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Characterization And Optogenetic Manipulation Of The Affective Itch Circuit In Mouse Models Of Itch, Kristen Marie Sanders

Open Access Dissertations

Itch consists of both sensory and affective components. For chronic itch patients, the affective component of itch affects both quality of life (leading to psychological comorbidities) and disease prognosis (by promoting scratching of itchy skin). We found that acute and chronic itch stimuli induced anxiety-like behavior and increased activity (c-Fos expression) in the amygdala in adult male C57BL/6 mice. Itch stimuli also increased activity in projection areas to the amygdala, suggesting that these regions form a circuit for affective itch processing. Selective optogenetic activation of histamine-responsive amygdala neurons in adult male and female Fos:CreER^T2;R26^Ai14 mice using the …

Stress Appraisal, Coping Behaviors, And Level Of Distress In An Ethnically Diverse Sample Of Mothers With A Child In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Mary E. Ernst

Open Access Dissertations

Having a child in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) places parents at risk for Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) symptoms. ASD symptoms, or primary negative responses to a traumatic event, may increase parents’ risk for developing long-term Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) one or more months later. The purpose of this study is to examine the stress appraisal, coping behaviors, and level of distress due to ASD in an ethnically diverse sample of mothers with a child in the PICU, while controlling for socioeconomic factors. A quantitative cross-sectional design, which surveyed mothers with a child age one day to 17 years …

Interactions Between Stress-Induced Inflammation, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (Gsk3), And Depression, Yuyan Cheng

Open Access Dissertations

Major depressive disorder is a prevalent disease that is inadequately treated with available interventions, and recovery is difficult, particularly in patients refractory to antidepressant treatments. Studying the learned helplessness depression model in mice, we examined mechanisms regulating its initiation and regulating its reversibility. Stress increases susceptibility to depression in patients and rodent models, and depression is associated with aberrant activation of inflammation. We found multiple inflammatory cytokines were increased in mouse plasma and hippocampus after a paradigm of inescapable foot shock stress that causes learned helplessness. A 24 hr prior pre-conditioning stress accelerated the rate of stress-induced plasma and hippocampal …

Effects Of Telephone-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management Intervention On Fatigue Interference And Neuroimmune Function In Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Daniel Lee Hall

Open Access Dissertations

The perceived impact of chronic fatigue on daily living (i.e., fatigue interference) is particularly relevant for patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), a medically unexplained illness associated with neuroendocrine and immune abnormalities. Literature suggests that fatigue interference is higher among women with CFS/ME than with other women facing chronic fatigue concerns, such as cancer survivors. To date, these comparisons have been primarily qualitative, limiting the ability to statistically control for related factors such as fatigue severity. Furthermore, greater fatigue interference in CFS/ME may relate to a suppressed cortisol awakening response (CAR) and heightened levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine …

The Stress Of Adolescence: The Impact Of Self-Perceived Body Development On Adult Health, Isabelle Christine Beulaygue

Open Access Dissertations

Extant research indicates that early and mid adolescence are times of notable pubertal changes, which are accompanied by rapid physical, cognitive, and social transitions. For young women, these changes are particularly stressful. The female body changes extensively and is subject to societal ideals of beauty, thinness, and objectification. The current dissertation offers a novel bio-psycho-social perspective to the study of adolescent self-perceived development. Utilizing data from Waves, I III, and IV of Add Health, I constructed a composite index of self-perceived body development during adolescence and examined its impact on four health outcomes. After running several regression models, and testing …

Shark Vulnerability To Fishery Interactions: Assessing Ecological, Physiological, And Social Agents Of Risk, Austin J. Gallagher

Open Access Dissertations

The impacts of fisheries capture on the physiology, behavior, and survival of sharks have previously been investigated via both laboratory and field studies, and have primarily been conducted in temperate waters on species commonly encountered in pelagic commercial fisheries, or with juveniles of small species which can be easily maintained in captivity. In contrast, relatively little attention has been directed towards shark capture stress and survival research in subtropical or coastal areas which contain a higher diversity of species that can also be fished nearly year-round by both commercial and recreational industries. Furthermore, the vast majority of previous work to …

Factors Affecting Intent To Persist Among Hispanic/Latino Students Attending A Private Non-Profit Nonresidential University, Cristy E. Sibila

Open Access Dissertations

The number and types of institutions of higher education are rapidly increasing, thus providing students with almost boundless options for higher education pursuits. At this time more than 50% of the regionally accredited, non-profit, four-year universities in the United States are private and the for-profit sector continues to grow. Since 1975 enrollments at private, non-profit institutions have risen from 2.3 to 3.9 million students of which over 335,000 are Hispanic/Latino students. And, for Hispanic/Latino students, graduation rates are highest at private, non-profit institutions where 62.4% of students graduate within 6 years. However, little research on Hispanic/Latino students has been done …

Interactive Effects Of Ethnic Identity And A Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management Intervention On Subjective And Objective Stress In Low-Income Minority Women Living With Hiv, Corina Reyes Lopez

Open Access Dissertations

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is more prevalent among minority ethnic groups, with mortality rates highest among African-American women. Additionally, low-income minority women with a positive HIV diagnosis experience a variety of stressors that influence their psychological and physical well-being. Research has found that ethnic identity, an intrapersonal resiliency factor, is associated with lower perceived stress in low-income minority women living with HIV, in part through greater levels of coping self-efficacy and social support. Given the benefits of group-based interventions in reducing stress in HIV positive populations, it is important to understand whether ethnic identity influences the efficacy of these interventions in …

Biophysical Insights Into The Oligomerization Of Bclxl Apoptotic Repressor, Vikas Bhat

Open Access Dissertations

The BclXL apoptotic repressor, a member of the B-cell lymphoma 2 family of proteins, plays a central role in determining the fate of cells to live or die during physiological processes such as embryonic development and tissue homeostasis. Herein, using a wide array of biophysical methods, I investigate the molecular basis of action of BclXL. Briefly, I provide evidence that BclXL bears intrinsic propensity to oligomerize in solution. Importantly, such oligomerization of BclXL is driven by the intermolecular binding of its C-terminal transmembrane (TM) domain to the canonical hydrophobic groove in a domain-swapped trans fashion, whereby the TM domain of …

Stress In Harmonic Serialism, Kathryn Ringler Pruitt

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a model of word stress in a derivational version of Optimality Theory (OT) called Harmonic Serialism (HS; Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004, McCarthy 2000, 2006, 2010a). In this model, the metrical structure of a word is derived through a series of optimizations in which the 'best' metrical foot is chosen according to a ranking of violable constraints. Like OT, HS models cross-linguistic typology under the assumption that every constraint ranking should correspond to an attested language.

Chapter 2 provides an argument for modeling stress typology in HS by showing that the serial model correctly rules out stress patterns …

The Effects Of Rumination On Psychological And Biological Recovery From Stress In Depression, Joelle Lemoult

Open Access Dissertations

Diathesis-stress models of depression highlight that stress triggers the onset of a depressive episode. Increasing evidence, however, suggest that increased risk comes not from the initial response to stress, but rather from difficulty regulating emotions in a way that facilitates recovery. Rumination is a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy shown to prolong negative affect in response to distress. The current study extends past research by comparing the effects of a rumination versus distraction induction on biological and psychological recovery from stress among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls (CTLs). Participants were exposed to a psychosocial stressor and then …

Biocultural Perspectives On Gender, Transitions, Stress, And Immune Function, Leo Zachary Dubois

Open Access Dissertations

Health disparities, including higher rates of mental or physical illness, are found among members of minority or marginalized groups including people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. However, there is a paucity of research incorporating both experiential components and measures of physical health, particularly among trans men during their transition from female to male. Trans men transition through the use of testosterone therapy (T) and surgical procedures in order to align their internal male gender identities with their physical presentation. This study combines the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in order to understand trans men's experience of …

Keeping The Balance: The Role Of The Serotonin Subtype 1a Receptor In Regulating Cortisol Secretion In The Gulf Toadfish (Opsanus Beta), Lea R. Medeiros

Open Access Dissertations

It is well established that serotonin (5-HT; 5-hydroxytryptamine) plays a role in regulating the mammalian hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis via the 5-HT receptor subtype 1A (5-HT1A). To date, there has not been a comprehensive investigation of the molecular, pharmacological and physiological aspects of the 5-HT1A receptor and its role in the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis in a single species of teleost fish. The Gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta) 5-HT1A receptor was cloned and sequenced, showing 67.5% amino acid similarity to the human homologue. The 5-HT1A receptor was distributed throughout the brain, with the midbrain/diencephalon region containing significantly higher transcript levels …

The Mechanism Of Neuroprotection Mediated By Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Adenylyl Transferase (Nmnat), Yousuf O. Ali

Open Access Dissertations

Neurons need to be maintained to persist throughout adulthood for proper brain function. However neuronal activity, injury and aging exert physical stress on the nervous system, which compromise nervous system function. Healthy neurons are able to maintain their integrity throughout the lifespan of the animal, suggesting the existence of a maintenance mechanism that allows neurons to sustain or even repair damage. A forward genetic screening in Drosophila identified mutations in a gene called nmnat that cause a rapid and severe neurodegeneration immediately post neuronal differentiation and development. NMNAT protein was required to maintain neuronal integrity in an activity-dependent manner. When …

The Lived Experience Of College Sudents Who Have Been Medicated With Antidepressants, Pamela Joan Aselton

Open Access Dissertations

Increasingly in the last two decades college students have been diagnosed with depression, with estimates of major depression higher than the general population (American Psychiatric Association {APA}, 2005). According to the literature, the stresses of college life along with increased rates of substance abuse, and binge drinking have contributed to the rise in depression in this population. In a large survey of American college students, over half reported some depression since entering college (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse {NCASA}, 2003). Correspondingly, the percentage of young people treated with antidepressants has grown over the past decade, and there is …