Monoamine oxidase

Nurture vs Nature : Violence School shootings, serial killers, and violent children. All awful tragedies that unfortunately take place every day in our society, but why? Why do these terrible things happened? The answer is obnoxiously obvious: People have the capacity to do very bad things. Sometimes they need to and sometimes it's because they want to and the reasoning behind these individuals is perplexing. Anytime a shooting occurs, kids lash out, or horrible things happen by the hands of…

The movie Nightcrawler, directed by Dan Gilroy, begins with a Los Angelean thief, Louis Bloom, being denied employment. After seeing a career opportunity in filming and selling crime footage, Bloom pawns stolen items to purchase a camcorder and police scanner. With his new equipment, Bloom gets close-up, graphic footage of a shooting which he sells to Channel 6 News. The film editor, Nina, praises Bloom for his natural eye for the scene. Inspired to improve, Bloom learns the police code and…

engaging in criminal acts, if they were neglected or abused” (Jones). The increase in a child’s risk of participating in criminal activity is due to the trauma of being neglected or abused by their caretaker and even by those around them. Consequently, the child will grow up and face a life filled with criminal activities. Traumatic experiences, including a chaotic and abusive home life, often results in a child exhibiting delinquent behaviors as an adult. A chaotic home life can also foster the…

In 1959, research psychiatrist Donald F. Klein was studying imipramine, a new drug synthesized by a minor alteration in the chemical structure of the “major tranquilizer” chlorpromazine. Researchers hoped that imipramine, like chlorpromazine, would help people with schizophrenia, whose psychotic symptoms were at that time believed to result from excessive anxiety. Unfortunately, imipramine did not stop delusions or hallucinations, but it did alleviate depressive symptoms in schizophrenic…

scientists were looking for. Fourteen men in the family had committed impulsive, aggressive crimes, and in 1993, the scientists reported that all fourteen had an identical form of a gene on the X chromosome. Said gene makes an enzyme called MAOA (monoamine oxidase A), which breaks down serotonin and noradrenaline, both being brain chemicals, known as the ?violence gene.? There was a study done in New Zealand, however where scientists found that the gene link was not nearly as straightforward…

When someone hears the word sociopath, it is generally assumed that the sociopath has been like this since birth, however, what people don’t know is that it can be difficult finding a cause for these tendencies and behaviors. Sociopathy begins developing early in childhood, however, more often than not, this condition is diagnosed in the later stages of development; usually around eighteen years old. There are many factors that play a major role in the development and diagnosis of sociopathic…

The Brain Network of Serial Killers and Psychopaths A Serial Murder Symposium was held where all the attendees discussed and agreed that there was no generic profile of a serial murderer. How a serial killer commits a crime depends on a lot of different aspects including motivation, his behaviour, how he was raised and what circumstances he had faced in childhood. How are they identified and arrested? A police officer should be trained, how exactly to decipher one from another? The Behavioural…

CHAPTER 2 – ANIMAL MODELS 5. Animal models: 5.a. Neurotoxic Models: 5.a.1. 6- Hydroxydopamine model: One of the most frequently used toxin-based animal model is 6-OHDA. It was first isolated in 1950. It is frequently used in rats. It shows affinity for catecholaminergic transporter. For example, norepinephrine transporter and dopamine transporter. Though the structure of 6-OHDA is similar to dopamine but the existence of excess amount of hydroxyl group makes it toxic to dopaminergic neurons.…

Biological theories originally attempted to differentiate among individuals on the basis of certain innate physical traits or characteristics these being influenced by genetic or hereditary characteristics. This was one of Lombroso's largest, and most disproved theories, that individuals with more primitive appearances such as broader foreheads or more prominent chins, similar to neanderthals. More popular today though are biological traits that have the greatest effect on neurological traits…

four are Genetic factors and nonshared environmental factors and shared environmental factors and unknown factors. “Neurochemistry may explain why. Research has found a consistent relationship between sensation seeking and neurochemicals like monoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme that regulates levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine (Lee, 2011;Zuckerman,1994, 2004.)” Dopamine can turn to be a drug abuse. (Huffman, 2012, pg.476). “Heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about…