The Oropharyngeal Dysphagia Screening Test for Patients and Professionals: Validation in Cognitive Impairment and in Severe Mental Illness.

Dysphagia is a symptom that appears with high prevalence in persons diagnosed with dementia, intellectual disability, or severe mental illness. Risk of aspiration pneumonia or even death is very high in these populations. However, screening for dysphagia risk in these patients is complicated by the fact that most of them suffer from cognitive impairments and behavioral manifestations that hinder the assessment process using the existing screening tests.

Development of working memory and inhibitory control in early childhood: Cross-sectional analysis by age intervals and gender in Ecuadorian preschoolers.

Working memory (WM) and inhibitory control (IC) play a crucial role in learning during early childhood. The literature suggests a non-linear developmental trajectory of executive functions (EFs) with varied results according to gender, usually attributed to environmental factors. However, there is insufficient and inconclusive data on whether this pattern is reproduced in the Latin American preschool population since most studies have been conducted in English-speaking, European, and Asian environments.

Defining Power and Agency in Gender Relations in El Salvador: Consequences for Intimate Partner Violence and Women's Mental Health.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects thousands of women around the world and is prevalent in the Global South. Unequal social structures perpetuate hierarchies and maintain women's vulnerability to violence. Difficulties women face in accessing education, economic resources, and employment diminish their power in intimate relationships, increasing the likelihood of IPV.

Caregiver training: Evidence of its effectiveness for cognitive and functional improvement in older adults.

Aims And Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the benefits of a caregiver training programme on the cognitive and functional status of older adults, and to compare the effects of this programme according to type of caregiver (professional vs. family caregiver).

Background: Due to demographic changes that have resulted in an aging population, the role of caregiver of an older adult has become very important in recent years.

Tonic pain reduces autonomic responses and EEG functional connectivity elicited by affective stimuli.

Most pain studies have focused on only two aspects of pain: the influence of pain on attentional processing and the modulation of pain perception by affective stimuli. However, the influence of tonic pain on the attentional processing of affective stimuli has not been studied. In this study, we investigated the effects of tonic pain on the attentional processing of affective stimuli, focusing on autonomic responses and their relationship with both EEG power and functional connectivity.

EEG-heart rate connectivity changes after sensorimotor rhythm neurofeedback training: Ancillary study.

Objectives: Neurofeedback can induce long-term changes in brain functional connectivity, but its influence on the connectivity between different physiological systems is unknown. The present paper is an ancillary study of a previous paper that confirmed the effect of neurofeedback on brain connectivity associated with chronic pain. We analysed the influence of neurofeedback on the connectivity between the electroencephalograph (EEG) and heart rate (HR).

Relationship between expressions of aggression and individual characteristics in correctional settings: A path analysis.

Background: The reduction of misconduct levels and its prevention are two important objectives in prison settings, for which several strategies and control mechanisms are implemented.

Objetive: We explore the relationship between a set of socio-demographic, judicial, affective, and personality characteristics and various expressions of aggression.

Method: An Ecuadorian sample of 675 sentenced male prisoners was assessed using the Spanish adaptation of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI).

Cultural accommodations for cutoff scores of embedded performance validity tests in a Spanish college population.

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify specific cutoff scores for three commonly used embedded performance validity tests (PVTs) for a Spanish speaking population. Culturally adapted cutoff scores for embedded PVTs were established using an analog study design. In addition, the psychometric properties of these measures when applying culturally adapted scores as compared to non-adapted scores were analyzed.

Structural Brain Alterations in Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been related to brain alterations in female survivors. Nonetheless, few studies have used an exploratory approach, focusing on brain regions that are traditionally studied in other populations with post-traumatic stress. Traumatic brain injury (TBI), strangulation, and childhood trauma are highly prevalent among this population, and have also been associated with brain alterations and functional deterioration.

Physical fitness and white matter microstructure in children with overweight or obesity: the ActiveBrains project.

Recent studies investigated the association of cardiorespiratory fitness with white matter microstructure in children, yet little work has explored to what extent other components of physical fitness (i.e., muscular or motor fitness) are associated with white matter microstructure.

Self-Regulation of SMR Power Led to an Enhancement of Functional Connectivity of Somatomotor Cortices in Fibromyalgia Patients.

Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that altered activity in somatosensory and motor cortices play a key role in pain chronification. Neurofeedback training of sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) is a tool which allow individuals to self-modulate their brain activity and to produce significant changes over somatomotor brain areas. Several studies have further shown that neurofeedback training may reduce pain and other pain-related symptoms in chronic pain patients.

Lean mass index is positively associated with white matter volumes in several brain regions in children with overweight/obesity.

Background: The relationship of obesity with grey and white matter volumes has been examined in several studies, and the results are decidedly mixed.

Objective: To investigate the associations of body mass index (BMI), fat mass index (FMI) and lean mass index (LMI) with total and regional grey and white matter volumes.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 100 children (60% boys) with overweight/obesity.

Time Course of the Neural Activity Related to Behavioral Decision-Making as Revealed by Event-Related Potentials.

: To study the time course of the electrocortical activity evoked by gains and losses in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the brain sources of this electrical activity, and its association with behavioral parameters of task performance in order to achieve a better knowledge of decision-making processes. : Event-related potentials (ERPs) were obtained from a 64-channel EEG in 25 participants when performing the IGT. Brain source localization analyses of the ERP components were also assessed.

Power Spectral Density and Functional Connectivity Changes due to a Sensorimotor Neurofeedback Training: A Preliminary Study.

Neurofeedback is a form of neuromodulation based on learning to modify some aspects of cortical activity. Sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) oscillation is one of the most used frequency bands in neurofeedback. Several studies have shown that subjects can learn to modulate SMR power to control output devices, but little is known about possible related changes in brain networks.

Prevalence and Sociodemographic Predictors of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in El Salvador.

Violence against women is currently one of the major problems in El Salvador. However, the country lacks existing data to address this issue. The recent coming into effect of the [Comprehensive Law for a Life Free of Violence Against Women] urgently calls for the dimensions of the problem to be understood.

Are psychological measures and actuarial data equally effective in discriminating among the prison population? Analysis by crimes.

The ability of a wide range of psychological and actuarial measures to characterize crimes in the prison population has not yet been compared in a single study. Our main objective was to determine if the discriminant capacity of psychological measures (PM) and actuarial data (AD) varies according to the crime. An Ecuadorian sample of 576 men convicted of Robbery, Murder, Rape and Drug Possession crimes was evaluated through an ad hoc questionnaire, prison files and the Spanish adaptation of the Personality Assessment Inventory.

Structural brain differences in emotional processing and regulation areas between male batterers and other criminals: A preliminary study.

Poor emotion processing is thought to influence violent behaviors among male batterers in abusive relationships. Nevertheless, little is known about the neural mechanisms of emotion processing in this population. With the objective of better understanding brain structure and its relation to emotion processing in male batterers, the present study compares the cortical grey matter thickness of male batterers to that of other criminals in brain areas related to emotion.

Are batterers different from other criminals? An fMRI study.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and global phenomenon that requires a multi-perspective analysis. Nevertheless, the number of neuroscientific studies conducted on this issue is scarce as compared with studies of other types of violence, and no neuroimaging studies comparing batterers to other criminals have been conducted. Thus, the main aim of this study was to compare the brain functioning of batterers to that of other criminals when they are exposed to IPV or general violence pictures.