The main objective of this research was to explore which factors best predict the occurrence of burden on primary caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Understanding these factors enables the identification of those caregivers at risk of having their physical and psychological health adversely affected, and the implementation of intervention strategies to reduce the negative impact of caring on parents of children with chronic medical conditions. The study sample consisted of a total of 62 caregivers (89% women) aged between 30 and 54 years (Mean = 41.98, SD = 5.64). CP affected children were aged between 1 and 17 years (Mean = 7.69, SD = 4.18) and the average degree of disability (% reflected in the medical record assessed by the Ministry of health, social services and equality of Spain) was 77.098 (scale of 100) (SD = 14.62). A burden model was constructed based on multiple linear regressions. The model included the following variables: degree of disability, depression (assessed by Beck Depression Inventory-II) and self-efficacy (measured by the Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy). The regression model explained 40.9% of the total variance. It was found that self-efficacy had a negative linear association with burden, while the degree of disability and depression showed a positive linear association. The most important predictors of caregiver burden were degree of disability, depression and self-efficacy. For this reason, we believe that it is necessary to develop interventions to reduce depression and enhance self-efficacy in parents of children with CP as one of the primary objectives for minimizing the burden on caregivers of disabled children.

Objective: Abdominal fat ultrasound (US) is a simple clinical tool that may allow measures of fat depots not visible using common dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) or computerized tomography (CT) imaging. The aim of this study was to validate the technique, give measures of superficial and profound subcutaneous, preperitoneal, omental and perirenal (retroperitoneal) fat and correlate them with MS markers. Methods: Sequential US measures of these five abdominal fat layers were done at 397 adults. Blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), waist, body fat %, HOMA-IR index (homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance), lipid profile and leptin were recorded. Metabolic syndrome (MS) was defined according to Cholesterol education programme adult treatment panel III (ATPIII) criteria. Results: Subcutaneous and omental fat were increased among people with obesity, whereas preperitoneal and perirenal fat did not show any difference according to BMI or waist. Women showed thicker subcutaneous fat (both superficial and profound), whereas men had bigger omental fat. Both postmenopausal and diabetic patients had changes in omental fat only, whereas patients with fatty liver showed thicker preperitoneal and perirenal fat, as well. MS patients showed both thicker perirenal and omental fat. A cutoff of 54 mm in male (M)/34 mm in female (F) of omental fat and 22.5 mm (M)/12.5 mm (F) of perirenal fat could be predictive of later MS onset. Conclusions: US is a valid method to measure all different abdominal fat depots. Omental and perirenal fat measures may classify patients at risk for MS. Preperitoneal fat depot may also correlate with fatty liver disease.

Background: Although δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main cannabinoid from the cannabis plant, is responsible for the psychotomimetic effects of cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), the second most abundant cannabinoid in the cannabis plant, does not show any psychotomimetic effect. Cannabidiol has even been proposed to be antipsychotic and to counteract some of the psychotomimetic effects of THC. The aim of this study was to test the potential antipsychotomimetic effects of CBD.Method: Eighteen members from a cannabis social club were tested for subjective and psychotomimetic effects under the effects of different full-spectrum cannabis extracts containing either THC, CBD, THC + CBD, or placebo in a naturalistic, randomized, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study.Results: Results showed that participants under the effects of THC + CBD showed lower psychotomimetic scores in subjective scales when compared with THC alone. Subjective scores were lower under the effects of CBD and placebo when compared with THC + CBD. Cannabidiol and placebo did not show any psychotomimetic effect. Conclusions:This study provides evidence for both the psychotomimetic effects of THC and the antipsychotomimetic effects of CBD when it is coadministered with THC in real-world situations, which can be very relevant for the clinical practice of medical cannabis. Ultimately, this study substantiates the link between the endocannabinoid system and psychotic-like symptoms and has important implications for the understanding of schizophrenia and the therapeutic potential of CBD as an antipsychotic. Lastly, we demonstrate how reliable methodologies can be implemented in real situations to collect valid ecological evidence outside classic laboratory settings.

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been applied as a therapeutic tool in clinical interventions since few years. Although first approaches were focused in rehabilitation of motor functions, nowadays some researchers and clinicians are interested in cognitive rehabilitation. Research in executive functions and TMS are really scarce in normal subject as well as in clinical samples. This construct describe a group of cognitive abilities (reasoning, cognitive flexibility, behavior inhibition, planning, decision making, etc.) whose main function is control and regulation of cognitive processes. The main brain area that underlies these functions is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Boroojerdi et al., (2001) have demonstrated with repetitive TMS (rTMS) the influence of left DLPFC in analogical reasoning; and the group of Moser in cognitive flexibility (Moser et al., 2002). In relation to behavior inhibition, assessed by go/no-go tasks, Bermpoht and his collegues have shown that slow rTMS (≤1Hz) in left DLPFC improves the precision in performance but not the speed, meanwhile fast rTMS (>1Hz) in right DLPFC has a negative effect on performance (Bermpoht et al., 2006). Stroop tasks have also been assessed before rTMS in left DLPFC, and in some cases there were an improvement of performance (Vanderhasselt et al., 2006) but not in others (Wagner et al., 2006). Other groups have focused their interest on risk decision making, and results show that slow rTMS in right DLPFC makes the people take riskier decisions and accept unfair proposals (Knoch et al.

The present paper includes a review of the literature focused on the study of neglect syndrome with TMS the technique (single and paired pulse) and the proposal and development of a study about the temporal involvement of angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus in this syndrome. Despite the existing empirical evidence on the role of the parietal cortex in visual attention, the specific role of each of its subarea is far from clear, nor the time course of parietal neural activity. Neglect has become an interesting object of study for groups carrying out research with TMS, given the capacity of this technique to establish causal relationships between brain function and behavior by producing transient virtual lesions. Furthermore, this technique allows the study of the temporal course of cognitive functions by exciting or inhibiting different cortical areas at different times.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non invasive technique of brain stimulation which could be an interesting therapeutic tool in addictive disorders, being offline repetitive TMS (rTMS) the main strategy used due to it allows to disrupt underlying brain areas and examine behavioral consequences, (Knoch et al., 2006). There are some evidences that rTMS over the dorso-lateral prefrontal (DLPF) cortex is effective reducing craving in several drugs, such as cocaine, tobacco and alcohol (Camprodon et al., 2007; Amiaz et al., 2009; Mishra et al. 2010). In fact, a decrease on cocaine craving could be observed with a single session of rTMS. Complementary, the application of single and paired-pulse TMS in controlled paradigms is a novel and promising strategy in this area: recent results showed that reward modulated TMS-induced motor-evoked potentials, showing greater cortical inhibition during reward expectation (Gupta and Aron, 2010). Regarding alcohol abuse, there is a narrow relation between alcohol consumption and impulsiveness. On one hand, alcohol consumption produces impulsive behavior and desinhibition (Marinkovic et al. 2011); and on the other hand, impulsiveness personality trait predisposes to abusive alcohol consumption (Magid et al. 2007). Considering these evidences and the effectiveness of rTMS as therapeutic tool, use rTMS to reduce impulsivity could be a new approach to alcohol disorders treatment. Prefrontal cortex is a good candidate for this purpose since its pivotal role in impulsiveness behavior (Crews and Boettinger, 2009). Thus, we suggest that high frequency rTMS stimulation could improve the ability of alcohol abusers for control their drinking impulse.

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