Development of Physiological Markers for Tetrabenazine-Induced Motivational Dysfunctions Using Electroencephalography in Male and Female Rats

Depression is a mental illness that is increasingly rampant in our society. With its prevalence, various drugs have become commonplace for treatment. Many of these drugs are serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. These drugs are able to mitigate symptoms of depression such as rumination and anxiety. However, they are not very successful in treating the amotivation and anergia that are seen in these patients. In order to investigate which drugs will be the most successful in treating the symptoms of depression, it is important to develop an animal model that can accurately represent the motivational symptoms of depression in humans. The goal of the present study was to use female and male rats to develop electroencephalography (EEG) markers that can be readily translatable to the pathophysiology of female and male patients with depression. In this study, tetrabenazine (TBZ), a vesicular monoamine transporter-2 (VMAT-2) inhibitor, or a vehicle (VEH) control, was administered to a group of 8 female rats and 7 male rats prior to measuring EEG in the home cage. Recordings were taken from each treatment condition in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), motor (M1/M2), and medial parietal (mParietal) cortices to investigate the effect of TBZ on these cortices and to determine whether they are comparable to the neurological markers associated with depression in humans. It was found that male rats demonstrated a predominant peak frequency at baseline in EEG activity across all three regions in the alpha/theta frequency range (4-12 Hz, with a sharp peak at 6-8.5 Hz frequency range). The sharp 6-8.5 Hz peak was suppressed when TBZ was administered in a 1.0 mg/kg dose. The EEG recordings of the female rats were not significantly affected. These findings can be used as a foundation to develop further EEG studies in behaving rats that can be translated to treatments for clinical depression within humans

Phenomenology of chiral damping in noncentrosymmetric magnets

A phenomenology of magnetic chiral damping is proposed in the context of magnetic materials lacking inversion symmetry breaking. We show that the magnetic damping tensor adopts a general form that accounts for a component linear in magnetization gradient in the form of Lifshitz invariants. We propose different microscopic mechanisms that can produce such a damping in ferromagnetic metals, among which spin pumping in the presence of anomalous Hall effect and an effective "$s$-$d$" Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya antisymmetric exchange. The implication of this chiral damping in terms of domain wall motion is investigated in the flow and creep regimes. These predictions have major importance in the context of field- and current-driven texture motion in noncentrosymmetric (ferro-, ferri-, antiferro-)magnets, not limited to metals.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Urban Improvement: A Public-Private Partnership Strategy

This study developed a conceptual framework for managing Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in urbanised areas for improvement of the business environment

Access to Health Insurance and the Use of Inpatient Medical Care: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Mandate

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 expanded coverage to young adults by allowing them to remain on their parent's private health insurance until they turn 26 years old. While there is evidence on insurance effects, we know very little about use of general or specific forms of medical care. We study the implications of the expansion on inpatient hospitalizations. Given the prevalence of mental health needs for young adults, we also specifically study mental health related inpatient care. We find evidence that compared to those aged 27–29 years, treated young adults aged 19–25 years increased their inpatient visits by 3.5 percent while mental illness visits increased 9.0 percent. The prevalence of uninsurance among hospitalized young adults decreased by 12.5 percent; however, it does not appear that the intensity of inpatient treatment changed despite the change in reimbursement composition of patients

The Impact of Nurse Turnover on Quality of Care and Mortality in Nursing Homes: Evidence from the Great Recession

We estimate the causal effect of nurse turnover on mortality and the quality of nursing home care with a fixed effect instrumental variable estimation that uses the unemployment rate as an instrument for nursing turnover. We find that ignoring endogeneity leads to a systematic underestimation of the effect of nursing turnover on mortality and quality of care in a sample of California nursing homes. Specifically, 10 percentage point increase in nurse turnover results in a facility receiving 2.2 additional deficiencies per annual regulatory survey, reflecting a 19.3 percent increase. Not accounting for endogeneity of turnover leads to results that suggest only a 1 percent increase in deficiencies. We also find suggestive evidence that turnover results in lower quality in other dimensions and may increase mortality. An implication of our mortality results is that turnover may be a mechanism for the procyclicality of mortality rates

Public-Private Alliances: A Documentary Case Study of Strategies of Urban Restoration

The study developed a conceptual framework for managing PPPs in urbanized areas and documented experiences of sample partnerships, and effective communication strategies. This study used a case study approach and a descriptive research. Content analysis was used to create a matrix table. In general, an average public-private partnership was initiated by the private sector

Road-traffic related Deaths in Accra Ghana: A 10-year Retrospective Autopsy Study at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra (2004

Background: Road Traffic Accident related (RTA) deaths are common in young Ghanaian adults and are therefore of public health concern. Reliable data on the categories of victims who are commonly involved and the patterns and outcomes RTA are limited in Ghana. The aim of this study was to describe the spectrum of road traffic related- deaths in Accra Ghana, the demographic characteristics of the victims and the immediate causes of death using a retrospective autopsy study. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective autopsy study conducted in our institution from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2013. The data was analysed using SPSS software (Version 23). Results: During the period under review, 6.1% of all coroner autopsy performed in our institutions were RTArelated deaths. The younger age 20-29 years group, were commonly involved (22.2%) with male predominance (77.7%). The victims of RTA-related deaths were pedestrians (59.9%), passengers (19.3%), motor riders (8.7%), drivers (6.8%) cyclists (2.2%) and pillion riders (1.5%). The mean ages in years of these victims were: pedestrians (37.6), passengers (37.0), drivers (39.1), motor riders (32.0) pillion riders (31.7) and cyclists (37.2). The common immediate causes of deaths in all the victims were head injury, multiple bony and soft tissue injuries. Conclusion: Approximately 6.1% of all coroner autopsies performed during the study period were RTA-related deaths, particularly the young male adults. The most affected victims were the pedestrian knockdowns, passengers and motor riders. Majority of the victims died of severe head injury and multiple bony and soft tissues injuries and died as a result of these injuries