Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Irvine, 2006. / Adviser: Frances M. Leslie. Includes bibliographical references.

Sixty male undergraduate students participated in an experiment designed to investigate the effects of anti-anxiety and stimulant drugs on polygraphic interrogation. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Three of the groups watched a 12 minute videotape depicting the burglary of an apartment through the eyes of the thief. Each subject was asked to imagine that it was he who was committing the crime and was given instructions to encourage his becoming absorbed in the videotape. Afterwards, they were accused of committing this crime. Each subject received one of three look-alike capsules containing a drug which, they were told, would help them to escape detection. Capsules for the first group contained 10 mg of diazepam; those for the second group, 20 mg of methylphenidate; a placebo was given to the third group. Subjects in the fourth group, the innocent control condition, viewed a 10 minute videotape sequence showing the interior of another apartment, this time with no crime committed. They did not receive any medication or placebo after they were accused of committing the crime. After a one hour wait, all subjects were interrogated by the experimenter, who was blind to both their guilt or innocence and drug status. Skin conductance, heart rate and respiration were monitored; all charts were scored blindly. No drug effects were found in the guilt/innocence classification or in any of the physiological channels being monitored. The overall hit rate, including inconclusives, was 81.7%. A significant relationship between recall of guilty information and detectability was also found. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 296-323). Also available on the Internet.

Rigid analogues of the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine and the phenothiazine tranquilizer promazine were designed and their syntheses were attempted. Conformational rigidity was expected to reduce the side effects of these drugs by limiting their binding to multiple receptors. Ortho-directed metalation followed by acylation provided synthetic intermediates for the formation of the desired pentacyclic congeners. The known dilithiation of phenothiazine and iminodibenzyl and n-butyllithium, followed by acylation with dimethylformamide, gave carboxaldehydes at the 1 and 4 positions respectively. Ortho-lithiated nicotinamides were acylated by these aldehydes exclusively at the 4 position to provide the key intermediate alcohol amides. Difficulties in amide hydrolysis are discussed. Catalytic hydrogenation over palladium-on-carbon in refluxing acetic acid yielded carboxylic acids, apparently via the gamma-lactones formed in situ. The lactones could not be isolated easily due to instability to oxidation. Pentacyclic lactams were formed by dehydration, and borane was used to reduce the carbonyl function. Only the iminodibenzyl lactam was reduced, and problems encountered in subsequent pyridine ring reduction are discussed. Cis and trans ring fusion isomers were identified by ¹³C nmr. Attempted one-pot synthesis of this pentacycle and a regioisomer by double acylation of 4,5-dilithioiminodibenzyl with 2,3-pyridinedicarboxylic anhydride, and 3,4-pyridinedicarboxylic anhydride failed. Mechanistic considerations are discussed regarding regiochemistry and reactivity of the nitrogen and carbon anions involved. Ortho-lithiation of 3-bromopyridine to form 3-pyridyne in the presence of the preformed N-lithioiminodibenzyl-4-carboxaldehyde was unsuccessful in providing a pentacyclic benzonaphthyridinobenzazepine. The resulting 2- and 4-lithiated 3-bromopyridines were trapped by the aldehyde instead. Both hydroxymethylbromopyridines were identified by their proton coupling patterns in the pyridine ring. These compounds are discussed as potential precursors to pentacyclic benzazepinopyridobenzazepines. Several other attempts at forming benzonaphthyridinobenzazepines and naphthyridinophenothiazines were unsuccessful. Intermediates were obtained by carbon acylation of the dilithiated iminodibenzyl and phenothiazine with arecoline esters, arecaidine, and pyridine-3-carboxaldehyde. Dibenzylic alcohol reduction is discussed, as is its labile oxidation. None of the resulting pyridylmethyl heterocycles could be cyclized.

Class of 2007 Abstract / Objectives: A prescription claims database from COPE Behavioral Services in Tucson, Arizona was used to retrospectively assess the differences between patients receiving <4 and those receiving > 4 psychotropic medications over a 12-month period in adult patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Medication groups (i.e., < 4 versus > 4 concomitant psychotropic agents) were compared for differences in gender, age, duplication of antipsychotic therapy, adherence rates, court order treatment status, psychiatric hospitalization rates and length of stay, cost of services provided, and concomitant psychotropic medications. Results: A total of 506 adult patients with schizophrenia (F=214 and M=292) met the inclusion criteria for receiving psychotropic medications during the 12-month study. Of those, 388 patients (76.7%) were found to have an average of < 4 medications, while 118 patients (23.3%) were found to have > 4 medications. Duplication of antipsychotic therapy was more common in the > 4 group (29.7%) compared to the < 4 group (3.1%), p < 0.001. Psychotropic adherence rates were significantly higher in the > 4 group based on month’s supply of prescriptions. Demographic differences between groups included: increased age, more women, fewer court order status, and higher cost of care in the > 4 compared to the < 4 medication group. No differences in hospitalizations, length of stay, and hospital costs were found between groups. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia with increased rates of polypharmacy have higher adherence rates, more duplication of antipsychotics, and a higher cost of care (i.e., case management, laboratory, other services, total prescription costs) compared to patients receiving < 4 psychotropic medications.

α4-subunit containing GABAA receptors (α4-GABAARs) are often found co-assembled with δ-subunits in extrasynaptic locations on nucleus accumbens (NAc) medium spiny neurons (MSNs), were they mediate a tonic form of inhibition thought to control the excitability of the neuron. This thesis combines genetic and pharmacological techniques to explore the role of α4-GABAARs in locomotor and reward-conditioned behaviours. Activation of α4-GABAARs by systemic or intra-accumbal administration of THIP, a GABAAR agonist with a preference for δ-subunits, was able to reduce cocainepotentiated locomotor activity in wildtype but not GABAAR α4-subunit knockout mice. Similarly, the ability of repeated cocaine to induce behavioural sensitisation was unaffected in GABAAR α4-subunit knockout mice, but systemic THIP was able to reduce the sensitised increase in locomotor activity in wildtype but not knockout mice. α4-GABAARs are also able to modulate behavioural responses to reward-conditioned stimuli and their enhancement by cocaine. Deletion of GABAAR α4-subunits from dopamine D1-expressing neurons facilitated cocaine-CPP, and activation of α4- GABAARs on NAc D1-MSNs was able to attenuate cocaine-enhancement of cocaine CPP. Conversely, deletion of GABAAR α4-subunits from dopamine D2-expressing neurons increased CRf responding, and activation of α4-GABAARs on NAc D2-MSNs was able to attenuate cocaine-potentiation of CRf responding. These data also indicate that there is a dissociation in the NAc MSNs mediating cocaine-CPP and CRf responding. This may be explained by the different glutamatergic inputs needed to provide information about conditioned cues important for these behaviours. The data presented within this thesis indicate that α4-GABAAR-mediated inhibition of D1- and D2-expressing neurons plays an important physiological role in controlling behavioural responses to conditioned cues. Furthermore, NAc α4βδ GABAARs may provide a potential therapeutic target by which to limit the enhancement of locomotor and conditioned-behaviours by cocaine.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (February 22, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-58)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-144). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 296-323).