Intestinal Electric Stimulation Accelerates Whole Gut Transit and Promotes Fat Excrement in Conscious Rats

*_Introduction:_* Intestinal electric stimulation (IES) is proposed as a potential tool for the treatment of morbid obesity. Our previous study showed that IES with one pair of electrodes accelerated intestinal transit and decreased fat absorption in a segment of the jejunum in the anesthetized rats. The aims of this study were to assess the effects of IES on the whole gut transit and fat absorption in conscious rats, to examine the effects of multi-channel IES, and to explore the cholinergic mechanism behind the effects of IES. 
*_Methods:_* Thirty-eight male rats implanted with serosal electrodes were randomized into five groups: control without IES, 2/3 channel IES with short pulses, atropine and atropine plus IES. The whole gut transit and fat remained and emptied from the gut were analyzed after continuous 2-hour IES. 
*_Results:_* Two and three channel IES significantly accelerated phenol red (marker used for transit) excretion (ANOVA, P < 0.001). No significant difference was found between two and three channel IES. Two channel IES significantly increased the excretion of fat (P < 0.05). Atropine significantly blocked the accelerated transit induced by IES (ANOVA, P < 0.001). Correlation was found between the percentage of phenol red and fat retained in the whole gut (r = 0.497, P < 0.01). 
*_Conclusions:_* IES accelerates whole gut transit and promotes fat excrement in conscious rats, and these effects are mediated through the cholinergic nerves. These findings are in support of the concept that IES may be a promising treatment option for obesity

Article XXII: Depositary/ies

Ye

Combining speed and accuracy in cognitive psychology: is the Inverse Efficiency Score (IES) a better dependent variable than the mean Reaction Time (RT) and the Percentage of Errors (PE)?

Experiments in cognitive psychology usually return two dependent variables: the percentage of errors and the reaction time of the correct responses. Townsend and Ashby (1978, 1983) proposed the inverse efficiency score (IES) as a way to combine both measures and, hence, to provide a better summary of the findings. In this article we examine the usefulness of IES by applying it to existing datasets. Although IES does give a better summary of the findings in some cases, mostly the variance of the measure is increased to such an extent that it becomes less interesting. Against our initial hopes, we have to conclude that it is not a good idea to limit the statistical analyses to IES without further checking the data

Polaronic and nonadiabatic phase diagram from anomalous isotope effects

Isotope effects (IEs) are powerful tool to probe directly the dependence of many physical properties on the lattice dynamics. In this paper we invenstigate the onset of anomalous IEs in the spinless Holstein model by employing the dynamical mean field theory. We show that the isotope coefficients of the electron effective mass and of the dressed phonon frequency are sizeable also far away from the strong coupling polaronic crossover and mark the importance of nonadiabatic lattice fluctuations in the weak to moderate coupling region. We characterize the polaronic regime by the appearence of huge IEs. We draw a nonadiabatic phase diagram in which we identify a novel crossover, not related to polaronic features, where the IEs attain their largest anomalies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The self-consistent calculation of the edge states at quantum Hall effect (QHE) based Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI)

The spatial distribution of the incompressible edge states (IES) is obtained for a geometry which is topologically equivalent to an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer, taking into account the electron-electron interactions within a Hartree type self-consistent model. The magnetic field dependence of these IES is investigated and it is found that an interference pattern may be observed if two IES merge or come very close, near the quantum point contacts. Our calculations demonstrate that, being in a quantized Hall plateau does not guarantee observing the interference behavior.Comment: EP2DS-17 Proceedings, 6 Pages, 2 Figure

Making the case for a low intertemporal elasticity of substitution

We provide two ways to reconcile small values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES) that range between 0.35 and 0.5 with empirical evidence that the IES is large. We do this reconciliation using a model in which all agents have identical preferences and the same access to asset markets. We also conduct an encompassing test, which indicates that specifications of the model with small values of the IES are more plausible than specifications with a large IES.

Making the case for a low intertemporal elasticity of substitution

We provide two ways to reconcile small values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES) that range between 0.35 and 0.5 with empirical evidence that the IES is large. We do this reconciliation using a model in which all agents have identical preferences and the same access to asset markets. We also conduct an encompassing test, which indicates that specifications of the model with small values of the IES are more plausible than specifications with a large IES.

Measuring the Intertemporal Elasticity of Substitution for Consumption: Some Evidence from Japan

The purpose of this paper is to present improved estimates of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES) for Japan assuming a constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility function. The estimates of the IES we obtain range from 0.2 to 0.5 when we use quarterly consumption data and the Continuous Updating Estimator (CUE). We find that the IES is weakly identified when we employ the two-step GMM estimator, while the CUE can identify the IES. Moreover, we also find that using consumption data of different frequencies leads to quite different estimates of the IES.Intertemporal Elasticity of Substitution, Relative Risk Aversion, Generalized Method of Moments, Continuous Updating Estimator, Weak Identification