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Aims: The study of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the population is a crucial step towards overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Seroepidemiological studies allow an estimation of the number of people who have been exposed to the virus, as well as the number of people who are still susceptible to infection. Methods: In total, 13 560 people from Arganda del Rey, Madrid (Spain) were assessed between January and March 2021 for the presence of IgG antibodies, using rapid tests and histories of symptoms compatible with COVID-19. Results: 24.2% of the participants had IgG antibodies and 9% had a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Loss of smell/taste was the most discriminating symptom of the disease. The main transmitters of infection were found to be household members. Unexpectedly, in smokers, the incidence of positive COVID-19 diagnoses was significantly lower. Additionally, it was found that there was a discrepancy between COVID-19 diagnosis and the presence of IgG antibodies. Conclusions: Rapid anti-IgG tests are less reliable in detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection at an individual level, but are functional in estimating SARS-CoV-2 infection rates at an epidemiological level. The loss of smell/taste is a potential indicator for establishing COVID-19 infection. Sitio web de la revista (Consulta: 07-10-2022)

Alcohol is part of the usual diet of millions of individuals worldwide. However, not all individuals who drink alcohol experience the same effects, nor will everyone develop an alcohol use disorder. Here we propose that the intestinal microbiota (IMB) helps explain the different consumption patterns of alcohol among individuals. 507 humans participated in this study and alcohol consumption and IMB composition were analyzed. On the other hand, in 80 adult male Wistar rats, behavioral tests, alcohol intoxication, fecal transplantation, administration of antibiotics and collection of fecal samples were performed. For identification and relative quantification of bacterial taxa was used the bacterial 16 S ribosomal RNA gene. In humans, we found that heavy episodic drinking is associated with a specific stool type phenotype (type 1, according to Bristol Stool Scale; p

Trabajo fin de máster. Defendido en 2021. Máster en Cognición y Emoción en Contextos Educativos. Entre los diversos factores que determinan el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes, las emociones constituyen uno de los más relevantes. De hecho, desde hace tiempo se sabe que las emociones no solo afectan el desarrollo social sino también el proceso de aprendizaje, particularmente la comprensión de contenidos académicos. El objetivo del presente trabajo de investigación es analizar cómo afectan las emociones al rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de bachillerato en contextos socioeconómicos desfavorables, en la asignatura de matemáticas. Esta es una investigación transversal cuantitativa de tipo ex post facto, principalmente de carácter correlacional. Para ello, se ha analizado un conjunto de 539 estudiantes de un centro de bachillerato específico y que viven en zonas rurales de Chiapas (México), mediante la aplicación de un cuestionario que incluye preguntas sobre su situación socioeconómica, así como el Achievement Emotion Questionnaire (Pekrun et al., 2005; 2011). El cuestionario utiliza ocho escalas emocionales relacionadas con el estudio que miden el nivel de disfrute, esperanza, orgullo, ira, ansiedad, vergüenza, desesperanza y aburrimiento. Los resultados muestran que el cuestionario y las respuestas son internamente válidas y confiables, y que las emociones se capturan mejor a través de sus componentes emocionales (afectivo, cognitivo, motivacional y fisiológico) dentro de un factor latente de emoción secundario. Se encontró también que las emociones positivas puntuaron más alto e influyen positivamente sobre el rendimiento académico (sobre todo el disfrute), aunque las negativas lo reducen con mayor intensidad (principalmente la ansiedad y la vergüenza). Esto es consistente con la Teoría del Control-Valor, que estipula que las emociones afectan al aprendizaje y al desempeño a través de la motivación y el desarrollo de estrategias de estudio. Las horas de estudio, los ingresos económicos y el género también correlacionaron de forma positiva y significativa con el rendimiento. En particular, se observó que las mujeres obtuvieron mejores notas, lo que se podría explicar porque son más auto-disciplinadas y porque sus mayores emociones positivas, junto con una mayor ansiedad y vergüenza, podrían motivarlas para esforzarse más. También se encontraron diferencias por población; los alumnos de zonas más urbanas tienen mejor rendimiento académico. Abstract: Among the various factors that affect students' academic performance, emotions are one of the most relevant. In fact, it has long been known that emotions affect not only social development but also the learning process, particularly the understanding of academic content. The objective of this research work is to analyse how emotions affect the academic performance of high school students in unfavourable socioeconomic contexts, in the subject of mathematics. This is an ex post facto cross-section quantitative analysis, mainly of correlational nature. To this end, a set of 539 students from a specific high school and living in rural areas of Chiapas (Mexico) has been analysed, through the application of a questionnaire that includes questions about their socioeconomic situation, as well as the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire (Pekrun et al., 2005; 2011). The questionnaire uses eight study-related emotional scales that measure the level of enjoyment, hope, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom. The results show that the questionnaire and the responses are internally valid and reliable, and that emotions are better captured through their emotional components (affective, cognitive, motivational and physiological) within a secondary latent factor of emotion. It was also found that positive emotions scored higher and positively influence academic performance (especially enjoyment), although negative emotions reduce it to a larger extend (mainly anxiety and shame). This is consistent with the Control-Value Theory, which states that emotions affect learning and performance through motivation and the development of study strategies. Study hours, income, and gender were also positively and significantly correlated with performance. In particular, it was observed that women achieved higher notes, which could be explained because they are more self-disciplined and because their greater positive emotions, along with greater anxiety and shame, could motivate them to obtain better grades. Differences by population were also found; students from more urban areas achieve better academic performance. Ordenador con navegador de Internet ; Adobe Acrobat Reader 67 p. (Según el contador de la aplicación)

Although the genetic influence on global stopping has been extensively investigated, little is known about the genetic contribution to other more complex forms of inhibitory control such as selective stopping. The selectivity of inhibitory control can be assessed by using the stimulus-selective stop-signal task. Notably, recent behavioural and neural evidence indicates that individuals can adopt selective but also non-selective stopping strategies to solve it. This study aimed to investigate for the first time the influence of two relevant dopaminergic polymorphisms (in COMT and DRD2 genes) on stimulus-selective stopping in a sample of 529 adults. Results showed that although none of these polymorphisms (neither individually nor in combination) modulate the latency of the stop process in each strategy (the stop-signal reaction time), the choice of strategy was influenced by their interaction. These results suggest that dopaminergic polymorphisms might influence strategy adoption in selective stopping paradigms, which constitutes a novel finding. Sitio web de la revista (Consulta: 30-04-2021)

Resumen tomado de la publicación Asociaciones entre el uso experimental de sustancias, variaciones del gen FAAH, impulsividad y búsqueda de sensaciones. Antecedentes: el uso experimental de sustancias en los jóvenes está relacionada con factores individuales que incluyen rasgos de personalidad, como impulsividad o búsqueda de sensaciones, y variaciones genéticas, como polimorfismos de un solo nucleótido (SNPs) del gen amida hidrolasa de ácidos grasos (FAAH). El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la relación entre estos tres conjuntos de variables. Método: estudiantes universitarios voluntarios (N = 861, 76% mujeres, M = 20,7 años) rellenaron un cuestionario ad hoc de variables relacionadas con el consumo de alcohol, tabaco, cannabis, drogas sintéticas y cocaína. Además, 591 de ellos rellenaron las escalas BIS-11 y SSS-V. Se genotipó a todos ellos en SNP FAAH C385A y su variante proxy rs12075550. Resultados: como se esperaba, la impulsividad y la búsqueda de sensaciones estuvieron asociadas con la mayor parte de las variables relativas al uso experimental de sustancias. Además, encontramos por primera vez evidencia de una asociación entre rs12075550 y algunos de estos fenotipos de consumo. Sin embargo, no encontramos asociaciones significativas entre SNPs e impulsividad o búsqueda de sensaciones. Conclusiones: los resultados resaltan la importancia de tener en cuenta las diferencias genéticas y las de personalidad, junto con los factores contextuales, al analizar el uso de sustancias. Universidad de Oviedo. Biblioteca de Psicología; Plaza Feijoo, s/n.; 33003 Oviedo; Tel. +34985104146; Fax +34985104126; buopsico@uniovi.es ESP

Data de publicació electrònica: 22-09-2017 Mixing alcohol with caffeinated energy drinks is a common practice, especially among young people. In humans, the research on this issue has mainly focused on the use of the mass-marketed energy drinks themselves, whereas in animal models, it has focused on the individual effects of their active ingredients (i.e. caffeine). Here, we have characterized how Red Bull®, one of the most consumed caffeinated energy drink worldwide, modulates operant alcohol self-administration in Wistar rats. We found that animals readily and steadily responded for Red Bull (mean: 90 responses, 30 minutes and fixed-ratio 1), which was accompanied by locomotor stimulating effects (26 percent increase). The higher the concentration of alcohol (3-20 percent), the higher the consumption of alcohol (g/kg) and associated blood alcohol levels (91.76 percent) in the mixed Red Bull-alcohol group (60 percent increase). Blood caffeine levels in the Red Bull group were 4.69 μg/ml and 1.31 μg/ml in the Red Bull-alcohol group after the 30-minute session. Because Red Bull also contains 11 percent sucrose, we examined the time course of blood glucose as well as insulin and corticosterone. The correlation between intake of Red Bull and blood glucose levels was higher at 90 minutes than 5 minutes after its consumption, and there was no relationship with blood insulin or blood corticosterone levels. Red Bull did not alter extinction and reacquisition of responding for alcohol nor did it affect relapse-like drinking. Overall, our results suggest that Red Bull might be a vulnerability factor to develop alcoholism given that it intensifies the consumption of higher concentrations of alcohol.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The opioid antagonist nalmefene (selincro®) was approved for alcohol-related disorders by the European Medicines Agency in 2013. However, there have been no studies regarding the effectiveness of nalmefene when alcohol is used in combination with cocaine. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Using operant alcohol self-administration in Wistar rats and qRT-PCR, we evaluated (i) the dose-response curve for s.c. and p.o. nalmefene; (ii) the effects of nalmefene with increasing concentrations of alcohol; (iii) the efficacy of nalmefene on cocaine-potentiated alcohol responding; and (iv) the gene expression profiles of histone deacetylases (Hdac1-11) in peripheral blood in vivo and in the prefrontal cortex, heart, liver and kidney post mortem. KEY RESULTS: S.c. (0.01, 0.05, 0.1 mg·kg(-1) ) and p.o. (10, 20, 40 mg·kg(-1) ) nalmefene dose-dependently reduced alcohol-reinforced responding by up to 50.3%. This effect of nalmefene was not dependent on alcohol concentration (10, 15, 20%). Cocaine potentiated alcohol responding by approximately 40% and nalmefene (0.05 mg·kg(-1) ) reversed this effect of cocaine. Alcohol increased Hdac gene expression in blood and nalmefene prevented the increases in Hdacs 3, 8, 5, 7, 9, 6 and 10. In the other tissues, alcohol and nalmefene either did not alter the gene expression of Hdacs, as in the prefrontal cortex, or a tissue-Hdac-specific effect was observed. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Nalmefene might be effective as a treatment for alcohol-dependent patients who also use cocaine. Also, the expression of Hdacs in peripheral blood might be useful as a biomarker of alcohol use and drug response. This work was supported by The European Foundation for Alcohol Research (to J.A.L.M., F.R.d.F., R.M. and R.N.), the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (Red de Trastornos Adictivos, FEDER, RD12/0028/0015 to J.A.L.M., RD12/0028/001 to F.R.d.F., RD12/0028/023 to R.M., RD12/0028/0014 to R.N.) and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2011-26818 to J.A.L.M.).

El consumo de sustancias psicoactivas, y en concreto el consumo simultáneo de alcohol y cocaína, es una práctica frecuente en la población general. Así mismo, se ha visto que el consumo de cocaína incrementa el riesgo de desarrollar dependencia de alcohol, y viceversa. Actualmente existen 4 tratamientos farmacológicos aprobados para la dependencia de alcohol, siendo el disulfiram el primer tratamiento aprobado, posteriormente lo fueron la naltrexona y el acamprosato, y recientemente el nalmefeno. Por otra parte, estudios clínicos recientes han señalado que el topiramato, un fármaco aprobado para el tratamiento de la epilepsia y la prevención de la migraña, podría ser efectivo para el tratamiento de la dependencia de alcohol o cocaína. Sin embargo, para esta última no existe aún ninguna terapia farmacológica aprobada, y se conoce muy poco acerca de la eficacia de estas farmacoterapias en la codependencia de alcohol y cocaína...