Role of the Disease in the Psychological Impact of Pre-Symptomatic Testing for SCA2 and FAP ATTRV30M: Experience with the Disease, Kinship and Gender of the Transmitting Parent

To identify possible factors affecting the psychological impact of pre-symptomatic testing for spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) and familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP ATTRV30M), we studied (1) the effect of previous experience with the disease in the family, (2) kinship with the closest affected relative and (3) gender of affected parent, when adapting to test results; as well as (4) differences in the course of psychological wellbeing in 63 subjects ( 28 at-risk for FAP ATTRV30M, and 35 at risk for SCA2), who pursued predictive testing for these diseases, in Cuba and in Portugal. Our research shows that individuals with little or no experience with the disease in their family exhibited more anxiety; at-risk subjects for SCA2 or FAP ATTRV30M who had a first degree relative with the disease showed lower levels of anxiety and depression during pre-symptomatic testing. Also those with an affected mother had lower levels of depression, either immediately, or one year after receipt of test results. Adaptation to pre-symptomatic testing results differed for subjects at-risk for the two different conditions. Unlike the FAP ATTRV30M families, carriers for SCA2 reported pathological levels of depression immediately after-testing (3 weeks), although those levels had returned to normal levels at 6 months. Subjects at-risk for FAP ATTRV30M tended to have less anxiety than those tested for SCA2, at the one-year follow-up. Overall, depression levels improved over time, while anxiety remained more constant. A longer awareness of the disease in the family, closer kinship, and a transmitting mother all lessened the impact of pre-symptomatic testing, as expressed by the post-test levels of anxiety and depression.     

Factors affecting foster care breakdown in Spain

Breakdown of foster care has been defined as the situation in which one of the involved parties terminates the intervention before having achieved the goals established for the case plan. This work presents a study carried out with a Spanish sample of 318 closed cases of children who were placed in foster homes and kinship care. The data were collected through the exhaustive review of the child protection and foster placement files, complemented with interviews of the welfare workers in charge of each case. The rate of breakdown of the entire sample was 26.1%, although it was significantly different in kinship care (19.7%) and foster care (31.2%). The results of this study indicate that the variables related to breakdown depend on the placement modality, either in foster care or kinship care. In the first case, the variables related to the child's characteristics are noteworthy, especially behavior and academic problems, with special relevance in the 9-12-year-old group, and in children who were previously in residential care. In contrast, in kinship care, the parents' problems (prison, mental health) and having some measure of guardianship are the most important. The fact of undergoing foster placement after having lived in various residential homes is transcendental. Lastly, the availability of economic resources and even the foster carers' studies seem to be related to foster breakdown.     

A right visual field advantage for visual processing of manipulable objects

Information about object-associated manipulations is lateralized to left parietal regions, while information about the visual form of tools is represented bilaterally in ventral occipito-temporal cortex. It is unknown how lateralization of motor-relevant information in left-hemisphere dorsal stream regions may affect the visual processing of manipulable objects. We used a lateralized masked priming paradigm to test for a right visual field (RVF) advantage in tool processing. Target stimuli were tools and animals, and briefly presented primes were identical to or scrambled versions of the targets. In Experiment 1, primes were presented either to the left or to the right of the centrally presented target, while in Experiment 2, primes were presented in one of eight locations arranged radially around the target. In both experiments, there was a RVF advantage in priming effects for tool but not for animal targets. Control experiments showed that participants were at chance for matching the identity of the lateralized primes in a picture?Cword matching experiment and also ruled out a general RVF speed-of-processing advantage for tool images. These results indicate that the overrepresentation of tool knowledge in the left hemisphere affects visual object recognition and suggests that interactions between the dorsal and ventral streams occurs during object categorization.     

mTOR signaling in the hippocampus is necessary for memory formation

It is widely accepted that the formation of long-term memory (LTM) requires mRNA translation, but little is known about the cellular mechanisms in the brain that regulate this process. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a key regulator of translational efficacy and capacity. Here, we show that LTM formation of one-trial inhibitory avoidance (IA) in rats, a hippocampus-dependent fear-motivated learning task, requires mTOR activation. IA training is specifically associated with a rapid increase in the phosphorylation state of mTOR and its substrate ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6K). Bilateral intra-CA1 infusion of rapamycin, a selective mTOR inhibitor, 15 min before, but not immediately after training completely hinders IA LTM without affecting short-term memory (STM) retention. Therefore, our findings indicate that the regulation of hippocampal mRNA translation is a major control step in memory consolidation.     

"Having it all": women's perception of impact of female promotion on threat of domestic violence

This study involved 219 women participants. The main aim of the present study is to examine the perceived consequences of a work-related promotion for the female partner in a heterosexual relationship. The impact of the promotion was manipulated - both partners share paid and domestic work, the male partner taking responsibility for all the domestic work - or female partner continuing to do all the domestic work, as well as the male partner's sexist ideology. Finally, the study examined gender ideology of participants. The results showed that participants felt that violence was more likely when the male partner was presented as sexist and that this was due to a perception of threat on the part of the male partner.     

Internal attribution of outcome moderates the cortisol response to a cooperative task in women

Several ethological reports have indicated that cooperative behaviors play an adaptive role. However, research has focused on competition in men, and there have been few studies on cooperation. This study aims to analyze the cortisol and psychological responses in women to a cooperative situation compared with a competitive situation in a laboratory context. The sample was distributed into four groups depending on the task and the outcome obtained: Positive cooperation, negative cooperation, competition with victory, and competition with defeat. Our results show that, in comparison with competition, cooperation produces different effects in cortisol, but not in psychological states. Nevertheless, these effects occur only when the task outcome and its appraisal are considered. Only the participants who cooperated and obtained a positive outcome and those who competed and lost showed significant decrements of cortisol. Internal attribution was higher in groups with more stable cortisol levels, suggesting a possible modulator effect of controllability in the way the situation was experienced. These results could be generalized to situations in which negotiation, mediation, and cooperative strategies are relevant for making decisions and/or solving problems.     

Humor Styles,Perceived Threat,Funniness of COVID-19 Memes,and Affective Mood in the Early Stages of COVID-19 Lockdown

Existing psychological research has long considered humor as a useful strategy for individuals in coping with adverse circumstances and life stressors. However, empirical studies are called for to better understand the role of humor in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. In a community sample of 527 Spanish adults, we investigated the associations between humor styles, perceived threat from COVID-19, funniness of COVID-19 memes, and individuals’ affective mood. Data were collected during the third week of lockdown in Spain (from 26 to 31 March 2020). Our results suggest that intrapsychic humor styles were associated with better coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling showed that self-enhancing and aggressive humor styles were related to perceiving COVID-19 as less psychologically threatening, which, in turn, was associated with a greater perceived funniness of COVID-19 memes, thus predicting higher levels of happiness. Interestingly, the opposite pattern of connections was found for self-defeating humor. These findings suggest that humor styles aimed at boosting one’s own self, irrespective of their potentially lighter or darker nature, may contribute to alleviating adverse psychological consequences arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.