This paper examines how the cognitive notion of attention has been employed in SLA and how it is understood in cognitive science. It summarizes recent research on attention from cognitive and neuroscience approaches. Some reformulations of problems raised in SLA research related to attention are proposed. Current research offers detailed ideas about attention and its component processes. These ideas, elaborated theoretically and empirically in cognitive neuroscience, may help untangle some important but difficult issues in SLA. Early, coarse-grained conceptions of attention, such as the limited-capacity metaphor or the automatic versus controlled processing dichotomy, are recast into an integrated human attention system with three separate yet interrelated networks: alertness, orientation, and detection. This finer grained analysis of attention is employed in a model of the role of attention in SLA.

An advantage of first mention-that is, faster access to participants mentioned first in a sentencehas previously been demonstrated only in English. Wereport three experiments demonstrating that the advantage of first mention occurs also in Spanish sentences, regardless of whether the firstmentioned participants are syntactic subjects, and regardless, too, of whether they are proper names or inanimate objects. Because greater word-order flexibility is allowed in Spanish than in English (e.g., nonpassive object-verb-subject constructions exist in Spanish), these findings provide additional evidence that the advantage of first mention is a general cognitive phenomenon.

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Background and aims: Bromocriptine is a dopaminergic (D2) agonist that has shown hypoglycemic and normotensive activity in preclinical and clinical studies. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of bromocriptine plus metformin on glycaemia and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Material and methods: An open-label randomised controlled trial was conducted for three months. It involved two groups (n=10), each containing 2 women and 8 men with an average age of 50 years. One group was given monotherapy (MT) with metformin (850 mg every 12 h) and the other combined therapy (CT) with the same dose of metformin plus an increasing dose of bromocriptine (from 1.25 mg per day to 2.5 mg per day). The parameters monitored were glycaemia, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), serum creatinine, blood pressure, and the body mass index. Results: CT was able to significantly decrease the level of glycaemia, HbA1c and diastolic blood pressure, whereas MT had no effect on any of the measured variables. Conclusions: The ability of CT with bromocriptine and metformin to control glycaemia and produce a normotensive effect reaffirms its advantages for controlling T2DM. Further research is needed to improve this therapeutic strategy.

Background: The transition from childhood to adolescence is associated with suicidal ideation (SI) and feelings of hopelessness. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of SI and hopelessness (and relevant family factors) among adolescents in southern Mexico studying in public and private high schools. Methods: A significant sample of high school students (15-19 years old) was taken in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the State of Chiapas, Mexico. The Beck scale for SI, the Beck hopelessness inventory, and a survey of family data were applied to adolescents, 364 in public and 240 in private high schools. Results: The teens in public schools showed a higher prevalence of hopelessness (32%) and SI+hopelessness (10%). In both public and private schools, these attitudes were more common among women as well as teens from small (3-4) families and those without a job. Conclusions: The behaviors found among teens of public and private high schools suggest the importance of a lack of family stability and economic solvency in the development of suicidal behavior. The present results may be useful in formulating strategies to prevent suicide.