Developing a model of limited-access nicotine consumption in C57Bl/6J mice

Although United States smoking rates have been on the decline over the past few decades, cigarette smoking still poses a critical health and economic threat. Very few treatment options for smoking exist, and many of them do not lead to long-term abstinence. Preclinical models are necessary for understanding the effects of nicotine and developing treatments. Current self-administration models of nicotine intake may require surgical procedures and often result in low levels of intake. Further, they do not lend themselves to investigating treatments. The current study sought to develop a limited-access model of nicotine intake using the Drinking-in-the-Dark paradigm, which results in high levels of binge-like ethanol consumption that can be pharmacologically manipulated. The present study found that mice will consume nicotine under a range of parameters. Intakes under the preferred condition of 0.14 mg/ml nicotine in 0.2% saccharin reached over 6 mg/kg in two hours and were reduced by an injection of R(+)-baclofen. Mecamylamine did not significantly affect nicotine consumption. As nicotine and ethanol are often co-abused, nicotine intake was also tested in the presence of ethanol. When presented in the same bottle, mice altered nicotine intake under various concentrations to maintain consistent levels of ethanol intake. When nicotine and ethanol were presented in separate bottles, mice greatly reduced their nicotine intake while maintaining ethanol intake. In conclusion, these studies characterize a novel model of limited-access nicotine intake that can be pharmacologically manipulated

ACUTE FUNCTIONAL TOLERANCE TO ETHANOL IN MICE SELECTIVELY BRED FOR HIGH AND LOW ALCOHOL PREFERENCE DRINKING

poster abstractPropensity to develop acute functional (or within session) tolerance to alcohol (ethanol) may influence the amount of alcohol consumed, with higher drinking associated with greater acute functional tolerance (AFT). The goal of the current study was to assess this potential corre-lated response in second and third replicate lines of mice selectively bred for high (HAP2&3) and low (LAP2&3) alcohol preference drinking. We predicted that HAP mice would develop greater AFT to alcohol’s ataxic actions than LAP mice. Male and female HAP2&3 and LAP2&3 mice were tested for development of AFT on a static dowel task. This task requires that animals maintain balance on a wooden dowel in or-der to prevent falling. On test day, each mouse received one (1.75g/kg; experiment 1) or two (1.75g/kg and 2.0g/kg; experiment 2) injections of ethanol; an initial administration before being placed on the dowel and in another experiment, an additional administration after the first regain of balance on the dowel. Blood samples were tak-en immediately after loss of balance and regain in Experiment, 1 and after first and second regain in Experiment 2. It was found that HAP mice fell from the dowel significantly earlier and at lower BACs than LAP mice following the initial injection of ethanol and were therefore more sensitive. Furthermore, the single-injection experiment detected significantly greater AFT development (BAC2-BAC1) in HAP mice as compared to LAP mice, supporting our hypothesis. This study illus-trates the rapidity with which adaptive pharmacodynamic processes can take place which may contribute to excessive alcohol consumption

Acute and long-term effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on object recognition and anxiety-like activity are age- and strain-dependent in mice

Use of exogenous cannabinoids disrupts the fine-tuned endocannabinoid receptor system, possibly leading to alterations in cognition, memory, and emotional processes that endure long after cannabinoid use has stopped. Long-term adolescent use may uniquely disrupt these behaviors when compared to adult use. The current study explored the acute and long-term behavioral effects of six 10mg/kg Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) injections across the adolescent or early adult period in male inbred C57Bl/6J and DBA/2J mice. The acute and prolonged effects of THC on object memory using the novel object recognition task, unconditioned anxiety in the elevated plus maze and open field, and sedative effects in the open field were examined. Acute THC treatment resulted in anxiogenic activity in both strains, but only caused sedation in B6 mice. Repeated THC treatment resulted in a protracted effect on object recognition, but not unconditioned anxiety, assessed 4weeks later. In both strains, an adolescent history of THC treatment disrupted later object recognition. Interestingly, in B6 mice an adult history of THC exposure appeared to rescue a deficit in object recognition observed in vehicle-treated adults. Repeated THC administration also produced a protracted effected on CB1R protein expression. Animals treated with THC in adolescence maintained increased levels of CB1R protein expression compared to their adult THC-treated counterparts at five weeks following the last injection. These results indicate that THC use may have long-lasting effects with adolescence being a unique period of susceptibility

Long Baseline Neutrino Physics with a Muon Storage Ring Neutrino Source

We examine the physics capabilities of known flavor neutrino beams from intense muon sources. We find that long-baseline neutrino experiments based on such beams can provide precise measurements of neutrino oscillation mass and mixing parameters. Furthermore, they can test whether the dominant atmospheric neutrino oscillations are \nu_\mu --> \nu_\tau and/or \nu_\mu --> \nu_s, determine the \nu_\mu --> \nu_e content of atmospheric neutrino oscillations, and measure \nu_e --> \nu_\tau appearance. Depending on the oscillation parameters, they may be able to detect Earth matter and CP violation effects and to determine the ordering of some of the mass eigenstates.Comment: 38 pages, Revtex with epsf.sty, 21 postscript figures. Minor text revisions, some new numbers in Tables II and II

SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance for public health action

Wastewater surveillance for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has garnered extensive public attention during the coronavirus disease pandemic as a proposed complement to existing disease surveillance systems. Over the past year, methods for detection and quantifi cation of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in untreated sewage have advanced, and concentrations in wastewater have been shown to correlate with trends in reported cases. Despite the promise of wastewater surveillance, for these measurements to translate into useful public health tools, bridging the communication and knowledge gaps between researchers and public health responders is needed. We describe the key uses, barriers, and applicability of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance for supporting public health decisions and actions, including establishing ethics consideration for monitoring. Although wastewater surveillance to assess community infections is not a new idea, the coronavirus disease pandemic might be the initiating event to make this emerging public health tool a sustainable nationwide surveillance system, provided that these barriers are addressed

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data

A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges |eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final version published in Physics Letters