Search

BackgroundDysbiosis during childhood impacts the configuration and maturation of the microbiota. The immaturity of the infant microbiota is linked with the development of inflammatory, allergic, and dysmetabolic diseases.AimsTo identify taxonomic changes associated with age and GDM and classify the maturity of the intestinal microbiota of children of mothers with GDM and children without GDM (n-GDM).MethodsNext-generation sequencing was used to analyze the V3-V4 region of 16S rRNA gene. QIIME2 and Picrust2 were used to determine the difference in the relative abundance of bacterial genera between the study groups and to predict the functional profile of the intestinal microbiota.ResultsAccording to age, the older GDM groups showed a lower alpha diversity and different abundance of Enterobacteriaceae, Veillonella, Clostridiales, and Bacteroides. Regarding the functional profile, PWY-7377 and K05895 associated with Vitamin B12 metabolism were reduced in GDM groups. Compared to n-GDM group, GDM offspring had microbiota immaturity as age-discriminatory taxa in random forest failed to classify GDM offspring according to developmental age (OOB error 81%). Conclusion. Offspring from mothers with GDM have a distinctive taxonomic profile related to taxa associated with gut microbiota immaturity.

Motherhood is a cultural process that has traditionally anchored women's identities in their ability to nurture infants and children (Ross, 2018). As a cultural and dynamic construct, it not only shapes women's social identity but also plays a pivotal role in influencing gender roles. The aim of the present study is to analyze the psychometric properties of the Motherhood Belief Scale, which explore Sense of Life and Social Duty as two dimensions of motherhood in a general sample (n = 6207) with different sex, age, education, and parenthood status. The reliability of the Motherhood Belief Scale in our sample showed low fitted scores, low variability, and a floor-like effect, which was more eminent for the Social Duty dimension. These findings showed differences in motherhood beliefs across sex, age, education, and parenthood. Additionally, we explored answers for two open questions about motherhood with a sentiment analysis which showed a more significant bias to positive emotional valence in people without professional studies out professional studies. These findings suggest a more stereotypical view of motherhood in populations with low education, very young or elderly, men, and with parenthood status.

Language comprehension involves both sub-lexical (e.g., phonological) and lexical-semantic processing. We conducted a task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the processing of verbs in these two domains. Additionally, we examined the representation of concrete-motor and abstract-non-motor concepts by including two semantic categories of verbs: motor and mental. The findings indicate that sub-lexical processing during the reading of pseudo-verbs primarily involves the left dorsal stream of the perisylvian network, while lexical-semantic representation during the reading of verbs predominantly engages the ventral stream. According to the embodied or grounded cognition approach, modality-specific mechanisms (such as sensory-motor systems) and the well-established multimodal left perisylvian network contribute to the semantic representation of both concrete and abstract verbs. Our study identified the visual system as a preferential modality-specific system for abstract-mental verbs, which exhibited functional connectivity with the right crus I/lobule VI of the cerebellum. Taken together, these results confirm the dissociation between sub-lexical and lexical-semantic processing and provide neurobiological evidence of functional coupling between specific visual modality regions and the right cerebellum, forming a network that supports the semantic representation of abstract concepts. Further, the results shed light on the underlying mechanisms of semantic processing and contribute to our understanding of how the brain processes abstract concepts.

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) measures the use of two emotional regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression. Although widely used, there is no description of the psychometric properties of the ERQ and its correlations with alexithymia and empathy in a Mexican sample. We examine the psychometric properties of the ERQ in a Mexican sample (N = 792) assessing its correlations with alexithymia and empathy utilizing the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor model. Each factor showed acceptable levels of Cronbach’s alpha reliability scores. Cognitive reappraisal scores correlated negatively with alexithymia and positively with higher empathy measures, while expressive suppression correlated positively with alexithymia and personal distress, and negatively with cognitive empathy scales and empathic concern. The ERQ has strong psychometric properties in a Mexican sample and can be applied in a confident manner in conjunction with other tests to complement the assessment of affective traits. In addition, considering previous suggestions regarding the relation between emotion regulation strategies and different components of the empathic response, the correlations between empathy measures and the emotional regulation strategies shown in this study opens a pathway to further research such interactions.

During a social evaluation, the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) plays an important role according to its contribution in making inferences about the mental states of others. However, what is the neural response if rTPJ function is inhibited during a mentalizing task? In this study, participants played the Dictator Game with two confederates: one playing cooperation (C) and other playing non-cooperation (NC) role and then they were scanned during a mentalizing test. However, we inhibited rTPJ using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) after they played the game and before they were scanned. In this test, participants read negative (Neg) or positive (Pos) personal situations and then they watched confederate's pictures. Images from the TMS group were compared against controls with no TMS stimulation. After statistical comparison, we found a significantly higher activity in right and left visual association areas (BA 18) during the NCPos > NCNeg condition in the TMS group compared with the No-TMS group. Same visual association areas have been described before when participants are processing visual emotional information or when making a fast social categorization. This could reflect a neural mechanism of socio - emotional categorization that emerges after rTPJ inhibition.

Introduction: Moyers class III syndrome is characterized by discrepancy in arch length, skeletal problems, muscle dysfunction, dental problems, and the patient's facial profile. In the national and international literature there is no evidence of the efficacy of treatment with twin blocks of Moyers class III syndrome.Objective: to evaluate treatment with twin blocks in patients with Moyers class III syndrome.Method: a quasi-experimental intervention study was carried out before and after without a control group, at the Manuel Cedeño University Clinic of Stomatological Specialties, in the period from January 2018 to March 2021. The sample was 93 patients. The variables studied were the occlusion relationship, the skull-mandibular skeletal relationship and the temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Class III twin blocks were placed in all patients.Results: with the use of twin blocks, significant changes were obtained in the molar ratio (-7,030 ± 0,7287 mm) and the overhang (2,213 ± 1,6074 mm); the skull-mandibular skeletal relationship was improved (2,659° ± 1,8696°); the function of the temporomandibular joint was found to be without symptoms and mild in 64,86 % and 57,14 % respectively, after treatment.Conclusions: with the use of twin blocks, the relationship between dental occlusion and cranio-mandibular skeletal class III is corrected, in addition to being an orthopedic-functional option that improves temporomandibular joint dysfunction in patients with Moyers class III syndrome.

El síndrome polen-alimento (SPA) se caracteriza por la sensibilización alérgica a proteínas de pólenes de pastos, malezas y árboles, que producen una reacción de hipersensibilidad de tipo I, asociada a la ingesta de alimentos derivados de plantas, usualmente en forma cruda. Las familias de proteínas que más frecuentemente están asociadas son las profilinas, las PR-10 y las ns LTP; sin embargo, se ha documentado otras, como las taumatinas, isoflavonas reductasas y las B1,2 gluconasas. El síndrome prototipo es el abedul-frutas-vegetales, y de ellos el más común es el abedul-manzana, debido a que más de 70 % de los pacientes sensibilizados al abedul presentan síntomas asociados a la ingesta de alimentos derivados de plantas. Los síntomas están restringidos a la cavidad oral; sin embargo, algunos pacientes pueden presentar síntomas sistémicos, incluso anafilaxia, por lo que es importante identificar el tipo de proteína implicada, ya que de eso depende el tipo de reacción que puede presentar el paciente. Pese a todo, se considera una entidad que puede estar subdiagnosticada debido a su valoración y tratamiento complejos, debido a que el procedimiento en la mayor parte de los casos es dieta de eliminación, ya que aún no está disponible el tratamiento con inmunoterapia. El objetivo de esta revisión es describir la fisiopatología, así como los síndromes polen-alimento más comunes.

This paper shows the brain correlates of Cloninger’s personality model during the presentation of social scenarios under positive or negative valence situations. Social scenarios were constructed when participants played the Dictator game with two confederates that had two opposites roles as the cooperator (Coop) and non-cooperator (NoCoop). Later the same day during a fMRI scanning session, participants read negative (Neg) and positive (Pos) situations that happened to confederates in the past. Participants were asked to think “how do you think those people felt during that situation?” A dissimilarity matrix between stimuli were obtained from fMRI results. Results shown that Harm Avoidance trait people make use of right middle frontal gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop. Cooperation as a trait makes use of the right superior temporal gyrus and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in positive social scenarios. Finally, Self-directedness trait people make use of the right inferior parietal lobe to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in negative social scenarios and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and Strangers. An intuitive link between discrimination findings and behavioral patterns of those personality traits is proposed.

BackgroundBehavioral mitigation strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in sweeping lifestyle changes, with short- and long-term psychological, well-being, and quality of life implications. The Attitudes About COVID-19 and Health (ATTACH) study focuses on understanding attitudes and beliefs while considering the impact on mental and physical health and the influence of broader demographic and geographic factors on attitudes, beliefs, and mental health burden. ObjectiveIn this assessment of our first wave of data collection, we provide baseline cohort description of the ATTACH study participants in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Mexico. Additionally, we assess responses to daily poll questions related to COVID-19 and conduct a cross-sectional analysis of baseline assessments collected in the UK between June 26 and October 31, 2020. MethodsThe ATTACH study uses smartphone app technology and online survey data collection. Participants completed poll questions related to COVID-19 2 times daily and a monthly survey assessing mental health, social isolation, physical health, and quality of life. Poll question responses were graphed using 95% Clopper–Pearson (exact) tests with 95% CIs. Pearson correlations, hierarchical linear regression analyses, and generalized linear models assessed relationships, predictors of self-reported outcomes, and group differences, respectively. ResultsBy October 31, 2020, 1405, 80, and 90 participants had consented to participate in the UK, United States, and Mexico, respectively. Descriptive data for the UK daily poll questions indicated that participants generally followed social distancing measures, but worry and negative impacts on families increased as the pandemic progressed. Although participants generally reported feeling that the reasons for current measures had been made clear, there was low trust that the government was doing everything in its power to meet public needs. In the UK, 1282 participants also completed a monthly survey (94.99% [1326/1396] White, 72.22% [1014/1404] female, and 20.12% [277/1377] key or essential workers); 18.88% (242/1282) of UK participants reported a preexisting mental health disorder, 31.36% (402/1282) reported a preexisting chronic medical illness, and 35.11% (493/1404) were aged over 65; 57.72% (740/1282) of participants reported being more sedentary since the pandemic began, and 41.89% (537/1282) reported reduced access to medical care. Those with poorer mental health outcomes lived in more deprived neighborhoods, in larger households (Ps

Gender roles, as social constructs, play a significant role in shaping individuals' beliefs and attitudes, influencing various aspects of life, including perceptions and expectations surrounding motherhood. These beliefs, acquired through culture and society, can have an impact on our mental well-being. This research consists of three independent studies conducted in the Mexican population. In the first and second studies, we extended the Attitudes Towards Gender Roles Scale and Motherhood Beliefs Scale and performed psychometric validation through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The aim of including additional items in both scales was to update these attitudes and beliefs in Mexican culture to avoid the traditionalist bias in both instruments. Finally, the third study examined the relationship between the new versions of both scales and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and Positive Psychological Functioning as indicators of mental health in women and men with and without children. Our findings revealed a significant association between higher levels of traditional attitudes towards gender roles and traditional motherhood beliefs, as well as between non-traditional attitudes towards gender roles and non-traditional beliefs about motherhood. Interestingly, we observed that traditional attitudes toward gender roles were associated with lower anxiety and depression scores, while non-traditional attitudes were associated with higher levels of depression. Furthermore, individuals who embraced non-traditional attitudes towards both gender roles and motherhood beliefs tended to exhibit better psychological well-being in all subsamples. Additionally, women generally showed lesser alignment with traditional attitudes towards both gender roles and motherhood beliefs compared to men. However, women reported higher rates of depression and anxiety, along with lower psychological well-being scores, than their male counterparts. This highlights the significant influence that traditional cultural norms about gender roles and motherhood have on women's mental health, underscoring the need for a deeper understanding and reevaluation of these traditional constructs in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Las mujeres han incursionado en diversas actividades productivas que a su vez les permiten ejercer su papel dentro de la unidad doméstica y mejorar sus condiciones de vida. Ante ello, se analiza la participación de la mujer campesina en el aprovechamiento de recursos naturales a partir de prácticas de turismo rural en Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, y se identifica su aportación al desarrollo local sustentable. Esta es una investigación cualitativa, basada en entrevistas dirigidas a mujeres que laboran en la actividad turística. Se concluye que la mujer campesina contribuye a la conservación ambiental a través de prácticas de turismo rural y actividades productivas, mediante una relación armónica hombre-naturaleza que implica el largo plazo.

Summary: A lymph node sinus-on-a-chip adhesion microfluidic platform that recapitulates the hydrodynamic microenvironment of the lymph node subcapsular sinus was engineered. This device was used to interrogate the effects of lymph node remodeling on cellular adhesion in fluid flow relevant to lymphatic metastasis. Wall shear stress levels analytically estimated and modeled after quiescent and diseased/inflamed lymph nodes were experimentally recapitulated using a flow-based microfluidic perfusion system to assess the effects of physiological flow fields on human metastatic cancer cell adhesion. Results suggest that both altered fluid flow profiles and presentation of adhesive ligands, which are predicted to manifest within the lymph node subcapsular sinus as a result of inflammation-induced remodeling, and the presence of lymph-borne monocytic cells may synergistically contribute to the dynamic extent of cell adhesion in flow relevant to lymph node invasion by cancer and monocytic immune cells during lymphatic metastasis.

Resumen La transformación digital esta repercutido en los sistemas de educación; en los últimos años han surgido diferentes dispositivos informáticos y se ha implementado disímiles softwares enriqueciendo los procesos de enseñanza y brindando un mayor acceso a la información. La alta penetración de la tecnología móvil y las características socio-económicas y culturales existentes en Cuba han propiciado que se empiece analizar alternativas M-Learning. Sin embargo, la carencia de recursos tecnológicos y el poco acceso de la Internet en las aulas son algunos de los desafíos que enfrenta su implementación en el escenario cubano. Por lo que un problema científico que tiene hoy este tema es proponer estrategias M-Learning acorde en los procesos de enseñanza en Cuba. El presente trabajo evalúa una estrategia M-Learning para la capacitación de promotores culturales e instructores de arte relacionado en la temática de la historia local de Santa Clara. Para su implementación se desarrollaron tres aplicaciones móviles las cuales fueron utilizadas como medio de enseñanza en el Centro Provincial de Superación para la Cultura de Villa Clara. Los métodos pedagógicos aplicados se basan en una combinación de las técnicas BYOD y Flipped classroom. Se describen las características del software diseñado y de las actividades educativas realizadas. Finalmente, se analizan los resultados del estudio de usabilidad de los softwares desarrollados y su impacto en el proceso de enseñanza. Los resultados demuestran que la estrategia M-Learning propuesta es factible para la capacitación de promotores culturales e instructores de artes.

Language comprehension involves both sub-lexical (e.g., phonological) and lexical-semantic processing. We conducted a task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the processing of verbs in these two domains. Additionally, we examined the representation of concrete-motor and abstract-non-motor concepts by including two semantic categories of verbs: motor and mental. The findings indicate that sub-lexical processing during the reading of pseudo-verbs primarily involves the left dorsal stream of the perisylvian network, while lexical-semantic representation during the reading of verbs predominantly engages the ventral stream. According to the embodied or grounded cognition approach, modality-specific mechanisms (such as sensory-motor systems) and the well-established multimodal left perisylvian network contribute to the semantic representation of both concrete and abstract verbs. Our study identified the visual system as a preferential modality-specific system for abstract-mental verbs, which exhibited functional connectivity with the right crus I/lobule VI of the cerebellum. Taken together, these results confirm the dissociation between sub-lexical and lexical-semantic processing and provide neurobiological evidence of functional coupling between specific visual modality regions and the right cerebellum, forming a network that supports the semantic representation of abstract concepts. Further, the results shed light on the underlying mechanisms of semantic processing and contribute to our understanding of how the brain processes abstract concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mentalizing is a fundamental aspect of social cognition that includes understanding the mental states of others. This process involves the participation of a well-defined set of brain regions. However, it is still unknown how different contextual situations, such as previous cooperative or non-cooperative interactions, can modulate the brain activity related to the inference of others’ mental states. Hence, this study investigated whether a previous social interaction can modulate the neural mechanisms involved in a way to response to inferred mental states of cooperators and non-cooperators in positive vs. negative emotional situations. Participants first engaged in a Dictator game with cooperator and non-cooperator confederates. Then, in an fMRI setup, participants had to infer the mental states of the cooperator and non-cooperator confederates under positive and negative situations. Results showed that in addition to the mentalizing network, inferring mental states recruited occipital and cerebellar areas in the cooperative context. A differential pattern of activity that depended on the emotional valence of the situation was also detected, i.e., negative situations recruited prefrontal cortex (PFC) in both contexts, while temporal regions were recruited only for the non-cooperative context. Overall, these results suggest that our previous experiences with others modulate the brain activity related to the inferences we make about their mental states in specific emotional situations.

Como un aporte a la nutrición / alimentación de la creciente población de adultos mayores en Guatemala, se desarrolló el presente trabajo cuyo objetivo fue evaluar la calidad química, nutritiva y sensorial de pan preparado de la sustitución parcial de harina de trigo por harina de arroz.Se evaluaron sustituciones de 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 y 60 % de harina de trigo por harina de arroz. Se encontraron diferencias con el pan control (100% harina de trigo) en el proceso de preparación, en la textura, volumen, altura, peso y volumen específico. Se notaron efectos importantes en el manejo de las masas en particular con los de 40, 50 y 60% de harina de arroz. Así mismo, a mayor nivel de arroz se encontró una textura harinosa. La calidad de la proteína del pan aumentó con el nivel de sustitución, sin embargo la diferencia en calidad proteínica entre el pan de trigo y el de 60% de arroz no alcanzó significancia estadística. En base a un análisis estadístico de las características físicas se seleccionó el pan con 30 y 40% de harina arroz y a través de una prueba de preferencia se seleccionó el pan con 30% de harina de arroz como el más adecuado para los fines del estudio. Este pan no fue diferente al pan de trigo en varios parámetros nutricionales y en algunos fue superior. Cada porción de pan tiene un peso de 80 gramos (2 rebanadas) que aporta cantidades adecuadas de calorías, proteína y sodio aunque un poco menos en fibra dietética que el pan de 100% trigo.Development of bakery products of greater andul consumption based on wheat and rice flour. The present investigation was developed as a contribution to Guatemalan's elderly food and nutrition. Its main objective was to evaluate the chemical, nutritional and sensory quality of bread prepared from the partial substitution of wheat flour with rice flour.Wheat flour substitutions with rice flour in the order of 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 % were evaluated. Differences with the control (100% wheat bread) were found during the process of preparation, as well as texture, volume, height, weight and specific volume. Important effects in dough handling were noted specifically in the 40, 50 and 60% rice bread. Thus, a sandy texture was found in breads of higher rice levels. The bread protein quality increased with the level of substitution; however the protein quality difference between the wheat bread and the bread with 60% rice flour did not achieve statistical significance. Based on a statistical analysis of the physical properties the bread with 30 and 40% rice flour was selected, and through a preference test between these last two, the 30% rice flour bread was selected as the sample best suited to the present study’s purposes. This bread was not different to wheat bread in many nutritional parameters, although in others it showed to be superior. Each serving size of bread has a weight of 80 grams (2 slices) that contributes adequate quantity of calories, protein and sodium, although a little less dietary fiber than 100% wheat bread.

This paper shows the brain correlates of Cloninger's personality model during the presentation of social scenarios under positive or negative valence situations. Social scenarios were constructed when participants played the Dictator game with two confederates that had two opposites roles as the cooperator (Coop) and non-cooperator (NoCoop). Later the same day during a fMRI scanning session, participants read negative (Neg) and positive (Pos) situations that happened to confederates in the past. Participants were asked to think "how do you think those people felt during that situation?" A dissimilarity matrix between stimuli were obtained from fMRI results. Results shown that Harm Avoidance trait people make use of right middle frontal gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop. Cooperation as a trait makes use of the right superior temporal gyrus and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in positive social scenarios. Finally, Self-directedness trait people make use of the right inferior parietal lobe to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in negative social scenarios and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and Strangers. An intuitive link between discrimination findings and behavioral patterns of those personality traits is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Alergia de Mexico is the property of Coleg. Mexicano de Inmunologia Clinica y Alergia A.C.; Soc. Lat. de Alergia, Asma e Inmunologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• Speech act events entailed faster and more accurate responses. • Speech act recognition involved the left frontal pole, left posterior cingulate gyrus, and bilateral precuneus. • BOLD signal change in precuneus was predicted by the scores in mental flexibility. Pragmatic competence demands linguistic, but also communicative, social and cognitive competence. Successful use of language in social interaction requires mutual understanding of the speaker's intentions; without it, a conversation cannot proceed. The term speech act refers to what a speaker intends to accomplish when saying something. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the identification of the neural substrate of speech act recognition and to the characterization of the cognitive processes that may be involved. The recognition of speech acts resulted in greater activation of frontal regions, precuneus and posterior cingulate gyrus. From all cognitive and behavioral measures obtained, only the scores in mental flexibility predicted the change in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in the precuneus. These results, support the idea that speech act recognition requires the inference of intention, executive functions, including memory and entails the activation of areas of social cognition that participate in several brain networks i.e., the Intention Processing, the Default Mode and Theory of Mind networks, and areas involved in planning and guiding behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Deception tasks frequently lack the intention to lie component. • The most commonly used motivator for lying is the monetary reward. • Left lateral occipital cortex (sd) is related to the intention to lie component. • Right IFG participates in simulated and real social interactions during lying. • Deception tasks with high ecological validity recruited the bilateral ACC. Interpretation of the neural findings of deception without considering the ecological validity of the experimental tasks could lead to biased conclusions. In this study we classified the experimental tasks according to their inclusion of three essential components required for ecological validity: intention to lie, social interaction and motivation. First, we carried out a systematic review to categorize fMRI deception tasks and to weigh the degree of ecological validity of each one. Second, we performed a meta-analysis to identify if each type of task involves a different neural substrate and to distinguish the neurocognitive contribution of each component of ecological validity essential to deception. We detected six categories of deception tasks. Intention to lie was the component least frequently included, followed by social interaction. Monetary reward was the most frequent motivator. The results of the meta-analysis, including 59 contrasts, revealed that intention to lie is associated with activation in the left lateral occipital cortex (superior division) whereas the left angular gyrus and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) are engaged during lying under instructions. Additionally, the right IFG appears to participate in the social aspect of lying including simulated and real interactions. We found no effect of monetary reward in our analysis. Finally, tasks with high ecological validity recruited fewer brain areas (right insular cortex and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)) compared to less ecological tasks, perhaps because they are more natural and realistic, and engage a wide network of brain mechanisms, as opposed to specific tasks that demand more centralized processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: resting state fMRI; language-task fMRI; pragmatic language; functional connectivity; cortical thickness EN resting state fMRI language-task fMRI pragmatic language functional connectivity cortical thickness 1 7 7 06/23/21 20210617 NES 210617 Introduction Pragmatics studies the social-cognitive basis of communication that is crucial to the understanding of the non-literal meaning of an expression. Recently, we conducted an analysis with some of the fMRI language task data included in this study, in which we detected increased activation and functional connectivity in regions of the left neural perisylvian network and motor regions, such as the precentral gyrus, the supplementary motor area (SMA), and the cerebellum. Resting state fMRI, language-task fMRI, pragmatic language, functional connectivity, cortical thickness Methods Data Acquisition All brain MRI data were acquired in different schedules over 4 years (2016-2019) in a variety of different pragmatic language study protocols. [Extracted from the article]

The chitinolytic enzyme produced by Bacillus thuringiensis var israelesis was used to examine both of Sclerotium rolfsii in soybean seeds and also in the growth of 11 phytophathogenic fungi, to extend its biotechnological application. The results show that Bacillus thuringiensis chitinase can be used for the biocontrol of Sclerotium rolfsii in soybean seeds and also of other phytophathogenic fungi.

Highlights • Pragmatic language comprehension involves a bilateral fronto-temporal network and medial prefrontal cortex. • Classical language areas together with areas of social cognition could represent a "pragmatic language network". • Pragmatic language recruits regions of the right hemisphere in support of coarse semantic coding theory. • The areas of the "pragmatic language network" are differentially engaged by pragmatic form and stimulus configuration. • This proposal must be tempered by the heterogeneity in natural language and stimulus modality among studies. Abstract Pragmatics may be defined as the ability to communicate by expressing and recognizing intentions. The objective of this meta-analysis was to identify neural substrates for comprehension of pragmatic content in general, as well as the differences between pragmatic forms, and to describe if there is differential recruitment of brain areas according to natural language. This meta-analysis included 48 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that reported pragmatic versus literal language contrasts. The pragmatic forms were speech acts, metaphors, idioms, and irony. Effect Size-Signed Differential Mapping software was used to calculate the mean for all contrasts as well as for each pragmatic form, and make comparisons among all forms. Due to variations in pragmatic content configuration such as natural language, stimulus modality, and writing systems, these variations were also analyzed with subgroups' analyses. The analyses found a highly reproducible bilateral fronto-temporal and medial prefrontal cortex network for pragmatic comprehension. Each pragmatic form showed a specific convergence pattern within this bilateral network. Natural language analyses showed that fronto-temporal regions were recruited by Germanic languages, while only left frontal areas were recruited by Romance languages, and right medial prefrontal cortex by Japanese. In conclusion, pragmatic language comprehension involves classical language areas in bilateral perisylvian regions, along with the medial prefrontal cortex, an area involved in social cognition. Together, these areas could represent the "pragmatic language network". Nonetheless, when proposing a universal neural substrate for all forms of pragmatic language, the diversity among studies in terms of pragmatic form, and configuration, must be taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Como un aporte a la nutrición / alimentación de la creciente población de adultos mayores en Guatemala, se desarrolló el presente trabajo cuyo objetivo fue evaluar la calidad química, nutritiva y sensorial de pan preparado de la sustitución parcial de harina de trigo por harina de arroz.Se evaluaron sustituciones de 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 y 60 % de harina de trigo por harina de arroz. Se encontraron diferencias con el pan control (100% harina de trigo) en el proceso de preparación, en la textura, volumen, altura, peso y volumen específico. Se notaron efectos importantes en el manejo de las masas en particular con los de 40, 50 y 60% de harina de arroz. Así mismo, a mayor nivel de arroz se encontró una textura harinosa. La calidad de la proteína del pan aumentó con el nivel de sustitución, sin embargo la diferencia en calidad proteínica entre el pan de trigo y el de 60% de arroz no alcanzó significancia estadística. En base a un análisis estadístico de las características físicas se seleccionó el pan con 30 y 40% de harina arroz y a través de una prueba de preferencia se seleccionó el pan con 30% de harina de arroz como el más adecuado para los fines del estudio. Este pan no fue diferente al pan de trigo en varios parámetros nutricionales y en algunos fue superior. Cada porción de pan tiene un peso de 80 gramos (2 rebanadas) que aporta cantidades adecuadas de calorías, proteína y sodio aunque un poco menos en fibra dietética que el pan de 100% trigo.

Mentalizing is a fundamental aspect of social cognition that includes understanding the mental states of others. This process involves the participation of a well-defined set of brain regions. However, it is still unknown how different contextual situations, such as previous cooperative or non-cooperative interactions, can modulate the brain activity related to the inference of others' mental states. Hence, this study investigated whether a previous social interaction can modulate the neural mechanisms involved in a way to response to inferred mental states of cooperators and non-cooperators in positive vs. negative emotional situations. Participants first engaged in a Dictator game with cooperator and non-cooperator confederates. Then, in an fMRI setup, participants had to infer the mental states of the cooperator and non-cooperator confederates under positive and negative situations. Results showed that in addition to the mentalizing network, inferring mental states recruited occipital and cerebellar areas in the cooperative context. A differential pattern of activity that depended on the emotional valence of the situation was also detected, i.e., negative situations recruited prefrontal cortex (PFC) in both contexts, while temporal regions were recruited only for the non-cooperative context. Overall, these results suggest that our previous experiences with others modulate the brain activity related to the inferences we make about their mental states in specific emotional situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary approaches have proposed that women possess an advantage over men in emotional functioning to promote attachment for child-rearing. Likewise, sex differences have been reported in traits such as personality and empathy, traits that likely modulate emotional processing. In this preliminary study, sex differences in emotional processing were analyzed, including empathy as a social emotion and personality traits, as well as whether there exist relationships between those measures. Young volunteers (N=105) indicated the emotional valence, activation, and dominance that they experience in situations categorized as emotionally positive, negative, or neutral. The results of comparison between sexes supported the approach that women showed more sensitivity to high activation and dominance for positive emotions and empathy, and men were more sensitive to negative situations. Correlation analysis showed only one positive relationship between scores of Self-transcendence, a subscale of Temperament and Character Inventory, with activation scores of neutral situations, but not with emotionally charged situations, perhaps because emotions are context-dependent processes while personality traits are considered context-independent descriptions of habits. These findings should be replicated to enrich knowledge about problems in emotional processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ginecología y Obstetricia de México is the property of Federacion Mexicana de Ginecologia y Obstetricia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• Psychotherapists show psychometric differences in perspective taking and emotional regulation. • Psychotherapists show greater functional connectivity between the lAi and the dmPFC • Psychotherapists showed less functional connectivity between the rACC and the roPFC. • Functional connectivity correlated with perspective taking. • Brain organization of psychotherapists is related to the cognitive regulation of their empathic response. In a therapeutic environment a proper regulation of the empathic response strengthens the patient-therapist relationship. Thus, it is important that psychotherapists constantly regulate their own perspective and emotions to better understand the other's affective state. We compared the empathic abilities of a group of 52 psychotherapists with a group of 92 non-psychotherapists and found psychometric differences. Psychotherapists showed greater scores in Fantasy and Perspective Taking, both cognitive empathy constructs, and lower scores in the use of expressive suppression, an emotional regulation strategy that hampers the empathic response, suggesting that psychotherapists exert top-down processes that influence their empathic response. In addition, the expected sex differences in empathic concern and expressive suppression were only present in the non-psychotherapist group. To see if such psychometric differences were related to a distinctive functional organization of brain networks, we contrasted the resting state functional connectivity of empathy-related brain regions between a group of 18 experienced psychotherapists and a group of 18 non-psychotherapists. Psychotherapists showed greater functional connectivity between the left anterior insula and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and less connectivity between rostral anterior cingulate cortex and the orbito prefrontal cortex. Both associations correlated with Perspective Taking scores. Considering that the psychometric differences between groups were in the cognitive domain and that the functional connectivity associations involve areas related to cognitive regulation processes, these results suggest a relationship between the functional brain organization of psychotherapists and the cognitive regulation of their empathic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) measures the use of two emotional regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression. Although widely used, there is no description of the psychometric properties of the ERQ and its correlations with alexithymia and empathy in a Mexican sample. We examine the psychometric properties of the ERQ in a Mexican sample (N = 792) assessing its correlations with alexithymia and empathy utilizing the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor model. Each factor showed acceptable levels of Cronbach's alpha reliability scores. Cognitive reappraisal scores correlated negatively with alexithymia and positively with higher empathy measures, while expressive suppression correlated positively with alexithymia and personal distress, and negatively with cognitive empathy scales and empathic concern. The ERQ has strong psychometric properties in a Mexican sample and can be applied in a confident manner in conjunction with other tests to complement the assessment of affective traits. In addition, considering previous suggestions regarding the relation between emotion regulation strategies and different components of the empathic response, the correlations between empathy measures and the emotional regulation strategies shown in this study opens a pathway to further research such interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archivos de Neurociencias is the property of Instituto Nacional de Neurologia y Neurocirugia, Departamento de Publicaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Previous studies have identified a set of variables associated with depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the existing antecedents in Mexico, in addition to being limited to the beginning of the health emergency, made use of small and unrepresentative samples. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify the prevalence and factors associated with clinically significant depressive symptomatology (CSDS) in a representative Mexican sample of 2021.Methods: A secondary cross-sectional analysis of the Encuesta Nacional de Bienestar Autorreportado (ENBIARE) was conducted. For the present study, the effective sample was 30,901. Univariate and bivariate anaylses were followed by a multiple Poisson regression, which served to obtain adjusted prevalence ratios of each variable under study.Results: The prevalence of CSDS in the year 2021 was 15.3 %. In the multivariable analysis, the factors associated with CSDS were the number of recent stressful events, having a major functional limitation, not having social support from family or friends, being female, having suffered recent discrimination, alcohol or other drug use (by oneself or someone at home), not being married or cohabiting, living in a rural area, having had a diagnosis of COVID-19, having lost a job, living with a chronic patient, not doing physical exercise, and having a low educational level.Limitations: The main limitations were the cross-sectional nature of the data, the use of self-report measures, as well as the fact that this was a secondary analysis that did not allow consideration of additional variables.Conclusions: A set of personal and contextual variables were identified that can help focus prevention and intervention efforts on the phenomenon of depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual system classifies objects into categories, and distinct populations of neurons within the temporal lobe respond preferentially to objects of a given perceptual category. We can also classify the objects we recognize with the sense of touch, but less is known about the neuronal correlates underlying this cognitive function. To address this question, we performed a multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of functional magnetic resonance imagining ( f MRI) activity to identify the cortical areas that can be used to decode the category of objects explored with the hand. We observed that tactile object category can be decoded from the activity patterns of somatosensory and parietal areas. Importantly, we found that categories can also be decoded from the lateral occipital complex (LOC), which is a multimodal region known to be related to the representation of object shape. Furthermore, a hyperalignment analysis showed that activity patterns are similar across subjects. Our results thus indicate that tactile object recognition generates category-specific patterns of activity in a multisensory area known to encode objects, and that these patterns have a similar functional organization across individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Behavioral mitigation strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in sweeping lifestyle changes, with short- and long-term psychological, well-being, and quality of life implications. The Attitudes About COVID-19 and Health (ATTACH) study focuses on understanding attitudes and beliefs while considering the impact on mental and physical health and the influence of broader demographic and geographic factors on attitudes, beliefs, and mental health burden., Objective: In this assessment of our first wave of data collection, we provide baseline cohort description of the ATTACH study participants in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Mexico. Additionally, we assess responses to daily poll questions related to COVID-19 and conduct a cross-sectional analysis of baseline assessments collected in the UK between June 26 and October 31, 2020., Methods: The ATTACH study uses smartphone app technology and online survey data collection. Participants completed poll questions related to COVID-19 2 times daily and a monthly survey assessing mental health, social isolation, physical health, and quality of life. Poll question responses were graphed using 95% Clopper-Pearson (exact) tests with 95% CIs. Pearson correlations, hierarchical linear regression analyses, and generalized linear models assessed relationships, predictors of self-reported outcomes, and group differences, respectively., Results: By October 31, 2020, 1405, 80, and 90 participants had consented to participate in the UK, United States, and Mexico, respectively. Descriptive data for the UK daily poll questions indicated that participants generally followed social distancing measures, but worry and negative impacts on families increased as the pandemic progressed. Although participants generally reported feeling that the reasons for current measures had been made clear, there was low trust that the government was doing everything in its power to meet public needs. In the UK, 1282 participants also completed a monthly survey (94.99% [1326/1396] White, 72.22% [1014/1404] female, and 20.12% [277/1377] key or essential workers); 18.88% (242/1282) of UK participants reported a preexisting mental health disorder, 31.36% (402/1282) reported a preexisting chronic medical illness, and 35.11% (493/1404) were aged over 65; 57.72% (740/1282) of participants reported being more sedentary since the pandemic began, and 41.89% (537/1282) reported reduced access to medical care. Those with poorer mental health outcomes lived in more deprived neighborhoods, in larger households (Ps<.05), had more preexisting mental health disorders and medical conditions, and were younger than 65 years (all Ps<.001)., Conclusions: Communities who have been exposed to additional harm during the COVID-19 pandemic were experiencing worse mental outcomes. Factors including having a medical condition, or living in a deprived neighborhood or larger household were associated with heightened risk. Future longitudinal studies should investigate the link between COVID-19 exposure, mental health, and sociodemographic and residential characteristics., (©Anna M Hood, Hanne Stotesbury, Jennifer Murphy, Melanie Kölbel, April Slee, Charlie Springall, Matthew Paradis, Nadia Saraí Corral-Frías, Azalea Reyes-Aguilar, Alfredo B Cuellar Barboza, Amy E Noser, Stacey Gomes, Monica Mitchell, Sharon M Watkins, Melinda Butsch Kovacic, Fenella J Kirkham, Lori E Crosby. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org), 07.10.2021.)

Background: When studyng the risk factors associated to maternal morbidity and mortality due to an obstetric emergency, their causes can be identified, Objective: To identify factors predisposing maternal morbidity and mortality in the Regional Hospital of Poza Rica in 2012., Material and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional descriptive survey, was done based on a convenience obtained survey in patients. Percentages and contingency tables were used for each variable; calculating the prevailing global prevalence and that of exposed and unexposed to the risk factor studied. Odds ratio was used to evaluate the above, we use the test of Mantel and Heanzel ji; the result was compared to 1.96 with a confidence interval of 95%., Results: There were included 364 patients in wich the main causes of mortality were bleeding in the first quarter 45% (n=164) hypertensive disorders 40% of cases (n=146). Risk factors with a significant association (p < 0.05) were for preeclampsia: to be primiparous whit a PR of 1.56, FEp 19.6% and 35% FEe; maternal age < 20 and > 35 years old RP 1.11; Fee Fee 4.3% and 48%; and for abortion parity ≥4 with RP 1.42, FEP 7.2% fee 29%.