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At least 1,693 records · Page 94Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Roles of periventricular neurons in retinotectal transmission in the optic tectum.

The midbrain roof is a retinorecipient region referred to as the optic tectum in lower vertebrates, and the superior colliculus in mammals. The retinal fibers projecting to the tectum transmit visual information to tectal retinorecipient neurons. Periventricular neurons are a subtype of these neurons that have their somata in the deepest layer of the teleostean tectum and apical dendrites ramifying at more superficial layers consisting of retinal fibers. The retinotectal synapses between the retinal fibers and periventricular neurons are glutamatergic, and ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate the transmission in these synapses. This transmission involves long-term potentiation, and is modulated by hormone action. Visual information processed in the periventricular neurons is transmitted to adjacent tectal cells and target nuclei of periventricular neuron axonal branches, some of which relay the visual information to other brain areas controlling behavior. We demonstrated that periventricular neurons play a principal role in visual information processing in the teleostean optic tectum; the effects of tectal output on behavior is discussed also in the present review.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of familiar versus unfamiliar therapists on responding in the analog functional analysis.

The analog functional analysis involves the manipulation of pre-determined antecedent and consequent events and typically is conducted by trained experimenters. Inclusion of idiosyncratic variables in the analog functional analysis may affect responding. Inclusion of caregivers is one potential antecedent that may affect problem behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of including caregivers in the analog. Four individuals with developmental disabilities and their caregivers served as participants. For 3 of 4 participants, different patterns of responding were observed when caregivers versus experimenters conducted the functional analysis.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Relevance of functional behavioral assessment research for school-based interventions and positive behavioral support.

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 mandate the use of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and positive behavioral supports and interventions for students with disabilities. Although much progress has been made in our understanding of functional analysis over the past 15 years, the extent to which these findings can be generalized across clients, methods, settings, and response classes is unknown. This article reviewed 150 school-based intervention studies conducted with children published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis from 1991 to 1999. Fifty-two percent of these intervention studies did not report using FBA information linked to the intervention. Interventions based on descriptive, experimental, or combined FBA procedures were no more effective than interventions in which no FBA information was provided. With respect to positive behavioral support, over half of the studies targeted appropriate behaviors with two-thirds of them using a combination of antecedent- and consequence-based interventions. Recommendations are made for conducting fundamental research on reliability and validity issues in FBA and determining when, how, and under what conditions FBA procedures are most appropriate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of Fe(III), Al(III) and Cu(II) by partial least-squares calibration method.

A spectrophotometric method for simultaneous determination of Fe(III), Al(III) and Cu(II) using Alizarin Red S as a chelating agent was developed. The parameters controlling behavior of the system were investigated and optimum conditions were selected. A partial least-squares multivariate calibration method was used for the analysis of ternary mixtures of Fe(III), Al(III) and Cu(II) over the range of 450-6000, 140-4000 and 450-15000 ng ml(-1), respectively. Absorbance data were taken between 400 and 800 nm. Applying this method to simultaneous determination of these metal ions in several synthetic alloy solutions with total relative standard error of less than 5% validated the proposed method.

Aluminum↗
PubMed2006

Application of spectral beta-correction method and partial least squares for simultaneous determination of V(IV) and V(V) in surfactant media.

Simultaneous determination of V(IV) and V(V) was performed by application of partial least squares when the calibration matrix was obtained using beta-correction spectra. Two reaction between V(IV) and V(V) and Pyrogallol Red as a ligand in presence of cethyltrimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB) media has been investigated and applied to the simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of these species. The parameters controlling behavior of the system were investigated and optimum conditions selected. Determinations were made over the concentration range 0.6-4.50 microg ml-1 of V(IV) and 0.3-5.50 microg ml-1 of V(V). Applying this method to simultaneous determination of these metal ions in several real samples with total relative standard error less than 5% validated the proposed method.

Least-Squares Analysis↗
PubMed1997

Issues complicating the implementation of postexposure prophylaxis.

Occupational exposures to blood-borne pathogens occur regularly in diverse settings and involve multiple groups of healthcare workers. Current compliance of healthcare workers with behavioral controls is poor, and additional engineering and work-practice controls for exposure prevention are inadequate and/or underutilized. Barriers to effective postexposure management include deficient knowledge and fear and denial among healthcare workers, the diverse risks associated with different exposures, the costs and personnel necessary for providing exposure management 24 hours a day, variable levels of expertise in postexposure prophylaxis strategies, and administrative requirements for standardized policies and procedures. In the current environment, healthcare institutions are largely ill equipped to provide timely and effective postexposure prophylaxis. Widespread worker education, simplified reporting mechanisms, and availability of prompt source and worker testing along with timely, free postexposure prophylaxis is central to an institution's postexposure program. Postexposure management programs should be comprehensive and provide standardized procedures, expand workers' access to postexposure prophylaxis by establishing responsible parties in diverse areas, disseminate program information to all workers, and ensure confidentiality in the care and follow-up of exposed workers. To implement such programs, it may be necessary to merge resources and link local management of exposures with regional expertise to provide up-to-date counseling in a rapidly changing field. Careful surveillance of occupational exposures is essential to evaluate program efficacy, direct prevention efforts, and to determine necessary resources to ensure continued successful delivery of postexposure prophylaxis.

Anti-HIV Agents↗
PubMed2002

Preclinical models: status of basic research in depression.

Approximately one half-century ago several classes of medications, discovered by serendipity, were introduced for the treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. These highly effective medications revolutionized our approach to mood disorders and helped launch the modern era of psychiatry. Yet our progress since those serendipitous discoveries has been disappointing. We still do not understand with certainty how those medications produce their desired clinical effects. We have not introduced newer medications with fundamentally different mechanisms of action than the older agents. We have not identified the genetic and neurobiological mechanisms underlying depression and mania, nor do we understand the mechanisms by which nongenetic factors influence these disorders. We have only a rudimentary understanding of the circuits in the brain responsible for the normal regulation of mood and affect, and of those circuits that function abnormally in mood disorders. In approaching these gaps in our knowledge, this workgroup highlighted four major areas for future investment. These include developing better animal models of mood disorders; identifying genetic determinants of normal and abnormal mood in humans and animals; discovering novel targets and biomarkers of mood disorders and treatments; and increasing the recruitment of investigators from diverse backgrounds to mood disorders research.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Factors affecting male song evolution in Drosophila montana.

D. montana (a species of the D. virilis group) has spread over the northern hemisphere, populations from different areas showing both genetic and phenotypic divergence. The males of this species produce an elaborate courtship song, which plays a major role both in species recognition and in intraspecific mate choice. The genetic architecture and physical constraints, as well as the importance of the signal for species recognition, set boundaries within which this signal can vary. Within these limits, courtship song parameters may change, depending on the males' physical condition and on the environment they inhabit. Females are likely to affect song evolution by exerting directional selection toward higher carrier frequencies. Given this complexity, only a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach, starting with traditional field observation and combining controlled behavioral experiments, biometric measurements, and sophisticated molecular techniques, has the potential of shedding light on the past history and the evolution of this signal, and, eventually, adding to our understanding of the mechanisms, functions, and outcomes of sexual selection in acoustic communication systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

The influence of alternative reinforcers on cocaine use and abuse: a brief review.

This report reviews experimental studies conducted with nonhuman and human subjects demonstrating that: a) cocaine's abuse liability is, in part, a function of its positive reinforcing effects, b) cocaine use is operant behavior, c) the degree of behavioral control that cocaine exerts as a reinforcer is malleable and dependent on environmental context, and d) increasing the availability of alternative, nondrug reinforcers can significantly disrupt the acquisition and maintenance of cocaine use and abuse. Implications of these observations for effective prevention and treatment of cocaine abuse are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Human rights and the HIV paradox.

Faced with the grave challenge to public health posed by HIV infection, governments are obliged "do something". One response, which often finds favour with the general public, is to enact laws that criminalise the activities of certain target groups. However, such laws marginalise individuals in these groups and have very little impact on containment of the epidemic. It is far better to introduce measures that protect the rights of people most at risk of infection and thereby encourage and sustain behaviour modification.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Parallel information processing in the water maze: evidence for independent memory systems involving dorsal striatum and hippocampus.

This experiment investigated the ability of rats with dorsal striatal or fornix damage to learn the location of a visible platform in a water maze. We also assessed the animals' ability to find the platform when it was hidden (submerged). Rats with neurotoxic damage to the dorsal striatum acquired both the visible and hidden platform versions of the task, but when required to choose between the spatial location they had learned and the visible platform in a new location they swam first to the old spatial location. Rats with radio-frequency damage to the fornix acquired the visible platform version of the water maze task but failed to learn about the platform's location in space. When the visible platform was moved to a new location they swam directly to it. Normal rats acquired both the visible and hidden platform versions of the task. These findings suggest that in the absence of a functional neural system that includes dorsal striatum, spatial information predominantly controlled behavior even in the presence of a cue that the animals had previously been reinforced for approaching. In the absence of a functional hippocampal system behavior was not affected by spatial information and responding to local reinforced cues was enhanced. The results support the idea that different neural substrates in the mammalian nervous system acquire different types of information simultaneously and in parallel.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Lesch-Nyhan disease and the basal ganglia.

The purpose of this review is to summarize emerging evidence that the neurobehavioral features of Lesch-Nyhan disease (LND), a developmental disorder caused by congenital deficiency of the purine salvage enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT), may be attributable to dysfunction of the basal ganglia. Affected individuals have severe motor disability described by prominent extrapyramidal features that are characteristic of dysfunction of the motor circuits of the basal ganglia. They also display disturbances of ocular motility, cognition, and behavioral control that may reflect disruption of other circuits of the basal ganglia. Though neuropathologic studies of autopsy specimens have revealed no obvious neuroanatomical abnormalities in LND, neurochemical studies have demonstrated 60-90% reductions in the dopamine content of the basal ganglia. In addition, recent PET studies have documented significant reductions in dopamine transporters and [18F]fluorodopa uptake in the basal ganglia. These findings support the proposal that many of the neurobehavioral features of LND might be related to dysfunction of the basal ganglia.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Assessing spatial vision - automated measurement of the contrast-sensitivity function in the hooded rat.

The contrast-sensitivity function (CSF) provides a concise and thorough description of an organism's spatial vision; it is widely used to describe vision in animals and humans, to track developmental changes in vision, and to compare vision among different species. Despite the predominance of rats in neuroscience research, their vision is not thoroughly studied due to the complexity of psychophysical measurement and a generally held notion that rat vision is poor. We therefore designed an economical and rapid method to assess the hooded rat's CSF, using a computer monitor to display stimuli and an infrared touch screen to record responses. A six-alternative forced-choice task presented trials in which a sine-wave grating (S+), varying in spatial frequency and contrast, was displayed at different locations along with five gray stimuli (S-). Nose pokes to the S+ but not the S- produced water reinforcers. Contrasts were tested at each spatial frequency with a simple adaptive procedure until stimulus detection fell below chance. Psychometric functions were obtained by maximum-likelihood fitting of a logistic function to the raw data, obtaining the threshold as the function's point of inflection. As in previous studies with rats, CSFs showed an inverse-U shape with peak sensitivity at 0.12 cyc/deg and acuity just under 1 cyc/deg. The results indicate the present computer-controlled behavioral testing device is a precise and efficient instrument to assess spatial visual function in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

A rose is a rose is a rose.

This young man presented initially and repeatedly over a period of twenty years with symptoms of irritability, depressed and withdrawn mood, impulsivity, out-of-control behavior, and suicidal ideation and behavior. These symptoms occurred with disabling intensity at ages 3 year, 6 1/2 years, and 8 1/2 years, when he had not yet been adequately diagnosed and treated with appropriate psychopharmacology. Symptoms re-occurred in early adulthood after medication had been discontinued by the patient. While he had symptoms characteristic of ADHD before age seven, these were present episodically and only in the context of significant mood disturbance and behavior disruption, which were more characteristic of mood disorder than oppositional behavior associated with ADHD. His reaction to stimulants alone was significant. His response to Ritalin suggested dysphoria and/or neurovegetative slowing. On Dexedrine, he developed frank visual hallucinations. Both reactions can be typically seen in youths with underlying mood or psychotic disorders. This patient's symptoms and their repeated occurrence, in the face of significant family history of mood disorder, demonstrate the utility of DSM-IV criteria and longitudinal history taking in making the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in prepubertal children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Prefrontal cortical manipulations alter the effects of intra-ventral striatal dopamine antagonists on fixed-interval performance in the rat.

The nature of the functional relationships between areas of prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum remain undefined. This study was designed to examine functional interactions between activity in two areas of prefrontal cortex, the prelimbic (PL) and agranular insular (AI) areas, and ventral striatal (VS) dopamine (DA) function. Interactions were assessed using a Fixed Interval (FI) schedule of reinforcement shown previously in our laboratory to be modulated by VS DA function. The study compared changes in FI performance following intra-VS DA antagonist injections alone (SCH23390 + eticlopride) to those observed when either saline or saline + lidocaine were injected into prefrontal cortex after the intra-VS DA antagonist injections. The intra-VS DA antagonists alone decreased FI response rates and increased postreinforcement pause times at both dose combinations (1/0.1 and 3/0.3 microg of SCH23390/eticlopride per side). Neither saline nor saline + lidocaine injected into the PL area of prefrontal cortex altered the effects of intra-VS DA antagonists on FI performance. Saline administration into the AI area of prefrontal cortex, however, eliminated the FI rate-decreasing effects of intra-VS DA antagonists. The agent or mechanism of this effect, whether it be saline, the act of inserting the cannulae into the cortical tissue, or the act of injecting fluid into this tissue, is not clear. This effect of AI saline was prevented by coadministration of lidocaine with saline into AI. These results, coupled with those from a previous experiment examining lesion effects in PL and AI on FI performance (Evans SB, Cory-Slechta DA. The effects of temporary lesions of the insular and medial prefrontal cortex on fixed-interval schedule-controlled behavior in the rat, Soc Neurosci Abstr 1996;22(1):159) suggest that PL might exert a tonic influence on VS DA function, since FI response rates gradually increase over a 2-week period following lesions of PL. In contrast, AI, although not normally modulating FI performance, can apparently influence VS DA function, possibly when alterations in activity are invoked in AI.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Working-memory load and dimensional complexity of the EEG.

This investigation shows that a working-memory load induced by a memory scanning task has an effect on nonlinear descriptors of the EEG dynamics. The effect was locally specific above the fronto-temporal (right) cortex and it may be described as a reduction in the dimensional complexity of cortical brain activity. The meaning of the effects seems to differ from that of EEG spectral power, which varied with time during the experiment and not with changes in the working-memory load conditions. Behaviorally controlled over- and underload led to increased variance of the dimensional complexity, thus indicating that dimensional complexity correlates more closely with actual performance than with more general descriptions of brain states. Habitual response speed had an effect at the parietal lead, thus indicating that fast responders reduced their dimensional complexity as the task demand increased. In contrast, the slower responders showed no such definite trend.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Circadian rhythm of gravitaxis in Euglena gracilis.

Euglena gracilis, a unicellular, photosynthetic flagellate is a model system for environmentally controlled behavioral reactions. One pronounced reaction is the orientation with respect to gravity. In synchronized cultures with no cell growth a distinct circadian rhythm of negative gravitactic orientation could be observed. The main maximum of sensitivity was detected 5 h after the beginning of the subjective day, the main minimum 5 h before the beginning of the subjective day. Transferring synchronized cultures to continuous light resulted in an almost instantaneous loss of rhythmicity. In contrast, after transfer to permanent darkness cells exhibited a circadian rhythm with a progressive shortening of the period for more than 5 days. These findings are in contrast to the circadian rhythm of phototaxis in Euglena, where a free-running period of 24 h was observed. Parallel measurements of negative gravitactic orientation, velocity, cell shape as well as cAMP concentration in synchronized cultures revealed a circadian rhythm of all reactions. The results are discussed with regard to the possible role of cell shape and cAMP in gravitactic orientation.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Behavioral and pharmacologic therapy of obstructive sleep apnea.

Previous attempts at using pharmacologic agents in the treatment of OSA have been disappointing. Medroxyprogesterone has not been found to be useful in the treatment of OSA. Use of protriptyline is limited by frequent side effects, but its role in mild and REM-related OSA must be clarified. SSRIs seem to be ineffective in treatment of severe OSA. Further studies are needed to determine their effect in persons with mild disease. This is important because patients with mild OSA (AHI < 15 hours) are most likely to be noncompliant with CPAP therapy [91]. A recent systematic review of drug treatments for OSA concluded that the current data do not support the use of any drug as an alternative to CPAP [92]. Of 56 studies identified, only 9 studies met methodologic criteria. Clearly, basic research and adequately powered clinical trials are needed to identify an effective medication for OSA.

Behavior Control↗