Sleep architecture in patients with fibromyalgia

The main objective of this work was to evaluate the characteristics of sleep in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome. Sleep architecture in 32 patients with fibromyalgia and 20 healthy controls was evaluated. Following the recommendations of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, polysomnographies were conducted with fibromyalgia patients and the control subjects. The fibromyalgia patients showed alterations in cyclic organization of sleep and an increased number of periodic leg movements associated with cortical arousals. No significant differences were found in respiratory and oximetry variables or in alpha-delta sleep. The results support that fibromyalgia patients present an increase of superficial sleep at the expense of deep sleep and also an increase of periodic leg movements, which could have a pathogenic effect, facilitating the onset of the illness. Lastly, we discuss the results and propose some future lines of research.     

Ranking 2010 in production and research productivity in Spanish public universities

The creation of the European Higher Education Area has brought the relevance of the scientific quality assessment in higher education. The result of this interest is a growing interest in the development of rankings of universities, both nationally and internationally. To continue the line started two years ago, the goal of this research is to update the ranking of research productivity in Spanish public universities with the data of 2010. We follow the same methodology to data from 2008 and 2009; although this year it includes measures of total production. The same indicators to evaluate research in 2009: journals articles indexed in the JCR, research periods, research + development projects, doctoral dissertations, grants for training university teachers, Doctoral Programs with Quality Mention and patents. From the results obtained show that universities with higher production were Complutense de Madrid, Barcelona and Granada. The most productive were the Pompeu Fabra University, the Pablo de Olavide, and the Autonoma de Barcelona.     

Loneliness and mental health in a representative sample of community-dwelling Spanish older adults

Research seems to support loneliness as a risk factor for mental health problems in the elderly. Most studies analyzing the effects of loneliness on older adults' mental health have relied on convenience samples. In this study, the prevalence and predictors of feelings of loneliness were studied in a representative sample of 272 community-dwelling Spanish older adults. The potential of feelings of loneliness to significantly contribute to the explanation of mental health of the elderly was also explored. The percentage of people reporting feelings of loneliness was 23.1%. Being a woman, being older, living alone, having fewer economic resources, having lower perceived health, and being dissatisfied with the frequency of contact with relatives and friends were found to be significant predictors of feelings of loneliness. Loneliness contributed significantly to the explanation of mental health, even when other significant variables were statistically controlled. The results of this study suggest that loneliness is a relevant factor for the analysis and understanding of mental health in the elderly.     

Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Thougth-Shape Fusion Questionnaire

The objectives of the study were to analyze the psychometric properties, factor structure and internal consistency of the Spanish version of the Thought-Shape Fusion Questionnaire (TSF-Q), as well as to determine its validity by evaluating the relationship of the TSF-Q to different instruments. Two groups were studied: one comprising 146 patients with a diagnosis of anorexia (n = 82), bulimia (n = 33) or unspecified eating disorder (n = 31), and another group of 115 undergraduates with no history of psychological disorder. All participants completed the TSF-Q, TAF-Q, EDI-2, STAI, BDI and SCL-90-R. Differences in TSF-Q scores between the diagnostic subgroups were also analyzed. Two factors were obtained which coincided with the two sections indicated by the authors of the questionnaire: conceptual and interpretative. The internal consistency of the TSF-Q and its subscales was determined by means of Cronbach's alpha, with values ranging between .93 and .96. The correlations with other instruments reflected adequate validity. There were no significant differences between the diagnostic subgroups. The Spanish version of the TSF-Q meets the psychometric requirements for measuring thought-shape fusion and shows adequate internal consistency and validity.     

An interview with LA Universal Self

LA Universal Self reports his phenomenology, according to which, as he puts it, ‘I am the universe’. The Interviewer challenges the report in a variety of ways, and LA Universal Self responds to each challenge. A traditional Universal Self mysticism is given a new physicalist interpretation.     

Immobility experiments with dogs of the Arkansas Line of Nervous Pointers

As demonstrated in four experiments, dogs and pups of the Arkansas Line of Nervous Pointers, in contrast to kennel-mate dogs of the normal line, respond to manual inversion and brief restraint in an open sling with prolonged, mainly hypertonic, immobility. This response is consistent and replicable. At least in 4-month-old pups, the duration of sling immobility is positively correlated with the degree of behavioral pathology as determined by the objective Human Interaction Test. We found no evidence of basic difference between upright freezing and supine immobility.     

Psychopharmacologic facilitation of operant conditioning of genetically nervous catahoula and Pointer dogs

Previous work has demonstrated that a genetic factor underlies much of the disturbed behavior in one strain of short haired pointer bird dogs (E line) maintained for several years in our laboratory. In some dogs the behavior is seemingly permanent and is characterized by human avoidance, excessive startle, reduced exploratory activity, and “freezing” or catatonic posturing. Another strain of dogs, catahoulas, with a high incidence of disturbed behavior similar to that above but with much less catatonic posturing, was made available for study also. In both of these strains defensive reaction and gross avoidance behavior often prevents the acquisition and later performance of operant conditioning (bar pressing for food reward) unless supportive tranquilizing chemotherapy is given. The chief interest in this study is, (1) the nearly permanent disharmony in the animal which seems to be an example of Gantt’s concept of schizokinesis, and (2) a comparison of 12 psychoactive compounds widely used in psychiatry for their effectiveness in restoring integrated adaptive functioning even in the most disturbed of the animals in our colony. The results show that: 1. even dogs with the most severe schizokinetic disabilities of many years duration have learned the operant conditioning (bar pressing); 2. however, it was and has remained necessary to facilitate both behavior shaping and nearly all later performances throughout the following year with benzodiazepine tranquilizers and these were far superior to any of the several other drugs tested; 3. neither gradual or rapid withdrawal nor sudden stopping of benzodiazepines allowed the dogs to continue the bar pressing. In fact, during withdrawal of the drug, performance seemed to parallel blood levels as reported in the literature.