questionnaire for measuring psychosocial factors associated with pharmaceutical care in Spanish community pharmacists

Pharmacotherapy follow-up (PTF) is the professional practice in which the pharmacist takes charge of the needs of the patients related to their drugs. OBJECTIVE: To validate a questionnaire to measure the ASE psychosocial determinants (attitude, social influence, self-efficacy) of PTF and the Prochaska & DiClemente's stage of change in Spanish community pharmacists. METHOD: Postal survey to 482 Asturian community pharmacists (test and retest). Validity was estimated in 134 pharmacists answering the test. Stability was estimated in 85 pharmacists answering the test and retest. Exploratory factorial analysis was used to investigate construct validity and produced 4 factors and 104 items. Those factors had high reliability (Cronbach's a between 0,87 and 0,96). DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY: Pharmacists in extreme stages of change showed significant differences of attitude, motivation and self-efficacy. Repeatability was good and the questionnaire appears valid and reliable.     

Empathy in children aged 10 to 12 years

The objectives of this research were: 1) to determine whether there were differences in empathy according to gender; 2) to analyze the relationships between empathy and social behaviour, self-concept, emotional stability, social interaction strategies, capacity to analyze emotions, intelligence, and creativity; and 3) to identify predicting variables of empathy. The sample consisted of 139 participants aged 10 to 12 years. ANOVA results showed gender differences in empathy, with significantly higher scores in females. Pearson coefficients suggest that participants with high empathy showed many positive social behaviours (prosocial, assertive, consideration, self-control, leadership), few negative social behaviors (passive, aggressive, antisocial, withdrawal) and many assertive strategies of social interaction; that they were named as prosocial classmates; and that they had high self-concept, high capacity to analyze negative emotions, high emotional stability and many behaviors and traits of creative personality. Multiple regression analyses permitted identification of the following predicting variables of empathy: high level of prosocial behaviour, low level of aggressive behaviour and high self-concept.     

Prejudice and attitudes of acculturation: perspectives of autochthonous and immigrants

This study is framed in a wider research on the acculturation process through a new acculturation model. The aim of this paper is to analyse the mutual prejudice between ethnic groups in contact and its relation to their preferred acculturation attitude. A questionnaire composed by various scales was given to four groups of people living in municipalities with high rate of African immigrants in Almería: Maghrebis, Sub-Saharans, Spaniards who evaluated the Maghreb out-group and Spaniards who responded on the Sub-Saharan out-group. The results obtained indicate a relation between prejudice and acculturation attitude, as the lowest scores in prejudice are hold in each group by people preferring integration , whilst the highest ones come from those who bow to exclusion/marginalisation.