Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Epigenetic Regulation Of Fear Memory And Biomarkers Associated With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Stephanie A. Maddox, Glenn E. Schafe, Kerry J. Ressler

Publications and Research

This review examines recent work on epigenetic mechanisms underlying animal models of fear learning as well as its translational implications in disorders of fear regulation, such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Specifically, we will examine work outlining roles of differential histone acetylation and DNA-methylation associated with consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction in Pavlovian fear paradigms. We then focus on the numerous studies examining the epigenetic modifications of the Brain-derived neurotrophin factor (BDNF) pathway and the extension of these findings from animal models to recent work in human clinical populations. We will also review recently published data on FKBP5 regulation of …

The Association Between A Medical History Of Depression And Gestational Diabetes In A Large Multi-Ethnic Cohort In The United States, Katherine Bowers, S. Katherine Laughon, Sungduk Kim, Sunni L. Mumford, Jennifer Brite, Michele Kiely, Cuilin Zhang

Publications and Research

Background: Both major depression and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are prevalent among women of reproductive age. Our objective was to determine whether a medical history of depression is related to subsequent development of GDM.

Methods: The Consortium on Safe Labor was a US retrospective cohort study of 228 562 births between 2002 and 2008. Exclusion criteria for the present analysis included multiple gestation pregnancies (n = 5059), pre-existing diabetes (n = 12 771), deliveries(n = 395), site GDM prevalence (

Results: The final analytic population included 121 260 women contributing 128 295 pregnancies, of which 5606 were affected by GDM. …

Reduced Neural Activation During An Inhibition Task Is Associated With Impaired Fear Inhibition In A Traumatized Civilian Sample, Tanja Jovanovic, Tim Ely, Negar Fani, Ebony Glover, David Gutman, Erin Tone, Seth D. Norrholm, Bekh Bradley, Kerry J. Ressler

Psychology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Impaired inhibition of fear in the presence of safety cues and a deficiency in the extinction of fear cues are increasingly thought to be important biological markers of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Other studies have suggested that there may be altered neural activation during behavioral inhibition tasks in subjects with PTSD. The current study aimed to see whether neural activation during inhibition was reduced in a highly traumatized civilian population, and whether atypical activation was associated with impaired fear inhibition.

Methods: The participants were 41 traumatized women (20 PTSD+, 21 PTSD-) recruited from Grady Memorial Hospital in …

Treatment Of Psychiatric Inpatients With Relationship Dysfunction Using A Short Term Cognitive Interpersonal Intervention: A Pilot Study, Tamra Rasberry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Relationship conflict for the psychiatric patient can have significant detrimental effects. There are specific types of interactions that can increase conflict and predict the potential for relapse; these have been identified by research and designated as components of Expressed Emotion (EE). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) have been very effective when targeting specific psychiatric diagnoses, but less effective when addressing relationship conflict. The majority of studies addressing relationship conflict have taken place in an outpatient, long-term setting. There is limited research that utilizes an inpatient short-term intensive therapy with relationship conflict as its sole focus, targeting areas …

Human Milk Cortisol Is Associated With Infant Temperament, Katherine R. Grey, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The implications of the biologically active elements in milk for the mammalian infant are largely unknown. Animal models demonstrate that transmission of glucocorticoids through milk influences behavior and modifies brain development in offspring. The aim of this study was to determine the relation between human milk cortisol levels and temperament of the breastfed infant. Fifty-two mother and infant pairs participated when the infants were three-months old. Milk cortisol levels were assessed and each mother completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), a widely used parent-report measure of infant temperament. Analyses revealed a positive association between milk cortisol and the negative affectivity …

Research Brief: "Supporting The Education Goals Of Post-9/11 Veterans With Self-Reported Ptsd Symptoms: A Needs Assessment", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research undertook a needs assessment for educational support among post-9/11 service veterans with self-reported PTSD symptoms, and found a need for age relevant services that assist with: education planning and access, counseling for the G.I. Bill, accommodations for PTSD symptoms, and more. Administrators should work to ensure that educational services are customized to meet individual needs of student veterans, as well as policies that ensure veterans have access to peer mentors in their age group. This can provide social opportunities and support from veterans who have successfully transitioned from active duty to civilian life. Future research should include more …

Research Brief: "Suicide Among Patients In The Veterans Affairs Health System: Rural-Urban Differences In Rates, Risks, And Methods", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the differences between rural and urban veterans in risks and rates for suicide. In policy and practice, communities should implement support programs for rural veterans, and veteran families should educate themselves about the risk factors for suicide and support veterans in their families; policymakers should increase VA outreach programs in rural areas, as well as programs educating rural veterans about the importance of mental health treatment for those at risk for suicide. Suggestions for future research include looking at the impact of social context on suicide rates, determining the relationship between suicide risk for rural veterans …

Classroom Level Effects Of Children’S Prior Participation In Child Care, K. Alison Clarke-Stewart, Rachel Lucas-Thompson, Jennifer M. Weaver, Andrea Karsh

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Previous research indicates that children who spend many hours in early child care exhibit more externalizing behavior problems than children who spend less time in child care. Concern has been expressed regarding the cumulative effect of these problem behaviors on elementary school classes. We collected information about children’s child-care histories from parents of first through fourth graders (N = 429) and about classroom functioning from their teachers (N = 31). We analyzed associations between the proportion of children in the class who had spent many hours in care prior to school entry and teachers’ reports of the time …

Research Brief: "Anxiety, Social Support, And Physical Health In A Sample Of Spouses Of Oef/Oif Service Members", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study focused on anxiety disorders in military spouses and their comorbidity with physical health, identifying the potential for such a comorbidity to worsen over time. The study suggests the importance of recognizing, identifying, and supporting these members of the community. The future research proposed includes objectively measuring this study's outcomes, examining ALL of the military branches, and ways of treating these situations of anxiety disorders.

A Police Officer’S Tacit Knowledge Inventory (Potki): Establishing Construct Validity And Exploring Applications, T. Z. Taylor, P. Elison-Bowers, E. Werth, E. Bell, J. Carbajal, K. B. Lamm, Efren A. Velazquez

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research summarizes the construction of a Police Officer’s Tacit Knowledge Inventory (Inventory), a situational judgment test comprised of knowledge gained on-the-job by experienced police officers, and examines if it can play a role in the development of expertise. Correlation and regression analysis was done to establish the Inventory’s ability to predict post-Academy graduation performance. Results show that Inventory response patterns correlate with Supervisor ratings; and the Inventory responses correctly predict significant differences between novice patrol officers and experienced police officers.

Duel Or Diversion? Conscientiousness And Executive Function In The Prediction Of Health And Longevity, Tim Bogg, Brent W. Roberts

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Response to Hall and Fong Letter to the Editor in Annals of Behavioral Medicine 45(3).

The Case For Conscientiousness: Evidence And Implications For A Personality Trait Marker Of Health And Longevity, Tim Bogg, Brent W. Roberts

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Purpose Recent initiatives by major funding agencies have emphasized translational and personalized approaches (e.g., genetic testing) to health research and health management. While such directives are appropriate, and will likely produce tangible health benefits, we seek to highlight a confluence of several lines of research showing relations between the personality dimension of conscientiousness and a variety of health-related outcomes.

Methods Using a modified health process model, we review the compelling evidence linking conscientiousness to health and disease processes, including longevity, diseases, morbidity-related risk factors, health-related psycho-physiological mechanisms, health-related behaviors, and social environmental factors related to health.

Conclusion We argue the …

Research Brief: "Evaluation Of A Family-Centered Prevention Intervention For Military Children And Families Facing Wartime Deployment", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits of the Families Over Coming Under Stress (FOCUS) project for families experiencing deployment. These benefits included education and skills training, with an emphasis on minimizing psychological and emotional distress for the service-people, their spouses, and their children. While this study analyzed families who were a part of the FOCUS group, future research would best serve to include an additional control group, which would allow for comparison between families in FOCUS and families not currently enrolled.

Finding Solutions To Institutional Corruption: Lessons From Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Lisa Cosgrove, Robert Whitaker

Counseling and School Psychology Faculty Publication Series

The American Psychiatric Association and academic psychiatry in the United States have two conflicts of interest that may affect their assessment of psychiatric drugs and their development of diagnostic and clinical care guidelines: payments from pharmaceutical companies and guild interests. Until recently, the proposed solution to industry-academic relationships has been transparency. However, cognitive dissonance research reveals that disclosure is not a solution because cognitive biases are commonplace and difficult to eradicate. Indeed, bias is most often manifest in subtle ways unbeknownst to the researcher or clinician, and thus is usually implicit and unintentional. Also, recent studies suggest that disclosure of …

Primary Care Clinicians’ Recognition And Management Of Depression: A Model Of Depression Care In Real-World Primary Care Practice, Seong-Yi Baik, Benjamin F. Crabtree, Junius Gonzales

Publications from Provost Junius J. Gonzales

BACKGROUND

Depression is prevalent in primary care (PC) practices and poses a considerable public health burden in the United States. Despite nearly four decades of efforts to improve depression care quality in PC practices, a gap remains between desired treatment outcomes and the reality of how depression care is delivered.

OBJECTIVE

This article presents a real-world PC practice model of depression care, elucidating the processes and their influencing conditions.

DESIGN

Grounded theory methodology was used for the data collection and analysis to develop a depression care model. Data were collected from 70 individual interviews (60 to 70 min each), three …

Research Brief: "Partnering With Communities To Address The Mental Health Needs Of Rural Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research focuses on veterans in rural communities who have less access to mental health providers. The Yellow Ribbon Task Force program promoted and encouraged engagement in mental health care for veterans in rural communities, although future policies should enhance already existing clinical practices to increase standards for care. For further study, researchers should focus on evaluating initial program implementation and pilot testing in a variety of states and rural populations.

Restoring Effort-Related Functions In Models Of Depression Symptoms: Reversing Fatigue Symptoms Induced By Catecholamine Depleting Agent Tetrabenazine With The Adenosine A2a Antagonist Msx-3, Charlotte Freeland

Honors Scholar Theses

Motivational symptoms related to effort expenditure have been associated with major depression and other disorders that afflict millions of individuals worldwide. In an effort to identify potential therapeutic agents and characterize the underlying biochemical mechanisms related to these behaviors, recent research has utilized animal models to study and characterize such behavior. Previous work in the Salamone lab produced evidence that rats with impaired dopamine (DA) transmission show changes in response allocation in tasks that measure effort-related choice behavior, which are characterized by a decrease in selection of the high-effort choice but increased selection of the low-effort alternative. The present work …

Anxiety Symptoms In Individuals With High Functioning Autism, Jane C. Kelleher

Honors Scholar Theses

Research indicates a complicated relationship between anxiety disorders and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The current study examined the relationship between anxiety symptoms and ASD in 30 Optimal Outcome (OO) individuals, 33 High Functioning Autism (HFA) individuals, and 34 Typically Developing (TD) individuals. The groups were compared on the K-SADS measure of anxiety symptoms. The HFA group presented greater anxiety than both the OO and TD groups, and the OO and TD groups only differed on one anxiety symptom. Across all three groups, there was a significant association between greater anxiety symptoms and a higher level of social and communicative impairment. …

Gait Analysis Of Teenagers And Young Adults Diagnosed With Autism & Severe Verbal Communication Disorders, Michael J. Weiss, Matthew F. Moran, Mary E. Parker, John T. Foley

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

Both movement differences and disorders are common within autism spectrum disorders (ASD). These differences have wide and heterogeneous variability among different ages and sub-groups all diagnosed with ASD. Gait was studied in a more homogeneously identified group of nine teenagers and young adults who scored as “severe” in both measures of verbal communication and overall rating of Autism on the Childhood Autism Rating Scales (CARS). The ASD individuals were compared to a group of typically developing university undergraduates of similar ages. All participants walked a distance of 6-meters across a GAITRite (GR) electronic walkway for six trials. The ASD and …

Research Brief: "A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Supported Employment Among Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief focuses on some analyses of veterans with PTSD concerning supported employment programs, the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) program, and the evidence-based IPS program. This study's results showed IPS programs to be almost three times more effective than the traditional VRP, and they have a significant impact on employment outcomes for veterans with mental health diagnoses. Suggestions for future research include using a diverse, national sample of veterans to examine the success of the VRP program with different criteria.

The Effects Of Question Placement On Reading Comprehension Scores Of High Comprehenders, Katharine Beideck, Kristen Bartlett, Jessica Kuiphoff, Jane Biedron, Shemika Cookbey, Thomas Sutherlin, Katelyn Staples

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Previous research has shown that embedded questions hurt the reading comprehension of high comprehenders. All participants had high reading comprehension skills scoring at or above 66 percent on the ACT/SAT. Participants either read a packet with questions embedded about every paragraph or a packet where questions were all located at the end of the reading. Participants answered the questions as they came to them. After a week of delay, the participants came back and took a test with questions that were either: target, non-target, or related. For all of the dependent variables, people who had taken a statistics course before …

Body Image And Disordered Eating Patterns In African-American College Women, Amazing Grace L. Danso

Senior Honors Theses

Currently, increasing scholarly attention is being given to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating. A bulk of the research on the issue has focused on Caucasian women. As a result, the body of research may be limited in its generalization to other racial and ethnic groups. This study, therefore, sought to study disordered eating among African-American college women. Two models based on research questions were tested. The first focused on how body mass index (BMI) impacted disordered eating, while the second focused on how the difference between perceived actual and ideal body image impacted disordered eating. …

The Effects Of Selected Drugs On The Memory Recall Of Sleep Deprived Mice, Jenn Pauldurai

Capstone Research Projects

Humans often make use of the neurotransmission altering effects of drugs such as caffeine, ephedrine, and ethanol. These drugs induce changes in memory and learning ability, specifically when used for sleep deprivation. English white mice (Mus musculus) have been shown to exhibit similar cognitive changes when administered drugs while sleep deprived. A sample of 20 mice was divided into three experimental groups (each group receiving a different drug) and one control group. Maze-testing demonstrated that mice performance decreased with sleep deprivation (Treatment-1) but all groups returned to baseline performance when injected (IP) with selected drugs (Treatment-2), regardless of …

Query Theory - Knowing What We Want By Arguing With Ourselves, Elke Weber

Psychology Colloquia

Psychologists and behavioral economists agree that many of our preferences are constructed, rather than innate or pre-computed and stored. Little research, however, has explored the implications that established facts about human attention and memory have when people marshal evidence for their decisions. This talk provides an introduction to Query Theory, a psychological process model of preference construction that explains a broad range of phenomena in individual choice with important personal and social consequences, including our reluctance to change and excessive impatience when asked to delay consumption.

Concordance Of Meg And Fmri Patterns In Adolescents During Verb Generation, Yingying Wang, Scott K. Holland, Jennifer Vannest

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

In this study we focused on direct comparison between the spatial distributions of activation detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and localization of sources detected by magnetoencephalography (MEG) during identical language tasks. We examined the spatial concordance between MEG and fMRI results in 16 adolescents performing a three-phase verb generation task that involves repeating the auditorily presented concrete noun and generating verbs either overtly or covertly in response to the auditorily presented noun. MEG analysis was completed using a synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) technique, while the fMRI data were analyzed using the general linear model approach with random-effects. To …

Fkbp5 Modulates Attention Bias For Threat: Associations With Hippocampal Function And Morphology, Negar Fani, David Gutman, Erin Tone, Lynn Almli, Kristina B. Mercer, Jennifer Davis, Ebony Glover, Tanja Jovanovic, Bekh Bradley, Ivo D. Dinov, Alen Zamanyan, Arthur W. Toga, Elisabeth B. Binder, Kerry J. Ressler

Psychology Faculty Publications

Context: The FKBP5 gene product regulates glucocorticoid receptor (GR) sensitivity and hypothalamicpituitary‐adrenal axis functioning, and has been associated with a number of stress‐related psychiatric disorders. The study of intermediate phenotypes, such as emotion‐processing biases and their neural substrates, provides a way to clarify the mechanisms by which FKBP5 dysregulation mediates psychopathology risk.

Objective: To examine whether allelic variations for a putatively functional SNP associated with FKBP5 gene regulation (rs1360780) would relate differentially to attentional bias for threat; this was measured through behavioral response on a dot probe task and hippocampal activation during task performance. Morphological substrates of differential hippocampal response …

The Mathematics Of Drug Dose Individualization Should Be Built With Random-Effects Linear Models, Francisco J. Diaz, Jose De Leon

Psychiatry Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Neuroinflammation And Psychiatric Illness, Souhel Najjar, Daniel M. Pearlman, Kenneth Alper, Amanda Najjar, Orrin Devinsky

Dartmouth Scholarship

Multiple lines of evidence support the pathogenic role of neuroinflammation in psychiatric illness. While systemic autoimmune diseases are well-documented causes of neuropsychiatric disorders, synaptic autoimmune encephalitides with psychotic symptoms often go under-recognized. Parallel to the link between psychiatric symptoms and autoimmunity in autoimmune diseases, neuroimmunological abnormalities occur in classical psychiatric disorders (for example, major depressive, bipolar, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorders). Investigations into the pathophysiology of these conditions traditionally stressed dysregulation of the glutamatergic and monoaminergic systems, but the mechanisms causing these neurotransmitter abnormalities remained elusive. We review the link between autoimmunity and neuropsychiatric disorders, and the human and experimental evidence …

Two-Legged Hopping In Autism Spectrum Disorders, Matthew F. Moran, John T. Foley, Mary E. Parker, Michael J. Weiss

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

Sensory processing deficits are common within autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Deficits have a heterogeneous dispersion across the spectrum and multimodal processing tasks are thought to magnify integration difficulties. Two-legged hopping in place in sync with an auditory cue (2.3, 3.0 Hz) was studied in a group of six individuals with expressive language impaired ASD (ELI-ASD) and an age-matched control group. Vertical ground reaction force data were collected and discrete Fourier transforms were utilized to determine dominant hopping cadence. Effective leg stiffness was computed through a mass-spring model representation. The ELI-ASD group were unsuccessful in matching their hopping cadence (2.21 ± …

Auditory-Motor Adaptation To Frequency-Altered Auditory Feedback Occurs When Participants Ignore Feedback, Dwayne Nicholas Keough, Colin Hawco, Jeffery A. Jones

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background

Auditory feedback is important for accurate control of voice fundamental frequency (F0). The purpose of this study was to address whether task instructions could influence the compensatory responding and sensorimotor adaptation that has been previously found when participants are presented with a series of frequency-altered feedback (FAF) trials. Trained singers and musically untrained participants (nonsingers) were informed that their auditory feedback would be manipulated in pitch while they sang the target vowel [/ɑ /]. Participants were instructed to either ‘compensate’ for, or ‘ignore’ the changes in auditory feedback. Whole utterance auditory feedback manipulations were either gradually presented …