Neuronal Glutamate Transporter EAAC1 Regulates Motor Activity and Anxiety in Mice

Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by the onset of recurrent thoughts, anxiety, and repetitive motor behaviors. The molecular basis of OCD remains elusive, but recent meta-analysis and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) suggest the existence of a genetic association between polymorphisms in the gene coding for excitatory amino acid carrier 1 (EAAC1) and OCD. It is also known that the Cortico-Striatal-Thalamo-Cortical (CSTC) pathway shows patterned hyperactivity in patients with OCD. EAAC1 is the primary neuronal glutamate transporter in the brain and is abundantly expressed in the cortex and the striatum, two regions that are part of the CTSC pathway. It is currently unknown whether mice that do not express the transporter EAAC1 have a behavioral phenotype consistent with that of OCD in humans, which would make them useful to study the molecular basis of the disease. Through a variety of behavioral tests our research examines phenotypic differences between wild-type C57BL/6 mice and conventional EAAC1 knockout mice (EAAC1-/-) to determine how EAAC1 regulates motor activity, anxiety, and coordinated information processing in the CSTC pathway. Our results suggest that the loss of EAAC1 expression is associated with the onset of motor hyperactivity and anxiety in mice of either sex. These behaviors are reminiscent of the repetitive behaviors and increased anxiety of patients with OCD. Taken together, these findings suggest that EAAC1-/- mice may be a valuable model in which to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying hyperactivity in the CSTC pathway and OCD

Reliable Witnesses, Crackpot Science: Ufo Investigations In Cold War America, 1947-1977

This dissertation explores efforts to design and execute scientific studies of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the United States in the midst of the Cold War as a means of examining knowledge creation and the construction of scientific authority and credibility around controversial subjects. I begin by placing officially-sanctioned, federally-funded UFO studies in their appropriate context as a Cold War national security project, specifically a project of surveillance and observation, built on traditional arrangements within the military-industrial-academic complex. I then show how non-traditional elements of the investigations – the reliance on non-expert witnesses to report transient phenomena – created space for dissent, both within the scientific establishment and among the broader American public. By placing this dissent within the larger social and political instability of the mid-20th century, this dissertation highlights the deep ties between scientific knowledge production and the social value and valence of professional expertise, as well as the power of experiential expertise in challenging formal, hegemonic institutions

Lagrangian Cobordisms via Generating Families: Constructions and Geography

Embedded Lagrangian cobordisms between Legendrian submanifolds are produced from isotopy, spinning, and handle attachment constructions that employ the technique of generating families. Moreover, any Legendrian with a generating family has an immersed Lagrangian filling with a compatible generating family. These constructions are applied in several directions, in particular to a non-classical geography question: any graded group satisfying a duality condition can be realized as the generating family homology of a connected Legendrian submanifold in R^{2n+1} or in the 1-jet space of any compact n-manifold with n at least 2.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures. v2: corrected a referenc

New Mexico Lobo, Volume 056, No 35, 12/11/1953

New Mexico Lobo, Volume 056, No 35, 12/11/1953https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/daily_lobo_1953/1081/thumbnail.jp

Hume on Miracles and UFOs

A miracle is defined as a violation of or intercession in the laws of na- ture. Some recent reports of UFO phenomena are such that UFOs may satisfy that definition. In this paper, we ask how Hume’s famous argument in “Of Miracles” relates to UFOs. We argue that his critique fails and that some well corroborated UFO reports are such that they justify a belief in miracles (qua violations of laws of nature)

Unidentified Flying Objects: Implications on Global Peace and Security

Innumerable intricate perilous conundrums have swamped various states across the world threatening international peace and security in the 21st Century These threats to international peace and security range from arms proliferation both small and Weapons of Mass Destruction to terrorism striving in North Africa and the Middle East and intrastate group fights inter alia cyber threats among others These problems are and have been a menace to peaceful existence of states and the securitisation of individuals in the entire international milieu Most authors have written extensively from various windows on these problems which have been facing humanity and states have joined hands in countless multilateral efforts to combat some of these problems Conversely the issue of Unidentified Flying Objects has been snubbed in the international peace and security discourse in spite of the conceivable threats that these objects pose or may pose to humanity The subject of Unidentified Flying Objects has been contentious principally the existence of these unearth like objects despite evidence from various countries that reveal incidences of the manifestation of these unidentifiable humanoids In this way this research seeks to add to the distant voices that have warned states of another threat that could be more extreme than most of the sociopolitico economic and even environmental challenges that have engulfed nation-stations since the times of yore The central argument in the paper is that the continued presence of unidentified flying objects whether as projects of the major powers in the world or as aliens from other planets presents a problem which states should be prepared to decisively deal with in times of need For years unidentified flying objects have been seen around the world but their intention source and what really they are has not been determined and this is a foundation for concern apropos global peace and security The paper also focuses on providing p

Spartan Daily, April 12, 1943

Volume 31, Issue 110https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/10770/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, April 23, 1935

Volume 23, Issue 119https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/2296/thumbnail.jp