Remodeling of the neuronal circuits underlying opiate-withdrawal memories following remote retrieval

Several types of memory display time-dependent reorganization of their underlying neural substrates, but it remains unclear whether affective memories associated with drug effects also follow similar reorganization. Here, we analyzed the neural circuits reactivated by the re-exposure of former dependent rats to the withdrawal-paired environment 1month after conditioning (remote memory) as compared with recent memory (Frenois, F., Stinus, L., Di Blasi, F., Cador, M., & Le Moine, C. (2005) A specific limbic circuit underlies opiate withdrawal memories The Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 1366-1374). C-fos expression showed that the circuits involved in the retrieval of withdrawal memories are partly different when comparing recent and remote reactivation, showing that, like other type of memories, affective memories linked to opiate withdrawal undergo anatomical reorganization, with a shift from extended amygdala regions toward cortical areas.     

Family Functioning,Parental Psychological Distress and Child Behaviours: Evidence from the Victorian Child Health and Wellbeing Study

We examined, using data from the 2006 Victorian Child Health and Wellbeing Study (VCHWS), whether family functioning is associated with parental psychological distress and children's behavioural difficulties. The VCHWS was a statewide cross‐sectional telephone survey to 5,000 randomly selected primary caregivers of 0‐ to 12‐year‐old children between October 2005 and March 2006. Only parents or guardians of children aged 4–12 years (n = 3,370) were included in this study. After adjusting for sociodemographic variables and ethnicity, parents or guardians scoring higher on the family functioning scale (i.e., from poorly functioning households) were at greater risk of psychological distress and had children with lower levels of prosocial behaviour and higher levels of behavioural difficulties relative to those from healthily functioning households. Mental health prevention programmes addressing child mental and conduct problems should consider the family environment and target those families functioning poorly.     

Intrusiveness of Minorities: Growing Pains for the Majority Group?1

In this paper, we examined the impact of the numerical representation and the intrusiveness of immigrants on feelings of group threat voiced by the majority. The present evaluation of group threat differs from previous studies in its inclusion of temporal comparisons. The relationship between feelings of threat and attitudes toward immigration was also evaluated. In all, 221 college students completed a questionnaire. As predicted, results obtained show that numerical representation was positively associated with feelings of group threat resulting from invidious social comparisons. Intrusiveness was positively related to feelings of group threat resulting from temporal comparisons. Contrary to hypotheses, the final model confirms that only feelings of temporal group threat were associated with negative attitudes toward immigration. Practical implications and the important role of temporal comparisons are discussed.     

Socially dependent auditory laterality in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Laterality is now known to be an ubiquitous phenomenon among the vertebrates. Particularly, laterality of auditory processing has been demonstrated in a variety of species, especially songbirds and primates. Such a hemispheric specialization has been shown to depend on factors such as sound structure, species specificity and types of stimuli. Much less is known on the possible influence of social familiarity although a few studies suggest such an influence. Here we tested the influence of the degree of familiarity on the laterality of the auditory response in the domestic horse. This species is known for its social system and shows visible reactions to sounds, with one or two ears moving towards a sound source. By comparing such responses to the playback of different conspecific whinnies (group member, neighbor and stranger), we could demonstrate a clear left hemisphere (LH) preference for familiar neighbor calls while no preference was found for group member and stranger calls. Yet, we found an opposite pattern of ear side preference for neighbor versus stranger calls. These results are, to our knowledge, the first to demonstrate auditory laterality in an ungulate species. They open further lines of thought on the influence of the social “value” of calls and the listener’s arousal on auditory processing and laterality.     

The role of prosody in the interpretation of structural ambiguities: a study of anticipatory eye movements

An eye-tracking experiment examined whether prosodic cues can affect the interpretation of grammatical functions in the absence of clear morphological information. German listeners were presented with scenes depicting three potential referents while hearing temporarily ambiguous SVO and OVS sentences. While case marking on the first noun phrase (NP) was ambiguous, clear case marking on the second NP disambiguated sentences towards SVO or OVS. Listeners interpreted case-ambiguous NP1s more often as Subject, and thus expected an Object as upcoming argument, only when sentence beginnings carried an SVO-type intonation. This was revealed by more anticipatory eye movements to suitable Patients (Objects) than Agents (Subjects) in the visual scenes. No such preference was found when sentence beginnings had an OVS-type intonation. Prosodic cues were integrated rapidly enough to affect listeners' interpretation of grammatical function before disambiguating case information was available. We conclude that in addition to manipulating attachment ambiguities, prosody can influence the interpretation of constituent order ambiguities.     

Preserved fronto-striatal plasticity and enhanced procedural learning in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease overexpressing mutant hAPPswe

Mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene inducing abnormal processing and deposition of beta-amyloid protein in the brain have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although Tg2576 mice with the Swedish mutation (hAPPswe) exhibit age-related Abeta-plaque formation in brain regions like the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the cortex, these mice show a rather specific deficit in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory tasks. In view of recent findings showing that neural systems subserving different forms of learning are not simply independent but that depressing or enhancing one system affects learning in another system, we decided to investigate fronto-striatal synaptic plasticity and related procedural learning in these mutants. Fronto-striatal long-term depression (LTD) induced by tetanic stimulation of the cortico-striatal input was similar in Tg2576 and wild-type control mice. Behavioral data, however, pointed to an enhancement of procedural learning in the mutants that showed robust motor-based learning in the cross maze and higher active avoidance scores. Thus, in this mouse model of AD, an intact striatal function associated with an impaired hippocampal function seems to provide neural conditions favorable to procedural learning. Our results suggest that focusing on preserved or enhanced forms of learning in AD patients might be of interest to describe the functional reorganization of the brain when one memory system is selectively compromised by neurological disease.     

Impact of executive dysfunctions on episodic memory abilities in patients with ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery

Executive and memory dysfunctions are among the most frequently reported deficits following a ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery (ACoA). In order to study the impact of the dysexecutive syndrome on episodic and semantic memory, the data obtained from 59 ACoA patients were examined retrospectively. All patients were assessed on a variety of episodic memory tests (Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test, Rey Complex Figure Test, Weschler Memory Scale), semantic memory (verbal fluency), and standardized tests of executive functions (Trail Making Test, Maze tests, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test). There was a strong positive correlation between executive dysfunction and retrieval difficulties in episodic and semantic memory tasks. Comparisons of subgroups of patients with high and low frontal lobe functioning on delayed recall and recognition revealed a significant group X condition interaction in addition to significant group and condition main effects. ACoAs patients with low frontal lobe functioning were particularly deficient in free recall (immediate and delayed) while recognition was equally well preserved in the two subgroups. Neither subgroup presented with an abnormal forgetting over time suggesting a retrieval deficit rather than a true retention impairment.     

Does taste or odor activate the same brain networks after retrieval of taste potentiated odor aversion?

When simultaneous presentation of odor and taste cues precedes illness, rats acquire robust aversion to both conditioned stimuli. Such a phenomenon referred to as taste-potentiated odor aversion (TPOA) requires information processing from two sensory modalities. Whether similar or different brain networks are activated when TPOA memory is retrieved by either the odor or the taste presentation remains an unsolved question. By means of Fos mapping, we investigated the neuronal substrate underlying TPOA retrieval elicited by either the odor or the taste conditioned stimulus. Whatever the sensory modality used to reactivate TPOA memory, a significant change in Fos expression was observed in the hippocampus, the basolateral nucleus of amygdala and the medial and the orbito-frontal cortices. Moreover, only the odor presentation elicited a significantly higher Fos immunoreactivity in the piriform cortex, the entorhinal cortex and the insular cortex. Lastly, according to the stimulus tested to induce TPOA retrieval, the BLA was differentially activated and a higher Fos expression was induced by the odor than by the taste in this nucleus. The present study indicates that even if they share some brain regions, the cerebral patterns induced by either the odor or the taste are different. Data are discussed in view of the relevance of each conditioned stimulus to reactivate TPOA memory and of the involvement of the different labeled brain areas in information processing and TPOA retrieval.     

L’équipe paramédicale à l’hôpital psychiatrique : Retentissement actuel d’une évolution de deux décennies Analyse d’un entretien de supervision

At the advent of the reform of nursing education in France, this study attempts to give an overview of changes in the work practices of nurses and the employment of nurse’s aides in psychiatric wards of hospitals. Based on the assumption that interaction acts as an interface between the individual on one side and collective systems on the other, the authors approach this issue by analyzing a supervisory meeting of a caregiving team in a psychiatric hospital.