Attachment--and loss.

More than two decades after E. E. Werner and R. S. Smith (1982), N. Garmezy (1983), and M. Rutter (1987) published their research on protective mechanisms and processes that are most likely to foster resilience, ambiguity continues regarding how to define and operationalize positive development under adversity. This article argues that, because resilience occurs even when risk factors are plentiful, greater emphasis needs to be placed on the role social and physical ecologies play in positive developmental outcomes when individuals encounter significant amounts of stress. Four principles are presented as the basis for an ecological interpretation of the resilience construct: decentrality, complexity, atypicality, and cultural relativity. These 4 principles, and the research upon which they are based, inform a definition of resilience that emphasizes the environmental antecedents of positive growth. This framework can guide future theory development, research, and the design of interventions that promote well-being among populations who experience environments that inhibit resilience-promoting processes.

The social ecology of resilience: addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity of a nascent construct.

Emotional Development: The Organization of Emotional Life in the Early Years

https://sites.duke.edu/flaubertsbrain/files/2012/08/Mesman-The-Many-Faces-of-the-Still-Face-Paradigm.pdf

The many faces of the Still-Face Paradigm: A review and meta-analysis

Major developments in attachment research over the past 2 decades have introduced parental mentalization as a predictor of infant-parent attachment security Parental mentalization is the degree to which parents show frequent, coherent, or appropriate appreciation of their infants' internal states The present study examined the triangular relations between parental mentalization, parental sensitivity, and attachment security A total of 20 effect sizes (N = 974) on the relation between parental mentalization and attachment, 82 effect sizes (N = 6,664) on the relation between sensitivity and attachment, and 24 effect sizes (N = 2,029) on the relation between mentalization and sensitivity were subjected to multilevel meta-analyses The results showed a pooled correlation of r = 30 between parental mentalization and infant attachment security, and rs of 25 for the correlations between sensitivity and attachment security, and between parental mentalization and sensitivity A meta-analytic structural equation model was performed to examine the combined effects of mentalization and sensitivity as predictors of infant attachment Together, the predictors explained 12% of the variance in attachment security After controlling for the effect of sensitivity, the relation between parental mentalization and attachment remained, r = 24; the relation between sensitivity and attachment remained after controlling for parental mentalization, r = 19 Sensitivity also mediated the relation between parental mentalization and attachment security, r = 07, suggesting that mentalization exerts both direct and indirect influences on attachment security The results imply that parental mentalization should be incorporated into existing models that map the predictors of infant-parent attachment (PsycINFO Database Record

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Mind matters: A meta-analysis on parental mentalization and sensitivity as predictors of infant-parent attachment.

The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the effect of a set of factors from multiple levels of influence: infant temperament, infant regulatory behavior, and maternal sensitivity on infant's attachment. Our sample consisted of 48 infants born prematurely and their mothers. At 1 and 3 months of age, mothers described their infants' behavior using the Escala de Temperamento do Bebe. At 3 months of age, infants' capacity to regulate stress was evaluated during Tronick's Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm. At 9 months of age, mothers' sensitivity was evaluated during free play using the CARE-Index. At 12 months of age, infants' attachment security was assessed during Ainsworth's Strange Situation. A total of 16 infants were classified as securely attached, 17 as insecure-avoidant, and 15 as insecure-resistant. Mothers of securely attached infants were more likely than mothers of insecure infants to describe their infants as less difficult and to be more sensitive to their infants in free play. In turn, secure infants exhibited more positive responses during the Still-Face. Infants classified as insecure-avoidant were more likely to self-comfort during the Still-Face and had mothers who were more controlling during free play. Insecure-resistant exhibited higher levels of negative arousal during the Still-Face and had mothers who were more unresponsive in free play. These findings show that attachment quality is influenced by multiple factors, including infant temperament, coping behavior, and maternal sensitivity.

/pdf/more-than-maternal-sensitivity-shapes-attachment-infant-an9lwf6p8c.pdf

More than maternal sensitivity shapes attachment: infant coping and temperament

Cognitive impairment in old people living in the community.

Neste trabalho de revisao bibliografica, os autores descrevem alguns determinantes do comportamento e habitos alimentares ao longo do crescimento, da infância a adolescencia. Embora primariamente influenciados por factores constitucionais, sao as experiencias com diversos alimentos e sabores, incentivadas por aspectos de ordem afectiva e sociais, os principais factores do comportamento e habitos alimentares. Entre as influencias maisimportantes das escolhas de criancas e jovens contam-se os niveis de satisfacao com o corpo, o tempo despendido face a TV e a publicidade sobre alimentos. As consequencias sao: defice de actividade fisica, sobre-ingestao e excesso de peso e obesidade. Compreender o comportamento alimentar e os seus determinantes e um passo importante para o desenvolvimento de estrategias de prevencao.Palavras chaveComportamento alimentar, habitos alimentares, preferencias alimentares, obesidade na infância e na adolescencia, controlo do peso.

/pdf/comportamento-e-habitos-alimentares-em-criancas-e-jovens-uma-2noddga9ga.pdf

Comportamento e hábitos alimentares em crianças e jovens: uma revisão da literatura

O presente artigo derevisao dedica-se a comparar e a analisar a relacao materna e paterna davinculacao A literatura indica que a vinculacao segura e mais frequente em diadesmae-filho do que em diades pai-filho, e que as maes em media sao mais sensiveisdos que os pais Contudo, as medidas de avaliacao da sensibilidade foram, namaior dos casos, aferidas em estudos da relacao mae-filho(a) Importa,compreender as diferencas entre maes e pais num quadro mais amplo das relacoesda familia Guiados pela literatura procuramos saber: Como se desenrola avinculacao pai-filho(a)? Que papel o pai tem no jogo e nos cuidados prestados acrianca? Qual e a associacao entre os comportamentos paternos e a vinculacao?Em que medida o envolvimento dos pais afeta as relacoes familiares?

/pdf/pais-e-maes-protegem-acarinham-e-brincam-de-formas-31avet4eo7.pdf

Pais e mães protegem, acarinham e brincam de formas diferentes

A hallmark of prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopaties is the conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrPC), expressed by the prion gene (prnp), into an abnormally folded isoform (PrPSc) with amyloid-like features that causes scrapie in sheep among other diseases. prnp together with prnd (which encodes a prion-like protein designated as Doppel), and prnt (that encodes the prion protein testis specific - Prt) with sprn (shadow of prion protein gene, that encodes Shadoo or Sho) genes, constitute the “prion gene complex”. Whereas a role for prnd in the proper functioning of male reproductive system has been confirmed, the function of prnt, a recently discovered prion family gene, comprises a conundrum leading to the assumption that ruminant prnt is a pseudogene with no protein expression. The main objective of the present study was to identify Prt localization in the ram reproductive system and simultaneously to elucidate if ovine prnt gene is transcribed into protein-coding RNA. Moreover, as Prt is a prnp-related protein, the amyloid propensity was also tested for ovine and caprine Prt. Recombinant Prt was used to immunize BALB/c mice, and the anti-Prt polyclonal antibody (APPA) immune response was evaluated by ELISA and Western Blot. When tested by indirect immunofluorescence, APPA showed high avidity to the ram sperm head apical ridge subdomain, before and after induced capacitation, but did not show the same behavior against goat spermatozoa, suggesting high antibody specificity against ovine-Prt. Prt was also found in the testis when assayed by immunohistochemistry during ram spermatogenesis, where spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa, stained positive. These observations strongly suggest ovine prnt to be a translated protein-coding gene, pointing to a role for Prt protein in the ram reproductive physiology. Besides, caprine Prt appears to exhibit a higher amyloid propensity than ovine Prt, mostly associated with its phenylalanine residue.

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Pedro Lopes dos Santos

Papers

More than maternal sensitivity shapes attachment: infant coping and temperament

Cognitive impairment in old people living in the community.

Comportamento e hábitos alimentares em crianças e jovens: uma revisão da literatura

Pais e mães protegem, acarinham e brincam de formas diferentes

Is prnt a Pseudogene? Identification of Ram Prt in Testis and Ejaculated Spermatozoa