Jessica A Boyette-Davis

• PhD
• Professor & Department Chair at St. Edward's University

Pain catastrophizing (PC) is a predictor of pain outcomes that is typified by a host of negative changes in mood and cognition, and there is a need to continue defining PC's role in pain and daily life. This study sought to add to the body of literature on PC by investigating the influence of subconsciously presented cues on the interpretation of o...

Training in physiological methods substantially increases students' competitiveness for graduate school, medical school, and multiple career paths. For example, when asked to rank the value of various types of research skills among applicants to PhD programs, neuroscience graduate program directors ranked background knowledge in the student's appli...

As neuroscience popularity grows, more and more students are seeking entry into doctorate-granting programs in this field. Currently, the literature lacks clarity regarding which features these programs prioritize when evaluating applications. This study sought to determine the value of specific application components, research skills, and personal...

The burdensome condition of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy occurs with various chemotherapeutics, including bortezomib, oxaliplatin, paclitaxel and vincristine. The symptoms, which include pain, numbness, tingling and loss of motor function, can result in therapy titrations that compromise therapy efficacy. Understanding the mechanisms...

Methylphenidate (MPH) and methamphetamine (METH) are two commonly abused psychomotor stimulants that impact anxiety, but in a manner that is currently unclear. This study adds to the literature by testing the effects of MPH and METH on anxiety in adult female rats, which has not previously been studied. In Experiment1, changes in anxiety-like behav...

Research indicates that women are more susceptible to pain than men, but the reason for this difference is unclear. While estrogen and progesterone have been implicated, testosterone has not received adequate consideration in the literature. Additionally, incorporating behavioral expressions, or exaggerations, of pain as an important aspect of pain...

Anxiety is an atypical worry state of mind that conflicts with how the affected individual functions. Pharmacological treatments can take 4-6 weeks to reduce anxiety and typically produce side effects. Medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and benzodiazepines are not only expensive but can create a physiological depend...

The present study characterized the effects of ketamine on sexual behavior and anxiety in female rats. In Experiment 1, female subjects received an injection of ketamine (10.0mg/kg) or saline 30min prior to a sexual partner-preference test during which each female subject was given the opportunity to interact with a female stimulus or a sexually vi...

SUMMARY Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a debilitating and painful condition seen in patients undergoing treatment with common agents such as vincristine, paclitaxel, oxaliplatin and bortezomib. The mechanisms of this condition are diverse, and include an array of molecular and cellular contributions. Current research implicate...

Purpose: The goal in this study was to determine the incidence of subclinical neuropathy in treatment-naive patients with multiple myeloma (MM) with no history of peripheral neuropathy using quantitative sensory tests (QSTs) and its correlation with innervation density of the extremities using noninvasive laser reflectance confocal microscopy. Pa...

The neural network that contributes to the suffering which accompanies persistent pain states involves a number of brain regions. Of primary interest is the contribution of the cingulate cortex in processing the affective component of pain. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent data obtained using novel behavioral paradigms in animals b...

Unlabelled: The use of paclitaxel (Taxol), a microtubule stabilizer, for cancer treatment is often limited by its associated peripheral neuropathy (chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy [CIPN]), which predominantly results in sensory dysfunction, including chronic pain. Here we show that paclitaxel CIPN was associated with induction of chemok...

Purpose: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy is a major complication in the treatment for cancer, including multiple myeloma (MM). Patients may develop painful and non-painful (e.g., numbness) neuropathy symptoms that impair function and often persist after therapy is terminated. This study tested the hypothesis that baseline subclinical ne...

Purpose: Chemoneuropathy remains a painful, burdensome complication of cancer treatment for patients receiving a range of chemotherapeutics, yet the cause and persistence of this condition are not fully documented. This study was designed to quantify the longevity of and contributions to neuropathy following treatment with the plant alkaloids pacl...

9082 Background: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a dose-limiting toxicity experienced by patients with MM. Patients may develop painful and non-painful (e.g., numbness) symptoms that impair function and often persist after therapy is terminated. This study examined the predictive value of baseline subclinical sensory deficits o...

Of the numerous complications associated with cancer and cancer treatment, peripheral neuropathy is a deleterious and persistent patient complaint commonly attributed to chemotherapy. The present study investigated the occurrence of subclinical peripheral neuropathy in patients with colorectal cancer before the initiation of chemotherapy. Fifty-two...

Patients with schizophrenia have been shown to display decreased sensitivity to pain, which can severely compound the impact of injuries and illnesses. Alterations in the sensory and affective systems of pain processing have been proposed as mechanisms, but the unique contribution of each of these systems has not been elucidated. The aim of this st...

Unlabelled: Many frontline chemotherapeutic agents produce robust neuropathy as a dose-limiting side effect; however, the persistence of chemotherapy-related sensory disturbances and pain are not well documented. We have previously investigated the qualities of bortezomib-induced pain, and now seek to determine the ongoing nature of this pain. Twe...

The overall impact of chronic pain on the response to opioids is ambiguous in the literature, and comparisons between human and animal studies are complicated by vast differences between the manner and dosage of opioids given to humans treated for pain in comparison to rodents as well as a lack of healthy participant studies examining the impact of...

Treatment with the chemotherapeutic agent oxaliplatin produces a robust painful neuropathy similar to various other neuropathic conditions which result in loss of nerve fibers innervating the skin. This loss of intraepidermal nerve fibers (IENFs) appears to play an important role in neuropathy, but has yet to be investigated in oxaliplatin-induced...

Loss of intraepidermal nerve fibers (IENFs) has been speculated to play a critical role in the development of various neuropathies. In this study, the density of IENFs were studied over time during the induction of Taxol (Bristol-Myers Squibb, NY, USA)-induced chemoneuropathy and compared with the changes in IENFs in animals co-treated with Taxol p...

Cancer Symptom Science is the first interdisciplinary compilation of research on the mechanisms underlying the expression of cancer-related symptoms. It presents innovations in clinical, animal and in vitro research, research methods in brain imaging, and statistical-descriptive approaches to understanding the mechanistic basis of symptom expressio...

Treatment for cancer has been indicated to negatively impact the quality of life for patients. Specifically, chemotherapy has been associated with fatigue, nausea, and peripheral neuropathy. More recently, chemotherapy has been found to be related to cognitive impairment in various domains including working memory, information processing speed, and...

Research indicates that pain negatively impacts attention; however, the extent of this impact and the mechanisms of the effect of pain on normal attentional processing remain unclear. This study 1) examined the impact of acute inflammatory pain on attentional processing, 2) examined the impact of morphine on attentional processing, and 3) determine...

Pain is a multidimensional experience and is modulated by a number of factors. One such factor that plays a critical role in pain modulation is anxiety. However, the influence of individual differences in anxiety on higher order pain processing in rodents remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify animals that have baseli...

The present study investigated the associations between scores on paranormal beliefs, locus of control, and certain psychological processes such as affect and cognitions as measured by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Analysis yielded significant correlations between scores on Locus of Control and two subscales of Tobacyk's (1988) Revised Par...