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RESUMEN Fundamento. Los profesionales sanitarios presentan una alta prevalencia del síndrome de burnout. Este síndrome podría implicar la afectación de funciones cognitivas superiores en el ámbito clínico. El objetivo ha sido evaluar si el burnout está relacionado con las funciones ejecutivas de inhibición, memoria de trabajo, toma de decisiones y flexibilidad cognitiva en el personal sanitario de Cuidados Paliativos. Material y métodos. Se ha evaluado el burnout en setenta y siete profesionales sanitarios de Cuidados Paliativos mediante el Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS) y las funciones ejecutivas mediante el test Stroop (inhibición), test de letras y números (memoria de trabajo), Iowa Gambling Task (toma de decisiones) y Trail Making Test (flexibilidad). Los profesionales fueron clasificados en función tanto de su nivel de burnout (bajo, medio, alto) para cada dimensión del MBI-HSS (cansancio emocional, despersonalización y baja realización personal), como del número de dimensiones de burnout alteradas (con niveles altos en ninguna, una o más de una). Resultados. El 54,5% del personal sanitario presentó burnout, un 15,6% con más de una dimensión alterada; estos profesionales obtuvieron puntuaciones significativamente más bajas que los sanitarios sin burnout en los test Stroop, letras y números e Iowa Gambling Task. Niveles más altos de cansancio emocional y despersonalización se relacionaron con puntuaciones significativamente más bajas en el Iowa Gambling Task (toma de decisiones). Conclusiones. Los resultados mostraron que el personal sanitario de Cuidados Paliativos con alto burnout tiene un peor funcionamiento en inhibición, memoria de trabajo y toma de decisiones. Estas funciones ejecutivas pueden ser relevantes en el ámbito clínico, ya que están relacionadas con el procesamiento cognitivo necesario para un adecuado razonamiento clínico del profesional sanitario.

Drug addiction is associated with impaired judgment in unstructured situations in which success depends on self-regulation of behavior according to internal goals (adaptive decision-making). However most executive measures are aimed at assessing decision-making in structured scenarios, in which success is determined by external criteria inherent to the situation (veridical decision-making). The aim of this study was to examine the performance of Substance Abusers (SA, n = 97) and Healthy Comparison participants (HC, n = 81) in two behavioral tasks that mimic the uncertainty inherent in real-life decision-making: the Cognitive Bias Task (CB) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) (administered only to SA). A related goal was to study the interdependence between performances on both tasks. We conducted univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) to contrast the decision-making performance of both groups; and used correlation analyses to study the relationship between both tasks. SA showed a marked context-independent decision-making strategy on the CB's adaptive condition, but no differences were found on the veridical conditions in a subsample of SA (n = 34) and HC (n = 22). A high percentage of SA (75%) also showed impaired performance on the IGT. Both tasks were only correlated when no impaired participants were selected. Results indicate that SA show abnormal decision-making performance in unstructured situations, but not in veridical situations. (JINS, 2006, 12, 90–99.)

Introduction Functional imaging studies of addiction following protracted abstinence have not been systematically conducted to look at the associations between severity of use of different drugs and brain dysfunction. Findings from such studies may be relevant to implement specific interventions for treatment. The aim of this study was to examine the association between resting-state regional brain metabolism (measured with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) and the severity of use of cocaine, heroin, alcohol, MDMA and cannabis in a sample of polysubstance users with prolonged abstinence from all drugs used., Methods Our sample consisted of 49 polysubstance users enrolled in residential treatment. We conducted correlation analyses between estimates of use of cocaine, heroin, alcohol, MDMA and cannabis and brain metabolism (BM) (using Statistical Parametric Mapping voxel-based (VB) whole-brain analyses). In all correlation analyses conducted for each of the drugs we controlled for the co-abuse of the other drugs used., Results The analysis showed significant negative correlations between severity of heroin, alcohol, MDMA and cannabis use and BM in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and temporal cortex. Alcohol use was further associated with lower metabolism in frontal premotor cortex and putamen, and stimulants use with parietal cortex., Conclusions Duration of use of different drugs negatively correlated with overlapping regions in the DLPFC, whereas severity of cocaine, heroin and alcohol use selectively impact parietal, temporal, and frontal-premotor/basal ganglia regions respectively. The knowledge of these associations could be useful in the clinical practice since different brain alterations have been associated with different patterns of execution that may affect the rehabilitation of these patients., This study has been supported with funds from the SEJ2006-08278 project from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, the P07-HUM-03089 project from the Council of Science and Innovation. Laura Moreno-López is supported by the FPU grant (AP2007-03583) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Although early life nutrition influences brain development and mental health, the long-term e ects of supplemented infant formula on children´s behavior remain unclear. We analyzed the e ects of a bioactive nutrients-enriched-infant formula on children’s behavior up to 2.5 years, compared to a standard infant formula or breastfeeding. Current analysis involved 70 children who were fed a standard infant formula (SF, n = 29) or a bioactive compounds enriched-infant formula (EF, n = 41), during their first 18 months of life, and 33 breastfed (BF) children (reference group) participating in the COGNIS study. Behavioral problems were evaluated using the Child Behavior Checklist at 18 months and 2.5 years. Di erent statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. EF children aged 2.5 years presented fewer pathological a ective problems than SF children. Besides, SF children were classified more frequently as bordering on internalizing problems than BF children. Rates of externalizing problems were increased in SF infants compared to EF and BF infants. Higher maternal IQ was found to have beneficial e ects on internalizing and total problem rate in their o spring at 18 months of life; finally, higher maternal educational level was related with fewer ADHD problems in children at 18 months, as well as internalizing, externalizing, total and anxiety problems in children aged 2.5 years. Our analysis suggests that enriched infant formula fed infants seem to show fewer behavioral problems up to 2.5 years compared to a standard infant formula-fed infants. In addition to type of early feeding, maternal IQ and educational level seem to play a key role on children behavioral development., Ordesa Laboratories, S.L. Contract University of Granada General Foundation 3349, SMARTFOODS (CIEN) Contract University of Granada General Foundation 4003, Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, HORIZON 2020 EU DynaHEALTH Project 633595, Fundación Carolina, Madrid, Spain, Catedra ORDESA-University of Granada, Spain as part of Special Issue "Early Nutrition and Re-programming of Health and Disease"

Recent studies have shown that maternal supplementation with folate and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) during pregnancy may affect children&rsquo, s brain development. We aimed at examining the potential long-term effect of maternal supplementation with fish oil (FO) and/or 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) on the brain functionality of offspring at the age of 9.5&ndash, 10 years. The current study was conducted as a follow-up of the Spanish participants belonging to the Nutraceuticals for a Healthier Life (NUHEAL) project, 57 children were divided into groups according to mother&rsquo, s supplementation and assessed through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning and neurodevelopment testing. Independent component analysis and double regression methods were implemented to investigate plausible associations. Children born to mothers supplemented with FO (FO and FO + 5-MTHF groups, n = 33) showed weaker functional connectivity in the default mode (DM) (angular gyrus), the sensorimotor (SM) (motor and somatosensory cortices) and the fronto-parietal (FP) (angular gyrus) networks compared to the No-FO group (placebo and 5-MTHF groups, n = 24) (PFWE &lt, 0.05). Furthermore, no differences were found regarding the neuropsychological tests, except for a trend of better results in an object recall (memory) test. Considering the No-FO group, the aforementioned networks were associated negatively with attention and speed-processing functions. Mother&rsquo, s FO supplementation during pregnancy seems to be able to shape resting-state network functioning in their children at school age and appears to produce long-term effects on children&acute, s cognitive processing.