Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-96).

A review of the literature indicated that not all of the research in the area of overselectivity of autistic children has been in agreement. It does seem evident that some autistic children overselect. This could be the result of an attentional factor or a modality preference. This has important implications for the education of autistic children. In the light of the inconsistency of autistic children's reactions to sensory stimuli (Hermelin and O'Connor, 1970; Wing, 1972; Koegel, 1976) this investigator believe·d there was a need to determine if overselection is consistent before referring to the overselected modality as a preferred modality or comparing overselected modalities with the child's mode of communication (manual' or speech).

Thesis (M.S.)--Bowling Green State University, 2008. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 57 p. Includes bibliographical references.

L'objectif de cette thèse était de mieux comprendre les mécanismes mnésiques liés à une stimulation nociceptive. Un premier axe de notre travail a été d'étudier l'influence de la douleur sur la mémorisation de mots grâce à une étude comportementale. Contrairement à d'autres émotions, nous avons montré qu'une douleur n'influençait pas la mémorisation du contenu d'un texte, qu'il soit lié à la douleur ou pas. Le deuxième axe, correspondant à la thématique majeure de la thèse, a été abordé à travers trois études : une étude comportementale permettant de tester la robustesse de la mémorisation nociceptive et ses spécificités; des enregistrements électro-encéphalographiques (EEG) intra-cérébraux afin d'identifier les régions cérébrales impliquées dans la mémorisation nociceptive et leurs interactions et enfin une exploration EEG de scalp chez des sujets sains permettant une vision plus globale des mécanismes mnésiques de ces stimulations. Ces études ont montré des phénomènes liés à la mémorisation non spécifiques à la stimulation nociceptive, telle que l'augmentation de la puissance alpha pendant la phase de rétention. Elles ont également mis en relief des spécificités liées à la mémorisation nociceptive en révélant l'existence d'un biais mnésique suite à une stimulation nociceptive de forte intensité, faussant l'évaluation d'une autre stimulation survenant ultérieurement. Les enregistrements EEG ont montré une augmentation de la connectivité beta entre des régions corticales de la matrice douleur et du cortex préfrontal lors de la phase de rétention. Cette connectivité pourrait refléter une trace de la mise en mémoire des informations nociceptives / The aim of this thesis was to better understand memory mechanisms of a nociceptive stimulation.A first axis of our work was to study pain influence on memorisation of words by a behavioural study. Contrary to other emotions, we demonstrated that pain didn’t influence the memory content of a text, related or not to pain.Our second axis, corresponding to the major thematic of this thesis, was addressed through three studies: a behavioural one allowing us to test robustness of nociceptive memorisation and it specificities; intracerebral electroencephalographic recordings (EEG) to identify brain regions involved in nociceptive memorisation and their interactions, and finally scalp EEG exploration in healthy subjects allowing a broader view of memorisation mechanisms of these stimulations.These studies demonstrated phenomena related to memorisation that was nonspecific to nociceptive stimulation, like alpha power enhancement during retention phase. They also highlight specificities related to nociceptive memorisation revealing memory bias existence following nociceptive stimulation of high intensity, distorting next stimulation evaluation. EEG recordings demonstrated beta connectivity enhancement between cortical regions of the pain matrix and prefrontal cortex during retention phase. This connectivity could reflect memory trace of nociceptive information

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [98]-101).

No description available.

Title: Objectification of surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome Objectives: The main aim of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. Methods: In this work was used a two-point discrimination test, that evaluated tactile sensory of the hand with carpal tunnel syndrome. It evaluated the change of discriminatory sensation after surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. The results of testing were evaluated by using the SigmaPlot statistic program SigmaStat 9.01 to 3.1 integration. Results: Research found that two-point discrimination in region of median nerve innervated is improved by surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, it improves the tactile sensory of the hand, which is impaired by carpal tunnel syndrome. Effect of physiotherapy on improvement of the discriminatory sensation after surgery was not demonstrated. However, the physiotherapy after surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrom is important. Keywords: carpal tunnel syndrome, sensory discrimination, a two-point discrimination test

The behavioural and electrophysiological consequences of two newly developed aniracetam analogues were investigated in male Long-Evans rats. Results indicate that an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of LD38.2 significantly improved retention in a two odour olfactory discrimination task. However, three different dosages of LN1 did not facilitate memory in the task. In rats with chronically implanted electrodes, both compounds rapidly crossed the blood brain barrier (BBB) after an i.p. injection and influenced several parameters of the field excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) in the CA1 and dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus. The enhancement of the field EPSP following LD38.2 administration may be related to the drug's ability to facilitate memory in the olfactory discrimination task. Compounds, like LD38.2, that enhance both hippocampal transmission and performance in learning/memory tasks in laboratory rodents may have implications for the treatment of clinical memory disorders.

No description available.

How are neuromodulatory networks organised to adapt sensory discrimination for different contexts? I hypothesised that neurons within a sensory circuit express different neuromodulatory receptors for differential modulation. Here I aimed to use the simple and genetically amenable Drosophila larval Mushroom Body (MB) calyx, a higher order processing area involved in learned odour discrimination, as a model to map octopamine (OA) neuromodulatory circuitry. I first identified olfactory projection neurons (PNs), a GABAergic feedback neuron and cholinergic extrinsic neurons as putative postsynaptic partners to OA neurons in the MB calyx using GFP reconstitution across synaptic partners. Next, I used novel EGFP-tagged OA receptors generated from recombination-mediated cassette exchange with MiMIC insertions in receptor genes to visualise endogenous expression patterns of OA receptors. Most notably, this is the first report of α2-adrenergic-like OA receptor localisation in any insect. For the first time, I showed that the α1-adrenergic-like OAMB localised to PN presynaptic terminals in the calyx; while Octβ1R localised diffusely in the calyx, resembling the innervation pattern of MB neuron dendrites. I detected EGFP-tagged Octα2R and Octβ2R in some PN cell bodies but not in neuron terminals - suggesting that Octα2R and Octβ2R may be expressed in some PNs, provided the misfolded fusion proteins are retained in the cell bodies of the neurons they are normally expressed in. Furthermore, I found that Octα2R and GABAAR fusion proteins localised to OA cell bodies but not to neuronal terminals, suggesting that OA neurons are subjected to inhibition, again given that these are not artefacts of the fusion proteins. To obtain tools to study OA modulation in the larval calyx, I then confirmed the expression patterns of driver lines that more specifically labelled calyx-innervating OA and extrinsic neurons, and tested the efficacy of three OAMB receptor knockdown lines. This initial attempt of mapping OA receptors, while subjected to further verification and development, is consistent with my hypothesis that a single neuromodulatory source can regulate multiple neuronal types in the same circuit through the distribution of different types of neuromodulatory receptors. This provides a new perspective in how the anatomical organisation of neuromodulation within a sensory network may translate to flexible outputs.