No description available.

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Thesis (M.D.S.)--Dept. of Dental, University of Adelaide, 1985. / Some mounted ill. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-190).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brandeis University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 133-171).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1938. / Typescript. Includes abstract and vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references: leaves [100-102].

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Minnesota, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web as a PDF file.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is the neurodegenerative disease that is ascribed to the long term development of cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and motor deficits as a result of the exposure to high amounts of sub concussive traumatic brain injuries. The disease has gained recent popularity in the media for its prevalence in American football as a response to recent research that has suggested the prominence of the disease in nearly every NFL player that is examined post mortem. This has produced a growing concern for the consequences of head impact and participation in contact sports. Despite media attention, little is currently known about the specific causes of the disease and an in life diagnosis is still nonexistent. The present study proposes that the chemokine, CCL11, could prove to be a viable biomarker for recognizing the onset and progression of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The results of our study suggest that football players who are clinically suspicious of CTE show significantly higher levels of CCL11 in their cerebrospinal fluid than do sedentary controls and noncontact athletes. Our results demonstrate that this increase in CCL11 is correlated with the number of years that a football player had participated in. We also suggest that this increase in CCL11 is associated with a unique immune response through results showing that the CCL11 expression increase is correlated with an increase in the expression of the cytokine IL-4 and substantial decrease in IFN-gamma. The analysis of CCL11 expression levels in the cerebrospinal fluid may prove to be a viable method of diagnosing and providing treatment for patients who may be at risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Methyldopa (L-alpha-Methyl-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) is a catecholamine used as an antihypertensive agent.1 Alpha-Methyldopa is not used as frequently anymore due to side effects, but it is still used especially in developing countries due to its low cost. Indications are mostly for the management of pregnancyinduced hypertension (PIH), as it is relatively safe in pregnancy compared to other antihypertensive drugs. This project is intended to increase the already-existing knowledge base of the mechanism of pharmacological action and to stimulate further investigation through research. The sympathetic nervous system is a division of the autonomic nervous system and it is responsible for the “flight-or-fight” response. It is involuntary and constantly active to maintain homeostasis in the human body. Sympathetic responses include an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac output, dilation of pupils and bronchioles, constriction of blood vessels, contraction of sphincters and inhibition of gut motility and secretions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the activity of the sympathetic nervous system of volunteers by three different techniques (QT interval and Heart rate variability and Skin conductance) after a week of a bi-daily dosage of alphamethyldopa. All volunteers received either 250mg alpha-methyldopa orally or a placebo tablet in a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study design. The correlation between the following techniques was also evaluated: Skin conductance as measured by the ProComp Infiniti Biofeedback apparatus, QT interval on ECG and HRV measured with Viport apparatus. A salivary sample was collected to evaluate the effect of alpha-methyldopa on salivary cortisol using an ELISA kit for analysis. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Pharmacology / unrestricted