Search

N-ethyl-pentylone (NEP), also known as "ephylone" and N-ethylnorpentylone, has been identified as one of the most recent novel psychostimulants to emerge into the illicit drug market and it has been associated with some intoxications and even fatalities. However, little is known about the consequences of its repeated consumption as well as the role of the monoaminergic system in such consequences. Thus, the aim of our study was to investigate the neurochemical profile and the behavioural effects after both acute and repeated NEP exposure. Male OF1 mice were acutely (1, 3, 10 mg/kg, i.p.) or repeatedly (1, 3, 10 mg/kg, i.p., 5 days, twice/day) exposed to NEP, and anxiety-like behaviour, aggressiveness, social interaction, depressive-like symptoms, body temperature, changes in monoaminergic enzymes and neurotransmitters levels as well as ΔFosB in striatum and prefrontal cortex (PFC) from post-mortem tissue were analysed short after drug-exposure or during drug-withdrawal. Acute administration of NEP induced anxiolytic effects but also an aggressive behaviour and social exploration deficits in mice, which persist during NEP-withdrawal. Moreover, NEP induced hyperthermia as well as depressive-like symptoms after repeated administrations that may be related to the decrease of serotonin and noradrenaline levels observed in striatum and PFC. Finally, the long-term increase in ΔFosB levels in striatum after NEP chronic exposure points to a high risk of dependence. Altogether indicates that NEP consumption induces different neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders accompanied by changes in the monoaminergic system, posing a threat to public health.

Mediation analysis has been confirmed as a very useful statistical tool in the social sciences, especially in school-related studies. This type of analysis was used in the present study to examine the mediating role of classroom climate (measured with the classroom environmental scale), categorized into three dimensions, namely involvement, affiliation, and teacher support, on the relationship between peer victimization and peer aggression. The participants consisted of 2011 adolescents (50.67% boys and 49.32% girls), aged between 12 and 18 years old (M = 14.17, SD = 1.47), enrolled in schools in Andalusia (Spain). Findings revealed a significant direct relationship of all the dimensions. They also revealed that teacher support was the only dimension that mediates in the relationship between peer violence and peer aggression. The results and their implications for improving classroom climate and school violence are discussed.

The present study had two main goals. The first was to analyze the differences between parenting dimensions&mdash, strictness/imposition and involvement/acceptance&mdash, in adolescents&rsquo, engagement in peer aggression as aggressors, victims, aggressive victims, and non-involved. The second goal was to examine differences between parenting dimensions and peer-aggression roles by gender of both parents and adolescents. Participants were 779 adolescents (49.16% boys and 50.84% girls), aged between 12 and 16 years old (M = 14.21, SD = 1.35), enrolled in schools in Andalusia (Spain). Findings showed significant differences in parenting dimensions depending on gender of both adolescents (boy or girl) and parents (mother and father). For sons, non-involved adolescents scored higher in mother and father involvement than aggressors and aggressive victims. For daughters, non-involved scored higher in mother involvement than aggressors. Furthermore, girl aggressors and aggressive victims reported higher levels of mother imposition than non-involved. Results and their implications for sustainable development in adolescence are discussed.

Antisocial and criminal behaviors are multifactorial traits whose interpretation relies on multiple disciplines. Since these interpretations may have social, moral and legal implications, a constant review of the evidence is necessary before any scientific claim is considered as truth. A recent study proposed that men with wider faces relative to facial height (fWHR) are more likely to develop unethical behaviour mediated by a psychological sense of power. This research was based on reports suggesting that sexual dimorphism and selection would be responsible for a correlation between fWHR and aggression. Here we show that 4,960 individuals from 94 modern human populations belonging to a vast array of genetic and cultural contexts do not display significant amounts of fWHR sexual dimorphism. Further analyses using populations with associated ethnographical records as well as samples of male prisoners of the Mexico City Federal Penitentiary condemned by crimes of variable level of inter-personal aggression (homicide, robbery, and minor faults) did not show significant evidence, suggesting that populations/individuals with higher levels of bellicosity, aggressive behaviour, or power-mediated behaviour display greater fWHR. Finally, a regression analysis of fWHR on individual's fitness showed no significant correlation between this facial trait and reproductive success. Overall, our results suggest that facial attributes are poor predictors of aggressive behaviour, or at least, that sexual selection was weak enough to leave a signal on patterns of between- and within-sex and population facial variation., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

The A-kinase-anchoring protein 5 (AKAP5), a post-synaptic multi-adaptor molecule that binds G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and intracellular signaling molecules has been implicated in emotional processing in rodents, but its role in human emotion and behavior is up to now still not quite clear. Here, we report an association of individual differences in aggressive behavior and anger expression with a functional genetic polymorphism (Pro100Leu) in the human AKAP5 gene. Among a cohort of 527 young, healthy individuals, carriers of the less common Leu allele (15.6% allele frequency) scored significantly lower in the physical aggression domain of the Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) and higher in the anger control dimension of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment we could further demonstrate that AKAP5 Pro100Leu modulates the interaction of negative emotional processing and executive functions. To investigate implicit control-processes of anger control, we used the well-known flanker-task in order to evoke processes of action-monitoring and error-processing and added task-irrelevant neutral or angry faces in the background of the flanker stimuli. In line with our predictions, Leu carriers showed increased activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during emotional interference, which in turn predicted shorter reaction times and might be related to stronger control of emotional interference. Conversely, Pro homozygotes exhibited increased orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activation during emotional interference, with no behavioral advantage. Immunohistochemistry revealed AKAP5 expression in the human ACC and OFC. Our results suggest that AKAP5 Pro100Leu contributes to individual differences in human aggression and anger. Further research is warranted to explore the detailed role of AKAP5 in human emotional processing.