Publications by authors named "Rosa M M de Almeida"

Background: The internet is widespread in modern society and has raised concerns about excessive usage and its consequences for different aging groups.

Objective: This study explores the relationships between internet addiction, sleep patterns, and psychological distress in adolescents and young adults.

Materials And Methods: In order to assess this phenomenon, an exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted in southern Brazil from October to December 2023.

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Competitive interactions have important effects on human emotions. Both victory and defeat can evoke a wide range of emotional reactions, including joy, pride, anger, fear, sadness and shame. However, little is known about what determines this variety of contestants' affective responses.

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Objective: To investigate the role of optimism, hope, and gratitude as psychosocial factors for healthy development, especially with regard to anxiety in college students in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: This is a quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional study. A sociodemographic questionnaire, the Brazilian Gratitude Scale (Escala Brasileira de Gratidão [B-GRAT]), and the Brazilian versions of an anxiety subscale, the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), Hope Index Scale, and BIG-FIVE were administered.

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Error-related negativity (ERN) has been used to investigate neural mechanisms underlying error processing and conflict monitoring. Recent evidence highlights that affective and motivational states modulate the ERN and that aversiveness of errors plays a vital role in error monitoring. Therefore, our primary objective was to systematically evaluate and describe the influence of affect state-related manipulations on the ERN.

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Social isolation (SI) stress results from a combination of intrinsic and environmental factors and is associated with a variety of negative developmental outcomes. Oxytocin (OXT) might play a role in the consequences of SI in the brain and periphery. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to compile data about the effects of SI in the oxytocinergic system of rats and mice, and its relation to behavioral alterations.

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The impact of stress on health and well-being is determined by the ability of an individual to cope with challenges imposed by the stressor. Animals exposed to social defeat stress show different patterns of response during confrontations, leading to distinct stress-induced consequences. Using an established resident-intruder paradigm, we explored the outcomes of adopting active or passive coping strategies during a social defeat protocol over peripheral and central nervous system (CNS) levels of inflammatory cytokines, growth factors, glucocorticoid, and oxidative stress markers in male Wistar rats.

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The peripartum period is accompanied by numerous physiological and behavioural adaptations organised by the maternal brain. These changes are essential for adequate expression of maternal behaviour, thereby ensuring proper development of the offspring. The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) plays a key role in a variety of behaviours accompanying stress, anxiety, and depression.

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Internet addiction (IA) has been explored worldwide and involves some features that might harm social, psychological, and functional aspects. The vulnerability of adolescents might result in some addictive behaviors, and the Internet is one of them. The aim of this systematic review was to identify empirical studies that have been done to explore instruments that have been used to assess IA and to verify what variables and comorbidities are related to IA in adolescents, including executive functions, such as attention.

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Introduction In addition to their role in regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and its related peptides, the urocortins, are important mediators of physiological and pathophysiological processes of the central nervous, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, immune, endocrine, reproductive, and skin systems. Altered regulation of CRF-mediated adaptive responses to various stressful stimuli disrupts healthy function and might confer vulnerability to several disorders, including depression and anxiety. Methodology This narrative review was conducted through search and analysis of studies retrieved from online databases using a snowball method.

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Social status plays a key role in expressing different emotions. However, little is known about which mechanisms underlie the variability of emotional responses that are linked to social hierarchy. Status instability-a natural characteristic of hierarchies-can help to untangle the status-emotion relationship.

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Objective: To explore and describe sociodemographic characteristics, crack consumption patterns, and psychiatric comorbidities of female crack users receiving treatment at therapeutic communities.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative study. Forty-six women who abstained from crack use were assessed using a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), and a profile of crack use questionnaire.

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by the demyelinated inflammatory processes that occur within the central nervous system. Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) dysfunctions have been associated with the triggering or increase in MS symptoms. We thus aimed at evaluating motor and behavioral functions, planning skills, processing speed, and their relationship with stress through measuring hair cortisol concentration from patients with MS.

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In multiple sclerosis (MS), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning may be dysregulated due to the high cortisol levels involved in the disease activity. HPA axis dysregulation can affect cognitive performance, including executive functions. This study aimed to evaluate hair cortisol concentration and perceived stress as well as verify the association with the performance of executive function in both individuals diagnosed with MS and control individuals.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate impulsivity, inhibitory control, and alcohol use in preadolescents and adolescents aged 10 to 16 from public and private schools.

Methods: Participants were 190 adolescents selected from public and private schools in Brazil. Neuropsychological measures related to impulsivity (i.

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Both the ostensibly aversive effects of unpredictable episodes of social stress and the intensely rewarding effects of drugs of abuse activate the mesocorticolimbic dopamine systems. Significant neuroadaptations in interacting stress and reward neurocircuitry may underlie the striking connection between stress and substance use disorders. In rodent models, recurring intermittent exposure to social defeat stress appears to produce a distinct profile of neuroadaptations that translates most readily to the repercussions of social stress in humans.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive and multifactorial neurodegenerative disease. It has been suggested that a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) occurs in PD. Furthermore, this dysregulation may be involved in triggering, exacerbation or progression of disease.

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Crack cocaine users frequently report difficulties regarding having healthy and rewarding relationships. Factors other than the use of crack cocaine itself may be at play when it comes to being able to develop healthier connections with partners, adult relatives and close friends. To verify which factors, including demographics, substance abuse related factors and psychiatric comorbidities could be markers for a higher severity of problems in interpersonal relationships of crack cocaine users seeking for treatment.

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Social stress is recognized to promote the development of neuropsychiatric and mood disorders. Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) is an important neuropeptide activated by social stress, and it contributes to neural and behavioral adaptations, as indicated by impaired social interactions and anhedonic effects. Few studies have focused on the role of the CRF binding protein (CRFBP), a component of the CRF system, and its activity in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST), a limbic structure connecting amygdala and hypothalamus.

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Although audio-visual stimuli are among the most frequently used methods to elicit emotional reactions in experimental conditions, real-life manipulations have increasingly been used in different countries. However, the applicability of such protocols has not yet been tested in Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Thus, we conducted two experiments to investigate the effectiveness of both methods.

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Stress exposure has been identified as one risk factor for alcohol abuse that may facilitate the transition from social or regulated use to the development of alcohol dependence. Preclinical studies have shown that dysregulation of the corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) neurotransmission has been implicated in stress-related psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety, and may affect alcohol consumption. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) contains CRF-producing neurons which seem to be sensitive to stress.

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Objective: investigate impulsivity levels and inhibitory control in women crack users and explore the relationships between impulsivity and inhibitory control.

Method And Design: 52 healthy women (M = 32.83 years; SD = 9.

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Hyper activation of the neuroimmune system is strongly related to the development of neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychosocial stress has been postulated to play an important role in triggering anxiety and major depression. In preclinical models, there is mounting evidence that social defeat stress activates microglial cells in the central nervous system.

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Despite advances in the characterization of developmental dyslexia (DD), several questions regarding the interplay between DD-susceptibility genes and environmental risk factors remain open. This systematic review aimed at answering the following questions: What has been the impact of new resources on the knowledge about DD? Which questions remain open? What is the investigative agenda for the short term? Forty-six studies were analyzed. Despite the growing literature on DD candidate genes, most studies have not been replicated.

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Objective: Impairments involving inhibitory control have been considered central deficits in drug users, but it appears that dysfunctions may be specific to users' drug of choice. This article aims to review recent findings on inhibitory control impairment in samples of crack and/or cocaine users.

Methods: Searches were conducted on the PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Knowledge databases in two stages according to eligibility criteria.

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