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Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Texas at El Paso

2016

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Characterization Of A Medial Prefrontal Cortex - Caudal Pontine Reticular Nucleus Relevant To Sensorimotor Gating, Sebastian Andres Pace Jan 2016

Characterization Of A Medial Prefrontal Cortex - Caudal Pontine Reticular Nucleus Relevant To Sensorimotor Gating, Sebastian Andres Pace

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Focusing attention depends on filtering irrelevant sensory stimuli to prevent brain overload. This ability of our brain to block or “gate” such information is a pre-attentive neuronal mechanism known as sensorimotor gating (SG). SG abnormalities have been linked to a variety of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. Initial studies related to the SG circuitry were performed more than four decades ago (Graham, 1975). However, SG is still the subject of numerous current studies involving both humans and animal models. Despite these research efforts, knowledge gaps persist regarding the identity neurons involved, their locations in different brain regions and their precise functional …

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Mental Health Help-Seeking Intention And Organizational Climate In A Population Of Military Service Members, Mishaw Tyron Cuyler Jan 2016

Mental Health Help-Seeking Intention And Organizational Climate In A Population Of Military Service Members, Mishaw Tyron Cuyler

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Historically, psychological effects of war such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have been understated and misdiagnosed throughout the world. Military members that displayed symptoms of PTSD such as anxiety, depression, and sadness were thought to lack the strength and courage necessary to be a soldier. As a result, many soldiers suffering from symptoms of PTSD would suffer in silence and not seek the requisite help for mental health care. This Dissertation examines the mental health help-seeking intention of U.S. military service members using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Additionally, this Dissertation considers the effects that leadership support climate …

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Characterization Of A Putative Glycinergic Nigropallidal Pathway In The Rodent Brain, Rosalia Ortega Jan 2016

Characterization Of A Putative Glycinergic Nigropallidal Pathway In The Rodent Brain, Rosalia Ortega

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Glycinergic neurotransmission is essential for the function of sensory and motor systems associated with pain transmission and rhythmic motor patterns. Yet, the way glycinergic circuits modulates motor systems via the globus pallidus external (GPe) is not clear. The cyto-architecture of glycinergic circuitry is poorly understood and most work has focused in brainstem areas. It is believed that glycinergic neurons are mainly interneurons regulating local circuits. However, it is now becoming clear that they are also projection neurons, constituting true neuronal circuits. At the glycinergic synapse, termination of neurotransmission and recycling of glycine is regulated by two transporters, glycine transporter 1 …

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The Viability Of High-Frequency Oscillation Analysis In Eeg Signals For Seizure Prediction, Bryan David Kern Jan 2016

The Viability Of High-Frequency Oscillation Analysis In Eeg Signals For Seizure Prediction, Bryan David Kern

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Seizure prediction is a decades-old research problem that has yet to reach any satisfying conclusions. Many studies have tackled the problem with varying results, but there has yet to be any major breakthroughs that define the direction of all future research. However, a promising, new predictor may have presented itself in recent years in the form of high frequency oscillations (HFOs). With the discovery of HFOs (80 - 800 Hz) as a biomarker for epilepsy, new interest has been placed in studying the high frequency content of EEGs to find a possible link between epilepsy and HFOs. In this paper, …

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Macro- And Mesoscale Analysis Of Connections Between The Cingulate Region And The Lateral Hypothalamic Area: Tracer Co-Injection And Chemoarchitectural Studies In The Adult Male Rat, Kenichiro Negishi Jan 2016

Macro- And Mesoscale Analysis Of Connections Between The Cingulate Region And The Lateral Hypothalamic Area: Tracer Co-Injection And Chemoarchitectural Studies In The Adult Male Rat, Kenichiro Negishi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hypothalamic research since the middle of the 20th century shaped the view that the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) has a central role in controlling appetitive drives. The LHA is anatomically positioned to receive converging axonal inputs which relay information about the body's metabolic state as well as descending projections from the cerebral hemispheres, which encode cognitive and emotional states that influence feeding. Cerebral inputs are capable of initiating feeding despite the presence of competing satiety signals. Recent work has shown that medial prefrontal cortical areas can drive feeding in sated animals, possibly by engaging hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin (H/O)-expressing neurons, which are …

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The Role Of The Dopamine/Ecdysteroid Receptor Dopecr In Ethanol Induced Behavioral Disinhibition, Gissel Pryscilla Aranda Jan 2016

The Role Of The Dopamine/Ecdysteroid Receptor Dopecr In Ethanol Induced Behavioral Disinhibition, Gissel Pryscilla Aranda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Ethanol, a main active ingredient of alcoholic beverages, exerts numerous effects on behavior through its interaction with diverse membrane and signaling molecules and effector cells. The effects include lack of motor control, behavioral disinhibition, tolerance, sensitization and addiction. In particular, behavioral disinhibition is typically associated with heavy drinking and can lead to detrimental consequences such as car accidents, violent rages, risky sexual behavior and illegal substance abuse. This research aimed to clarify the neural elements and cellular mechanisms underlying behavioral disinhibition induced by ethanol. The neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) is implicated in ethanol-induced behavioral disinhibition (Van Gaalen et al., 2006). To …

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Examination Of The Rewarding Effects Of Nicotine And The Negative Effects Of Withdrawal In A Rodent Model Of Diabetes, Joseph Allan Pipkin Jan 2016

Examination Of The Rewarding Effects Of Nicotine And The Negative Effects Of Withdrawal In A Rodent Model Of Diabetes, Joseph Allan Pipkin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: The present study utilized a rodent model of diabetes to examine the rewarding effects of nicotine as well as negative affective states and physical signs of withdrawal from this drug. Methods: Separate groups of rats received systemic administration of vehicle or streptozotocin (STZ), which destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and elevates plasma glucose levels. Place conditioning procedures were utilized to compare the rewarding effects of various doses of nicotine (conditioned place preference; CPP) and the aversive effects of nicotine withdrawal (conditioned place aversion; CPA) in vehicle- and STZ-treated rats. CPA and physical signs of withdrawal were …

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Echoes, Sarah Abigail Adleman Jan 2016

Echoes, Sarah Abigail Adleman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

When I was sixteen, my mother was killed one evening while running on the bayou behind our house in Houston. The man, who is now on Death Row in Texas, beat, raped, and then strangled her to death. Writer Mary Cappello says of Creative Nonfiction, to compose discursively requires that we turn in the direction of the discourses that have made us who we are rather than start from a place of what we think happened to us in the course of our lives. She goes on further to say, Creative nonfiction appreciates the power of prepositions. Instead of writing …

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