The Relationship of Affective Temperament and Emotional-Behavioral Difficulties to Internet Addiction in Turkish Teenagers.
The relationship of affective temperament and emotional-behavioral difficulties to internet addiction in Turkish teenagers.
ISRN Psychiatry. 2013; 2013: 961734
Ozturk FO, Ekinci M, Ozturk O, Canan F
The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of affective temperament profiles and emotional and behavioural characteristics with Internet addiction among high school students. The study sample included 303 high school students. A sociodemographic characteristics data form, internet addiction scale (IAS), the strengths and difficulties questionnaire, and the temperament evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego autoquestionnaire were used to collect data. Of the sample, 6.6% were found to be addicted to Internet. Having a computer in the home (P < 0.001) and using the Internet for more than two years (P < 0.001) were found to be related to higher scores on the IAS. The prevalence rate of anxious temperament for Internet addicts was more than that for nonaddicts (P < 0.001). Dysthymic (r = 0.199; P < 0.01), cyclothymic (r = 0.249; P < 0.01), hyperthymic (r = 0.156; P < 0.01), irritable (r = 0.254; P < 0.01), and anxious (r = 0.205; P < 0.01) temperaments; conduct problems (r = 0.146; P < 0.05), hyperactivity-inattention (r = 0.133; P < 0.05), emotional symptoms (r = 0.138; P < 0.05), and total difficulties (r = 0.160; P < 0.01) were found to be correlated with IAS scores. According to these findings, there is a relation between the Internet addiction and affective temperament profiles, especially with anxious temperament. Furthermore, emotional and behavioural problems are more frequent in adolescents who have problematic Internet use. HubMed – addiction
Chronic phencyclidine increases synapsin-1 and synaptic adaptation proteins in the medial prefrontal cortex.
ISRN Psychiatry. 2013; 2013: 620361
Pickering C, Ericson M, Söderpalm B
Phencyclidine (PCP) mimics many aspects of schizophrenia, yet the underlying mechanism of neurochemical adaptation for PCP is unknown. We therefore used proteomics to study changes in the medial prefrontal cortex in animals with PCP-induced behavioural deficits. Male Wistar rats were injected with saline or 5?mg/kg phencyclidine for 5 days followed by two days of washout. Spontaneous alternation behaviour was tested in a Y-maze and then proteins were extracted from the medial prefrontal cortex. 2D-DIGE analysis followed by spot picking and protein identification with mass spectrometry then provided a list of differentially expressed proteins. Treatment with 5?mg/kg phencyclidine decreased the percentage of correct alternations in the Y-maze compared to saline-treated controls. Proteomics analysis of the medial prefrontal cortex found upregulation of 6 proteins (synapsin-1, Dpysl3, Aco2, Fscn1, Tuba1c, and Mapk1) and downregulation of 11 (Bin1, Dpysl2, Sugt1, ApoE, Psme1, ERp29, Pgam1, Uchl1, Ndufv2, Pcmt1, and Vdac1). A trend to upregulation was observed for Gnb4 and Capza2, while downregulation trends were noted for alpha-enolase and Fh. Many of the hits in this study concur with recent postmortem data from schizophrenic patients and this further validates the use of phencyclidine in preclinical translational research. HubMed – addiction
Supporting mothers’ engagement in a community-based methadone treatment program.
Nurs Res Pract. 2013; 2013: 987463
Letourneau N, Campbell MA, Woodland J, Colpitts J
Unmanaged maternal opioid addiction poses health and social risks to both mothers and children in their care. Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is a targeted public health service to which nurses and other allied health professionals may refer these high risk families for support. Mothers participating in MMT to manage their addiction and their service providers were interviewed to identify resources to maximize mothers’ engagement in treatment and enhance mothers’ parenting capacity. Twelve mothers and six service providers were recruited from an outpatient Atlantic Canadian methadone treatment program. Two major barriers to engagement in MMT were identified by both mothers and service providers including (1) the lack of available and consistent childcare while mothers attended outpatient programs and (2) challenges with transportation to the treatment facility. All participants noted the potential benefits of adding supportive resources for the children of mothers involved in MMT and for mothers to learn how to communicate more effectively with their children and rebuild damaged mother-child relationships. The public health benefits of integrating parent-child ancillary supports into MMT for mothers are discussed. HubMed – addiction
New Tools for Targeted Disruption of Cholinergic Synaptic Transmission in Drosophila melanogaster.
PLoS One. 2013; 8(5): e64685
Mejia M, Heghinian MD, Marí F, Godenschwege TA
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. The ?7 subtype of nAChRs is involved in neurological pathologies such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, addiction, epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders. The Drosophila melanogaster ?7 (D?7) has the closest sequence homology to the vertebrate ?7 subunit and it can form homopentameric receptors just as the vertebrate counterpart. The D?7 subunits are essential for the function of the Giant Fiber circuit, which mediates the escape response of the fly. To further characterize the receptor function, we generated different missense mutations in the D?7 nAChR’s ligand binding domain. We characterized the effects of targeted expression of two UAS-constructs carrying a single mutation, D197A and Y195T, as well as a UAS-construct carrying a triple D77T, L117Q, I196P mutation in a D?7 null mutant and in a wild type background. Expression of the triple mutation was able to restore the function of the circuit in D?7 null mutants and had no disruptive effects when expressed in wild type. In contrast, both single mutations severely disrupted the synaptic transmission of D?7-dependent but not glutamatergic or gap junction dependent synapses in wild type background, and did not or only partially rescued the synaptic defects of the null mutant. These observations are consistent with the formation of hybrid receptors, consisting of D197A or Y195T subunits and wild type D?7 subunits, in which the binding of acetylcholine or acetylcholine-induced conformational changes of the D?7 receptor are altered and causes inhibition of cholinergic responses. Thus targeted expression of D197A or Y195T can be used to selectively disrupt synaptic transmission of D?7-dependent synapses in neuronal circuits. Hence, these constructs can be used as tools to study learning and memory or addiction associated behaviors by allowing the manipulation of neuronal processing in the circuits without affecting other cellular signaling. HubMed – addiction