Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons^™

Sleep Duration Is Associated With Caudate Volume And Executive Function, Nicole Jones

Honors Theses

The ineligible role of the caudate nucleus in sleep has been implicated throughout multiple scientific studies. Previous literature has shown that greater caudate volume is associated with longer habitual sleep duration in older adults- ranging from 55 years of age and up. However, the association between sleep duration and caudate volume remains unknown in the younger population. In this study, we examined the caudate volume in youth to older adults (10 to 85 years old) with a greater sample size (N=464) to increase statistical power. The volumetric size of the caudate nucleus showed significantly positive association with habitual sleep duration, …

Three Essays About Preventing Mental And Behavioral Disorders, Snehal Lopes

All Dissertations

Prevention efforts in the public health field operate at various levels, including primary prevention among those without a disease of interest, secondary prevention among persons at high risk or showing early signs of the disease, and tertiary prevention among persons with the disease. The three essays presented in this dissertation are centered around the theme of prevention, and taken together, have implications for prevention at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Specifically, the essays focus on the prevention of depressive disorders and the prevention of behavioral and mental health correlates for depression in the context of various populations (general adult, …

Cannabis Sleep Aid Use In Daily College Life: An Intensive Longitudinal Assessment Approach, Patricia A. Goodhines

Dissertations - ALL

Objective: Emerging evidence suggests that college cannabis sleep aid use may increase vulnerability to diurnal impairment, despite proximal sleep-related benefits. In contrast, relatively little is known about proximal precipitants of cannabis sleep aid use in daily college life. The identification of modifiable, situational intervention points preceding cannabis sleep aid use in daily college life is critical to accelerate the development of college harm reduction efforts. This 14-night mixed methods study tested temporal associations of THC-based cannabis sleep aid use with cognitive arousal-based precipitants (consistent with cognitive theory of insomnia) and sleep outcomes.

Method: Daily diary (pre-sleep and waking) and actigraphy …

Reduced Gabaergic Signaling At The Axon Initial Segment Decreases Vigilance State Transitioning, Austin John Boren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sleep is a highly regulated homeostatic process that is disrupted in an estimated 50-70 million Americans. Regulation of sleep depends upon coordinated signaling of multiple neurotransmitter systems. In particular, inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling is required to suppress wake-active brain regions in order to initiate and maintain sleep states. GABA type A receptors (GABAARs) are ionotropic receptors with subunit compositions uniquely enriched on subcellular domains of target cells. α2 subunit-containing GABAARs are the primary target of GABA released onto the axon initial segment (AIS), a site critical for phasing the oscillatory activity of cortical cells. α2-containing GABAARs have previously been …

The Effects Of Adenosine Antagonists On Vigilant Attention In Sleep Restricted Rats, Morgan Crewe

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The relation between chronic sleep restriction and performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) have been well documented in the human literature, with chronic sleep restriction as little as 7 hours per night resulting in significant impairment in sustained attention performance measured via the PVT. Recently, an analogous version of the human PVT has been developed for use with rodent models (rPVT). Recent studies have measured the effects of sleep restriction on rPVT performance, citing similar results found in the human literature. However, few studies to date have directly examined the role of adenosine accumulation during sleep deprivation in producing …

Examining Sleep And Family Functioning In Pediatric Craniopharyngioma Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, Nour Al Ghriwati

Theses and Dissertations

Craniopharyngiomas are among the most common brain tumors in children and are associated with greater rates of sleep problems compared to other pediatric cancers. However, research examining sleep among youth with craniopharyngioma has been limited by a reliance on retrospective reports or sleep studies. Families also play a crucial role in children’s adjustment following a pediatric cancer diagnosis, yet remarkably little is known about transactional associations between family functioning and sleep in pediatric cancer. This study examined cross-sectional and daily associations among family functioning, affect, and sleep difficulties for youth with pediatric craniopharyngioma using retrospective reports and ecological momentary assessment …

Bedtime Fading With Response Cost For Treatment Of Sleep Disturbances In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sela Ann Sanberg

Theses & Dissertations

As many as 82% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) experience numerous chronic sleep-related problems and at a much higher frequency and severity than their typically developing peers. Behavioral treatments are considered best practice and first-line treatment to address sleep problems. These treatments tend to address one specific sleep-related behavior at a time. Bedtime Fading with Response Cost (BFRC) is a promising intervention that targets a multitude of sleep problems concurrently and has yet to be replicated by more than one investigative team in the home setting with children on the autism spectrum. This study evaluated the effectiveness of …