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The goal of this study was to propose a new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm using a language-free adaptation of a 2-back working memory task to avoid cultural and educational bias. We additionally provide an index of the validity of the proposed paradigm and test whether the experimental task discriminates the behavioural performances of healthy participants from those of individuals with working memory deficits. Ten healthy participants and nine patients presenting working memory (WM) deficits due to acquired brain injury (ABI) performed the developed task. To inspect whether the paradigm activates brain areas typically involved in visual working memory (VWM), brain activation of the healthy participants was assessed with fMRIs. To examine the task's capacity to discriminate behavioural data, performances of the healthy participants in the task were compared with those of ABI patients. Data were analysed with GLM-based random effects procedures and t-tests. We found an increase of the BOLD signal in the specialized areas of VWM. Concerning behavioural performances, healthy participants showed the predicted pattern of more hits, less omissions and a tendency for fewer false alarms, more self-corrected responses, and faster reaction times, when compared with subjects presenting WM impairments. The results suggest that this task activates brain areas involved in VWM and discriminates behavioural performances of clinical and non-clinical groups. It can thus be used as a research methodology for behavioural and neuroimaging studies of VWM in block-design paradigms.

Recent research has shown the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) in the field of rehabilitation, namely neurocognitive rehabilitation. This technology will certainly revolutionize the rehabilitation of the future. Its advantages include greater ecological validity than conventional rehabilitation methods, provision of safe contexts for learning/training, the possibility of programs to be contingent on patient performance, with increasing levels of task difficulty and provision of immediate feedback, and the use of a “game factor” that promotes motivation for participation. These are important aspects in the rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury. Patients with this and other types of neurological injuries endure cognitive deficits that cause difficulties in independent functioning and daily-life activities. Their rehabilitation calls for systematic intervention programs that are theoretically grounded and use innovative approaches to their advantage. In this paper we present a review about the advantages of VR in the generalization of acquired skills to real-life contexts, to promote patients' functionality and quality of life, and propose an innovative program of neurocognitive rehabilitation. Research in the field shows positive effects of VR programs, but urges progress in terms of the development of techniques (e.g., facial synthesis and of more research on the impact of these interventions. Future studies should also explore the existence of neuro-anatomical correlates of behavioral changes, contributing to the investigation of the relationship between neural plasticity and behavior and providing evidence for clinical practice.

[b]Background[/b][b]:[/b] Patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) may experience social difficulties more specifically in the emotional recognition of faces. The present research aims to test the discriminative validity of Gandra-BARTA to the changes in the emotional recognition of faces after ABI and to perceive its connection with the general cognitive functioning, executive functioning and other variables associated with ABI. [b]Material/ Methods: [/b]The sample consists of two groups, the Clinical Group (n=20, ABI participants) and the Control Group (n=16, healthy participants). All participants underwent a global cognitive assessment through the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), executive functioning was measured by INECO Frontal Screening and the evaluation of emotional recognition of faces through Gandra-BARTA.[b]Results: [/b]The results demonstrate that Gandra-BARTA presents discriminative capacity for the evaluation of the emotional recognition of faces in patients with acquired brain injury. We observed differences between the two groups in the capacity of emotional recognition especially in the identification of emotions such as anger, disgust, happiness and surprise. The study also shows the existence of a decline in the identification of emotions with age, in the recognition of the disgusting stimuli presents a deficit related to the age and executive functioning, while with the rage the decline is related to the age and schooling. The emotional recognition of faces presents improvements with time after injury. Identification of the neutral expression demonstrates an improvement over time after injury.[b]Conclusions:[/b]The discriminative ability of Gandra-BARTA allows it to be an instrument to be used in the evaluation of the emotional recognition of faces in patients with acquired brain injury. Individuals with brain injury have difficulties in identifying anger, disgust, happiness and surprise. Emotional recognition differs in relation to age, executive functioning, schooling, and time after injury.

Recent research has shown the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) in the field of rehabilitation, namely neurocognitive rehabilitation. This technology will certainly revolutionize the rehabilitation of the future. Its advantages include greater ecological validity than conventional rehabilitation methods, provision of safe contexts for learning/training, the possibility of programs to be contingent on patient performance, with increasing levels of task difficulty and provision of immediate feedback, and the use of a “game factor” that promotes motivation for participation. These are important aspects in the rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury. Patients with this and other types of neurological injuries endure cognitive deficits that cause difficulties in independent functioning and daily-life activities. Their rehabilitation calls for systematic intervention programs that are theoretically grounded and use innovative approaches to their advantage. In this paper we present a review about the advantages of VR in the generalization of acquired skills to real-life contexts, to promote patients' functionality and quality of life, and propose an innovative program of neurocognitive rehabilitation. Research in the field shows positive effects of VR programs, but urges progress in terms of the development of techniques (e.g., facial synthesis and of more research on the impact of these interventions. Future studies should also explore the existence of neuro-anatomical correlates of behavioral changes, contributing to the investigation of the relationship between neural plasticity and behavior and providing evidence for clinical practice.

IntroductionDiet and physical activity interventions are effective in psychiatric outpatients that suffer from obesity, namely those treated with antipsychotic drugs. However, there is less evidence related to these interventions in hospitalised acute patients.AimTo evaluate the effect of a diet and physical activity program on weight and BMI variation in acute psychiatric patients during hospitalisation.MethodsMatched case-control study from January to September 2016. Inclusion criteria: patients with at least 15 days of hospitalisation in an acute psychiatry ward, evaluated by a nutritionist in the admission and medical discharge. The intervention consisted in a diet and physical activity program, with total restriction to visitors to bring food to the patients. Statistical analysis was done with T-student and multiple linear regression taking into account the effect of age, sex, daily dose of antipsychotics, and days of hospitalisation.ResultsSixty-six patients were studied (34 cases and 32 controls). Groups were statistically similar concerning the average of age, daily dose of antipsychotics, days of hospitalisation and sex. The differences of weight gain during hospitalisation were 0.088 kg (cases) versus 1484 kg (controls), P < 0.05. And the differences of the increased BMI during the hospitalisation were 0.041 kg/m2 (cases) versus 0.509 kg/m2 (controls), P < 0.05.ConclusionsObesity presents challenging health problems for individuals with severe mental illness that require inpatient treatment. This study provides evidence that individuals with acute mental illness can benefit from weight control interventions during their hospitalisation, in special a total restriction to visitors to bring food to the patients.

ABSTRACT Purpose: to perform the transcultural adaptation and translation of the ABaCo battery for the Portuguese population and check its psychometric properties. Methods: initially, the translation and retroversion of ABaCo was done. A total of 40 participants without pathology were recruited. Two equivalent Forms (Form A and Form B) were used, consisting of linguistic, extralinguistic, paralinguistic and context scales. The instrument was also applied to 12 people who were in the chronic phase after severe or moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). For statistical analysis the following tests were used: Mann-Whitney U test, Student t test for independent samples, Pearson's correlation (the value is considered significant when p ≤ 0.05) and Cronbach's alpha (the value is considered minimally acceptable when superior to 0.65). Results: TBIs’ participants showed lower results as compared to those without neurological pathology. The evidence was discriminatory for the population with TBI, although, on some scales, it was not, due to the ceiling effect. Differences were not found between the two Forms. The results also showed the existence of correlation of schooling and age with some of the components of ABaCo, as verified in the original version. No differences in gender-conditioned responses were found. The battery showed good metrical qualities with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.90 (Form A) and 0.71 (Form B), for the total sample. Conclusion: ABaCo has proved to be an appropriate instrument for assessing communication in the Portuguese adult population. Despite the limitations, this instrument is expected to be useful in the evaluation of the communication, following TBI.

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