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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
181

United States counter-narcotics policies towards Burma, and how the illegal myanmar regime is manipulating those policies to commit ethnic genocide.

Hochstedler, Robert. 06 1900 (has links)
US counter-narcotic policies towards Burma have possessed a singular-focus. In other words, they have been based on the traditional bilateral triumvirate strategies of eradication, education, and interdiction. Eradicate the crops used to produce illicit narcotics, interdict the flow of illicit drug traffickers, and educate the general population on the dangers of continual drug usage. In the country of Burma though, there are other US policies which also have a singular focus, which have undermined the effectiveness of these policies. Since the Burmese military regime's brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movement in 1988, the US has severed all economic relations with the country. The Burmese economy, which was already far from stable, fell into a downward spiral as a result of these US-led policies. This did not result in a democratic transition. Over seventeen years since these economic sanctions have been in place, the US has not achieved a peaceful regime change in Burma. Furthermore, the attempts to remove the significant flow of illicit narcotics from the country have failed as well. The reason these two singular-oriented policies have failed is that they are targeted at a country much more complex than these strategies have been designed to handle. First of all, there are 135 ethnicities in Burma, while only a small portion of the Burman population maintains political and economic control. Although this would result in ineffective policies with little collateral impact, the ruling Tatmadaw regime has manipulated these policies to commit ethnic genocide upon the ethnic minorities within their territory. Unless a re-assessment of these policies is undertaken by the US and its allies, the only result of their policies will be the elimination of millions of ethnic minorities in this totalitarian state. Therefore, the US must re-assess its position of isolating the Myanmar regime, and focus on a policy of engagement. Only if a structured and progressive incentive policy of economic development is created in conjunction with the regime, can the separate triumvirate policies of counter-narcotics against the ethnic minorities in Burma become effective. / US Navy (USN) author.
182

Neurotoxins

Kostrzewa, Richard M. 01 January 2016 (has links)
The era of selective neurotoxins arose predominately in the 1960s with the discovery of the norepinephrine (NE) isomer 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), which selectively destroyed noradrenergic sympathetic nerves in rats. A series of similarly selective neurotoxins were later discovered, having high affinity for the transporter site on nerves and thus being accumulated and able to disrupt vital intraneuronal processes, to lead to cell death. The Trojan Horse botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) and tetanus toxin bind to glycoproteins on the neuronal plasma membrane, then these stealth neurotoxins are taken inside respective cholinergic or glycinergic nerves, producing months-long functional inactivation but without overtly destroying those nerves. The mitochondrial complex I inhibitor rotenone, while lacking total specificity, still destroys dopaminergic nerves with some selectivity; and importantly, results in the neural accumulation of synuclein-to model Parkinson’s disease (PD) in animals. Other neurotoxins target specific subtypes of glutamate receptors and produce excitotoxicity in nerves with that receptor population. The dopamine D2 receptor agonist quinpirole, termed a selective neurotoxin, produces a behavioral state replicating some of the notable features of schizophrenia, but without overtly destroying nerves. These processes, mechanisms or treatment-outcomes account for the means by which neurotoxins are classified as such, and represent some of the means by which neurotoxins as a group are able to destroy or functionally inactivate nerves; or replicate an altered neurological state. Selective neurotoxins have proven to be important in gaining insight into biochemical processes and mechanisms responsible for survival or demise of a nerve. Selective neurotoxins are useful also for animal modeling of human neural disorders such as PD, Alzheimer disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Lesch-Nyhan disease, tardive dyskinesia, schizophrenia and others. The importance of neurotoxins in neuroscience will continue to be ever more important as even newer neurotoxins are discovered.
183

Survey of Selective Neurotoxins

Kostrzewa, Richard M. 01 January 2014 (has links)
There has been an awareness of nerve poisons from ancient times. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the actions and mechanisms of these poisons were uncovered by modern physiological and biochemical experimentation. However, the era of selective neurotoxins began with the pioneering studies of R. Levi-Montalcini through her studies of the neurotrophin "nerve growth factor" (NGF), a protein promoting growth and development of sensory and sympathetic noradrenergic nerves. An antibody to NGF, namely, anti-NGF - developed in the 1950s in a collaboration with S. Cohen - was shown to produce an "immunosympathectomy" and virtual lifelong sympathetic denervation. These Nobel Laureates thus developed and characterized the first identifiable selective neurotoxin. Other selective neurotoxins were soon discovered, and the compendium of selective neurotoxins continues to grow, so that today there are numerous selective neurotoxins, with the potential to destroy or produce dysfunction of a variety of phenotypic nerves. Selective neurotoxins are of value because of their ability to selectively destroy or disable a common group of nerves possessing (1) a particular neural transporter, (2) a unique set of enzymes or vesicular transporter, (3) a specific type of receptor or (4) membranous protein, or (5) other uniqueness. The era of selective neurotoxins has developed to such an extent that the very definition of a "selective" neurotoxin has warped. For example, (1) N-methyl-D- aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) antagonists, considered to be neuroprotectants by virtue of their prevention of excitotoxicity from glutamate receptor agonists, actually lead to the demise of populations of neurons with NMDA receptors, when administered during ontogenetic development. The mere lack of natural excitation of this nerve population, consequent to NMDA-R block, sends a message that these nerves are redundant - and an apoptotic cascade is set in motion to eliminate these nerves. (2) The rodenticide rotenone, a global cytotoxin that acts mainly to inhibit complex I in the respiratory transport chain, is now used in low dose over a period of weeks to months to produce relatively selective destruction of substantia nigra dopaminergic nerves and promote alpha-synuclein deposition in brain to thus model Parkinson's disease. Similarly, (3) glial toxins, affecting oligodendrocytes or other satellite cells, can lead to the damage or dysfunction of identifiable groups of neurons. Consequently, these toxins might also be considered as "selective neurotoxins," despite the fact that the targeted cell is nonneuronal. Likewise, (4) the dopamine D2-receptor agonist quinpirole, administered daily for a week or more, leads to development of D2-receptor supersensitivity - exaggerated responses to the D2-receptor agonist, an effect persisting lifelong. Thus, neuroprotectants can become "selective" neurotoxins; nonspecific cytotoxins can become classified as "selective" neurotoxins; and receptor agonists, under defined dosing conditions, can supersensitize and thus be classified as "selective" neurotoxins. More examples will be uncovered as the area of selective neurotoxins expands. The description and characterization of selective neurotoxins, with unmasking of their mechanisms of action, have led to a level of understanding of neuronal activity and reactivity that could not be understood by conventional physiological observations. This chapter will be useful as an introduction to the scope of the field of selective neurotoxins and provide insight for in-depth analysis in later chapters with full descriptions of selective neurotoxins.
184

I'm Not Gonna Be Like That Guy: Exploring the Montana Meth Project Through the Eyes of That Guy

Ferestad, Jaysen Nicole 25 November 2013 (has links)
Graphic images of meth addicts have swept across Montana in television, radio and print ads as part of the state's latest anti-drug campaign, the Montana Meth Project. From a labeling perspective, the negative portrayal of meth addicts in these ads has significant implications for meth addicts in terms of their reintegration. The unintended population of drug addicts potentially affected by public service campaigns has failed to gain attention in the literature despite the implications suggested by labeling theory. This poses a significant gap in our knowledge and understanding, which this study addresses through the voice of recovering meth addicts. This study explored the significance of the campaign with regard to the worldview of recovering meth addicts and the implications of this worldview with regard to their reintegration. In particular, the study examined 1) addict perceptions of the campaign's impact on community 2) addict perceptions of the campaign's personal impact 3) addict perceptions of the significance of social bonds 4) the implications of these perspectives from the theoretical standpoint of Labeling and Social Bond theory. In-depth interviews were conducted among a sample of twenty recovering meth addicts at a treatment facility in Grenadier, Montana as well as one active meth user. This form of data collection was chosen due to the exploratory nature of the study as well the significance of perception suggested by the Symbolic-Interaction perspective (Cooley 1902). The study revealed that the Montana Meth Project does have a significant impact on the worldview of the participants. When the participants believe the campaign has a positive impact on the community - creating awareness, understanding and acceptance - the campaign is viewed as a tool in their reintegration. However, as the bulk of the findings suggest, when the participants believe the campaign has a negative impact - stereotypes, labeling, stigmatization and differential treatment - the campaign is viewed as a barrier to their reintegration. With such a negative reaction in the worldview of the participants, the mainstream world including family, friends and the community did not appear to be at the forefront of their reintegration. Rather, a subculture of recovering addicts acts as the source of positive social bonds and the most significant in the reintegration of the participants. The findings of this study demonstrate the impact anti- drug campaigns, and particularly scare campaigns using a public service approach, can have on the unintended audience of drug addicts.

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