Departament de Psicologia

Purpose: To characterise brain lesions in dyskinetic cerebral palsy (DCP) using the semi-quantitative scale for structural MRI (sqMRI) and to investigate their relationship with motor, communication and cognitive function. Materials and methods: Thirty-nine participants (19 females, median age 21y) with DCP were assessed in terms of motor function, communication and a variety of cognitive domains. Whole-head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was per formed including T1-MPRAGE, T2 turbo spin echo (axial plane), and fluid attenuated inversion recovery images (FLAIR). A child neurologist visually assessed images for brain lesions and scored these using the sqMRI. Ordinal, Poisson and binomial negative regression models identified which brain lesions accounted for clinical outcomes. Results: Brain lesions were most frequently located in the ventral posterior lateral thalamus and the frontal lobe. Gross (B = 0.180, p < .001; B = 0.658, p < .001) and fine (B = 0.136, p = .003; B = 0.540, p < .001) motor function were associated with global sqMRI score and parietal involvement. Communication functioning was associated with putamen involvement (B = 0.747, p < .028). Intellectual functioning was associated with global sqMRI score and posterior thalamus involvement (B = −0.018, p < .001; B = −0.192, p < .001). Selective attention was associated with global sqMRI score (B = −0.035, p < .001), parietal (B = −0.063, p = .023), and corpus callosum involvement (B = −0.448, p < .001). Visuospatial and visuoperceptive abil ities were associated with global sqMRI score (B = −0.078, p = .007) and medial dorsal thalamus involvement (B = −0.139, p < .012), respectively. Conclusions: Key clinical outcomes in DCP are associated with specific observable brain lesions as indexed by a simple lesion scoring system that relies only on standard clinical MRI.

Dyskinetic cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most disabling motor types of CP and has been classically associated with injury to the basal ganglia and thalamus. Although cognitive dysfunction is common in CP, there is a paucity of published quantitative analyses investigating the relationship between white matter (WM) microstructure and cognition in this CP type. Aims This study aims (1) to compare brain WM microstructure between people with dyskinetic CP and healthy controls, (2) to identify brain regions where WM microstructure is related to intelligence and (3) to identify brain regions where WM microstructure is related to executive function in people with dyskinetic CP and (4) to identify brain regions where the correlations are different between controls and people with CP in IQ and executive functions. Patients and methods Thirty-three participants with dyskinetic CP (mean ± SD age: 24.42 ± 12.61, 15 female) were age and sex matched with 33 controls. Participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological battery to assess intelligence quotient (IQ) and four executive function domains (attentional control, cognitive flexibility, goal setting and information processing). Diffusion weighted MRI scans were acquired at 3T. Voxel-based whole brain groupwise analyses were used to compare fractional anisotropy (FA) and of the CP group to the matched controls using a general lineal model. Further general linear models were used to identify regions where white matter FA correlated with IQ and each of the executive function domains. Results White matter FA was significantly reduced in the CP group in all cerebral lobes, predominantly in regions connected with the parietal and to a lesser extent the temporal lobes. There was no significant correlation between IQ or any of the four executive function domains and WM microstructure in the control group. In participants with CP, lower IQ was associated with lower FA in all cerebral lobes, predominantly in locations that also showed reduced FA compared to controls. Attentional control, goal setting and information processing did not correlate with WM microstructure in the CP group. Cognitive flexibility was associated with FA in regions known to contain connections with the frontal lobe (such as the superior longitudinal fasciculus and cingulum) as well as regions not known to contain tracts directly connected with the frontal lobe (such as the posterior corona radiata, posterior thalamic radiation, retrolenticular part of internal capsule, tapetum, body and splenium of corpus callosum). Conclusion The widespread loss in the integrity of WM tissue is mainly located in the parietal lobe and related to IQ in dyskinetic CP. Unexpectedly, executive functions are only related with WM microstructure in regions containing fronto-cortical and posterior cortico-subcortical pathways, and not being specifically related to the state of fronto-striatal pathways which might be due to brain reorganization. Further studies of this nature may improve our understanding of the neurobiological bases of cognitive impairments after early brain insult.

Midlife obesity and late-life weight loss confer a greater risk for developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the exact mechanisms behind this phenomenon are currently unknown. The answer could lie on the involvement of gastrointestinal factors, such as adipokines (e.g., leptin, adiponectin, and resistin) and ghrelin. In this context, we conducted a pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis of 42 cross-sectional and 13 longitudinal studies targeting the associations between leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and ghrelin and the prevalence of general dementia, AD, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We also examined the relationship between the four gastrointestinal factors and neurocognitive outcomes and AD-related cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. Patients with AD had lower blood leptin and higher resistin levels than cognitively normal participants. Lower leptin and higher resistin were associated with higher degree of cognitive impairment. Additionally, lower late-life leptin levels might be associated with higher prospective risk of dementia and AD, although more studies are needed to corroborate this. Results in ghrelin and adiponectin were not conclusive, with age, sex distribution, obesity, and severity of dementia seemingly acting as moderators across several analyses. Our work might contribute to the identification of new preclinical blood markers of MCI and AD.

Obesity has become a major public and individual health problem due to its high worldwide prevalence and its relation with comorbid conditions. According to previous studies, obesity is related to an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. This systematic review aims to further examine the present state of the art about the association between obesity and gray matter volume (GMV) as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A search was conducted in Pubmed, SCOPUS and Cochrane of those studies released before 1 February 2021 including MRIs to assess the GMVs in obese participants. From this search, 1420 results were obtained, and 34 publications were finally included. Obesity was mainly measured by the body mass index, although other common types of evaluations were used (e.g., waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio and plasma leptin levels). The selected neuroimaging analysis methods were voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and cortical thickness (CT), finding 21 and 13 publications, respectively. There were 30 cross-sectional and 2 prospective longitudinal studies, and 2 articles had both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Most studies showed a negative association between obesity and GMV. This would have important public health implications, as obesity prevention could avoid a potential risk of GMV reductions, cognitive impairment and dementia.

Objectives Evidence suggests the efcacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to prevent depression relapse and decrease depressive symptoms during the acute phase. However, the efectiveness of MBCT in real-world heterogeneous samples treated in clinical health settings, including primary care, has received little attention. This study had two aims: (1) to evaluate the efectiveness of MBCT delivered in primary care considering pre-treatment depression scores and (2) to explore the role of participants’ characteristics on symptom improvement. Methods Data were obtained from 433 individuals who received MBCT. Participants completed the Personality Inventory for ICD-11 (PiCD) pretreatment and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) pre- and post-treatment. Results Sixty percent presented moderate-to-severe depression according to scores on the BDI-II, 18.1% presented mild depression, and 21.7% were in the non-depressed range. The severity of pre-treatment depressive symptoms was associated with outcomes. Most individuals who lacked depressive symptoms at baseline remained in the non-clinical range after the treatment. Those in the severe group benefted the most from the intervention, since 35.6% were considered recovered. Rates of deterioration ranged from 2.1 to 2.7%, depending on the depression-baseline scores. Depression severity at the entrance, attendance, and age, but not personality traits, appear to be related to symptom improvement. Conclusions According to our results, MBCT can be efectively and safely delivered in primary care.

The active participation of teachers in the process of diagnosis and intervention of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is relevant to helping mitigate future problems in children with ADHD. In training programmes, teachers usually implement strategies to improve the child’s functioning after participating in an ADHD management-training programme. However, they receive little psycho-educational training and coaching and have low-to-moderate levels of knowledge of the disorder, mostly in terms of training in classroom management strategies. This study analyses the effectiveness of training in increasing knowledge and perceived self-efficacy with regard to ADHD in 40 primary school teachers. Twenty of these teachers participated in a long-term psycho-educational training programme on the management of ADHD (intervention multimodal group), while the other 20 did not (control group). The results of the post-treatment phase revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups of teachers with regard to their knowledge (Z = −5.427; p = 0.000; d = 0.89) and perceived self-efficacy (Z = −5.150; p = 0.000; d = 0.79), in favour of the participants who had received training. Our findings have important implications for the design of training programmes for teachers in the management of ADHD in the classroom

En la actualidad buena parte del alumnado universitario utiliza las NTIC en sus estudios, así como en actividades formativas y de ocio. Un uso inadecuado de las mismas puede afectar a su rendimiento académico y bienestar psicológico, pudiéndose incluso desarrollar una adicción a internet. El phubbing es una manifestación ligada a la conducta de adicción a nuevas tecnologías que consiste en ignorar a otras personas por el uso del teléfono móvil o internet dificultando la interacción social con los demás. Una vez se han establecido en el estudiante estas conductas disfuncionales se hace necesario encontrar espacios educativos donde detectarlas y poder orientarlas. La tutoría universitaria es un escenario idóneo para abordar algunas manifestaciones negativas del phubbing, hecho que supondría un beneficio académico, personal, social y en un futuro laboral de los universitarios. El objetivo del presente artículo es identificar aspectos susceptibles de acompañamiento tutorial en el uso de las nuevas tecnologías de alumnado de enseñanzas universitarias del ámbito de la educación artística