Infections due to Cellulosimicrobium species: case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Cellulosimicrobium species, formely known as Oerskovia species, are gram-positive bacilli belonging to the order Actinomycetales. They rarely cause human infections. The genus comprises two pathogenic species in humans: C. cellulans and C. funkei. Based on a case report, we provide a review of the literature of infections caused by Cellulosimicrobium/Oerskovia, in order to improve our knowledge of this unusual infection. CASE PRESENTATION: An 82-year-old woman with aortic prosthetic valve presented to the hospital with fever and heart failure. Further work up revealed the diagnosis of C. cellulans infective endocarditis (IE). The strain was identified by MALDI-TOF MS, API Coryne and 16S rRNA sequencing. The patient was deemed not to be an operative candidate and died despite the antibiotic therapy 35 days after admission. CONCLUSIONS: Reviewing cases of Cellulosimicrobium species infections and communicating the successful and unsuccessful clinical experiences can assist future healthcare providers. Our case and those previously reported indicate that Cellulosimicrobium species usually infect immunocompromised patients or foreign body carriers. The most frequent pattern of infection is central venous catheter related bacteremia. The optimal treatment should include foreign body removal and valve surgery should be considered in case of IE.

Attentional orienting and awareness: evidence from a discrimination task.

We used several cue-target SOAs (100, 500, 1000 ms) and three different degrees of cue predictability (Non-predictive-50%, Predictive-75%, Counter-predictive-25%), to investigate the role of awareness of cue-target predictability on cueing effects. A group of participants received instructions about the informative value of the cue, while another group did not receive such instructions. Participants were able to extract the predictive value of a spatially peripheral cue and use it to orient attention, whether or not specific instructions about the predictive value of the cue were given, and no matter their ability to correctly report it in a post-test questionnaire. In the non-predictive block, bad estimators who received no instructions showed regular cueing effects, while good estimators exhibited smaller and non-significant facilitatory effects at the short SOA and an absence of significant IOR at longer SOAs. However, for the instructions group, the pattern of results reversed.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Self Compassion (SC) Training for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pilot Trial in Community Services in Spain.

This study aims to develop a clinical trial to test the efficacy of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and self-compassion (SC) program on self-reported values of anxiety, depression, and stress in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in primary school, in order to assess their integration into the framework of community intervention programs in Spain. METHODS: A brief 8-week training program using mindfulness-based intervention (MBSR) and self-compassion (SC) has been applied to twelve Valencian ASD parents, ten of whom completed the program. Participants were assigned to two groups; both groups received the same treatment but at two different measurement moments. Depression, anxiety, stress, satisfaction with life and mindful attention awareness measurements were performed, in all participants, in three testing stages. RESULTS: Analysis of variance results suggested that MBSR and SC training reduces stress and anxiety and increases mindful attention awareness. No significant changes were found in life satisfaction measurements. CONCLUSIONS: The small number of participants prevents us from generalizing the results found. More MBSR and SC clinical trials are needed in parents of ASD with results on anxiety, depression and stress in order to demonstrate the relevance of the inclusion of these programs in community-based early intervention services.

A Systematic Review on the Impact of the Social Confinement on People with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic had imposed a variety of containment measures on the general population for prolonged periods. Confinement has had, and still has, social, economic, educational, health, and psychological consequences on the entire population. OBJECTIVE: In this article, a systematic search has been performed based on studies carried out since the beginning of the pandemic, regarding the impact of these containment measures on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) population and their caregivers. METHOD: We consulted six databases (i.e., PubMed, Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct) and selected ten studies that met the inclusion criteria. The chosen studies have been classified according to their theoretical focus, methodology, and target population. RESULTS: We found an increase in stress and a decrease in psychological well-being among individuals diagnosed with ASD (i.e., parents and caregivers). Additionally, in studies focused on children, youth, and adults with ASD diagnosis, the results are contradictory depending on variables such as age, ASD severity, or type of family structure. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that the consequences of quarantine and social confinement are quite contradictory and depend on variables such as age, ASD severity, and family features.

[Coding processes and executive functions in multiple sclerosis]. / Procesos de codificación y funciones ejecutivas en pacientes con esclerosis múltiple.

Although episodic memory deficit in patients with multiple sclerosis (ME) is a well established fact, there is no agreement about the origin of this disorder in terms of cognitive processes. Whereas most of the studies attribute this deficit to defects in memory recovery processes, others contribute evidence in favor of the hypothesis that considers that it originates in difficulties in coding memory processes.However, the analysis of the relationship between coding processes and memory functioning in ME is a scantly studied topic. In the present article, we studied coding processes and their relationships with executive control processes in a group of patients with ME. We used a set of indexes of the Test of Verbal Learning from the TAVEC test for the evaluation of the coding processes. To assess the executive processes we used a semantic verbal fluency task, the WCST, and WAIS III scale of matrixes. We worked with 36 patients with ME diagnosis and 36 healthy control participants, paired by age and educational level. The results showed a deficit in the coding processes and the existence of a significant association between these processes and executive functioning.

[Classification statistical techniques: an applied and comparative study]. / Técnicas estadísticas de clasificación: un estudio comparativo y aplicado.

The aim of this article is to assess and compare three classification statistical techniques--logistic regression, discriminant analysis and classification trees--to identify the personality characteristics associated with the risk of suffering from ischemic cardiovascular acute episodes (ICAE). The sample comprised 313 participants, men and women, aged from 36 to 80. Participants were divided into two groups: a clinical group of patients (n = 143) who were diagnosed as suffering from ICAE, and a control group (n = 170). Both groups were equated in gender, age, socio-economic and educational level. In view of the comparative study of the analytical procedures, we recommend classification trees as the best choice, as it was the most accurate for the individuals in the clinical group, a simple data analysis and a meaningful clinical interpretation. The predictive validity analysis of the MCMI-II allowed the construction of a reduced version made up of 9 personality scales from the 22 scales in the original version. Thus, we could identify the patients with a higher probability of suffering from ICAE, and additionally, generate an empirical model comprising seven and five personality profiles associated, respectively, with the increase and the decrease of the probability of suffering from ICAE.

Measuring individual differences in driver inattention: further validation of the attention-related driving errors scale.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was (a) to study driver inattention as a trait-like variable and (b) to provide new evidence of validity for the Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale (ARDES). BACKGROUND: Driving inattention is approached from an individual differences perspective. We are interested in how drivers vary in their propensity to experience failures of attention and in the methods to measure these differences. METHOD: In a first sample (n = 301), we tested, via confirmatory factor analysis, a new theoretical model for the ARDES. In a second sample (n = 201), we evaluated the relationship between inattention and internal and external sources of distraction and social desirability bias in ARDES responses. A subsample (n = 65) was reevaluated to study temporal stability of the ARDES scores. RESULTS: Errors measured by the ARDES can be classified according to the driving task level at which they occur (navigation, maneuvering, or control). Differences in ARDES scores based on collision history were observed. ARDES was related to internal sources of distraction and was independent of the level of exposure to distracting activities. Test-retest showed a high degree of stability in ARDES scores. Low correlations were found with a social desirability measure. CONCLUSION: ARDES appears to measure a personal trait that remains relatively stable over time and is relatively independent of distracting activities. New evidence of validity emerged for this self-report. APPLICATION: ARDES can be used to measure individual differences in driving inattention and to help tailor preventive interventions for inattentive drivers. It can serve as an instrument of driver self-assessment in educational and training contexts.

The effects of sleep deprivation on the attentional functions and vigilance.

The study of sleep deprivation is a fruitful area of research to increase our knowledge of cognitive functions and their neural basis. In the current work, 26 healthy young adults participated in a sleep deprivation study, in which the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance (ANTI-V) was performed at 10a.m. after a night of normal sleep and again at 10 a.m. after 25.5-27.5 h of total sleep deprivation. The ANTI-V is an experimental task that provides measures of alerting, orienting and executive control attentional functions. Compared with previous versions, the ANTI-V includes a vigilance task, more reliable auditory alerting signals, non-predictive peripheral orienting cues, and also a neutral no-cue condition allowing the analysis of reorienting costs and orienting benefits. Thus, new evidence to evaluate the influence of sleep deprivation on attentional functioning is provided. Results revealed differences in both tonic and phasic alertness after sleep deprivation. Vigilance performance was deteriorated, while a warning tone was more helpful to increase participants' alertness, resulting in slightly faster RT and, in particular, fewer errors. The reorienting costs of having an invalid spatial cue were reduced after sleep loss. No sleep deprivation effect on the executive control measure was found in this study. Finally, since no control group was used, particular precautions were taken to reduce the influence of potential practice effects.

Measuring vigilance while assessing the functioning of the three attentional networks: the ANTI-Vigilance task.

Vigilance could be a crucial aspect of attention that may modulate the functioning of the attentional system. Some behavioural tests, such as the Attention Network Test (ANT), have been developed to obtain an individual index of the three attentional networks (alertness, orientation, and executive control). However, alerting network measures are usually inferred using a phasic alertness task, and some indirect indexes of tonic alertness or vigilance have been proposed but not properly evaluated. The general aim for the present study is to provide the ANT with a direct measure of vigilance and then to analyse the relationship between this measure and other alternative indirect indexes. The obtained results suggest that the proposed new test (ANTI-Vigilance or ANTI-V) is useful to achieve a direct measure of vigilance and could be considered as a new tool available in cognitive, clinical or behavioural neurosciences for analysing vigilance in addition to the usual ANT scores. Other alternative indexes (such as global reaction time and global accuracy averaged across conditions) are only moderately correlated to a direct vigilance measure. As a consequence, although they may be to some extent related to the participants' vigilance level, they could not be used isolatedly as appropriate indexes of vigilance. Also, the role played by these global measures in the ANT task, which have been previously associated with some performance measures in applied areas (such as driving performance), is discussed.

Attentional networks functioning, age, and attentional lapses while driving.

OBJECTIVE: Based on Posner's (1994) model of attentional functions, the relationship between age and personal proneness to attention-related errors while driving and the functioning of the 3 attentional networks were explored by means of attentional behavioral measures and self-report data. METHODS: A sample of 55 drivers was drawn from the general population of Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Attention Network Test for Interactions (ANTI) (Callejas et al. 2004) task was used to obtain behavioral measures of the attentional networks, and we used the Attention-Related Driving Error Scale (ARDES) (Ledesma et al. 2010) questionnaire to obtain a self-report measure of attention-related driving errors. RESULTS: Drivers reporting the greatest propensity to experience attention-related errors showed an overall slowdown in performance, less endogenous preparation for high = priority warning signs, and a better response to conflict in the presence of valid cues than drivers less prone to attention-related errors while driving. Older participants showed a slowdown in performance, less endogenous preparation for high-priority warning signs, and worse cognitive control when solving conflict in comparison with younger drivers. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that each group variable, attention-related error proneness and age, shows a particular combination of attentional network functioning that implies different ways of being distracted, which have different practical implications for safe driving. It can be inferred that drivers who are more prone to commit attentional errors while driving run less risk in situations in which they can deal with response conflict in the presence of valid cues because of the particular way in which their attentional networks are combined when a valid cue is present, could serve to compensate, with a better response conflict, their general slowdown and less endogenous preparedness for high-priority signs. It can be inferred that older drivers might show a reduction of the general state of alertness to signs that indicate the presence of a dangerous driving situation and in solving conflict in traffic circumstances.

Convergencias conceptuales entre las teorías del aprendizaje implícito y la Psicología Evolucionista / Conceptual convergences between implicit learning theories and the Evolutionary Psychology

El objetivo del presente artículo es contribuir a la integración teórica entre dos perspectivas de amplia difusión y desarrollo actual: las teorías sobre el aprendizaje implícito (AI) y el programa de investigación conocido como Psicología Evolucionista (PE). Se propone la existencia de una base teórica común entre el AI y la PE que incluye: una perspectiva adaptacionista, que sostiene que las estructuras y mecanismos, procesos y conductas necesitan ser integrados dentro de un marco evolucionista y evaluados en términos de los roles que cada uno juega en las especies que los poseen; un innatismo moderado, que admite la existencia de una estructura considerable no dependiente del ambiente y por último, un acuerdo acerca del carácter adaptativo y no reductible de la conciencia. Por el contrario, se considera que no forma parte de los compromisos compartidos la tesis del carácter masivamente modular de la mente.

Throughout the years, a wide range of systems, trends, schools of thought and paradigms have fought to become researchers' and professionals' number one field of study. In Psychology, however, competing has only produced noticeable theoretic dispersion. The aim of the present article is to contribute to the discussion on theoretical integration by analyzing conceptual convergences between two widely circulating perspectives that are also under current development: the theories of implicit learning (IL) and a research program known as Evolutionary Psychology (EP). Both theories have gradually gained increasing importance among current theory trends. The theories of implicit learning, on one hand, have evolved based on empirical data and have revealed their presence in different experimental paradigms and among diverse populations. On the other hand, over the past few years EP has achieved considerable relevance in the theoretic framework, and has provided evolutionary explanations about a great deal of psychological phenomena. In the first two sections we briefly describe the general characteristics of IL and EP, in order to later analyze possible convergences between both perspectives. Firstly, we show the main conceptual principles of IL based on the analysis made by Frensch who classifies the main existing definitions according to different topics: the stimuli that are involved in the acquisition context, the phenomenological character of the process, the structure complexity of implicit learning content, the existing relationship between IL and neural mechanisms that are different from those in explicit learning, and the functional relationship between IL and attention mechanisms. In the second section, we identify three main theoretical aspects of Evolutionary Psychology: the adjustment assumption (according to which mental systems have emerged basically as features that contribute to an organism's successful reproduction); computational modularity hypothesis (the computation systems that make up the mind are relatively autonomous, they work on a specific purpose and solve very limited kinds of problems); and the innate assumption (that states that mental systems are innate and are determined by a genetic program structure). In the third section we describe some attempts at integrating research on implicit learning within an evolutionary framework. We describe Reber's assumptions on implicit learning which suggest that it is an earlier and more basic phylogenetic type of learning than explicit learning; furthermore we examine their relationship with the comprehensive model of Donald's cognitive evolution. In the fourth section, we particularly examine theoretical convergences between IL and EP theories. We believe that there is a common theoretic base between both perspectives. This theoretical base implies accepting a perspective based on an adaptation framework, supported by the fundamental principles of implicit processes and from an innate position. We believe that the massive modularity assumption does not form part of the conceptual commitments in implicit learning theories, even if it does not turn out to be incompatible with these. Finally, in the conclusions, we summarize our main findings, as well as discuss, from an epistemological framework, the advantages that the theoretical compatibilities hold. We examine different paths to reach a conceptual convergence: theoretical reduction, the unification of a set of minor theories which make up another theory that integrates and surpasses previous ones, as well as the integration of two theoretic bodies that were not connected up to that moment and that account to different theoretic authorities. Given that the potential convergence between Evolutionary psychology and implicit learning does not adjust to any of the aforementioned models, we consider it as a special case of integration.

Relaciones entre aprendizajes implícito y explicito e inteligencia general en alumnos de enseñanza general básica (EGB) / Relations between implicit/explicit learning and general intelligence in students of Basic General Education (BGE)

En el estudio que se informa se exploraron las relaciones entre las siguientes mediciones cognitivas en niños de 8 a 12 años: (a) la capacidad de aprendizaje implícito (AI) de reglas abstractas, (b) la capacidad de aprendizaje explícito (AE) de reglas abstractas y (c) la medición psicométrica de inteligencia general (IG). Además, se analizó el efecto de tales relaciones con respecto al desarrollo cognitivo en diferentes edades cronológicas. Por último, se exploraron las diferencias en el formato de presentación utilizado en las pruebas comparando dos formatos: alfabético (CA) y figurativo (CF). Se trabajó con una muestra de 64 alumnos de tres escuelas provinciales de la ciudad de Mar del Plata (Prov. de Buenos Aires). La muestra estuvo conformada por 32 niños de tercer año y 32 niños de quinto año de Enseñanza General Básica (EGB). Se verificó la ocurrencia de una correlación positiva estadísticamente significativa entre el AE y la IG (en la CF). Al comparar los resultados obtenidos por los niños de quinto año con los niños de tercero, se obtuvieron diferencias significativas en las puntuaciones obtenidas en la prueba de AE. Los resultados observados sustentan la hipótesis de la independencia del AI de reglas abstractas con respecto a la edad de los sujetos y al CI, y la asociación del AE de reglas abstractas con respecto a la edad de los sujetos y al CI. Los resultados sugieren que el formato figurativo es más sencillo y accesible para la edad de los sujetos comprendidos en la muestra

Modificaciones del paradigma de gramáticas artificiales para niños / Modifications of the Artificial Grammars Paradigm for children

El objetivo del presente artículo es describir y analizar las modificaciones al paradigma de Gramáticas artificiales de Reber, que permiten su aplicación en niños a partir de la inclusión de juegos interactivos en soporte informático en dos formatos de presentación: alfabético y figurativo. Se trabajó con una muestra de 50 niños, divididos en dos grupos (tercero y quintoaño) de enseñanza general básica de una escuela estatal de Mar del Plata, Argentina. Las puntuaciones obtenidas en ambas pruebas de aprendizaje implícito mostraron ser significativascon respecto a lo esperado por azar. Las diferencias de las medias (para muestras relacionadas) de los resultados de ambas pruebas no fueron significativas. Las modificaciones sugeridas implican un aporte para evaluar el Aprendizaje Implícito en niños con elementos estimularesy procedimentales basados en la retroalimentación que facilitan la adecuación de los niños ala lógica interna de las pruebas.

The aim of the present article is to describe and analyze some modifications to the ArtificialGrammars Learning Paradigm that makes it adaptable to children by using interactive computer games presented in two formats: Alphabetical and Figurative. We worked with a sample of 50 children of third and fifth year of Basic General Education (EGB) from a Provincial School of Mar del Plata, Argentina. The punctuations obtained in both tests of Implicit Learning weresignificant with regard to what was expected by chance. The means comparison (pair-samples) shows that the differences between both tests were not significant. The suggested modifications imply a contribution to the evaluation of Implicit Learning in children with new procedural andvisual elements, based on the feedback.