Driving Records of Persons Convicted of Driving under the Influence of Alcohol

The average interval between convictions of driving under the influence decreases from 2 years between first and second convictions to 17, 11 and 8 months, respectively, between the second and third, the third and fourth and the fourth and fifth convictions

Spike firing and IPSPs in layer V pyramidal neurons during beta oscillations in rat primary motor cortex (M1) in vitro

Beta frequency oscillations (10-35 Hz) in motor regions of cerebral cortex play an important role in stabilising and suppressing unwanted movements, and become intensified during the pathological akinesia of Parkinson's Disease. We have used a cortical slice preparation of rat brain, combined with concurrent intracellular and field recordings from the primary motor cortex (M1), to explore the cellular basis of the persistent beta frequency (27-30 Hz) oscillations manifest in local field potentials (LFP) in layers II and V of M1 produced by continuous perfusion of kainic acid (100 nM) and carbachol (5 µM). Spontaneous depolarizing GABA-ergic IPSPs in layer V cells, intracellularly dialyzed with KCl and IEM1460 (to block glutamatergic EPSCs), were recorded at -80 mV. IPSPs showed a highly significant (P< 0.01) beta frequency component, which was highly significantly coherent with both the Layer II and V LFP oscillation (which were in antiphase to each other). Both IPSPs and the LFP beta oscillations were abolished by the GABAA antagonist bicuculline. Layer V cells at rest fired spontaneous action potentials at sub-beta frequencies (mean of 7.1+1.2 Hz; n = 27) which were phase-locked to the layer V LFP beta oscillation, preceding the peak of the LFP beta oscillation by some 20 ms. We propose that M1 beta oscillations, in common with other oscillations in other brain regions, can arise from synchronous hyperpolarization of pyramidal cells driven by synaptic inputs from a GABA-ergic interneuronal network (or networks) entrained by recurrent excitation derived from pyramidal cells. This mechanism plays an important role in both the physiology and pathophysiology of control of voluntary movement generation

Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Alcohol and Drinking Environment: Effects on Affect and Sensations, Person Perception, and Perceived Intoxication

Beverage administration and drinking environment were manipulated to study their individual and interactive contributions to the alcohol response. Male nonproblem drinkers (N = 108) consumed either placebo or one of two doses of alcohol, and drank either alone, in the presence of a sober or ostensibly intoxicated confederate, or in the presence of a nondrinking confederate who exhibited carefree, intoxicationlike behavior. Consumption of alcohol, as opposed to tonic, was found to induce a variety of physiological sensations and positive affects. Alcohol consumption also directly influenced levels of perceived intoxication and ratings of the intoxication level of the drinking partner. Drinking environment was found to be the critical determinant of subjects\u27 perceptions of their drinking partner. The “intoxicated” accomplice, for example, was judged to be more friendly, admirable, and responsive, and less cold and reserved than the “sober” accomplice. The significance of these results for understanding drinking behavior and alcohol effects is discussed

Effect of Instructional and Physiological Variables on Preference for Alcohol

This study was designed to investigate the effects of instructions regarding beverage content and alcohol beverage consumption on preference for alcohol. The subjects were 32 male undergraduate nonalcoholic drinkers. Subjects were told they would receive either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage and did or did not receive an alcoholic priming dose designed to raise their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to. 06%. After they consumed their drinks, subjects participated in two similar taste-rating tasks in which they ostensibly were required to discriminate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. The task was administered two times, once when the BAC was rising and once when it was descending. Analyses of the beverage consumption data showed no significant effects of instructions, beverage, or direction of the blood alcohol function on preferences for alcohol. Combined with the findings of other studies, these results suggest moderate doses of alcohol have little effect on subsequent drinking by normal drinkers in a nonsocial setting