What Types of Educational Practices Impact School Burnout Levels in Adolescents?

This study explores the relationship between educational practices perceived by high school students and their level of burnout, as defined by emotional exhaustion, cynicism and inadequacy. A total of 287 adolescents (146 girls) aged between 14 and 19 years old ( = 16.08, = 1.

Pathological reorganization of NMDA receptors subunits and postsynaptic protein PSD-95 distribution in Alzheimer's disease.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), synaptic alterations play a major role and are often correlated with cognitive changes. In order to better understand synaptic modifications, we compared alterations in NMDA receptors and postsynaptic protein PSD-95 expression in the entorhinal cortex (EC) and frontal cortex (FC; area 9) of AD and control brains. We combined immunohistochemical and image analysis methods to quantify on consecutive sections the distribution of PSD-95 and NMDA receptors GluN1, GluN2A and GluN2B in EC and FC from 25 AD and control cases.

Auditory spatial deficits following hemispheric lesions: dissociation of explicit and implicit processing.

Auditory spatial deficits occur frequently after hemispheric damage; a previous case report suggested that the explicit awareness of sound positions, as in sound localisation, can be impaired while the implicit use of auditory cues for the segregation of sound objects in noisy environments remains preserved. By assessing systematically patients with a first hemispheric lesion, we have shown that (1) explicit and/or implicit use can be disturbed; (2) impaired explicit vs. preserved implicit use dissociations occur rather frequently; and (3) different types of sound localisation deficits can be associated with preserved implicit use.

GABA receptor subunits in human auditory cortex in normal and stroke cases.

GABA receptors are ubiquitous in the cerebral cortex and play a major role in shaping responses of cortical neurons. GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptor subunit expression was visualized by immunohistochemistry in human auditory areas from both hemispheres in 9 normal subjects (aged 43-85 years; time between death and fixation 6-24 hours) and in 4 stroke patients (aged 59-87 years; time between death and fixation 7-24 hours) and analyzed qualitatively for GABA(A) and semiquantitatively for GABA(B) receptor subunits. In normal brains, the primary auditory area (TC) and the surrounding areas TB and TA displayed distinct GABA(A) receptor subunit labeling with differences among cortical layers and areas.

Right hemispheric dominance for echo suppression.

When two sounds are presented sequentially within a short delay ( approximately 10ms), the listener perceives a single auditory event, the location of which is dominated by the directional information conveyed by the leading sound (the precedence effect, PE). The PE is not always instantaneous, but has been shown to build-up across repetitions of lead-lag pairs. Here, we investigated the contributions of lateralization cue (interaural time and intensity differences; ITD and IID, respectively) and the side of lateralization of the leading sound on the spatio-temporal activity associated with the PE.

Differential changes in synaptic proteins in the Alzheimer frontal cortex with marked increase in PSD-95 postsynaptic protein.

We investigated how synaptic plasticity is related to the neurodegeneration process in the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Pre- and postsynaptic proteins of Brodmann's area 9 from patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and age-matched controls were quantified by immunohistochemical methods and Western blots. The main finding was a significant increase in the expression of postsynaptic density protein PSD-95 in AD brains, revealed on both sections and immunoblots, while the expression of spinophilin, associated to spines, remained quantitatively unchanged despite qualitative changes with age and disease.

The path to success in auditory spatial discrimination: electrical neuroimaging responses within the supratemporal plane predict performance outcome.

Auditory scene analysis requires the accurate encoding and comparison of the perceived spatial positions of sound sources. The electrophysiological correlates of auditory spatial discrimination and their relationship to performance accuracy were studied in humans by applying electrical neuroimaging analyses to auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) that were recorded during the completion of a near-threshold S1-S2 paradigm within the right hemispace. Data were sorted as a function of performance accuracy, and AEP responses 75-117 ms after the presentation of the first sound differed topographically between trials leading to correct and incorrect spatial discrimination.

Interactions between auditory 'what' and 'where' pathways revealed by enhanced near-threshold discrimination of frequency and position.

Partially segregated neuronal pathways ("what" and "where" pathways, respectively) are thought to mediate sound recognition and localization. Less studied are interactions between these pathways. In two experiments, we investigated whether near-threshold pitch discrimination sensitivity (d') is altered by supra-threshold task-irrelevant position differences and likewise whether near-threshold position discrimination sensitivity is altered by supra-threshold task-irrelevant pitch differences.

Learning-induced plasticity in auditory spatial representations revealed by electrical neuroimaging.

Auditory spatial representations are likely encoded at a population level within human auditory cortices. We investigated learning-induced plasticity of spatial discrimination in healthy subjects using auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs) and electrical neuroimaging analyses. Stimuli were 100 ms white-noise bursts lateralized with varying interaural time differences.

Laminar specificity of intrinsic connections in Broca's area.

Broca's area and its right hemisphere homologue comprise 2 cytoarchitectonic subdivisions, FDgamma and FCBm of von Economo C and Koskinas GN (1925, Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen. Vienna/Berlin [Germany]: Springer). We report here on intrinsic connections within these areas, as revealed with biotinylated dextran amine and 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate tracing in postmortem human brains.

The spatio-temporal brain dynamics of processing and integrating sound localization cues in humans.

Interaural intensity and time differences (IID and ITD) are two binaural auditory cues for localizing sounds in space. This study investigated the spatio-temporal brain mechanisms for processing and integrating IID and ITD cues in humans. Auditory-evoked potentials were recorded, while subjects passively listened to noise bursts lateralized with IID, ITD or both cues simultaneously, as well as a more frequent centrally presented noise.

Intrinsic connectivity of human superior colliculus.

The superior colliculus (SC) is believed to play an important role in sensorimotor integration and orienting behavior. It is classically divided into superficial layers predominantly containing visual neurons and deep layers containing multisensory and premotor neurons. Investigations of intrinsic connectivity within the SC in non-human species initially led to controversy regarding the existence of interlaminar connections between superficial and deep layers.

Patterns of calcium-binding proteins support parallel and hierarchical organization of human auditory areas.

The human primary auditory cortex (AI) is surrounded by several other auditory areas, which can be identified by cyto-, myelo- and chemoarchitectonic criteria. We report here on the pattern of calcium-binding protein immunoreactivity within these areas. The supratemporal regions of four normal human brains (eight hemispheres) were processed histologically, and serial sections were stained for parvalbumin, calretinin or calbindin.