Faculty Bibliography

Assessed the feasibility of the Australian MindMatters program, a whole school mental health promotion program for application in the United States (U.S.). Forty-two participants representing school and community stakeholder groups from four U.S. communities (urban, rural, suburban, small town) evaluated the program for application in their communities through a research process involving discussion and endorsement ratings of relevance and likely impact. The majority of participants (85%) indicated that the program would help students in their community schools feel safe and valued, and participants indicated strong endorsement for MindMatters curriculum units focusing on suicide prevention and addressing bullying and harassment. Participants rated their own stakeholder group (e.g., teacher, school administrator, and parent) as being most likely to support and implement the program, suggesting that providing qualitative feedback on a program may help to increase a sense of ownership over it. Ideas for tailoring programs developed in other settings for application in local communities are discussed. (journal abstract)

The principal ovarian estrogen, estradiol, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) have widespread effects on the CNS that have usually been studied independently. This article examines the similarities in the effects of estradiol and BDNF in the hippocampus, in light of the evidence that estradiol can induce BDNF expression, and recent data suggesting that structural and electrophysiological effects of estradiol in the hippocampus might be mediated by BDNF. The possible role of BDNF as a signaling molecule downstream of estrogen in the hippocampus has implications for our understanding of several cellular and behavioral hippocampal functions, including dendritic and synaptic plasticity, learning and cognitive behavior. Furthermore, disruption of the relationship between estrogen and BDNF could contribute to neurological and psychiatric disorders that have been associated with the hippocampus, such as Alzheimer's disease, depression and epilepsy

Anormal chemosensory perception has been identified as a possible mechanism underlying odor intolerance, but research in this domain has yet been rather limited. The main objective of the present study was to investigate total perceived intensity, unpleasantness, sensory irritation, and cortical activity assessed with chemosensory event-related potentials (ERPs) for three concentrations of pyridine ranging from predominantly olfactory to trigeminal in activation. Results from 19 individuals with self-reported chemical hypersensitivity and 19 controls with self-reported normal chemical sensitivity show that the hypersensitive group, compared to controls, rated the pyridine stimuli to be more intense and unpleasant, and that these group differences increased with pyridine concentration. Sensory irritation was also the perceptual dimension found to correlate strongest with score on the chemical sensitivity scale. However, no group differences were found in ERP amplitudes or latencies. These findings suggest that self-reported chemical hypersensitivity (1) can be associated with anormal chemosensory perception, (2) may be more closely related to trigeminal function than to olfaction, and (3) has a neural basis at a higher cortical level than that captured by chemosensory ERPs.

OBJECTIVE: Being a victim or a perpetrator of school bullying, the most common type of school violence, has been frequently associated with a broad spectrum of behavioral, emotional, and social problems. In a Korean middle school community sample, this study specifically investigated the prevalence of suicidal ideations and behaviors in victims, perpetrators, and victim-perpetrators of school bullying and compared them with a group of students who were in the same schools and were not involved with bullying. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 1718 seventh- and eighth-grade students in 2 middle schools participated in the study in October 2000. Students completed demographic information, Korean Peer Nomination Inventory, and Korean Youth Self-Report. RESULTS: Compared with the students who were not involved with school bullying, victim-perpetrators reported more suicidal/self-injurious behaviors and suicidal ideation in the previous 6 months (odds ratio [OR]: 1.9 and 1.9, respectively). In female students, all 3 school bullying groups had increased suicidal ideation for the previous 2 weeks (OR: 2.8, 2.0, and 2.8, respectively) but not in male students (OR: 0.9, 1.1, and 1.3, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Students who were involved in school bullying, especially victim-perpetrators and female students, had significantly higher risks for suicide ideation and suicidal behavior when compared with individuals who were not involved in school bullying. In addition to attempting to decrease bullying in a community, students who are involved in school bullying should be the targets for suicide monitoring and prevention programs

Individual olfactory bulb mitral/tufted cells respond preferentially to groups of molecularly similar odorants. Bulbar interneurons such as periglomerular and granule cells are thought to influence mitral/tufted odorant receptive fields through mechanisms such as lateral inhibition. The mitralgranule cell circuit is also important in the generation of the odor-evoked fast oscillations seen in the olfactory bulb local field potentials and hypothesized to be an important indicator of odor quality coding. Infant rats, however, lack a majority of these inhibitory interneurons until the second week of life. It is unclear if these developmental differences affect olfactory bulb odor coding or behavioral odor discrimination. The following experiments are aimed at better understanding odor coding and behavioral odor discrimination in the developing olfactory system. Single-unit recordings from mitral/tufted cells and local field-potential recordings from both the olfactory bulb and anterior piriform cortex were performed in freely breathing urethane-anesthetized rats (postnatal day 7 to adult). Age-dependent behavioral odor discrimination to a homologous series of ethyl esters was also examined using a cross-habituation paradigm. Odorants were equated in all experiments for concentration (150 ppm) using a flow dilution olfactometer. In concordance with the reduced interneuron population, local field potentials in neonates lacked detectable odor-evoked gamma-frequency oscillations that were observed in mature animals. However, mitral/tufted cell odorant receptive fields and behavioral odor discrimination did not significantly change, despite known substantial changes in local circuitry and neuronal populations, over the age range examined. The results suggest that high-frequency local field-potential oscillations do not reflect processes critical for simple odor discrimination

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)is highly heritable but is likely a complex disorder involving multiple genes of moderate effect (Smalley [1997: Am J Hum Genet 60:1276-12821]). Over 100 studies have examined the genetics of ADHD by linkage or association, though no article has presented a comprehensive overview of all published reports. We reviewed all ADHD studies, including 3 genome-wide linkage studies, and association studies of 94 polymorphisms in 33 candidate genes. To simplify comparisons across heterogeneous articles, demographics and comorbidity were ignored; analyses of subtype and haplotypes were excluded; and only the most positive finding for each polymorphism in a study was reported. Thirty-six percent of all findings were positive (P< 0.05), 17% were trends (0.05 <P < 0.15), and 47% were negative (P > 0.15). Studies utilizing dimensional measures of ADHD tended to result in higher rates of positive findings than those using categorical diagnoses (X(2) = 5.6, P = 0.018), and case-control studies tended to result in higher rates of positive findings than family-based studies (X(2) = 18.8, P < 0.001). However, for either dichotomy, no significant difference remained when analyzing only studies using both methods within the same population and polymorphism. Evidence for association exists for four genes in ADHD: the dopamine D4 and D5 receptors, and the dopamine and serotonin transporters; others are promising but need further replication, including the dopamine D2 and serotonin 2A receptors. All candidate gene approaches continue to face the problem of relatively low power, given modest odds ratios for even the best replicated genes

This study investigated the role of early literacy and behavioral skills in predicting the improvement of children who have experienced reading difficulties in 1st grade. The progress of 146 low-income children whose reading scores in 1st grade were below the 30th percentile was examined to determine (a) how the poorest readers in 1st grade progressed in reading achievement through 4th grade and (b) which emergent literacy and behavioral skills measured in kindergarten predicted differential 4th grade outcomes. Results indicated that the divergence between children who improved and those who did not was established by the end of 2nd grade. Further, individual linguistic skills and behavioral attributes measured in kindergarten contributed substantively to this difference. Implications for intervention timing and educational policy are discussed.

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) include a spectrum of alcohol-related disorders such as alcohol misuse, abuse, and dependence. AUDs are a group of common, chronic diseases caused by a complicated interaction between biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors. Approximately two-thirds of all American adults, 18 years of age and older, drink some alcohol during the course of a year. Moreover, approximately 7.5% of the United States population (approximately 14 million people) meet criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence. At present, there are two types of medications that are used to treat alcoholism. The first are aversive medications, with disulfiram being the most commonly used. By causing an aversive reaction when taken with alcohol, these medications deter further alcohol consumption through negative reinforcement. However, they are limited in utility unless given in a supervised setting. The second, are those that have anti-craving effects. One of the medications, naltrexone, an opiate antagonist, was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994. Since there is a limited number of biological interventions for alcoholism at present, most treatment consists of nonpharmacologic psychosocial treatments.