Material Selection for Single-Unit Crown Anterior Restorations.

Lithium disilicate and layered zirconia appear to be the most prevalent materials used for single-unit anterior crowns. These materials offer the necessary mechanical properties as well as sufficient optical characteristics needed in this type of restoration. There now are also more translucent versions of zirconia available that can be used for monolithic anterior restorations.

Take the Money and Run: Psychopathic Behavior in the Trust Game.

We study the association among different sources of individual differences such as personality, cognitive ability and risk attitudes with trust and reciprocate behavior in an incentivized experimental binary trust game in a sample of 220 (138 females) undergraduate students. The game involves two players, player 1 (P1) and player 2 (P2). In the first stage, P1 decides whether to trust and let P2 decide, or to secure an egalitarian payoff for both players.

An Investigation of Five Types of Personality Trait Continuity: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Study of Spanish Adolescents from Age 12 to Age 15.

The present study investigated five types of personality trait continuity using two measurement waves of Spanish adolescents (N = 234). Personality traits were measured with the short form of the Junior Spanish NEO-PI-R (JS NEO-S) at ages 12 and 15. The results showed stability in the personality trait structure, as well as decreases in the mean levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Alcohol Expectancies Mediate and Moderate the Associations between Big Five Personality Traits and Adolescent Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol-Related Problems.

Personality and expectancies are relevant psychological factors for the development of adolescent alcohol use and misuse. The present study examined their direct, mediated and moderated effects on different drinking behaviors in adolescence. Personality domains of the five-factor model, positive and negative alcohol expectancies (AEs), alcohol use during the week and the weekend, and alcohol-related problems were assessed in a sample of 361 adolescents.

A longitudinal examination of different etiological pathways to alcohol use and misuse.

Background: Sher, Grekin, and Williams (2005) pointed out the existence of 4 main etiological, but not mutually exclusive, models that might explain the development of alcohol use and misuse. The aim of the present study was to explore 3 of these 4 pathways in which psychological (personality and drinking motives) and environmental (child maltreatment) variables may play a relevant role: positive affect regulation, negative affect regulation, and deviance proneness.

Methods: Three hundred and fourteen young adults in the 18 to 29 year age range completed different personality, alcohol use, and child maltreatment questionnaires at Time 1.

Spanish adaptation of the Expectancy Questionnaire (EQ) about alcohol effects in adolescents.

Background: Alcohol-related expectancies are especially relevant in relation to alcohol consumption during adolescence. The main aim of this study was to adapt and translate into Spanish (Castilian) the Expectancy Questionnaire (EQ), and to study its psychometric properties in adolescents.

Method: The sample was composed of 514 adolescents (57.

Psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis are related to both childhood abuse and COMT genotypes.

Objective: To test whether the association between childhood abuse, cannabis use and psychotic experiences (PEs) was moderated by the COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase) gene.

Method: Psychotic experiences (PEs), childhood abuse, cannabis use and COMT Val158Met genotypes were assessed in 533 individuals from the general population. Data were analysed hierarchically by means of multiple linear regression models.

The role of genetic variability in the SLC6A4, BDNF and GABRA6 genes in anxiety-related traits.

Objective: The aims of this study were to test the individual association of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4), the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF) and the GABA(A) α(6) receptor subunit gene (GABRA6) with anxiety-related traits and to explore putative gene-gene interactions in a Spanish healthy sample.

Method: A sample of 937 individuals from the general population completed the Temperament and Character Inventory questionnaire to explore Harm Avoidance (HA) dimension; a subsample of 553 individuals also filled in the Big Five Questionnaire to explore the Neuroticism dimension. The whole sample was genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism (SLC6A4 gene), the Val66Met polymorphism (BDNF gene) and the T1521C polymorphism (GABRA6 gene).

Childhood abuse, the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism and adult psychotic-like experiences.

Background: The well-established relationship between childhood adversity and psychosis is likely to involve other factors such as genetic variants that can help us to understand why not everyone exposed to adverse events develops psychotic symptoms later in life.

Aims: We investigated the influence of childhood abuse and neglect on positive and negative psychotic-like experiences in adulthood and the potential moderating effect of the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism.

Method: Psychotic-like experiences and childhood adversity were assessed in 533 individuals from the general population.

Drinking motives in clinical and general populations.

Aims: This paper had three aims: (1) to validate a Spanish adaptation of the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (M DMQ-R), (2) to explore the relationship of each drinking motive with different patterns of alcohol use, and (3) to compare the drinking motives of moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers, and alcohol abusing/dependent individuals.

Methods: Two studies were carried out. In Study 1, a sample of 488 participants completed the M DMQ-R and a self-report scale of alcohol consumption in order to study the factor structure and different indices of reliability and validity of the Spanish M DMQ-R.

Assessing the five factors of personality in adolescents: the junior version of the Spanish NEO-PI-R.

This article presents the development of a junior version of the Spanish (Castilian) NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (JS NEO) suitable for adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The psychometric properties of the new JS NEO were investigated using two samples of 2,733 and 983 adolescents in Spain. The results showed that the adult NEO-PI-R factor structure was replicated with the junior version of the inventory and that the reliabilities of the scales were adequate.

Early adversity and 5-HTT/BDNF genes: new evidence of gene-environment interactions on depressive symptoms in a general population.

Background: Adverse childhood experiences have been described as one of the major environmental risk factors for depressive disorder. Similarly, the deleterious impact of early traumatic experiences on depression seems to be moderated by individual genetic variability. Serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) modulate the effect of childhood adversity on adult depression, although inconsistencies across studies have been found.

Putative role of the COMT gene polymorphism (Val158Met) on verbal working memory functioning in a healthy population.

Working memory has been described as a neurocognitive probe of prefrontal brain functioning. Genetic variability related with catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene (Val158Met polymorphism) has received increasing attention as a possible modulator of working memory tasks in both schizophrenic patients and healthy subjects, although inconsistencies across studies have been found. This may be related to the existence of different working memory components, processes and modalities, which may have different sensitivities to subtle changes in dopamine levels and, therefore, the effect of the underlying COMT Val158Met genetic variability.

Genetic heterogeneity of Fasciola hepatica isolates in the northwest of Spain.

The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica is a worldwide distributed trematode parasite of great veterinary importance. In Spain, the prevalence of the infection is up to 56% in sheep. Its control is mainly based on the use of anthelmitics, although some resistant populations have been described.

[Junior version of the Spanish NEO PI-R (JS NEO)].

This article presents the preliminary data of the development of a Junior version of the Spanish NEO PI-R (JS NEO), suitable for teenagers from 12 to 17 years of age. From the 240 original English items, 92 were modified or reworded to some degree to make the vocabulary adequate for this age group. The psychometric properties of the JS NEO were investigated in a sample of 2,505 adolescents.

Clinically significant virtual environments for the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia.

The aim of this work is the description of virtual environments designed to apply exposure therapy in the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia. The program allows the simultaneous exposure to two different kinds of stimuli usually avoided by panic disorder and agoraphobia sufferers (external and interoceptive). The characteristics of the virtual environments are described, as well as the target behaviors that can be simulated with these virtual environments.

The use of VR in the treatment of panic disorders and agoraphobia.

Panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA) is considered an important public health problem. The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for PDA has been widely demonstrated. The American National Institute of Health recommended Cognitive-Behavioral programs as the treatment of choice for this disorder.

Molecular and functional characterization of adenylate kinase 2 gene from Leishmania donovani.

ATP-regenerating enzymes may have an important role in maintaining ATP levels in mitochondria-like kinetoplast organelle and glycosomes in parasitic protozoa. Adenylate kinase (AK) (ATP:AMP phosphotransferase) catalyses the reversible transfer of the gamma-phosphate group from ATP to AMP, releasing two molecules of ADP. This study describes cloning and functional characterization of the gene encoding AK2 from a genomic library of Leishmania donovani and also its expression in leishmania promastigote cultures.

Identification of a gene in Leishmania infantum encoding a protein that contains a SP-RING/MIZ zinc finger domain.

The SP-RING or Miz zinc finger domain that is related to the classical RING-finger motif, defines a class of proteins that can act as E3-like factors in the pathway of small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) conjugation. This family includes the mammalian protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) proteins and related proteins from lower eukaryotes. Here we report the existence of a gene in Leishmania infantum, present as two identical copies placed upstream of each MAT2 gene copy, and transcribed as a single approximately 2.

Leishmania donovani methionine adenosyltransferase. Role of cysteine residues in the recombinant enzyme.

Methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT, EC 2.5.1.

A novel active DNA topoisomerase I in Leishmania donovani.

A common feature shared by type I DNA topoisomerases is the presence of a "serine, lysine, X, X, tyrosine" motif as conventional enzyme active site. Preliminary data have shown that Leishmania donovani DNA topoisomerase I gene (LdTOP1A) lacked this conserved motif, giving rise to different theories about the reconstitution of an active DNA topoisomerase I in this parasite. We, herein, describe the molecular cloning of a new DNA topoisomerase I gene from L.

Differences on presence and reality judgment using a high impact workstation and a PC workstation.

The purpose of this study was to analyze differences in reality judgements made by subjects and their sense of presence when using the virtual reality (VR) settings of different VR workstations. The two workstations were (1) a high impact computer graphics workstation (Silicon Graphics) with a high quality head mounted display (FS5, Virtual Research) and a 3D joystick (Division) and (2) PC Pentium II-based platform with an AccelEclipse Graphical Card (AccelGraphics) with a medium quality head mounted display (V6, Virtual Research) and a 2D mouse. For measuring the sense of presence and reality, we used a 15-item questionnaire designed for this purpose that assesses the level of immersion and reality of the VR settings, availability of interaction with the VR environment, and emotions and bodily sensations experienced while immersed in the VR world.