The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine the effects of dragon boat participation on the psychosocial well-being of female cancer survivors over time and compared with the population-based norms. Nine female cancer survivors belonging to the dragon boat team, SurvivOars, participated in the initial measurement process. The measurement packet was 21 page compilation of psychosocial questionnaires capturing demographics, quality of life, moods, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, self-esteem, self-efficacy, social support, physical activity levels, body image, and sedentary behaviors. After 8 weeks, 8 subjects completed the same follow-up questionnaire to assess changes in psychosocial variables over time. Scores were also compared to population-based norms from previous studies of similar groups of cancer survivors who did not participate in dragon boating. Results indicated no significant changes in psychosocial scores over the 8-week period. However, compared with population norms, significantly better psychosocial functioning was found in the dragon boating survivors compared with non-dragon boating survivors in quality of life, mood, self-esteem, perceived stress, body image, and depressive symptoms (p<0.05). These findings suggest dragon boat participation among female cancer survivors may be beneficial to their quality of life and psychosocial well-being after disease.

Patients with cancer transitioning from completing their final cancer treatments to survivorship are particularly at risk for experiencing psychosocial stress, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has referred to these cancer patients as “lost in transition.” In this study, patients with cancer in their transition phase after completing their final radiation treatment were defined as cancer survivors (CS). CS must deal with chronic stressors such as the fear of cancer recurrence as well as the resumption of their roles in their family and work lives. Chronic stress impacts the nervous system and increases secretion of stress hormones (e.g. cortisol) from the endocrine system, which in turn influences immune function. These systems are particularly relevant for CS since research has shown associations between abnormal cortisol patterns and increased mortality in breast CS and immune dysfunction in CS can increase susceptibility to infections. The theoretical framework of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), which describes the interactions between the psychosocial, neuroendocrine and immune systems, guided the choice of outcomes for this study. The IOM has identified a lack of theory-driven interventions for managing psychosocial stress in CS. We reviewed the literature and identified two major types of PNI-based psychosocial interventions for cancer patients, namely cognitive-behavioral and complementary medical. One promising brief and inexpensive psychosocial intervention was expressive writing, which involved participants disclosing their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer in four 20-30 minute writing sessions over four consecutive days. We conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial to determine the efficacy of an online expressive writing (EW) intervention delivered to CS who were 2-12 months post-radiation treatment completion. The results of this study revealed that EW was effective in regulating stress in our sample of CS over a period of six weeks as measured by lowered salivary cortisol levels and lowered self-reported fear of cancer recurrence. Online EW is a low-cost and convenient approach for delivering stress-management interventions for CS during survivorship. However, coordinated efforts are needed from health researchers, professionals and policy makers to define standardized approaches for testing psychosocial interventions and using PNI biomarkers to help develop evidence-based psychosocial cancer-care for CS during survivorship.

Confirmation bias occurs when a person believes in or searches for evidence to support his or her favored theory while ignoring or excusing disconfirmatory evidence and is disinclined to change his or her belief once he or she arrives at a conclusion. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether emotionally charged evidence and evidence presentation order could influence an investigator's belief in a suspect's guilt. The study included 166 sworn police officers (basic training recruits, patrol officers, and criminal investigators) who completed online surveys in response to criminal vignettes across different scenarios to record their measure of guilt belief. Analysis of variance was used to assess the relationship between the 3 independent variables: duty assignment (recruit, patrol, investigator), scenario condition (child and adult sexual assault), and evidence presentation order (sequential, simultaneous, reverse sequential). The dependent variable was confirmation bias (Likert-scaled 0–10 guilt judgment). According to the study results, confirmation bias was least evident in criminal investigators with more experience and training, and both emotion and evidence presentation order can influence guilt judgment. The findings generalize to criminal investigators and attest to the importance of working to include and exclude suspects and to withhold judgment until all available evidence is analyzed. Investigators benefit from this study and through their improved decision making, society benefits as well. This study will contribute to the need for professional dialogue concerning objective fact finding by criminal investigators and avoiding incidents of wrongful conviction.

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is an operational measure of sensorimotor gating and is known to be reduced when the dopamine D2 receptor is activated. We used a rodent model of psychosis in which increases in dopamine D2 receptor sensitivity are produced through neonatal quinpirole (a dopamine D2 / D3 agonist) treatment to rats. Rats were administered quinpirole (1mg/kg) or saline from postnatal day (P) 1-21. Rats were raised to adulthood and tested on PPI. Results showed that neonatal quinpirole treatment produced a significant reduction in PPI, and nicotine exacerbated this reduction. This reduction was partially blocked by the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine. Brain tissue was analyzed for regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) and results showed that neonatal quinpirole significantly decreased RGS9, but increased RGS17 as compared to controls. These results appear to indicate that the G-protein couples more efficiently to the D2 receptor, and nicotine exacerbates PPI deficits in D2 receptor-primed rats.

Background: This study examined the bidirectional nature of mother-infant positive and negative emotional displays during social interactions across multiple tasks among postpartum women accounting for childhood maltreatment severity. Additionally, effects of maternal postpartum psychopathology on maternal affect and effects of task and emotional valence on dyadic emotional displays were evaluated. Sampling and Methods: A total of 192 mother-infant dyads (51% male infants) were videotaped during free play and the Still-Face paradigm at 6 months postpartum. Mothers reported on trauma history and postpartum depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Reliable, masked coders scored maternal and infant positive and negative affect from the videotaped interactions. Results: Three path models evaluated whether dyadic affective displays were primarily mother driven, infant driven, or bidirectional in nature, adjusting for mothers' maltreatment severity and postpartum psychopathology. The bidirectional model had the best fit. Child maltreatment severity predicted depression and PTSD symptoms, and maternal symptoms predicted affective displays (both positive and negative), but the pattern differed for depressive symptoms compared to PTSD symptoms. Emotional valence and task altered the nature of bidirectional affective displays. Conclusions: The results add to our understanding of dyadic affective exchanges in the context of maternal risk (childhood maltreatment history, postpartum symptoms of depression and PTSD). Findings highlight postpartum depression symptoms as one mechanism of risk transmission from maternal maltreatment history to impacted parent-child interactions. Limitations include reliance on self-reported psychological symptoms and that the sample size prohibited testing of moderation analyses. Developmental and clinical implications are discussed.

An estimated 13.9% of Americans currently meet criteria for an alcohol (ethanol; EtOH) use disorder (AUD). While there are 4 medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat AUD, these treatments have demonstrated poor clinical efficacy. Our ongoing research program encompasses a multi-tiered screening of a natural product library and validation process to provide novel information about the mechanisms underlying EtOH-induced changes in neurobiology and to identify novel chemical scaffolds to be exploited in the development of pharmacological treatments for AUD in a rodent organotypic hippocampal slice culture model. Initial screens of several natural product compounds identified 3 compounds which attenuate 48 h EtOH-induced cytotoxicity in vitro. As analogs of natural products can be developed to have enhanced therapeutic potential over parental structures, Study 1 sought to extend on prior findings via the screening of several natural product analogs for their ability to attenuate EtOH-induced cytoxicity. Nine natural produce analogs demonstrated potent cytoprotective effects against EtOH-induced toxicity at 48 h. Several reports suggest EtOH-induced neurotoxicity may be secondary to the induction of persistent neuroimmune activation, and isoflavonoids have been shown to have effects on neuroimmune signaling. Thus, Study 2 compared the effects of compound 9b, an isoflavonoid analog identified in Study 1, to daidzein (DZ), a prototypical isoflavonoid, in the same 48 h model, with the addition of a neuroimmune component. Specifically, culture media was collected to assess for the release of the neuroimmune mediators HMGB1, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 via ELISA. Compound 9b and DZ protected against EtOH-induced cytotoxicity at 48 h. EtOH exposure significantly increased secretion of HMGB1 and IL-6 into culture media at 48h. Compound 9b and DZ attenuated these increases at all concentrations tested. These results suggest potential neuroimmune modulating properties of isoflavonoids which may contribute to their neuroprotective effects against EtOH in vitro. These findings highlight the potential applications DZ and the novel isoflavonoid analog 9b for use in the treatment of AUD.

Mental contamination (i.e., feelings of dirtiness in the absence of contact with a contaminant) is a potentially important yet understudied factor in posttraumatic psychopathology, particularly for survivors of sexual trauma. Mental contamination has been linked to PTSD symptom severity, negative affect, and coping cross-sectionally and in lab-based paradigms, but research has yet to assess these relationships in ecological contexts. The present study extends previous cross-sectional findings by modelling relationships between mental contamination and posttraumatic psychopathology, emotions, and coping both within-day and from one day to the next. Forty-two female sexual trauma survivors completed twice-daily assessments of mental contamination, PTSD symptoms, negative emotions, and avoidant/approach coping via a smartphone app. Daily averages and intraindividual changes in mental contamination scores were linked with PTSD symptoms at the same timepoint. Mental contamination also significantly predicted several specific avoidant coping strategies at later timepoints in addition to concurrent links. Unexpectedly, several negative emotions exhibited positive links with concurrent mental contamination but were negatively linked to later mental contamination. Exploratory analyses identified a significant interaction whereby elevated morning negative affect predicted evening reductions in mental contamination, but only for individuals also high in morning PTSD symptoms. Lastly, prevalence of reported baseline mental contamination was much higher in the present study compared to prior research. Clinical relevance and future recommendations for ecological research in trauma-related mental contamination is discussed.

Efforts to improve inclusion in research have included mandating the recruitment of ethnic minorities and women into NIH funded studies. However, little research has been completed on who attends such interventions. This is particularly worrisome in populations for which attendance to interventions can have dire consequences. HIV is a public health concern for pregnant women in substance using communities, as pregnant women are much less likely to use condoms during intercourse to prevent HIV. Group modular HIV prevention interventions have long been the standard for HIV prevention. However, little attention in research on HIV prevention interventions RCTs has been focused on attendance to these interventions. This study examined predictors of intervention and control group attendance in a randomized controlled trial comparing a 5-session Safer Sex Skill Building (SSB) intervention to a 1-session HIV education control group in a sample of pregnant women at risk for prenatal substance use. This study identified psychosocial and mental health variables associated with both 1 session control group and 5-session SSB intervention attendance as well as endeavored to identify the number of sessions necessary to attend to achieve an adequate dose in treatment. Findings include younger age and marital status as being predictive of participation in the one session HE control group and having a trade, skill, or profession as being predictive of participation in the five session SSB intervention group. Further research is needed to understand what factors may impact five-session SSB group attendance.

Synthetic cathinones and related agents represent an international drug abuse problem, and at the same time an important class of clinically useful compounds. Structure-activity relationship studies are needed to elucidate molecular features underlying the pharmacology of these agents. Illicit methcathinone (i.e., MCAT), the prototype of the synthetic cathinone class, exists as a racemic mixture. Though the differences in potency and target selectivity between the positional and optical isomers of synthetic cathinones and related agents have been demonstrated to have important implications for abuse and therapeutic potential, the two MCAT isomers have never been directly compared at their molecular targets: the monoamine transporters (MATs). Additionally, previous studies have found that the carbonyl oxygen atom can be replaced with a methoxy group, but this results in two chiral centers (i.e., four possible optical isomers for synthesis and evaluation). Here, the individual isomers of MCAT, their racemate, and achiral MCAT analogs were prepared where necessary, and examined in vitro and in silico at the MATs. All agents were active as substrates, with a rank order of potency suggesting that α-position chirality, in either configuration, is favored but not required, with the S(-) configuration slightly preferred. Either chiral center removal approach resulted in a reduction in potency, suggesting both favorable interactions with the α-methyl, and limited bulk tolerance. To further investigate this possibility, docking studies were conducted using homology models of the MATs. Common binding modes were identified that were similar to the binding mode of S(+)amphetamine co-crystallized at drosophila DAT. Taken together, these studies supported our conclusions, as steric hindrance was observed in the α-methyl region of the proposed binding site for the R(+)MCAT isomer. Inclusion of the original synthetic cathinones among Schedule I controlled substances has driven the clandestine development of a second generation of agents, resulting in an array of new synthetic cathinones diverse in structure and effect.Pyrrolidinophenones are a major constituent of second-generation bath salts. Little is known about their structure-activity relationships. Here, we have synthesized and examined a series of aryl-substituted pyrrolidinophenone analogs, as well as an achiral pyrrolidinophenone analog, utilizing novel synthetic chemistry and an innovative cell-based epifluorescence Ca2+ imaging technique. Herein, we evaluated the neurochemical properties of these novel compounds at the dopamine transporter (DAT), considered to exert a major role in actions of drugs of abuse. For future structure-activity relationship studies, additional analogs of synthetic cathinone-related agents were produced using novel synthetic approaches, including analogs and isomers of known amphetamine drugs of abuse. Finally, though much has been learned about the role of the dopamine and serotonin transporters in the mechanisms of action of synthetic cathinones, the role of the norepinephrine transporter is poorly understood. Homology models of the human norephinephrine transporter were built and docking studies conducted to inform the study of MAT ligand selectivity, activity, and binding. In conclusion, these studies represent progress towards the establishment of comprehensive structure-activity relationships for synthetic cathinones and related agents. Particular emphasis was placed on the SAR of the phenylalkylamine α-carbon in the synthetic cathinone context, and the role of the norepinephrine transporter in their activity.

This work asks how and for whom humiliation can be therapeutic. J. M. Coetzee, in his works Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K and Disgrace, does not simply critique the mentality of Empire, an “Enlightenment” or colonialist mode of knowing that knows no bounds to reason, but offers an alternative through the Magistrate, Michael K and David Lurie, all of whom are brutally shamed and “abjected”. Each character, I propose, experiences a Lacanian “therapy of humiliation” resulting in a subversion of their egos, which they come to understand as antagonistic, a site of misrecognition. In doing so, these characters confront limitation, whether by means of a Lacanian “death drive” or the abjection of the self. I argue, this subversion of their egos necessitates a return to the humility of the body resulting in a new ethical openness to others and an engagement with the world through “care” or “love” or “beauty” which manifests as careful negotiation and attentiveness. Confrontation with death, thus, allows the Magistrate, Michael K and David Lurie to slough off “Enlightenment” values in favor of an anti-humanist way of living.