Diurnal Cortisol Variation According to High-Risk Occupational Specialty Within Police: Comparisons Between Frontline, Tactical Officers, and the General Population.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare diurnal salivary cortisol among high-risk occupational police specialties and the general population (n = 18,698).

Methods: Tactical and frontline officers provided salivary cortisol samples for 2 days (four times: wake, 30 minutes, 11 hours, and 17 hours post-awakening) and were compared with a general population sample of group field studies utilizing similar methodology. Samples were analyzed for free cortisol concentrations (nmol/L) using chemiluminescence immunoassay.

Reducing Lethal Force Errors by Modulating Police Physiology.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to test an intervention modifying officer physiology to reduce lethal force errors and improve health.

Methods: A longitudinal, within-subjects intervention study was conducted with urban front-line police officers (n = 57). The physiological intervention applied an empirically validated method of enhancing parasympathetic engagement (ie, heart rate variability biofeedback) during stressful training that required lethal force decision-making.

Effects of Fluoxetine and Visual Experience on Glutamatergic and GABAergic Synaptic Proteins in Adult Rat Visual Cortex.

Fluoxetine has emerged as a novel treatment for persistent amblyopia because in adult animals it reinstates critical period-like ocular dominance plasticity and promotes recovery of visual acuity. Translation of these results from animal models to the clinic, however, has been challenging because of the lack of understanding of how this selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor affects glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic mechanisms that are essential for experience-dependent plasticity. An appealing hypothesis is that fluoxetine recreates a critical period (CP)-like state by shifting synaptic mechanisms to be more juvenile.

Experience-dependent central vision deficits: Neurobiology and visual acuity.

Abnormal visual experience during childhood often leads to amblyopia, with strong links to binocular dysfunction that can include poor acuity in both eyes, especially in central vision. In animal models of amblyopia, the non-deprived eye is often considered normal and what limits binocular acuity. This leaves open the question whether monocular deprivation (MD) induces binocular dysfunction similar to what is found in amblyopia.

Binocular visual training to promote recovery from monocular deprivation.

Abnormal early visual experience often leads to poor vision, a condition called amblyopia. Two recent approaches to treating amblyopia include binocular therapies and intensive visual training. These reflect the emerging view that amblyopia is a binocular deficit caused by increased neural noise and poor signal-in-noise integration.