DigiDOP: A framework for applying digital technology to the Differential Outcomes Procedure (DOP) for cognitive interventions in persons with neurocognitive disorders.

We present a framework -Digi-DOP- that includes a series of evidence-based recommendations to design and apply cognitive interventions for people with Neurocognitive Disorders (NCDs) using a relatively new approach, the Differential Outcomes Procedure (DOP). To do so, we critically review the substantial experimental research conducted with relevant clinical and non-clinical populations, and the theoretical underpinnings of this procedure. We further discuss how existing digital technologies that have been used for cognitive interventions could be applied to overcome some of the limitations of DOP-based interventions and further enhance DOP benefits.

[Cognitive Reserve Scale: testing the theoretical model and norms].

Introduction: The cognitive reserve theory may contribute to explain cognitive performance differences among individuals with similar cognitive decline and among healthy ones. However, more psychometric analysis are needed to guarantee the usage of tests for assessing cognitive reserve.

Aims: To study validity evidences in relation to the structure of the Cognitive Reserve Scale (CRS) and to create reference norms to interpret the scores.

Estimating cognitive reserve in healthy adults using the Cognitive Reserve Scale.

The concept of cognitive reserve emerged from observed disparities between brain pathology and clinical symptoms. It may explain better neuropsychological performance in healthy individuals. The objectives of this study were to measure reserve in healthy subjects using a new Cognitive Reserve Scale (CRS), analyze the internal consistency of the CRS, and analyze validity evidence.

Cognitive reserve, age, and their relation to attentional and executive functions.

The main objective of this research was to establish the relation between age, cognitive reserve (CR), and attentional and executive functions. One hundred and sixty healthy participants aged 20 to 65 years old completed a wide battery of frontal-lobe tasks using classical tests that assess planning and control of movement, problem solving, and inhibition of automatic response, visuomotor tracking, focused and sustained attention, shifting, spontaneity and reasoning. The total sum of the score in premorbid IQ (by means of the Weschsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary subtest), educational level, and type of profession was used as a proxy of CR.

[Development of the scale of cognitive reserve in Spanish population: a pilot study].

Introduction: Lately, the interest in cognitive reserve has increased notably in view of the lack of correlation between cerebral damage and observed clinic symptoms. However, there is no consensus on which measure of cognitive reserve is the most accurate.

Aim: To develop the scale of cognitive reserve in Spanish population and to study its psychometric properties.

[Cognition and perception deficits in fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis].

Introduction: Cognitive disturbance in patients with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis is today a topic of a great clinical interest, largely due to the fact that these persons often complain about cognitive problems.

Objective: This study is aimed to assess the visuospatial memory, attention and perceptive capacities in chronic pain patients.

Material And Methods: Groups were constituted by fibromyalgia patients and rheumatoid arthritis patients, as well as a control group.

Neuropsychological sequelae from acute poisoning and long-term exposure to carbamate and organophosphate pesticides.

Unlabelled: This research examines the effects of different degrees of pesticide exposure on neuropsychological performance. Exposures varied from acute poisoning coupled with chronic exposure to low or high levels of chronic exposure (defined by years of exposure). A cross-sectional neuropsychological and biochemical study was conducted in greenhouse farmers from southern Spain: data from 24 acutely poisoned workers and 40 non-poisoned but chronically (low or high) exposed sprayers were compared to 26 controls.

Neuropsychological effects of long-term exposure to organophosphate pesticides.

Cholinesterase inhibitors, such as carbamates and organophosphates (OPs), are widely used as insecticides and pesticides and may be stored as biological weapons. The massive use of these products, along with a lack of personal protective equipment on the job, and accidental and intentional ingestions, has produced a great number of poisonings in farmers. A large part of the employment and income in southeastern Spain is concentrated in intensive greenhouse agriculture in which growers are exposed to a varying degree of subsymptomatic doses of a combination of pesticides, mainly OPs and carbamates.

[Neuropsychological sequelae of acute poisoning by pesticides containing cholinesterase inhibitors].

In recent years a number of studies have drawn attention to the possible neuropsychological sequelae stemming from acute poisoning by certain substances, namely cholinesterase inhibitors. These chemicals, carbamates and organophosphorates (OP), have been used in industry, for washing cattle, as insecticides and even as chemical agents in terrorist attacks and in wars. Nowadays, they are widely used as a pesticide and this is particularly so in regions such as the west of Almeria.