This study investigates Descartes' contribution to physiological psychology, limited to a consideration of his substitution of physical for psychical causes of sensation and lower-level cognitive functions. The focus of the study is on the Renaissance "faculty psychology" which preceded Descartes, and upon Descartes' development of a mechanical analogue of man which made possible the transition from psychistic to non-psychistic investigation of the human mind. / Chapter I, "The Background and Development of Renaissance Faculty Psychology," develops the history of psychological thought from Galen to Vesalius so that the reader may acquire a sensitivity to the proper intellectual context of Descartes' work. Chapter II, "The Rejection of Vitalism in the 17th Century," traces the replacement of physical for psychical interpretations of life phenomena as the environment in which Descartes' thoughts flourished. / The body of the study is contained in Chapters III and IV. Chapter III, "Descartes' Physiological Psychology," investigates Descartes' dualist ontology in two of his works, Treatise of Man and Passions of the Soul, as a means of developing an understanding of the philosopher's contribution to physiological psychology. / Chapter IV explores Descartes' use of a special kind of model, a scaled theoretical analogue, in the Treatise of Man. It is by means of this model that Descartes becomes the first to apply the "mechanical hypothesis" to man. / Descartes' reduction of man to an efficient machine--at least in a theoretical model--and the value of this approach in the subsequent physical investigation of mind is discussed in Chapter V, "The Cartesian Influence on Subsequent Development in Physiological Psychology." / In the Conclusion of the study, the value of Descartes' mechanical model of man is seen to lie in its ability to offer future researchers the opportunity to prove or disprove the assumptions of the model--and innumerable subsequent ones--by putting them to the test of experiment. Descartes is, therefore, credited as being the first to remove the mechanical functioning of the body--even the lower-level cognitive functions of the mind--from the realm of the soul, and ground them firmly in the soil of empiricism. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-06, Section: B, page: 2032. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

A comparison of two feedback encephalography training programs (with self-regulation strategies) was undertaken to determine if degree of relaxed-concentration achieved during feedback training is associated with consistently fast, but accurate, choice reaction times during performance of a Sustained Selective Attention Task (SSAT). A total of 21 males and 21 females (n = 7 of each sex per/group) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) feedback encephalography within 6 to 9.5 Hz with self-regulation strategies--"thinking in the void" and "visualization" (FETV); (2) feedback encephalography within 6 to 9.5 Hz with thinking in the void only (FET); and (3) control (C). Subjects in the experimental groups received one, 20 minute session on each of three consecutive days. Subjects in the C group met once and sat with eyes closed (sleep was not permitted). An ASI 120-A Feedback Encephalographic Analyzer with bi-polar electrodes attached to T(,3)-O(,1) of the 10/20 System provided feedback for training as well as monitoring of EEG measures. After the final training session, subjects performed the SSAT for 20 minutes. A Self-report Questionnaire (SRQ) was administered at the conclusion of the SSAT. / A series of 3 x 2 ANOVAS with EEG biofeedback training treatments as the first factor, and sex the second, was computed for mean dominant frequency (MDF), percent time spent in 6 to 9.5 Hz (PTA) during EEG biofeedback training: choice reaction times for various intervals and number of errors during SSAT performance; and selected SRQ items. The results indicated that during EEG biofeedback training, the FET group was able to produce significantly greater reductions in MDF and PTA than C group (F{2,36} = 5.694, p < .007; F {2,36} = 4.751, p < .015, respectively). Contrary to predictions, however, no significant differences were obtained between FETV and FET groups (p < .05). There was a significant sex effect for all choice reaction time intervals during SSAT performance. Subsequent Newman-Keuls Tests found that males had significantly faster choice reaction times than females (p < .05). Yet, in certain time periods a significant treatment by sex interaction was computed; i.e., in each instance of its occurrence the interaction always conformed to a specific pattern--for males, the FET group had the fastest choice reaction times followed in succession by the FETV and C groups whereas the converse was true for females. Plotting of the choice reaction time data showed that the FET males produced the fastest choice reaction time for all intervals than all groups as well as fewest number of errors with the exception of FET females. / Overall, the FET males demonstrated characteristics associated with high-efficiency performance such as: relaxed-concentration; less mind-wandering and drowsiness during the attention task; consistently fast, but accurate choice reaction times; the appropriate amount of arousal and attention relative to optimal performance; and capability to adapt to varying response conditions. Thus, it may be concluded that in male subjects, feedback encephalography training within 6 to 9.5 Hz concomitant with thinking in the void practice, elicits a relaxed-concentration effect that generalizes to performance on a sustained selective attention task. In addition, the results suggest that regular practice and experience in self-regulation programs such as FET training is desirable in order to produce high-efficient cortical processing and ego-tension loosening beneficial to optimal performance on SSAT type tasks. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: B, page: 2590. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: B, page: 0399. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study examined family psychological variables, specifically early parental death and subsequent cancer onset in adulthood. It was hypothesized that Cancer subjects would report higher levels of emotional closeness within their families of origin. The instruments used were the Personal Data Sheet, Weber-Breaux Family Well-Being Scale (FWBS), Life Experiences Survey (LES), and the Family Spatial Relations Inventory (FSRI). Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 84 adult women. Twenty-nine Cancer subjects were used along with two different control groups. One control group was an Illness/Non-Cancer group including 27 End Stage Renal Disease patients (Renal subjects). Twenty-eight Healthy/Normal women comprised the third control group. / Following the admission and collection of testing materials, the data were first scored and analyzed. Statistical analyses included Chi Square, Pearson Product-Moment correlation, analysis of variance and analysis of covariance. / Four hypotheses were examined: (1 & 2) Cancer subjects would have greater prevalence of parental death both prior to disease onset and in childhood than Healthy/Normals and (3 & 4) Cancer subjects would have greater prevalence of parental death both prior to disease onset and in childhood than Healthy/Normals where the parent-child relationship was characterized as emotionally close as determined by the FWBS and the FSRI. / Overall the obtained data do not support the hypotheses. Cancer subjects are not characterized by a greater frequency of parental death occurring either before diagnosis or before the subject turned ten years old. In addition, the factor of greater parent-child closeness during early childhood is not a discriminating variable. In fact, Cancer subjects reported higher levels than both control groups on all three FWBS subscales--indicating poorer family functioning. / The most significant difference observed concerned the Family Generated Chronic Anxiety subscale. Cancer subjects reported much higher levels of family anxiety during their childhood than both Renal subjects and Healthy/Normal subjects. This finding was reflected in the larger perimeter values in the FSRI for Cancer subjects. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-05, Section: B, page: 2194. / Major Professor: Mary W. Hicks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-12, Section: B, page: 6392. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-12, Section: B, page: 6391. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1911. / "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago Libraries, Chicago, Illinois, 1911." Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Heart failure is characterized by the inability of the heart to meet the demands of the body, often through inadequate ventricular filling or pumping. Progression into this compromised state is marked by several structural and biochemical changes to the myocardium. A modification germane to the study at hand is the altered energetic and metabolic status of the cardiomyocyte. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand how regulators of energetic status, liver kinase B 1 (LKB1) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), interact with and alter function of the greatest energy consumer in the heart, the myofilament. Using measures of muscle myofilament function and post-translational modification status, relative activation of the LKB1/AMPK pathway was found to differentially alter contractility, cross-bridge kinetics, Myosin Binding Protein C phosphorylation, and Troponin I phosphospecies distribution. LKB1 complex treatment of cardiac trabeculae was shown to blunt contractility and maximum tension generation. Furthermore, regulation of the LKB1 complex was examined. The LKB1 complex was shown to alter its association with myofibrillar proteins, depending on the energetic state of the cardiomyocyte. The LKB1 complex was found localize in the region of the Z-Disk of the cardiac sarcomere, and potentially associate with both mitochondrial and mechanotransduction regulatory proteins. These results indicate potential roles for the LKB1/AMPK signaling axis to modify myofilament function, potentially though alterations in key post-translational modifications and protein-protein associations, in response to energetic stress. As such, targeting the LKB1/AMPK pathway could be beneficial in treating energetically impaired hearts.

Understanding renal transport mechanisms is essential to predicting molecular interactions and targeting drugs to specific transporters. This study focuses on characterizing rbOAT1 and rbOAT3 with respect to interactions with compounds that varied in charge, length and hydrophobicity. Straight chain dicarboxylates of five carbons or more inhibited both transporters well. Maximum inhibition occurred with glutarate (5C). Monocarboxylates interacted poorly with both transporters, yet exhibited greater inhibition as the chain length increased. Aromatic dicarboxylates inhibited both transporters optimally at a charge separation similar to that of glutarate. Both OAT1 and OAT3 were inhibited by reduced and oxidized 2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulfonate (DMPS). To test the chemical properties of DMPS that facilitated its interaction with rbOAT1 and rbOAT3, I used 3-mercapto-1-propane sulfonate and found that the SH groups are essential in stabilizing DMPS to the binding sites. These results indicate that the size, hydrophobicity, charge, and H-bonding capabilities of a molecule work together to stabilize it to the transporter binding site.