Exercise and Mood: Exploring the Role of Exercise in Regulating Stress Reactivity in Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a recurrent and debilitating psychological disorder characterized by a chronic dysregulation of mood with fluctuations between extremely low (e.g., depression) and extremely elevated mood states (e.g., mania), and ranks as the 6th leading cause of disability in the world. Although research has consistently shown that exercise may have antidepressant and stress-attenuating benefits in other psychiatric illnesses (e.g., depression, anxiety), these benefits have not been directly investigated for BD. The current study represents the first known investigation to examine this relationship. Single-participant designs, with crossover and interaction treatment components (i.e., A/B/A/B/A, A/C/A/C/A, A/B/A/C/A, or A/C/A/B/A) were utilized to investigate the impact of participation in a prescribed regimen of exercise (EP) versus standard behavioral activation (SBA; i.e., non-exercise activity) has on stress perception and reactivity, and mood stability in a sample of individuals with BD. Individuals completed four total weeks of treatment, and psychophysiological measures of reactivity were recorded during a laboratory stress task (i.e., backward counting task) prior to and following each two-week intervention phase. No appreciable differences were found between levels of exercise participation between treatment groups. Interestingly, symptoms of depressed mood (BDI-II scores) decreased at similar rates following 4 weeks of treatment for all participants. BDI-II decreases were found to be most correlated with elective exercise participation, although this relationship was not significant. Regarding stress reactivity, elective participation in mild to moderate intensity exercise was found to reduce an individual’s perception of stress reactivity to an acute stressor, while participation in a prescribed program of exercise was more effective in reducing physiological response to the same task. Utilizing multiple forms of behavioral activation simultaneously was found to be most effective in decreasing perception of stress reactivity, and may also result in a positive change in the use of adaptive versus maladaptive coping strategies. Participation in a 4-week program of exercise appeared to provide the most benefit, consistent with exercise habituation theories. Overall, current findings provide preliminary support for the prophylactic benefits of including a prescribed and monitored program of exercise as an adjunct treatment for individuals with BD. Larger scale research is needed to more clearly determine the impact of exercise on stress reactivity and mood episode relapse in individuals with BD.

Assessing perceptions of environmental risk and environmental justice and their impacts on neighborhood attachment in a predominately Hispanic community

This study examines and relates concepts from environmental risk perception and environmental justice and focuses on the perception of environmental problems, their consequent health risks and their impact on neighborhood attachment in a predominately Hispanic community along the U.S.-Mexico border. The findings indicate that the perception of environmental problems in the immediate area varies by problem and demographic subgroup. Ethnicity and income have the highest number of statistically significant associations across ten environmental problems. This result lies in the fact that Hispanics in El Paso County and those with low annual incomes live in neighborhoods that are faced with more severe environmental problems. Thus the findings lend support to the environmental justice claim that the poor and minorities bear the brunt of environmental degradation. ^ The findings also provide evidence that public perception of health risks from an environmental problem is influenced by the perceived severity of an environmental problem in the immediate area. Those who believe the problem is serious on a local level are the ones who are most likely to believe that they could become ill or injured from that problem and that the illness/injury will be serious. ^ The findings of this study also indicate that the young, Hispanics, those who perceive considerable environmental problems in their neighborhood, those who believe that their neighborhood has more environmental problems than others, and those who are angry about those problems are most likely to want to move from their neighborhood. ^ Efforts need to be made to enact policies and programs designed to reduce the environmental hazards in disadvantaged Hispanic communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Future environmental education campaigns need to complement community-based projects with the media. Programs that involve and empower the community, particularly the youth, in improving the neighborhood could provide a sense of control and pride within their community in solving these problems. These neighborhood improvement efforts could also lead to the development and strengthening of social ties within the community, as well as enhanced community cohesiveness in tackling these problems. ^

Foodborne illness, food inspection policy and restaurants in the U.S.

Objectives. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a literature review of research relating to foodborne illness, food inspection policy, and restaurants in the United States. Aim 1: To convey the public health importance of studying restaurant food inspection policies and suggest that more research is needed in this field, Aim 2: To conduct a systematic literature review of recent literature pertaining to this subject such that future researchers can understand the: (1) Public perception and expectations of restaurant food inspection policies; (2) Arguments in favor of a grade card policy; and, conversely; (3) Reasons why inspection policies may not work. ^ Data/methods. This paper utilizes a systematic review format to review articles relating to food inspections and restaurants in the U.S. Eight articles were reviewed. ^ Results. The resulting data from the literature provides no conclusive answer as to how, when, and in what method inspection policies should be carried out. The authors do, however, put forward varying solutions as to how to fix the problem of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants. These solutions include the implementation of grade cards in restaurants and, conversely, a complete overhaul of the inspection policy system.^ Discussion. The literature on foodborne disease, food inspection policy, and restaurants in the U.S. is limited and varied. But, from the research that is available, we can see that two schools of thought exist. The first of these calls for the implementation of a grade card system, while the second proposes a reassessment and possible overhaul of the food inspection policy system. It is still unclear which of these methods would best slow the increase in foodborne disease transmission in the U.S.^ Conclusion. In order to arrive at solutions to the problem of foodborne disease transmission as it relates to restaurants in this country, we may need to look at literature from other countries and, subsequently, begin incremental changes in the way inspection policies are developed and enforced.^

Characterization of the NOP -1 opsin photoreceptor in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa

Light absorption is an important process for energy production and sensory perception in many organisms. In the filamentous fungus, Neurospora crassa, blue-light is an important regulator of both asexual and sexual development, but the identity of the blue-light receptor is unknown. The work presented in this dissertation initiated the characterization of the putative N. crassa opsin photoreceptor, NOP-1. Opsins were thought to exist only in the archaea and mammals until the discovery of nop-1. All opsins have the same conserved structure of seven transmembrane helical domains with a lysine residue in the seventh helix specific for forming a Schiff-base linkage with retinal. The predicted NOP-1 protein sequence is equally similar to archaeal rhodopsins and a newly identified fungal opsin-related protein group (ORPs). ORPs maintain the seven transmembrane helical structure of opsins, but lack the conserved lysine residue for binding retinal. An ORP gene, orp-1 was identified in N. crassa and this work includes the cloning and sequence analysis of this gene. Characterization of NOP-1 function in N. crassa development began with the construction of a Δnop-1 deletion mutant. Extensive phenotypic analysis of Δnop-1 mutants revealed only subtle defects during development primarily under environmental conditions that induce a stress response. NOP-1 was overexpressed in the heterologous system Pichia pastoris, and it was demonstrated that NOP-1 protein bound all-trans retinal to form a green-light absorbing pigment (λmax = 534 nm) with a photochemical reaction cycle similar to archaeal sensory rhodopsins. nop-1 gene expression was monitored during N. crassa development. nop-1 transcript is highly expressed during asexual sporulation (conidiation) and transcript levels are abundant in the later stages of conidial development. nop-1 expression is not regulated by blue-light or elevated temperatures. Potential functions for NOP-1 were discovered through the transcriptional analysis of conidiation-associated genes in Δnop-1 mutants. NOP-1 exhibits antagonistic transcriptional regulation of conidiation-associated genes late in conidial development, by enhancing the carotenogenic gene, al-2 and repressing the conidiation-specific genes, con-10 and con-13. ^

Cuerpo desmembrado, ruptura de la percepción : reflexiones sobre "El teatro y su doble", de Antonin Artaud, a partir de una escena de "El chorro de sangre"

La escena inicial de El Chorro de sangre, mientras una pareja se jura amor eterno (de manera repetitiva y mecánica), llueven sobre el escenario partes del cuerpo humano. En este trabajo pretendo demostrar que Artaud pensó esa lluvia de extremidades desde una recepción sensorial. Es decir, la estrategia del disjecta membra responde a su concepción de un teatro de los sentidos que, como lo señala en El teatro y su doble, busca provocar una “revolución del espíritu". Si el cuerpo es espacio de las luchas entre un “interior" libre y caótico, y las presiones “exteriores", sociales, la fragmentación revela la energía excedente del ser humano por sobre esos controles, la capacidad de resistencia y superación. Para expresar esa resistencia, Artaud apela a la carnavalización del cuerpo que, como lo afirma Bajtín, produce una serie de transgresiones en tanto crítica y resistencia. Así, el cuerpo desmembrado trae a la superficie los miedos y tabúes sobre la muerte, la unidad del cuerpo humano y la inviolabilidad del cadáver. Se concluye que interpretar la lluvia de extremidades humanas requiere comprender El chorro de sangre como la puesta en escena de los principios surrealistas de subversión y desmoralización y, al mismo tiempo, que el cuerpo como objeto central de la representación carnavalesca problematiza tópicos filosóficos como la percepción y la existencia del ser.

Acción y cognición : Una educación física de la acción presente

Este trabajo pretende entregar una reflexión respecto a los principios biológicos fundamentales de la percepción y acción en seres vivos en general y seres humanos en particular. Su desarrollo esta guiado por la intención de concretar avances teóricos en una nueva comprensión de lo humano y en la formulación de una Educación Corporal centrada en la co-determinación de la acción y cognición superando la tesis tradicional del cuerpo mecanicista de la Educación Física moderna. En tal esfuerzo se reconocen las investigaciones de diferentes autores con especial énfasis en los trabajos de Francisco Varela identificando conceptos claves para orientar un enfoque enactivo desde la crítica al programa representacionista. Finalmente se proponen principios generales que describen una Educación corporal desde el enactivismo

Acción y cognición : Una educación física de la acción presente

Este trabajo pretende entregar una reflexión respecto a los principios biológicos fundamentales de la percepción y acción en seres vivos en general y seres humanos en particular. Su desarrollo esta guiado por la intención de concretar avances teóricos en una nueva comprensión de lo humano y en la formulación de una Educación Corporal centrada en la co-determinación de la acción y cognición superando la tesis tradicional del cuerpo mecanicista de la Educación Física moderna. En tal esfuerzo se reconocen las investigaciones de diferentes autores con especial énfasis en los trabajos de Francisco Varela identificando conceptos claves para orientar un enfoque enactivo desde la crítica al programa representacionista. Finalmente se proponen principios generales que describen una Educación corporal desde el enactivismo

Acción y cognición : Una educación física de la acción presente

Este trabajo pretende entregar una reflexión respecto a los principios biológicos fundamentales de la percepción y acción en seres vivos en general y seres humanos en particular. Su desarrollo esta guiado por la intención de concretar avances teóricos en una nueva comprensión de lo humano y en la formulación de una Educación Corporal centrada en la co-determinación de la acción y cognición superando la tesis tradicional del cuerpo mecanicista de la Educación Física moderna. En tal esfuerzo se reconocen las investigaciones de diferentes autores con especial énfasis en los trabajos de Francisco Varela identificando conceptos claves para orientar un enfoque enactivo desde la crítica al programa representacionista. Finalmente se proponen principios generales que describen una Educación corporal desde el enactivismo

Elevated CO2 affects the behavior of an ecologically and economically important coral reef fish

We tested the effect of near-future CO2 levels (= 490, 570, 700, and 960 µatm CO2) on the olfactory responses and activity levels of juvenile coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus, a piscivorous reef fish that is also one of the most important fisheries species on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Juvenile coral trout reared for 4 weeks at 570 µatm CO2 exhibited similar sensory responses and behaviors to juveniles reared at 490 µatm CO2 (control). In contrast, juveniles reared at 700 and 960 µatm CO2 exhibited dramatically altered sensory function and behaviors. At these higher CO2 concentrations, juveniles became attracted to the odor of potential predators, as has been observed in other reef fishes. They were more active, spent less time in shelter, ventured further from shelter, and were bolder than fish reared at 490 or 570 µatm CO2. These results demonstrate that behavioral impairment of coral trout is unlikely if pCO2 remains below 600 µatm; however, at higher levels, there are significant impacts on juvenile performance that are likely to affect survival and energy budgets, with consequences for predator-prey interactions and commercial fisheries.

Elevated CO2 affects embryonic development and larval phototaxis in a temperate marine fish

As an effect of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, the chemistry of the world's oceans is changing. Understanding how this will affect marine organisms and ecosystems are critical in predicting the impacts of this ongoing ocean acidification. Work on coral reef fishes has revealed dramatic effects of elevated oceanic CO2 on sensory responses and behavior. Such effects may be widespread but have almost exclusively been tested on tropical reef fishes. Here we test the effects elevated CO2 has on the reproduction and early life history stages of a temperate coastal goby with paternal care by allowing goby pairs to reproduce naturally in an aquarium with either elevated (ca 1400 µatm) CO2 or control seawater (ca 370 µatm CO2). Elevated CO2 did not affect the occurrence of spawning nor clutch size, but increased embryonic abnormalities and egg loss. Moreover, we found that elevated CO2 significantly affected the phototactic response of newly hatched larvae. Phototaxis is a vision-related fundamental behavior of many marine fishes, but has never before been tested in the context of ocean acidification. Our findings suggest that ocean acidification affects embryonic development and sensory responses in temperate fishes, with potentially important implications for fish recruitment.