80 research outputs found
Exploring Psychedelics as a Treatment for Addiction
No full textPsychedelics may a robust and sustained ability to alter addiction-related behaviors. I am investigating the mechanisms behind these compounds using tools that trace neuronal projections across brain regions, in hopes to come up with a new medication that is effective and without the hallucinogenic side effects associated with psychedelics
MOLECULAR TARGET AND CIRCUITRY UNDERLYING THE PRECLINICAL EFFECTS OF PSYCHEDELICS IN MODELS OF OPIOID USE DISORDER
No full textOpioid use disorder (OUD), like other substance use disorders (SUD), is characterized by maladaptive behavioral allocation away from other rewarding aspects of life following prolonged use, as well as large rates of relapse. While pharmacotherapies exist for OUD, they tend to only target the opioid receptors rather than the underlying mechanisms behind the maladaptive behaviors. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) is involved in modulation of cravings and regulation of motivational reward-related behaviors, thought to be due to a top-down processing method of external and internal stimuli. Serotonin 2A receptors (5-HT2AR) are widespread throughout the brain and most densely populate layer V pyramidal neurons in the cortex. These cortical pyramidal neurons project to several subcortical regions, including the nucleus accumbens (NAc), which is a main area associated with drug abuse. 5-HT2ARs are the main target of classical psychedelics, which produce alterations in processes related to cognition, perception and sensory processing via activation of these receptors. These compounds may possess the ability to alter behaviors associated with reward-related behaviors, such as context-related motivation, which plays a large part in substance use disorders. The present work has focused on the assessment of two structurally different psychedelics in their ability to unpair drug-context interactions in an oxycodone (OXY)-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) model. Psilocybin (PSI), prodrug of psilocin, activates a variety of serotonin and other receptors, whereas 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI), is more selective for 5-HT2 receptors. Interestingly, both psychedelics acutely produce increase head twitch response with females having increased acute responses compared to males, but only PSI was able to produce a decrease in OXY-induced CPP in male wild-type mice. In the CPP model the effects of PSI were not seen in global knockouts of the 5-HT2AR, but when utilizing cre-recombinase viral vector delivery in knockout mice which allows for assessment of specific expression of 5-HT2AR, it was found that rescue of 5-HT2ARs in a subset of pyramidal neurons that express 5-HT2AR and project to the NAc rescued the effects of PSI on OXY-induced CPP. This suggests there is a modulation of the cortico-striatal reward circuit, potentially influencing the incentive to action and rewarding effects of opioids in this model
Author Reading: Mason Deaver
No full textAward-winning young adult author Mason Deaver is returning (virtually) to CWU to discuss their new book, The Ghosts We Keep.
This emotional, character-driven journey is about a nonbinary teenager grieving their first shattering loss and, moving forward, allowing that experience to be a guidepost for the relationships that are important to them...An unflinchingly honest story that doesn’t shy away from the complex emotions of grief but also offers a hopeful path forward for Liam and everyone else left behind in the wake of Ethan’s death. ~ Alaina Leary, Booklist
Brought to you by CWU Libraries and CWU Lion Rock Visiting Writers Series.https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/libraryevents/1248/thumbnail.jp
From child-minders to professionals: Insights from an Action Research Project on Prince Edward Island
No full textJewish toleration, assimilation, and citizenship in the British imagination, 1655-1755
No full textThis dissertation argues that Jewish thinking helped shape a British identity rooted in a secular, rather than in a religious, ethics. This identity was liberal, tolerant, and cosmopolitan. I show how, in response to Britain’s growing mercantile and colonial empire, British writers repurposed Jewish histories and political philosophy to promote toleration as a means of maintaining a distinctly Protestant British identity that could accommodate the values of non-Christian cultures. Early Enlightenment political theorists like John Selden and Thomas Hobbes appropriated Jewish political theory, in particular the Jewish understanding of the relationship between the Jewish polity and the State, for their own theories of government. Although they did so through the lens of British Protestantism, they irrevocably tied Jewish philosophy to the foundations of the British Enlightenment. I demonstrate how this tradition was remediated by radical thinkers like John Toland, and then again into more literary texts by Aphra Behn (herself a radical thinker) and Eliza Haywood, among other writers. These writers and others found that Jews and Judaism offered a compelling model for toleration—especially in light of the increasingly assimilated Anglo-Jewish community, and integrated aspects of Jewish thought, history, and identity into their critiques of Western philosophical and literary traditions. Ultimately, my project rewrites not only our understanding of how Jews became a part of the fabric of “Britishness,” but also our understanding of the extent to which Jewish thought informed British liberalism and national identity in the eighteenth century.
I begin by examining the Jewish foundations of Enlightenment liberal theory in England. In Chapter One, I show how, from the earliest moments of Jewish “readmission” to England, Jewishness and liberal citizenship were intertwined. Jews had been banished from England since the thirteenth century, and were only unofficially readmitted in 1656. Menasseh ben Israel’s Humble Addresses to the Lord Protector (1655) uses the Jewish political philosophical tradition of secular citizenship to capitalize on English interest in Jewish thought to make a case not only for readmission, but also for a specifically Jewish form of the social contract based on secular ideas of citizenship. Ultimately, ben Israel’s Jewish social contract becomes a new methodology through which both Anglo-Jews and Anglo-Protestants conceptualize citizenship as a relationship of mutual obligation between the individual and the state.
In Chapter Two, I explore how the concept of cosmopolitan citizenship evolved in conjunction with the assimilation of Anglo-Jews into English—later British—society. Rationalist philosophers, like John Toland, used alternative histories of the Jews to make a case for toleration, and ultimately, Jewish naturalization. I examine Toland’s Reasons for Naturalizing the Jews (1714) within the debates surrounding toleration and the naturalization of foreigners—including Jews—that preoccupied Parliament following the Glorious Revolution. Proponents of naturalization emphasized the pragmatic issues of population and economics, while the xenophobic arguments against it were largely based on beliefs about the essential differences among races and the superiority of the established Anglican Church. I argue that by reframing the history of Christianity within a larger, cosmopolitan ancient culture, Toland de-prioritizes Protestant Christian supremacy and suggests that excluding foreigners and non-Christians, especially Jews, is detrimental to the nation.
In Chapter Three, I turn to literary texts to establish how writers adapted Jewish history and political thought in service to the British cosmopolitan ideal. I begin by studying Aphra Behn’s translations of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle in order to examine her radical intellectual stance and her familiarity with biblical history and Jewish thought. This reading underpins my analysis of Behn’s The Second Part of the Rover (1681) and Oroonoko (1688). I argue that Oroonoko is an assimilation narrative that erases Jewish difference at the expense of African slaves. Unlike the relatively trouble-free assimilation of the Jewish “lady-monsters” (a giant and a dwarf who marry the heroes without having to convert) in The Second Part of the Rover, in Oroonoko Behn reveals the difficulties of Jewish integration into British life. By erasing Surinam’s large Jewish community, Behn strategically renarrates the colony’s political and social history that draws a close, if implicit, connection between African slaves and Jews. In this respect, Oronooko reveals Behn’s concern with both Christian intolerance and the necessity of breaking down the false divisions of race and religion that separate Jews from the rest of European society.
Chapter Four considers Eliza Haywood’s early exploration of the Jewish Question in her amatory novella, The Fair Hebrew (1729). Reading the text against the backdrop of growing Jewish acculturation in the first part of the eighteenth century, I argue that despite its apparently virulent anti-Jewish rhetoric, the novella counter-intuitively draws parallels between the legal and social disenfranchisement of Jews and women. Through what appears to be the first openly Jewish female protagonist in British literature, Haywood suggests that anti-Jewish stereotypes are not only hyperbolically ludicrous, but also evidence of a corrupt system of authority (the patriarchal British State) that fears the power of the Jewish Other in much the same way that it fears female agency.
Chapter Five examines how Eliza Haywood narrativizes the controversy surrounding the Jewish Naturalization Bill of 1753. The bill was initially passed by Parliament, but the resulting hysteria and public outcry led to its quick repeal. In The Invisible Spy (1754), Haywood responds to this hysteria by creating a covertly Jewish protagonist who has the power to move unseen in British society, by virtue of an invisibility belt. Through the Spy’s use of the belt, Haywood explores the anxieties surrounding Jewish naturalization and its implications for British national identity. Ultimately, Haywood suggests that moral hypocrisy within British society is far more dangerous than Jewish naturalization. In this way, Haywood’s position in 1753 extends her stance in The Fair Hebrew to a specifically political end.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2018-12-01The student, Alaina Pincus, accepted the attached license on 2016-11-30 at 15:36.The student, Alaina Pincus, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2016-11-30 at 15:45.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2016-12-02 at 15:53.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10231 on 2017-02-28 at 14:41:26Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-01T17:01:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 6
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In-between spaces of policy and practice: Voices from Prince Edward Island early childhood educators
No full textOver the course of the past decades, the discourse, pedagogy, scope, and delivery of early learning and child care (ELCC) has undergone myriad significant changes internationally, nationally, and at local levels. Prince Edward Island (PEI), the smallest Canadian Province, has not been exempt from these transformations. By situating early childhood educators (ECEs) at the centre of ecological multilevel environments (Bronfenbrenner, 2005), this qualitative study explored how a system-wide change implemented through the Prince Edward Island Preschool Excellence Initiative (PEIPEI) has impacted and is being impacted by ECEs over time. Purposive sampling was used to invite seven early childhood educators working on provincially regulated early years centres (EYCs) to participate in individual interviews. Findings indicated that ECEs have been striving to navigate and merge the space in-between policy and practices and that after ten years, they remain in this liminal space where they continue to navigate unravelling transitions as they search for their professional identity
Influence of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) on ethanol preference and consumption in C57BL/6 male mice
No full textSubstance use disorders (SUD) account for a large number of mental health diagnosis in the United States and around the world. Approximately 13.6 million adults 26 or older and 5.1 million young adults (ages 18-24) battled with a SUD in 2017. Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) alone effects nearly 6% of the adult population within the United States. This creates a substantial burden on the individual, with alcohol being the third-leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Few treatments for AUD exist, with no new FDA-approved therapeutic treatments within the last 15 years. Additionally, the limited treatments we do have are estimated to produce sustained abstinence in less than 20% of individuals. Psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) affect processes related to cognition, perception and sensory processing. Recently, it has been demonstrated that serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonists, such as psilocybin, can be useful in attenuating substance abuse. As an example, clinical findings have demonstrated the ability of psilocybin to decrease heavy drinking days in alcoholic heavy drinkers. Studies utilizing both rats and mice have also suggested the ability of DOI to decrease ethanol preference and consumption in a two-bottle choice paradigm of drinking behavior. The present study aimed to assess the ability of two acute doses of DOI (2 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg) on ethanol preference and consumption using the two-bottle choice paradigm. To test this, 15 adult male C57BL/6 mice were kept on a reverse light cycle and trained on the two-bottle choice procedure, in which they were allowed to drink for four weeks to obtain a baseline reading of drinking behavior. Following these four weeks, mice were assigned to either the treatment group or vehicle group based on weight and baseline drinking behavior. On the first day of the fifth and sixth weeks, mice were injected intraperitoneally with a dose of DOI or saline vehicle 30 minutes prior to access to 20% ethanol. The amount consumed of both water and ethanol on drinking days was measured at 2- and 24-hours and analyzed to calculate consumption and preference. Overall, our findings suggest that DOI did not affect ethanol consumption or preference at the 2- or 24-hour measures. The DOI-treated group showed no difference from the vehicle-treated group after receiving an either moderate (2 mg/kg) or high (5 mg/kg) dose of DOI. There was an overall interaction of time and treatment in both 2- and 24-hour fluid consumption in the groups. Further studies are warranted using DOI or other psychedelics and other paradigms for assessing drinking behavior to understand the effects of psychedelics in modulating substance use behavior.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1156/thumbnail.jp
\u3cem\u3eDoes Earth Feel?\u3c/em\u3e (2021) by Marc Majewski
No full textWith spare prose and evocative paintings, author-illustrator Marc Majewski asks fourteen critical questions -- including Does Earth feel calm? Does Earth feel curious? Does Earth feel hurt? Does Earth feel heard? -- to encourage active thinking and discussion about our planet.https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_thinkingstories_picturebooks/1003/thumbnail.jp
Government estimates and award amounts for Forest Service thinning contracts
No full textThis archived document is maintained by the Oregon State Library as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Title from PDF caption (viewed on July 11, 2014)Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in Englis
Contract and federal wildland firefighters: a review of local opportunity, job quality, and safety
No full textThis archived document is maintained by the Oregon State Library as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Title from PDF cover (viewed on March 12, 2014)Includes bibliographical referencesMode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection
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