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The Case For Paid Maternity Leave: Reducing Inequities Between Low-Income and High-Income Women
No full textTangles, Trips, and Treatment: An Overview and Analysis of the Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelic Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease
No full textPsychedelics are psychoactive drugs that change perception, emotion, and a number of cognitive functions. More recently, these drugs have been a major topic in research on psychiatric disorders and they have been found to have the potential in treating treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, end-of-life anxiety, and other neuropsychiatric diseases. Psychedelics have been found to be effective in these realms due to their unique therapeutic properties and biological mechanisms such as their stimulation of the 5-HT2A receptor, their possible role as immunomodulators, and their antidepressant properties. Aside from the benefits of psychedelics that have already been found, these mechanisms show compelling potential to be effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease as well. Psychedelics that are 5-HT2A receptor agonists have been found to be effective in reducing inflammation in animal models through suppression of an inflammatory cytokine that plays a major role in the neuroinflammation caused by Alzheimer’s. Psychedelics have also been shown to significantly decrease anxiety and depression among individuals with life-threatening diseases which displays immense applicability in addressing the comorbidity of Alzheimer’s and depression. Despite the potential, more research must be done and must take into consideration the safety of the specific population at hand
Human Disease in a Fluctuating World
No full textHow an organism functions is primarily determined by its surrounding environment. While environmental conditions are constantly changing, due to anthropogenic forces, many areas of the world face increasingly fluctuating conditions. Many organisms are unable to adapt fast enough to the changing conditions; however, in microorganisms, an elevated mutation rate along with faster generation times in microorganisms may allow them to adapt far more quickly to increasing fluctuations relative to multicellular organisms. Human and microorganism interactions are ubiquitous, ranging all the way from the microbiome of our gut to pathogens floating through the air. Because of this, if microbes such as pathogens are adapting to increasingly changing conditions, humans may need to follow suit and adapt to combat these pathogens. To determine a correct approach to fight disease in a fluctuating world, an understanding of the full impact of an increasingly changing environment on human-pathogen interactions must be had. While large fluctuations may cause many organisms such as vectors or pathogens who are unable to survive under the fluctuations to go extinct, due to increasing environmental fluctuations, humans are in fact more susceptible to disease as a result of pathogen adaptation, changes in human-vector and vector-pathogen interactions, and a weakened immune system
Balancing the Autonomic Regulation of Metabolism in Diving Mammals During Voluntary Dives
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The Impact of Ocean Acidification on the Marine Food Web: Low pH Alters Marine Invertebrate Behavior via Chemical Cue Reception Impairment and Drives Predation Rate
No full textRising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels lead to a phenomenon known as ocean acidification (OA). Due to OA, ocean pH is predicted to drop to ~7.8 by the end of the 21st century. These changes affect the distribution, physiological performance, morphology, and behavior of marine invertebrates. For predator–prey interactions, the ultimate outcome depends, in part, on how OA affects specific predators. Although elevated CO2 increases the activity level of predators, chemoreception is essential for foraging. The ability to detect food sources from a distance is crucial for predators, and reduced seawater pH adversely affects this chemosensory behavior. In contrast, damaging effects of low pH on morphological defenses in prey species (e.g., shell formation) significantly impact vulnerability to predation. Since predation rate in marine invertebrates is still affected even when elevated CO2 does not result in impaired morphology of the organisms, it can be concluded that sensory impairment via low-pH induced compensatory mechanisms is a key driving factor of predation rate, and that the underlying cause of varying predation rates cannot solely be attributed to morphological differences. Despite the distinct anatomical differences induced in organisms by low pH, I propose that as OA worsens, disruptions to sensory and chemical communication systems will become the dominant factors affecting predation rates. The rate of change in seawater chemistry is unprecedented, and evidence suggests that these changes in species distributions, abundances, and interactions could propagate through multiple trophic levels and possibly lead to permanent alterations to the marine food web as we know it
Bringing The Support Where it is Needed: Generalizability of the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools for Minority Youth
No full textWithout appropriate treatment, exposure to trauma in childhood can lead to negative life outcomes, including difficulties in social, emotional, and academic realms. These outcomes may be exacerbated in minority youth who already face disproportionate hardship and traumatic experiences. This review aims to assess the efficacy and generalizability of the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), a trauma-informed program that takes a school-based approach to ameliorating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in youth living with trauma. Specifically, the paper examines the sociocultural demographics of study participants and resulting modifications attempted to achieve cultural relevance to the communities in which it was implemented. Further, it identifies key psychological features that are central to the integrity of the original intervention, as well as variations based in language and cultural needs, that have proven worth consideration. CBITS is a low-cost and effective intervention to reduce trauma-related symptomology in trauma-exposed youth, particularly those who—in the absence of school-based programs—face significant barriers to accessing mental health care. The paper presents suggestions to improve the methodology of CBITS intervention research, and thus improve outcomes of CBITS interventions for participants, as well as further the field of childhood trauma research more broadly
