Deactivations in the Brain Caused by Benzodiazepines

The study treated two groups of male university students with either the benzodiazepine triazolam or placebo. Then both groups underwent PET scans. In the experimental group, during non-REM sleep, cerebral blood flow decreased in the basal forebrain, amygdaloid complexes, Brodmann’s area, and the left neocortical regions. This supports the hypothesis that benzodiazepines’ hypnotic effects may result from the inhibition of the forebrain control system for wakefulness. Because of the deactivation of the amygdaloid complexes, which deal with emotional responses, by triazolam, it suggests that the anxiolytic properties of benzodiazepines are also associated with the hypnotic effects.

This is quite important to my topic as it provides biological evidence as to how benzodiazepines can negatively affect sleep and the brain’s functioning. However, other literature describes how REM sleep and learning are related; benzodiazepines reduce REM sleep and, thereby, learning. While this is mentioned briefly in the article, the results are only applicable to non-REM sleep. This leads me to find literature that deals primarily with REM sleep.

Kajimura, N., Nishikawa, M., Uchiyama, M., Kato, M., Watanabe, T., Nakajima, T., Hori, T., Nakabayashi, T., Sekimoto, M., Ogawa, K., Takano, H., Imabayashi, E., Hiroki, M., Onishi, T., Uema, T., Takayama, Y., Matsuda, H., Okawa, M., & Takahashi, K. (2004). Deactivation by benzodiazepine of the basal forebrain and amygdala in normal humans during sleep: A placebo-controlled [15O] H2O PET study. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 748-751.

Audiation for Beginning Instrumentalists

My research topic is elementary music methods in teaching beginning band.  Some of the questions I need to answer are what are the different methods used in elementary music and in beginning band, what are their differences and what is the "gap" between the methods used in elementary music when transitioning to traditional band methods.


The article is about a middle and high school band director who uses the Gordon method to teach her students, especially in the beginning band stages. The author personally started out her early education in instrumental music teaching herself music by ear and focusing on tunes rather than the playing long tone and resting that is often the focus in beginning band methods.  Through her personal experience and teaching methods she found that Gordon’s Music Learning Theory was more effective for herself and her students. I did not particularly learn anything about the research process in this article, as it was more of an article for teaching than substantial research, but the information is useful for my topic. I wanted to find an article that focused on using elementary methods in the beginning band instruction, as that is my topic. The article is very strong with how it addresses the method used by Gordon to teach beginning instrumentalists. However, the article is somewhat lacking on how the method compares to the “traditional” style of instrumental music learning.

References
Liperote, Kathy A. (2006). Audiation for Beginning Instrumentalists: Listen, Speak, Read, Write. 
Music Educators Journal, 93(1), 46-52.


This article helps to contribute to my understanding because it gives me a starting of the background research that I need to understand the different methods and this article uses what is called the Gordon method, which is the closest so far for creating an accurate bridge for the transition from general music to a band music program.

Early Childhood Maltreatment could lead to Runaway Youths and Risk of Delinquency in Adolescents

References

Min Jung, K., Tajima, E. A., Herrenkohl, T. I., & Bu, H. (2009). Early Child Maltreatment, Runaway Youths, and Risk of Delinquency and Victimization in Adolescence: A Mediational Model. Social Work Research, 33(1), 19-28. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

My research topic continues to change, once again.  My focus keeps moving from teenage pregnancy, to drug abuse, and now to juvenile delinquents.  With my new topic, I would like to explore the reasons why youth runaway from their homes.  There are a lot of contributing factors and theories that could help explain their decision to runaway, and this article helps explain some of them.

Childhood is an important part of growing up, and it is crucial to treat every child with the proper care and respect they deserve.  In this study, the researchers wanted to know if physical and psychological abuse in childhood increases the outcome of a child running away.  Also, once this is decided, the researchers continue to investigate if a teen running away will contribute to more delinquent acts as an adolescent.  The method used to collect data for this study was a longitudinal design.  This means, data is collected from the same group of people for a long period of time.  The sample size was moderate, and a good representation of the actual population.  Overall, from this study it was found that teen’s possibly use running away as a mediator of physical/psychological/sexual abuse.  Also, this can be a prediction of any future delinquency acts occurring.

This article relates to my research topic and includes information that will be helpful with my research.  There are many factors that can contribute to a teenager running away, and this article focuses on one, which is abuse.  From these findings it will hopefully help guide me in the right direction and allow me to understand this social problem more clearly.

Education, Religiosity and Moral Attitudes: Explaining Cross-National Effect Differences

My research topic has changed a little big. Instead of focusing on honors students I want to study the influence of religion in education and overall well being. I am still going to be working from the data set I already have I am just looking at the subject a little differently.

The article I read relates to that issue as well. The article focuses on education, religiosity and moral attitudes tie in together not only in one society but in many different societies. It also studies external and internal situations such as parental/ environmental situations and individual characteristics. Respondent s raised by religious parents
(Catholic, Protestant, or from other religions) appear to be more conservative regarding moral issues than those raised by parents who were not affiliated with any church. A frequent relationship of people who are more well educated is the are more in favor of liberal views on moral issues as well. Education was found to be an important socializing agent that influenced personal, moral, and cognitive development.

Benzodiazepine Discontinuation

My research topic deals with the effects of sleep medications on cognitive-behavioral therapy for PTSD. I hypothesize that there will be a negative association between stable sleep medication use and the outcome of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

The article treated two groups of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), delivering one group, the control group, nonspecific psychological treatment and tapering and the other group, the experimental group, cognitive behavioral therapy and tapering. This treatment was for cessation of benzodiazepines. Approximately 75% of the experimental group had complete cessation post-treatment compared to approximately 37% of the control group. Also, the control group’s cessation rate accounts for the cessation rate of tapering alone shown in previous studies. The tapering of benzodiazepine use seems to account for roughly half of the experimental group. Posttraumatic stress disorder, like GAD, is an anxiety disorder, which means the mechanisms may be similar and therefore translatable to PTSD treatments. This study provides more evidence of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy; the literature and data overwhelmingly favor cognitive behavioral therapy, so it seems most appropriate for use in any study regarding anxiety disorders.

This study does not provide a model for my own research; rather it provides many citations regarding the effects of benzodiazepines and the importance of cessation. It also presents one of the most effective methods of ceasing the use. As well as supporting cognitive behavioral therapy, the article stands to show a growing trend in the literature towards lessening the grip of dependence of benzodiazepines, which I intend to push too by observing how the drugs of anxiety disorders affect therapy.

Gosselin, P., Ladouceur, R., Morin, C. M., Dugas, M. J., & Baillargeon, L. (2006). Benzodiazepine discontinuation among adults with GAD: A randomized trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(5), 908- 919. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.74.5.908

Watershed Conservation and Aquatic Benthic Macroinvertebrate Diversity in the Alberto D'Agostini National Park, Tierra del Fuego, Chile

Moorman, M.C., C.B. Anderson, A. Gutiérrez, R. Charlin, & R. Rozzi, 2006. Watershed
conservation and aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate diversity in the Alberto D’Agostini National Park, Tierra del Fuego, Chile. The Anales 34: 41-58.

1. I will be looking at the species composition of a family of aquatic insects, most likely Empididae, from samples collected from the Robalo watershed near Puerto Williams, Chile. This will be done to find exactly which organisms are living there, because large scale identification has not been conducted in this particular watershed before.

2. The Cape Horn region of southern Chile has been declared both a biosphere reserve and a wilderness area, but before this study very little research had been done in the area to look at the conditions of the watersheds. Several watersheds in the D’Agostini National Park were picked as research locations and their water quality, surrounding vegetation, macroinvertebrates, human impact, and invasive species were recorded. Most of the watersheds were considered to be in pristine condition, and half had no sign of human impact. Introduced plant species and beavers were only found on the eastern side of the study area. Identifying the collected invertebrates to species was not a priority in this study, so many of the specimens are identified only to family or genus. By classifying the specimens into feeding groups, most of the insects were found to be dependent on the vegetation along the streams, which could lead to large changes in the composition if the natural vegetation were to be disrupted. Many endemic species were found, and it is likely there were more that have not been identified in a key yet. It was concluded that the watersheds in the park are still in very good condition, and the results found can be used to compare against future data in order to see how much the area has changed from its mostly pristine state.

3. This research was conducted in an area west of Navarino Island, where the samples I’ll be studying came from. Both regions are part of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve and have very similar native vegetation and potentially similar aquatic insects. They state in their study that many insects were not keyed to species because the keys did not exist for the, and I’ll probably run into this problem regardless of what family I research. The areas impacted by beavers are of particular interest, because almost all of the streams sampled in the Robalo watershed were downstream of areas beavers had built dams. I now have a better idea of what insects to expect to see in my research, down to genus level for most. This will help me find appropriate keys to start looking at.

The Importance of Order in Sylvia Plath's Ariel

1) In looking at the books Romey’s Order, Ariel, and Questions of Travel by Atsuro Riley, Sylvia Plath, and Elizabeth Bishop, how do the respective authors organize their books of poetry? Why books of poetry instead of individual poems?

2)  “The Two Ariels,” by Marjorie Perloff, discusses the problem of the two versions of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel manuscript: the one that Plath herself put together and the one that Ted Hughes arranged and published after her suicide. Perloff points out that the narrative arcs of the two books are radically different thanks to the rearranging of the poems and the absence or presence of other poems. Where Plath ends her version with a sequence of beekeeping poems that explores the hive’s survival of winter and rebirth into spring, Hughes undermines that sequence by adding several poems of quiet despair. This edit, she argues, replaces Plath’s narrative of rebirth of the self, a life-giving renewal, with a narrative that ends in despair, the poet’s rebirth collapsing – leading to the cold perfection of death. In addition, Hughes’ rearranging of the poems in the manuscript destroys Plath’s scathing indictment of the story of the breaking up of their marriage. To look more closely at how that rearranging and replacing affects individual poems, Perloff looks at individual poems: her analysis of “Daddy” is particularly convincing. By replacing the more vindictive, personal poems with poems that take less imagery from biography and more from holocaust history, Hughes disguises the poem behind its Nazi imagery. Instead of reading the poem as the vitriolic attack that it is in Plath’s version of the manuscript, the poem becomes far more of an exercise in the pop psychology of the Electra complex.

3) Marjorie Perloff’s analysis of the construction of the two different versions of a single book of poetry is both fascinating and informative. It contributes to my ability to look at books of poetry as a whole and see how individual poems relate to each other in sequence.

The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Sleep

1)      My research topic is to study the effects of different exercise types on sleep in people with insomnia.

2)      There are several theories regarding the relationship between physical activity and sleep. The Body Restoration and Energy Conservation theory postulates that sleep allows the body to restore and repair damaged tissue. Exercise causes an increased need for sleep due to the increase in energy expenditure and tissue damage. So overall people should experience improved sleep if they exercise.

The Thermogenic theory builds on the fact that our bodies increase and decrease in temperature throughout the day while plateauing in the later afternoon hours.  Exercise is known to increase body temperatures above normal levels; this increase should cause a reciprocal decrease in body temperature post workout. This steeper cool down caused by exercise should result in an increased sleep drive.

With regards to previous research, little is known about between the frequency of exercise and sleep. Also from previous studies, certain types of exercise appear to improve sleep while others do not. It is possible that the intensity of exercise is more important than the type of exercise.

3)      This article gives me a better understanding of how it is that exercise directly influences sleep. Although after reading the article I have come across more questions related to my topic. There is much in the topic that I am interested in that hasn’t been studied yet. I wonder if the same principles of exercise that apply to normal sleep apply to the sleeping habits of insomniacs. The only method I can think of by which exercise could help insomniacs would be by decreasing anxiety levels, which would then reduce hyperarousal. Exercise has been proven to have psychological benefits such as reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. 

Tatum, J. I., & Taylor, D. J. The relationship between physical activity and sleep.

Are tomorrow's teachers ready to deal with diverse students?

Wyatt, T, Oswalt, S, White, C, & Peterson, F. (2008). Are tomorrow's teachers ready to deal with diverse students?. Teacher Education Quarterly, 171-185

Kosciw, J. G. and Diaz, E. M. (2006). The 2005 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation's schools. New York: GLSEN.

            I will be researching the extent of the effort to prevent an anti-gay bias in teachers at all levels of education through both teacher workshops and programs within individual schools.  I will also attempt to reveal the positive and negative effects of implementing these programs within schools at various levels of education (elementary, middle, and high school).

            The idea of pre-service teacher education is focused on allowing future educators to understand various populations of students they may come into contact with during their work so as to provide a healthy and accepting learning environment for students otherwise neglected by their peers and often other members of society.  The article focused on studying the attitudes of pre-service educators (meaning those still in school studying Education) toward both gay men and lesbians.  The study stated that there had not previously been a study specifically measuring the sexual orientation biases held by teachers educating at any level in the education system, and conducting a survey such as this could potentially reveal gaps within the education system into which gay and lesbian students tend to fall due to an inability to find support from their administrators and teachers alike.  The study was conducted at two Central/South Texas universities and was mostly comprised of female candidates; the method of research was a detailed questionnaire questioning beliefs, general knowledge, and attitudes about sexuality and the sexual minority that were held by the pre-service educators.  The results of the study found that although a majority of the candidates felt they were well-informed in terms of sexuality issues, their knowledge regarding the struggles of gay and lesbian students was far from satisfactory in terms of creating a safe and supportive environment for these minority students to attain a higher education.

            This article pertains directly to my research topic as it reveals that educators are far from being adequately trained to work with gay and lesbian students although they often receive extensive training on the cultural and social aspects of ethnic minority students.  Teachers and educators in general have an immense influence on whether a student is successful as they have the power to provide an environment in which the student feels comfortable learning and gaining experience for their future careers and varying life paths, as well as the responsibility to do so.  With 64 % of surveyed sexual minority students reporting feeling unsafe in their schools in 2006 (Kosciw & Diaz, 2006), the drop-out rate for gay and lesbian students is steadily climbing along with the number of homosexual youth that become secluded, depressed, and at times suicidal.  The issue of sexual orientation bias among teachers is a topic not often touched upon but one that must be thrust into the spotlight in order to attempt to prevent future students from suffering from under-educated and biased educators.

Fetal and neonatal thyroid function, review and summary of significant new findings.

Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is the hormone most commonly analyzed when an infant is tested for congenital hypothyroidism (CH).  Since tests for CH  are required by state law, data for infant TSH is often available and no additional blood draw is required for  the proposed investigation of the effects of iodine-uptake inhibitor-exposure on infant thyroid hormone (TH) levels.  However, a number of factors need to be considered when correlating exposures with TSH.  Neonatal TSH rises at birth and then subsides to over the next several weeks.   This makes standardization of timing of sample collection important, as failure to do so creates a powerful potential confounder when comparing TSH levels among cohorts or even in determining if an individual infant’s TSH is elevated or in the process of stabilizing.    

There is no national protocol for testing for congenital hypothyroidism, and the best approach is a topic of current debate and investigation.[1]  Texas uses neonatal thyroxine (T4) levels to test newborns for congenital hypothyroidism because these levels are somewhat more stable, peaking at 24 hours after birth,[2] and because the assay is less expensive than that for TSH (Texas Department of Health 2011, Personal Communication).  Texas State Law requires that all infants receive a T4 test at least 24 hours after birth, but before discharge from the hospital.   It is also mandated that all infants receive a second test 1-2 weeks after birth.  Infants whose T4 levels fall in the bottom 10^th centile receive a confirmatory TSH test.[3][MSOffice1]  , which would add additional data and statistical power to the proposed study. 

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[1] Raymond J, LaFranchi SH.  2010.  Fetal and neonatal thyroid function: review and summary of significant new findings.  Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity.  17:1-7.

[2] Brown RS, Huang SA, Fisher D.  2000.  The maturation of thyroid function in the perinatal period and during childhood.  In: Braverman LE, Utiger RD, editors, Werner and Ingbar’s The Thyroid.  Philadelphia, PA.  Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.  pp. 1013-1028.

[3] Texas Department of State Health Services.  2011.  Newborn Screening Case Mangement.  Congenital hypothyroidism: Guidelines for Professionals.  http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/newborn/c_thyro.shtm

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 [MSOffice1]Need to find out if the results are easily linked back to kids with normal ranges.