Test-Retest Reliability of the Spanish Version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV)

The test-retest reliability of the Spanish Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV) is presented. This version was developed in Puerto Rico in consultation with an international bilingual committee, sponsored by NIMH. The sample (N = 146) consisted of children recruited from outpatient mental health clinics and a drug residential treatment facility. Two different pairs of nonclinicians administered the DISC twice to the parent and child respondents. Results indicated fair to moderate agreement for parent reports on most diagnoses. Relatively similar agreement levels were observed for last month and last year time frames. Surprisingly, the inclusion of impairment as a criterion for diagnosis did not substantially change the pattern of results for specific disorders. Parents were more reliable when reporting on diagnoses of younger (4–10) than older children. Children 11–17 years old were reliable informants on disruptive and substance abuse/dependence disorders, but unreliable for anxiety and depressive disorders. Hence, parents were more reliable when reporting about anxiety and depressive disorders whereas children were more reliable than their parents when reporting about disruptive and substance disorders.     

The role of the amygdala in facial emotional expression during a discrimination task

A total of 50 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with unilateral resection of the hippocampus and the amygdala were studied: --27 with left lobectomy (LTL group) and 23 with right lobectomy (RTL group)--; and 28 healthy control participants (HC group). The task consisted of identifying the dissimilar photograph from a group of photographs of the same face. The difference could correspond to the identity of the model or the facial expression (happiness, anger, sadness and fear). The results showed that when the difference in the photograph resided in the identity of the model, the RTL group made more mistakes than the HC group. When the facial expression was the distinguishing feature, mean response latency was longer in the LTL group than in the HC group. Comparison of the emotions revealed that the greatest differences were obtained with the fear expression, in all three participant groups. The dissociation of neural circuits responsible for processing facial expressions is discussed and, especially, the role of the left amygdala to discriminate between facial expressions.     

How to fit and interpret multilevel models using SPSS

Hierarchic or multilevel models are used to analyse data when cases belong to known groups and sample units are selected both from the individual level and from the group level. In this work, the multilevel models most commonly discussed in the statistic literature are described, explaining how to fit these models using the SPSS program (any version as of the 11 th ) and how to interpret the outcomes of the analysis. Five particular models are described, fitted, and interpreted: (1) one-way analysis of variance with random effects, (2) regression analysis with means-as-outcomes, (3) one-way analysis of covariance with random effects, (4) regression analysis with random coefficients, and (5) regression analysis with means- and slopes-as-outcomes. All models are explained, trying to make them understandable to researchers in health and behaviour sciences.     

Interaction in ANOVA: misconceptions

Although interaction in analysis of variance has an unequivocal theoretical meaning (and so it appears in the statistic literature), frequent misconceptions are found in empirical research, which, in many cases, lead to wrong conclusions. In this paper, 150 articles are reviewed: in 12.7% of them, no attention is paid to the interaction (either because it is not analysed or because it is analysed but not discussed); in 79.1%, interaction is studied through simple effects analysis; and only in 8.2% of the cases, interaction is correctly discussed. It could be that psychology researchers tend to analyse and interpret the interaction between factors incorrectly because the most widespread statistic packages (with SPSS in the lead) do not allow performing the comparisons needed to analyse a significant interaction in factorial designs with randomized groups. In order to contribute to eradicating this problem, we herein show how to design some of the linear comparisons that allow isolating the interaction effect, and we explain how to use SPSS to compute these comparisons.     

ADHD Correlates, Comorbidity, and Impairment in Community and Treated Samples of Children and Adolescents

Patterns of correlates, comorbidity and impairment associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and youth were examined in representative samples from the community and from treatment facilities serving medically indigent youth in Puerto Rico. Information from caretakers and youths was obtained using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, (version IV), measures of global impairment, and a battery of potential correlates. In the community (N = 1,896) and the treated samples (N = 763), 7.5 and 26.2% of the children, respectively, met criteria for DSM-IV ADHD in the previous year. Although the prevalence rates and degree of impairment differed, the general patterns of correlates, comorbidity and impairment were similar in both populations. The exceptions were associated with conduct disorder, anxiety, impairment in the ADHD comorbid group, and age factors that appeared to be related to selection into treatment.     

Adrenergic enhancement of consolidation of object recognition memory

Extensive evidence indicates that epinephrine (EPI) modulates memory consolidation for emotionally arousing tasks in animals and human subjects. However, previous studies have not examined the effects of EPI on consolidation of recognition memory. Here we report that systemic administration of EPI enhances consolidation of memory for a novel object recognition (NOR) task under different training conditions. Control male rats given a systemic injection of saline (0.9% NaCl) immediately after NOR training showed significant memory retention when tested at 1.5 or 24, but not 96h after training. In contrast, rats given a post-training injection of EPI showed significant retention of NOR at all delays. In a second experiment using a different training condition, rats treated with EPI, but not SAL-treated animals, showed significant NOR retention at both 1.5 and 24-h delays. We next showed that the EPI-induced enhancement of retention tested at 96h after training was prevented by pretraining systemic administration of the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol. The findings suggest that, as previously observed in experiments using aversively motivated tasks, epinephrine modulates consolidation of recognition memory and that the effects require activation of beta-adrenoceptors.     

Working memory deficits in transgenic rats overexpressing human adenosine A2A receptors in the brain

Adenosine receptors in the central nervous system have been implicated in the modulation of different behavioural patterns and cognitive functions although the specific role of A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) subtype in learning and memory is still unclear. In the present work we establish a novel transgenic rat strain, TGR(NSEhA2A), overexpressing adenosine A(2A)Rs mainly in the cerebral cortex, the hippocampal formation, and the cerebellum. Thereafter, we explore the relevance of this A(2A)Rs overexpression for learning and memory function. Animals were behaviourally assessed in several learning and memory tasks (6-arms radial tunnel maze, T-maze, object recognition, and several Morris water maze paradigms) and other tests for spontaneous motor activity (open field, hexagonal tunnel maze) and anxiety (plus maze) as modification of these behaviours may interfere with the assessment of cognitive function. Neither motor performance and emotional/anxious-like behaviours were altered by overexpression of A(2A)Rs. TGR(NSEhA2A) showed normal hippocampal-dependent learning of spatial reference memory. However, they presented working memory deficits as detected by performance of constant errors in the blind arms of the 6 arm radial tunnel maze, reduced recognition of a novel object and a lack of learning improvement over four trials on the same day which was not observed over consecutive days in a repeated acquisition paradigm in the Morris water maze. Given the interdependence between adenosinic and dopaminergic function, the present results render the novel TGR(NSEhA2A) as a putative animal model for the working memory deficits and cognitive disruptions related to overstimulation of cortical A(2A)Rs or to dopaminergic prefrontal dysfunction as seen in schizophrenic or Parkinson's disease patients.     

Assessment of depressive symptoms in old visually-impaired people: a study of the Geriatric Depression Scale

This study has two main purposes: (a) to assess the functioning of the Geriatric Depression Scale in its Spanish version in old visually-impaired people, and (b) to assess the relevance of measuring depressive symptoms within a comprehensive assessment of psychological adjustment related to vision impairment in that population. Respondents were 329 people affiliated to the ONCE who were a representative sample of the target population. The assessment of the first goal let us to establish two cut-off points, and led to new methodological developments that combine Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory. The results indicated that the scale is particularly useful in the target population and that it is very relevant in the assessment of psychological adjustment related to visual impairment in old people.