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Introduction: Research and diagnosis of water sources is of academic and governmental interest, for this reason, the exploration of numerical tools applied to watershed management, offers the possibility to identify where and what variables are useful in monitoring and rehabilitation programs of aquatic ecosystems. Environmental planning and management, which includes water quality, is conventionally analyzed by physical, chemical and hydrobiological indexes. In 2014, through the water management guide, included the assessment of the ecological quality index (EQI); it was generated a comprehensive approach through a numerical system of correlations that diagnoses, classifies and detects environmental impacts. Objective: This research aims to demonstrate that the EQI allows to assess the quality of aquatic ecosystems affected by different environmental situations. Methods: In order to analyze the application of this tool, we studied three scenarios located in different biogeographical regions of Colombia and, as a hydrobiological group indicator, we used peripheral and phytoplankton algae. The ecosystems were monitored between 2007 and 2015 and correspond to a flood plain, a high mountain Andean river and a group of water stream in a tropical humid forest. Results: Canonical correlations were significant (P < 0.005) and a model of weighted averages, allowed to estimate the optimum and the tolerance of each taxa for the sites ecological classification; variables related to ion concentration, acidity damping, temperature and hydraulics, influenced the models that explained the abundances distribution of the studied biological groups. Conclusions: The application of the EQI makes it possible to identify variables, organisms and numerical systems to classify ecological status. These results are useful in the diagnosis and monitoring of aquatic ecosystems and that can be implemented in other scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Questionnaire of 90 symptoms (SCL-90-R) is frequently used in the exploration of mental health, but there are no studies on its validity or sensitivity to change in Colombian clinical population. The objective is to establish the structural and psychometric properties of SCL-90-R for Colombian clinical samples, and to identify differences in relation to gender and sensitivity to change. Methodology. Longitudinal design with a three-month difference between the first and second observation. 214 patients participated (51.9% men and 43.1% women), with a mean age of 26 years (deviation 11.3). Both the confirmatory factorial analysis and the exploratory one were carried out to search for the best validity indexes. Instruments: SCL-90-R, and sociodemographic questionnaire and characteristics of psychotherapy. Results. Levels of reliability were identified as adequate with Cronbach alphas 0.74 to 0.90. The confirmatory factor analysis showed low goodness of fit on the indexes: Comparative goodness indexes = 0.67, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.65 and normalized adjustment index = 0.508, and approximate value of the mean square error of 0.068. The final solution of the exploratory factor analysis showed a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index of 0.92 and a significant result in the Bartlett sphericity test (Chi square = 3,682.9, gl = 603, p-value < 0.001). This structure included 36 items for a sample/item size ratio = 5.9 and explained 60.7% of the total variance, with seven of the nine factors that the original questionnaire contains: depression, obsessions/compulsions, somatization, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety and paranoid ideation. Indices of sensitivity to change were identified for both versions. Regarding the difference according to sex, significant differences were reported in some factors, with higher scores in women; for the original questionnaire, differences were found in the anxiety factor, and on the abbreviated questionnaire in the depression factor and hostility. Conclusions. The original questionnaire reported adequate levels of reliability. The abbreviated questionnaire, generated through exploratory factor analysis, reported adequate levels of both reliability and validity. Both versions of the scale presented sensitivity to detect changes in a second evaluation moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/objective: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a multifactorial mental health disorder. Stressful events and childhood abuse have been included in different models to explain its etiology. However, little evidence is available on how attributional style and early maladaptive schemas are related to MDD. Method: A retrospective case-control study using a three-stage hierarchical logistic model was conducted to explore the relationship between MDD and psychosocial variables such as childhood adversity, stressful life events, attributional style, and cognitive schemas in a sample of 171 individuals with a current depressive episode and 171 healthy controls. Results: Depression could be predicted by childhood adversity, an attributional style characterized by interpreting stressful events as negative and uncontrollable and the cognitive schemas in impaired autonomy/performance domains and impaired limits. Conclusions: Our results highlight the relevance of identifying cognitive factors, beyond clinical symptoms that could be useful to better understand MDD. These findings may result in better preventive programs and create awareness of the role of cognitive domains in MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]