Acute Synaptic Activity Causes Differential miRNA Expression in The Drosophila melanogaster Larval Central Nervous System

The primary goal of this thesis was to determine if spaced synaptic stimulation induced the differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the Drosophila melanogaster central nervous system (CNS). Prior to attaining this goal, we needed to identify and validate a spaced stimulation paradigm that could induce the formation of new synaptic growth at a model synapse, the larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Both Channelrhodopsin- and high potassium-based stimulation paradigms adapted from (Ataman, et al. 2008) were tested. Once validation of these paradigms was complete, we sought to characterize the miRNA expression profile of the larval CNS by miRNA array. Following attainment of these data, we used quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) to determine if acute synaptic stimulation caused the differential expression of neuronal miRNAs. We found that upon high potassium spaced training in a wild type (Canton S) genotype, 5 miRNAs showed significant differential expression when normalized to a validated reference gene, the U1 snRNA. Moreover, absolute quantification of our RT-qPCR study implicated one miRNA: miR-958 as being significantly regulated by activity. Investigation into potential targets for miR-958 revealed it to be a potential regular of Dlar, a protein tyrosine phosphatase implicated in synapse development. This investigation provides the foundation to directly test our underlying hypothesis that, following spaced training, differential expression of miRNAs alters the translation of proteins required to induce and maintain these structural changes at the synapse.

The Effectiveness of Art Therapy in Decreasing Depressive Symptomology: A Meta-Analysis

Art therapy is an increasingly popular treatment modality with various mental health professionals; however, despite its increasing popularity and utilization, the field suffers from a continued lack of empirically validated studies that demonstrate its effectiveness. Thus, this study performed a meta-analysis on studies that utilized therapeutic art interventions with depressive symptoms in order to produce an overall effect size (ES) regarding the effectiveness of art therapy on depression. Additionally, this study attempted to determine moderating factors that might influence the magnitude of the ES. The present meta-analysis included 18 published and unpublished studies that produced a significant (p=0.001) ES of -1.10 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) of -1.64 to -0.56), thus demonstrating that art therapy has a large effect on the reduction of depression-related symptoms in participants. The results of this analysis are comparable to other meta-analyses of psychotherapeutic treatments for depression (Mazzucchelli, Kane, & Rees, 2009; Gloaguen, Cottraux, Cucherat, & Blackburn, 1998; Cuijper, van Straten, Andersson, & van Oppen, 2008). This study also covers clinically relevant issues regarding treating depression with art therapy and makes recommendations for further research.

Recovery from Pediatric Brain Injury: A Preliminary Comparison of Longitudinal Data on Psychological Symptomology and Mental Health Treatment

Objective: To document the course of psychological symptomology, mental health treatment, and unmet psychological needs using caregiver reports in the first 18 months following pediatric brain injury (BI). Method: Participants included 28 children (aged 1-18 years) who were hospitalized at a children's hospital's rehabilitation unit. Caregiver reports of children's psychological symptoms, receipt of mental health treatment, and unmet psychological needs were assessed at one month, six months, 12 months, and 18 months post-BI. Results: Caregivers reported a general increase in psychological symptoms and receipt of mental health treatment over the 18 months following BI; however, there was a substantial gap between the high rate of reported symptoms and low rate of reported treatment. Across all four follow-up time points there were substantial unmet psychological needs (at least 60% of sample). Conclusions: Findings suggest that there are substantial unmet psychological needs among children during the first 18 months after BI. Barriers to mental health treatment for this population need to be addressed.