This study examines the relation between trauma, HPA-Axis dysregulation and PTSD symptoms as moderated by exposure to chronic life stress and parental stress. Sixty-three children and their parents participated in the study. Participants ranged in age from 7 to 14 years and were predominantly African-American. It was hypothesized (1) that there would be a significant positive relation between the number of traumatic events experienced and PTSD symptoms, and that this relationship would be moderated by both chronic stress and parental stress, such that as stress increased so would PTSD symptoms; and (2) that there would be a significant relation between exposure to trauma and HPA-Axis dysregulation, as measured by cortisol level, such that cortisol levels would show greater dysregulation under conditions of high trauma exposure than under conditions of low trauma exposure, and that this relationship would be moderated by both chronic stress and parental stress. Results revealed that children in the present sample endorsed high exposure to trauma and generally low cortisol levels, although trauma was not directly related to cortisol levels. Chronic stress moderated the relation between trauma and PTSD symptoms, such that as chronic stress increased, so did PTSD symptoms. Parental stress moderated the relation between trauma and PM cortisol, such that as parental stress increased, PM cortisol decreased. Additionally, chronic stress by parental stress moderated the relation between trauma and PTSD symptoms, as well as the relation between trauma and PM cortisol. Findings are interpreted within a psychobiological framework and suggest distinct biological processes for traumatic stress versus stress / acase@tulane.edu

The hypothesis that uric acid induces hyperactivity by interacting with adenosine receptors in a manner analagous to caffeine was investigated. First, the extent to which uric acid and caffeine compete with the binding of the adenosine agonist ($\sp3$H) N$\sp6$-cyclohexyladenosine ($\sp3$H)CHA was examined in vitro. Only caffeine was found to inhibit ($\sp3$H) CHA binding in rat forebrain membranes in vitro. Second, possible developmental modification of adenosine receptors was examined by administering the uricase inhibitor allantoxanamide, which produces hyperuricemia, caffeine, or a control vehicle to young rats on Days 4 through 27 after birth. A significant increase in the number of binding sites for ($\sp3$H) CHA in the cortex of caffeine treated animals was observed. Non-significant increases in ($\sp3$H) CHA binding were observed in the striatum and thalamus. Chronic allantoxanamide, however, produced a non-significant decrease in ($\sp3$H) CHA binding. Fourteen days after withdrawal from treatment there were small non-significant increases in ($\sp3$H) CHA binding in both chronic caffeine and hyperuricemic rats. The results suggest that the mechanism by which uric acid induces hyperactivity is not through caffeine-sensitive adenosine receptors. Chronic caffeine administration in young rats results in an increase in the number of ($\sp3$H) CHA binding sites which does not appear to be permanent. Although a number of studies have suggested that uric acid acts like caffeine to increase activity, the present study clearly shows that the mode of action of uric acid is not like that of caffeine, at least as regards adenosine receptors / acase@tulane.edu

The cumulative results of the present experiments show that CREB is essential for long-term memory formation in both the hippocampus and striatum. First, CREB activation was shown to be selective to brain regions specialized for different forms of memory processing. Increased phosphorylated CREB levels were sustained in the hippocampus of rats choosing a hippocampal-dependent place strategy whereas increased phosphorylated CREB levels were sustained in the striatum of rats choosing a striatal-dependent response strategy. Second, basal hippocampal CREB levels were shown to be decreased in a rat model system of hippocampal dysfunction and long-term memory impairment. Third, blocking CREB function in either the hippocampus or striatum suppressed long-term memory formation in a hippocampal- or striatal-dependent task, respectively. Fourth, increasing levels of CREB in the hippocampus facilitated long-term memory in a hippocampal-dependent task. Finally, the results shown here reveal that enhancing or blocking CREB function is only successful in altering memory formation if CREB is manipulated in the brain region that supports the type of memory being measured. Taken together, the results support the hypothesis that the hippocampus and striatum are central structures of two independent memory systems that simultaneously acquire information from the environment. The behavior that is produced is mediated by the brain system most congruent with the incoming stimuli / acase@tulane.edu

The processing of sequentially presented auditory information was investigated in Reading Delayed (RD) and Non-Reading Delayed (NRD) children through the use of middle latency event-related potentials (MERP's). MERP's from 16 4th and 5th grade RD children were compared to MERP's from 15 2nd and 3rd grade NRD children matched on intelligence and reading level. The children responded to a two tone behavioral sequencing task, then engaged in passive perception of a similar two tone sequence while MERP's were recorded for each tone. Various inter-stimulus intervals (ISI) were used in each task. On the behavioral sequencing task the NRD children performed better at all ISI's (F = 5.78, p $<$.03). MERP recordings from the RD group indicated a shorter latency of the Na waveform generated by the second stimulus at a 75 ms ISI compared to a 150 ms ISI (t = 4.66, p $<$.001) or a 500 ms ISI (t = 2.87, p $<$.01). Furthermore, the latency of the Na peak to the second stimulus was significantly and positively correlated to both groups' performance on the behavioral task, especially at the shortest ISI (r =.45; p $<$.006). These results are taken as an indication of a lack of normal inhibition in the RD group. When presented with a two tone sequence separated by short ISI's, the RD group failed to inhibit processing of the second tone, whereas at longer ISI's they responded in a manner similar to that of the NRD group. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-08, Section: B, page: 4473. / Major Professor: Lloyd Elfner. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The term ‘restitution narrative’ describes the hope we all have when illness or accidental impairment befalls us to be returned to a pre-morbid condition of health as soon as possible, and in modern Western society we expect the miracle of restitutions to be mediated by medical science. Medicine is still unable to cure a wide range of illness and disability. For these people the restitution narrative fails. This study attempts to create space between health and illness, the space of the failed patient, within which to explore the iatrogenic and disabling effects on bodies and minds living in a society that has come to expect not to suffer when illness or disability is incurable and chronic. Through the medium of a purpose built website, people who are chronically ill and disabled discussed the ‘wicked issues’ that make lives already challenged unnecessarily difficult. Application of the findings of research in psychobiology is applied to speculate whether health may be worsened by being a failed patient in a culture for which health has become the ultimate good. Ideas of social fuzziology are brought into play to help imagine ways in which the dualities of health and illness, normal and abnormal, are broken down and the normalizing ideologies of medicine resisted. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Social self-preservation theory (SSPT) suggests that when faced with social-evaluative threat, a set of psychological and physiological responses are elicited concurrently (Dickerson, Gruenewald, & Kemeny, 2004; Kemeny, Gruenewald, & Dickerson, 2004). A series of studies examined the applicability of SSPT to the examination of social-evaluative body-related threats. In the first study, interviews were conducted to identify and describe uncomfortable body-related situations, and typical responses to such situations. Findings provided preliminary evidence of the applicability of SSPT to everyday body-related threats of young adult women – the threats, context of those threats, and responses to such threats were consistent with SSPT. The second study examined psychobiological responses to, and recovery from, a social-evaluative body-related threat. Findings from this study showed that the social-evaluative body-related threat elicited a psychobiological response consistent with SSPT; women in the threat group reported higher social physique anxiety and had higher cortisol following the threat. The third study sought to extend the applicability of SSPT to examine the psychobiological responses to, and recovery from, an anticipated social-evaluative body-related threat. In addition, the potential moderating effect of appearance investment on responses to a threat was examined. Findings from this study showed that women in the threat group reported higher shame and social physique anxiety after anticipating a social-evaluative body-related threat than following a quiet rest period for women in the control group. Results also indicated that both groups showed an index of decrease for cortisol, with the control group showing a significantly greater overall decrease than the threat group. Appearance investment did not moderate cortisol responses to a threat. Findings from the third study provide partial support for SSPT’s applicability to the anticipation of a social-evaluative body-related threat. Together findings from all three studies provide converging evidence for the use of SSPT in understanding the psychobiology of body image.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-101). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-178). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by George Michel; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 28, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-86).

This study investigated the relationship between synchronous neural activity and conscious visual perception by directly measuring neural synchrony in human EEG data collected during a perceptual task that controlled for the influence of attention. Improving a recently developed experimental paradigm and synchrony detection method (Rodriguez et al., 1999), participants viewed upright and scrambled Mooney face stimuli (fragmented black and white shapes that are perceived as faces upon visual closure) over 1000 ms exposures while performing a secondary attention task. During both presentation conditions, gamma-band synchrony increased to a maximum and then decreased to an above-baseline stationary level. Synchrony for the upright condition was significantly greater than synchrony for the scrambled condition during early and late portions of the exposure period. This result supports the hypothesis that neural synchrony mediates conscious visual organization and feature binding, although the possibility for a role in perception-related attention processes cannot be excluded.