Limited research has been conducted on the relationship between age, ethnicity and gender and the use of meditation to strengthen critical thinking. The purpose of this research study will be to investigate the relationship of age, gender and ethnicity to the use of meditation to improve critical thinking. As a quantitative study the researchers sought to quantify the strength of relationships...
The research work presented in this article investigates and explains the conceptual mechanisms of consciousness and common-sense thinking of animates. These mechanisms are computationally simulated on artificial agents as strategic rules to analyze and compare the performance of agents in critical and dynamic environments. Awareness and attention to specific parameters that affect the...
Marijuana use during adolescence has reached virtually every strata of society. The general population has the perception that marijuana use is safe for mature people and therefore is also safe for developing adolescents. However, both clinical and preclinical research shows that marijuana use, particularly prior to age 16, could have long-term effects on cognition, anxiety and stress-related...
Previous studies suggest that there are sex differences in endocannabinoid function and the response to exogenous cannabinoids, though data from clinical studies comparing acute cannabinoid effects in men and women under controlled laboratory conditions are limited. To further explore these potential differences, data from 30 cannabis users (N=18 M, 12 F) who completed previous...
Introduction: Cannabidiol (CBD) is a nonpsychoactive constituent of whole plant cannabis that has been reported to reduce anxiety-like behaviors in both pre-clinical and human laboratory studies. Yet, no controlled clinical studies have demonstrated its ability to reduce negative mood or dampen responses to negative emotional stimuli in humans. The objective of this study was to investigate the...
NeuropharmacologyJanuary 2017Melanie Clarke, Sara Razmjou, Natalie Prowse et al.
Considerable recent attention has focused on the rapid antidepressant effects observed in treatment resistant patients produced by the NMDA receptor antagonist, ketamine. Surprisingly, the effects of ketamine in the context of stressor exposure, as well as the consequences of its chronic use are unclear. Thus, we assessed the impact of acute and repeated ketamine treatment together with acute...
There are multifaceted views on the use of ketamine, a potentially addictive substance, to treat mental health problems. The past 15 years have seen growing media coverage of ketamine for medical and other purposes. This study examined the print news media coverage of medical and other uses of ketamine in North America to determine orientations and trends over time. Print newspaper coverage of...
Abstract New antidepressant pharmacotherapies that provide rapid relief of depressive symptoms are needed. The NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine exerts rapid antidepressant actions in depressed patients but also side effects that complicate its clinical utility. Ketamine promotes excitatory synaptic strength, likely by producing high - frequency correlated activity in mood-relevant regions of...
Different cognitive impairments have been reported as a result of long-term MDMA/ecstasy use. Increased impulsivity and altered decision-making have been shown to be associated with the development and maintenance of addictive disorders pointing toward the necessity to understand a potential impairment of decision-making due to MDMA use. Thus, assessing the long-term effects of MDMA is crucial...
The form of spirit possession performed by practitioners who are readily initiated into Dominican Vodou requires them to be excellent (inter-)actors, dancers, and poets. The article focuses on the ritual practice of spirit possession in the Southwest of the Dominican Republic with emphasis on the question as to what constitutes effectiveness of spirit performance and how it is produced. The...