The neuropsychological consequences of opioid abuse are particularly evident in attention, memory and executive functioning, but it remains unclear whether these consequences persist in heroin users doing methadone in harm reduction programs and therapeutic community treatments. Thus, the current study aimed to assess these cognitive domains in distinct clinical groups of heroin users undergoing methadone maintenance. The sample consisted of 110 participants divided in four groups (low threshold methadone program, short-term community treatment, long-term community treatment, drug-free controls). These groups were compared regarding memory and attentional abilities. Multiple linear regressions were then conducted to obtain standardized effect sizes for significant comparisons. Results showed a better attentional and memory function in patients that were in opioid dependence treatment in community opposed to patients in harm reduction programs (p's<0.05). Standardized effect sizes suggest larger improvements in cognition in long-term heroin-abstinent individuals doing methadone maintenance. These results highlight the detrimental effect of heroin use in cognitive function, but also suggest that this decrement may be reversed during long-term opioid dependence treatment.

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Social work, like other professions, has undergone changes in its structural basis, as well as a re-dimensioning of the professional work, which cannot be dissociated from the inevitable administrative reforms of the State and of the social policies themselves. In this research we sought to understand how the state administrative reforms, namely the managerial model of New Public Management have influenced the professional intervention of social workers in the public sector. We did so through the perceptions of the social workers about the implications of managerialism in their professional practices. It is a qualitative research, with exploratory characteristics and was carried out in a municipality in a district of Portugal. It was conducted a semi-structured interview with six social workers in the public sector, from four different sectors: Justice, Local Power, Health and Social Security. After the interviews were collected, a Characterization Grid of the sample and a SWOT Analysis Grid were used for each of the participants to assist the researcher in the Content Analysis of this investigation. The data we analyzed revealed that in all services and intervention areas there was a prevalence of characteristics of managerialism influences, which necessarily induced changes in professional practices. The collected data revealed that there are characteristics of managerialism perceived as beneficial and positive for the professional exercise and other characteristics that have brought constraints.

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The aim of this study was to analyze the efficiency of a physical activity program on executive performance in obese adolescents. Fifteen adolescents (5 males and 10 females), with a mean age of 14.73 years and an IMC mean of 36.74 participated in the study. None of the participants presented a compulsive eating disorder when screened by the Binge Eating Scale. A pretest and posttest assessment, twelve months later, was conducted by using a neuropsychological battery that evaluated the cognitive flexibility (Comprehensive Trail Making Test), inhibition control (Stroop Neuropsychological Screening Test and by the Frontal Assessment Battery), and planning (Tower of London). ANOVA of repeated measures was performed. The within-subjects tests demonstrated significant statistical differences between the two moments of evaluation at the level of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility tasks, with higher performances in the second evaluation. These results suggest that the inclusion of obese adolescents in such programs may promote their executive capacities.