Effects of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) vapor inhalation in Sprague-Dawley and Wistar rats.

An inhalation system based on e-cigarette technology produces hypothermic and antinociceptive effects of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in rats. Indirect comparison of some prior investigations suggested differential impact of inhaled THC between Wistar (WI) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats; thus, this study was conducted to directly compare the strains across inhaled and injected routes of administration. Groups (N = 8 per strain) of age-matched male SD and WI rats were prepared with radiotelemetry devices to measure temperature and then exposed to vapor from the propylene glycol (PG) vehicle or THC (25-200 mg/mL of PG) for 30 or 40 min. Additional studies evaluated effects of THC inhalation on plasma THC (50-200 mg/mL) and nociception (100-200 mg/mL) as well as the thermoregulatory effect of intraperitoneal injection of THC (5-30 mg/kg). Hypothermic effects of THC were more pronounced in SD rats, where plasma levels of THC were identical across strains, under either fixed inhalation conditions or injection of a mg/kg equivalent dose. Strain differences in hypothermia were largest after i.p. injection of THC, with SD rats exhibiting dose-dependent temperature reduction after 5 or 10 mg/kg, i.p. and the WI rats only exhibiting significant hypothermia after 20 mg/kg, i.p. The antinociceptive effects of inhaled THC (100, 200 mg/mL) did not differ significantly across the strains. These studies confirm an insensitivity of WI rats, compared with SD rats, to hypothermia induced by THC following inhalation conditions that produced identical plasma THC and antinociception. Thus, quantitative, albeit not qualitative, strain differences may be obtained when studying thermoregulatory effects of THC. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences_HTY 398 Epidemics in American History Course

Email thread featuring messages from Michael Lang, Associate Professor of History, History Department, University of Maine to Timothy M. Cole, Associate Dean for Academics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor Cole to Jonathon Jue-Wong, Administrative Coordinator, The Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost regarding Patrick Callaway, UM History PhD 2019, teaching a topics course (HTY 398) on Epidemics in American History in the 2020 Fall Semester at the Hutchinson Center

Formation and evolution of galaxy dark matter halos and their substructure

We use the ``Via Lactea'' simulation to study the co-evolution of a Milky Way-size LambdaCDM halo and its subhalo population. While most of the host halo mass is accreted over the first 6 Gyr in a series of major mergers, the physical mass distribution [not M_vir(z)] remains practically constant since z=1. The same is true in a large sample of LambdaCDM galaxy halos. Subhalo mass loss peaks between the turnaround and virialization epochs of a given mass shell, and declines afterwards. 97% of the z=1 subhalos have a surviving bound remnant at the present epoch. The retained mass fraction is larger for initially lighter subhalos: satellites with maximum circular velocities Vmax=10 km/s at z=1 have today about 40% of their mass back then. At the first pericenter passage a larger average mass fraction is lost than during each following orbit. Tides remove mass in substructure from the outside in, leading to higher concentrations compared to field halos of the same mass. This effect, combined with the earlier formation epoch of the inner satellites, results in strongly increasing subhalo concentrations towards the Galactic center. We present individual evolutionary tracks and present-day properties of the likely hosts of the dwarf satellites around the Milky Way. The formation histories of ``field halos'' that lie today beyond the Via Lactea host are found to strongly depend on the density of their environment. This is caused by tidal mass loss that affects many field halos on eccentric orbits.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures. Figures 6,7 and 8 corrected in this version, for details see the erratum in ApJ 679, 1680 and http://www.ucolick.org/~diemand/vl/publ/vlevolerr.pdf. Data, movies and images are available at http://www.ucolick.org/~diemand/vl

Global Alfven Eigenmodes in the H-1 heliac

Recent upgrades in H-1 power supplies have enabled the operation of the H-1 experiment at higher heating powers than previously attainable. A heating power scan in mixed hydrogen/helium plasmas reveals a change in mode activity with increasing heating power. At low power (<50 kW) modes with beta-induced Alfven eigenmode (BAE) frequency scaling are observed. At higher power modes consistent with an analysis of nonconventional Global Alfven Eigenmodes (GAEs) are observed, the subject of this work. We have computed the mode continuum, and identified GAE structures using the ideal MHD solver CKA and the gyrokinetic code EUTERPE. An analytic model for ICRH-heated minority ions is used to estimate the fast ion temperature from the hydrogen species. Linear growth rate scans using a local flux surface stability calculation, LGRO, are performed. These studies demonstrate growth from circulating particles whose speed is significantly less than the Alfven speed, and are resonant with the mode through harmonics of the Fourier decomposition of the strongly-shaped heliac magnetic field. They reveal drive is possible with a small, hot energetic tail of the hydrogen species. Local linear growth rate scans are also complemented with global calculations from CKA and EUTERPE. These qualitatively confirm the findings from the LGRO study, and show that the inclusion of finite Larmor radius effects can reduce the growth rate by a factor of three, but do not affect marginal stability. Finally, a study of damping of the global mode with the thermal plasma is conducted, computing continuum, and the damping arising from parallel electric fields. We find that continuum damping is of order 0.1% for the configuration studied. The inclusion of resistivity lifts the damping to 19%. Such large damping is consistent with experimental observations that in absence of drive the mode decays rapidly (~0.1 ms).Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, submitted 07/04/2017 to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusio

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture_COVID-19 Related Work Email

Email thread featuring messages from Michael Haedicke to Steven Barkan, Professor and chairperson, Sociology Department, University of Maine and Steven Barkan to Timothy M. Cole Associate Dean for Academics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Associate Professor of Political Science University of Maine regarding articles Professor Haedicke authored on subjects related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Coordinated regulation of Myc trans-activation targets by Polycomb and the Trithorax group protein Ash1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Myc oncoprotein is a transcriptional regulator whose function is essential for normal development. Myc is capable of binding to 10% of the mammalian genome, and it is unclear how a developing embryo controls the DNA binding of its abundant Myc proteins in order to avoid Myc's potential for inducing tumorigenesis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To identify chromatin binding proteins with a potential role in controlling Myc activity, we established a genetic assay for dMyc activity in <it>Drosophila</it>. We conducted a genome-wide screen using this assay, and identified the Trithorax Group protein Ash1 as a modifier of dMyc activity. Ash1 is a histone methyltransferase known for its role in opposing repression by Polycomb. Using RNAi in the embryo and Affymetrix microarrays, we show that <it>ash1 </it>RNAi causes the increased expression of many genes, suggesting that it is directly or indirectly required for repression in the embryo, in contrast to its known role in maintenance of activation. Many of these genes also respond similarly upon depletion of <it>Pc </it>and <it>pho </it>transcripts, as determined by concurrent microarray analysis of <it>Pc </it>and <it>pho </it>RNAi embryos, suggesting that the three are required for low levels of expression of a common set of targets. Further, many of these overlapping targets are also activated by Myc overexpression. We identify a second group of genes whose expression in the embryo requires Ash1, consistent with its previously established role in maintenance of activation. We find that this second group of Ash1 targets overlaps those activated by Myc and that ectopic Myc overcomes their requirement for Ash1.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Genetic, genomic and chromatin immunoprecipitation data suggest a model in which Pc, Ash1 and Pho are required to maintain a low level of expression of embryonic targets of activation by Myc, and that this occurs, directly or indirectly, by a combination of disparate chromatin modifications.</p

Dual-probe decoherence microscopy: Probing pockets of coherence in a decohering environment

We study the use of a pair of qubits as a decoherence probe of a non-trivial environment. This dual-probe configuration is modelled by three two-level-systems which are coupled in a chain in which the middle system represents an environmental two-level-system (TLS). This TLS resides within the environment of the qubits and therefore its coupling to perturbing fluctuations (i.e. its decoherence) is assumed much stronger than the decoherence acting on the probe qubits. We study the evolution of such a tripartite system including the appearance of a decoherence-free state (dark state) and non-Markovian behaviour. We find that all parameters of this TLS can be obtained from measurements of one of the probe qubits. Furthermore we show the advantages of two qubits in probing environments and the new dynamics imposed by a TLS which couples to two qubits at once.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure

theta-Defensins: Cyclic Peptides with Endless Potential

theta-Defensins, the only cyclic peptides of animal origin, have been isolated from the leukocytes of rhesus macaques and baboons. Their biogenesis is unusual because each peptide is an 18-residue chimera formed by the head-to-tail splicing of nonapeptides derived from two separate precursors. theta-Defensins have multiple arginines and a ladder-like tridisulfide array spanning their two antiparallel beta-strands. Human theta-defensin genes contain a premature stop codon that prevents effective translation of the needed precursors; consequently, these peptides are not present in human leukocytes. Synthetic theta-defensins with sequences that correspond to those encoded within the human pseudogenes are called retrocyclins. Retrocyclin-1 inhibits the cellular entry of HIV-1, HSV, and influenza A virus. The rhesus theta-defensin RTD-1 protects mice from an experimental severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection, and retrocyclin- 1 protects mice from infection by Bacillus anthracis spores. The small size, unique structure, and multiple host defense activities of theta-defensins make them intriguing potential therapeutic agents

High-Resolution Mid-Infrared Observations of Very Young Stellar Objects in NGC 1333

We observed 22 young stellar objects in the region of NGC 1333 by using the mid-infrared camera MIRLIN. NGC 1333 (in the Perseus OB2 molecular cloud complex) is a relatively well studied region, but not at high spatial resolution in the mid-infrared. MIRLIN's 05 spatial resolution allows us to look for source extension and multiplicity and to place new constraints on spectral energy distributions. We report here new detections of eight objects at mid-IR wavelengths. We find one object, SVS 12, that may be extended or multiple, and we confirm multiplicity in SVS 16. We find a new companion to ASR 107. We are able to classify six objects as Class I, flat spectrum, or II, place strong classification constraints on two objects, and more loosely restrict the classification of eight more objects. These observations will aid in interpretation of planned SIRTF observations of this cluster