Browsing by Author "Pylkkö, Tuomas"
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Pylkkö, Tuomas (2013)It is well known that the central nervous system is a highly isolated tissue. Because of this the physico-chemical criteria to be met by an orally administered central nervous system drug are very strict. This work describes methods that can be used to select drug candidates and screening collections that have a higher possibility of being relevant to central nervous system drug development projects. This work also argues that small molecular space is so vast that it is difficult to imagine any progress without focusing screening collections in some way or another. Given that most available commercial compounds are very similar in some respects, it is very much possible that this presents a bottle-neck for the progress of drug development as a whole. Therefore, research on novel methods for compound production are also evaluated. In addition, this work describes the miniaturization and automation of a previously published ELISA-based assay. This assay measures the activation of a tyrosine kinase receptor (TrkB), expressed in a fibroblast cell line. The receptor, and it's endogenous ligand, Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, have been linked to the mechanism of action of previously discovered medical interventions used in the treatment of depression. Such an assay can be used to discover either small molecule agonists or antagonists acting upon the receptor. These molecules could possibly be clinically relevant in the treatment of depressive disorders and anxiety. It is demonstrated that it is indeed possible to miniaturize and automate the method, making it significantly more suitable for high-throughput screening. The original method was carried out in 24-well plates, transferring the samples to another plate for measurement. The new design uses 96-well plates and performs the entire process on the same plate.
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Pylkkö, Tuomas (2016)This work looks at theories about cultural rituals and discusses the broad use of the idea that cultural forms may perform what is known as cognitive capture. Cognitive capture is the phenomenon where any cultural content can activate adaptive mental functions by containing content similar enough to the content that usually is the target of these functions. It is argued that in addition external mechanisms, such as writing, unintentional cognitive capture mechanisms can help preserve elements of tradition. First two distinct theoretical traditions are discussed. The Modes of Religiosity and the Hazard Precaution theories. These two theoretical traditions are seen as both referring to cognitive capture. The Modes theory in the sense that it argues that shocking and content containing startling images are preserved as these activate evolved mechanisms for putting special attention on such things. The HPS tradition is seen as arguing that content containing content referring to avoiding hazards similarly capture evolved cognitive mechanisms. It is then conjectured that other similar mechanisms may exist, one of the most apparent being cultural content with references to themes and motif relevant to coalitional psychology. Two previously published descriptions of initiation in Candomblé are then discussed in the light of these ideas. It is argued that the introduction of “guilds” and academic research by Europeans has worked towards creating doctrinal ways of practicing religion in Candomblé, although it mostly is non-doctrinal. It is further argued that quite evidently hazard precaution is dealt with on may levels within the initiations. But it is also suggested that much of the content of the possesions are viewed by participants in the light of evalutations that can be made about actions that people make.
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