published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The increasing levels and more frequent use of alcohol among females especially those in younger age groups has been noted with concern worldwide. However qualitative data on this problem is limited. This study therefore aimed to explore qualitatively factors contributing to female adolescents' alcohol use and abuse, their knowledge regarding risks associated with alcohol use and abuse and to understand the contextual and environmental factors that render female adolescents vulnerable to engage in drinking behaviours. This study was guided by the Prototype / Willingness model. The data was collected using two (2) focus groups and five (5) individual semi-structured interviews with Grade 9 female high school learners. Data analysis was done using thematic analysis. The findings of the study indicated that there are various individual, social as well as contextual factors contributing to alcohol use among female learners. These factors include age onset, low self-esteem, influence of significant others e.g. parents, peers, celebrities, media alcohol adverts especially through Television, easy availability and accessibility of alcohol as well as lack of law enforcement on selling of alcohol to minors. Protective factors emerged from the findings and these include parental monitoring, high self-esteem and good mother-daughter attachment. The study also indicated various positive perceptions why female adolescents use alcohol. These included perceiving alcohol use as fun, “cool” and glamorous, as a coping mechanism as well as a symbol of adult status and being “Western”. Although female adolescents have knowledge of most of the health and social consequences of alcohol most of them believe that they cannot be affected and they still continue to plan to use alcohol. Several recommendations are also presented. These could assist female learners, parents (and other caregivers), community members, policy makers, researchers, program developers especially those interested in adolescent health as well as other stakeholders e.g. South African Police Services (SAPS) and Department of Education etc. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Five semi-structured interviews were held with key informants of various organisations both on and off campus in order to gain an understanding of the context of drug-taking by university students in Pietermaritzburg. Thereafter, an holistic, single case study was undertaken to describe and explain significant predisposing, precipitating and maintaining factors present in an experiential analysis of a university student's drug-taking. Two semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted in collaboration with Rory, and a diary was written by him for the duration of one month. He also submitted a poem which he previously wrote, as well as a letter addressed to himself, both which reflected on his experiences of drug-taking. The data was subsequently intertwined with a brief review ofthe literature as well as with the theories ofUrie Bronfenbrenner, Albert Bandura and Erik Erikson, in order to interpret and understand the data meaningfully. Authoritarian parenting style, poor family functioning, parental values regarding drinking, and lack of positive father-son interaction appear to have predisposed Rory to start drinking and taking drugs. Rory's sense ofidentity confusion, peer models ofdrinking and taking drugs, and lack of parental monitoring seem to have precipitated Rory's drug-taking. His continued association with drug-using peer groups, his search for a sense ofbelonging following his parents' divorce, permissive parenting style, as well as the availability and pleasurable effects of drugs have maintained his drug-taking. Experiential case studies can play a positive role in generating future conceptual frameworks to understand drug-taking, to prevent drug use, and to effectively treat drug-taking individuals. The Ecological Theory of Urie Bronfenbrenner The Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura The Psychosocial Theory of Erik H. Erikson 8 12 16 18 5. 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 An Understanding of the Context The Student Counselling Centre The Campus Health Centre South Mrican National Council for Alcoholism South Mrican Narcotics Bureau A University Residence / Thesis (M.A.)- University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

Informacijos apie narkotines medžiagas ir jų keliamą pavojų yra labai daug, tačiau iškyla klausimas, ar minėta informacija išaiškinama mokiniams, ar mokykloje atliekamos prevencijos priemonės prieš narkomanijos plitimą yra efektyvios. Taip pat labai svarbu žinoti, kaip tas pačias prevencijos priemones mokykloje vertina mokiniai, jų tėvai ir mokytojai, nes siekiant veiksmingai vykdyti narkotikų vartojimo prevenciją būtina derinti visų atsakingųjų pusių nuomonę. Atlikta daug įvairių tyrimų, tačiau mažai dėmesio skiriama tyrimams, kokios yra mokykloje taikomos prevencijos priemonės ir kaip jas vertina mokiniai, jų tėvai ir mokytojai. / While conducting preventive activities, it is worth to find out not only the schoolchildren, their parents and school teachers attitudes towards the preventive measures of a preventive job opportunities and organizing activities to be taken into account. As well as the preventive work is important to involve young people themselves in this way, students will feel useful, contributing to the overall performance, which will only achieve even better results.

Cocaine is a widely abused drug without an FDA-approved medication. It has been recognized as an ideal anti-cocaine medication to accelerate cocaine metabolism producing biologically inactive metabolites via a route similar to the primary cocaine-metabolizing pathway, i.e. butyrylcholinesterase (BChE)-catalyzed hydrolysis. However, the native BChE has a low catalytic activity against cocaine. We recently designed and discovered a set of BChE mutants with a high catalytic activity specifically for cocaine. An ideal, therapeutically valuable mutant of human BChE should have not only a significantly improved catalytic activity against cocaine, but also certain selectivity for cocaine over neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) such that one would not expect systemic administration of the BChE mutant to interrupt cholinergic transmission. Through integrated computational-experimental studies, several BChE mutants were identified to have not only a considerably improved catalytic efficiency against cocaine, but also the desirable selectivity for cocaine over ACh. Representative BChE mutants have been confirmed to be potent in actual protection of mice from acute toxicity (convulsion and lethality) of a lethal dose of cocaine (180 mg/kg, LD100). Pretreatment with the BChE mutant (i.e. 1 min prior to cocaine administration) dose-dependently protected mice against cocaine-induced convulsions and lethality. The in vivo data reveal the primary factor, i.e. the relative catalytic efficiency, determining the efficacy in practical protection of mice from the acute cocaine toxicity and future direction for further improving the efficacy of the enzyme in the cocaine overdose treatment. For further characterization in animal models, we successfully developed high-efficiency stable cell lines efficiently expressing the BChE mutants by using a lentivirus-based repeated-transduction method. The large-scale protein production enabled us to further characterize the in vivo profiles of the BChE mutant concerning the biological half-life and potency in accelerating cocaine clearance. In particular, it has been demonstrated that the BChE mutant can rapidly metabolize cocaine and completely eliminate cocaine-induced hyperactivity in rodents, implying that the BChE mutant may be developed as a promising therapeutic agent for cocaine abuse treatment.

Cocaine is one of the most reinforcing drugs of abuse and has caused serious medical and social problems. There is no FDA-approved medication specific for cocaine. It is of a high priority to develop an effective therapeutic treatment for cocaine abuse. Human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) has been recognized as a promising candidate of enzyme therapy to metabolize cocaine into biologically inactive metabolites and prevent it from reaching central nervous system (CNS). However, the catalytic activity of wide-type human BChE against cocaine is not sufficiently high for treatment of cocaine abuse. Dr. Zhan’s lab has successfully designed and discovered a series of high-activity mutants of human BChE specific for cocaine metabolism. This dissertation is mainly focused to address the possible concerns in further development of promising human BChE mutants for cocaine detoxification, including whether the administration of this exogenous enzyme will affect the cholinergic system, whether it can efficiently hydrolyze cocaine’s toxic metabolites, and whether the commonly used therapeutic agents will significantly affect the catalytic activity of the BChE mutants against cocaine when they are co-administered. According to the results obtained, all of the examined BChE mutants have a considerably improved catalytic efficiency against (-)-cocaine, without significantly improving the catalytic efficiency against any of the other examined substrates, including neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Two representative mutants (including E12-7) also have a considerably improved catalytic activity against cocaethylene (formed from combined use of cocaine and alcohol) compared to wild-type BChE, and E12-7 can rapidly metabolize cocaethylene, in addition to cocaine, in rats. Further evaluation of possible drug-drug interactions between E12-7 and some other commonly used therapeutic agents revealed that all of the examined agents, except some tricyclic antidepressants, do not significantly inhibit E12-7. In addition, an effort to discover new mutants with further improved activity against cocaine led to the discovery of a new BChE mutant, denoted as E20-7, according to both the in vitro and in vivo assays. The encouraging outcomes of the present investigation suggest that it is possible to develop a more effective enzyme therapy for cocaine abuse treatment using one of the most promising BChE mutants, such as E12-7 or E20-7.