def placebo effect + give an example shown in class
- positive effect produced by sham treatment that cannot be attributed to the properties of the treatment itself and therefore, must be due to the patient’s belief in that treatment
- “Q-ray bracelet” claimed to alleciate chronic pain through enhancing the flow of bio-energy
- sham surgery reduces subjective reports of angina pain despite no biological change
What causes motor dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease?
reduced dopamine levels, less binding onto post synaptic cell receptors
What 3 factors are important for proper use of dopamine?
- amount of dopamine released
- # of receptors
- dopamine transporters to “recycle” dopamine back into cell for next round
What did DAT knockout mice lack?
dopamine transporters, caused elevated extracellular dopamine rather than takeup
What is positron emission topography? How can it be used to look at dopamine?
- a brain scan
- measures the amount of receptors/dopamine in the brain through injecting a patient with a radiotracer
- positrons come off and collide with electrons, this sets off gamma rays that are detected by pet & give exact location
What results did the Parkinson’s apomorphine vs saline treatment have?
- sham treatment induced measureable changes in the brain, greater dopamine release
- results very similar to real treatment
What do personality, IQ, and black holes all have in common?
all hypothetical constructs
(explanatory variable that’s not actually observed)
describe Friedman & Roseman’s study on personality and heart disease associations
- compared type A (competitive), type B (not competitive and happy) and type C (not competitive and unhappy) people and ran ECGs to determine HD risk
- smoking, alcohol, diet and exercise, and family history also measured as variables
- type A had higher prevalence of HD than both
- didn’t look into a lot of possibilities, correlation not causation!
What happened with the belief that vaccines caused autism/
- MMR vaccine uptake dropped, measles comeback & outbreak in Canada
- study by Wakefield based claims on parent’s recollection of symptom origin
- a canadian study of n=25000 later found no link
