Prenatal stress alters fear-conditioned behaviors and the response to serotonergic drugs

Chronic, inescapable stress during pregnancy (i.e. prenatal stress) modifies the behavior of the adult offspring. Several behaviors were evaluated in adult prenatally stressed (PS) rats, most notably the acoustic startle response and behavioral inhibition (i.e. freezing). PS rats do not differ in baseline peak startle responding, or in the habituation of the peak startle response when compared to the non-prenatally stressed (CON) rats. However, PS rats have greater peak responses and longer latencies to reach the peak response following systemic doses of the 5-HT 1A agonist, 8-OH-DPAT, compared to CON rats. The PS rats had shorter latencies than the CON rats under vehicle treatment.;In fear-potentiated startle testing, peak startle responding did not reach the same levels in the PS rats as it did in the CON rats; thus, it was inhibited. Latencies were depressed during fear-potentiated startle testing compared to baseline testing, and the PS rats had generally shorter latencies than the CON rats. Additionally, the latency was more sensitive to context after the training, demonstrating a decrease during the leader trials of the test session, before the increase in peak startle was noted during the testing trials. In defensive freezing, PS rats displayed more freezing following acute footshock and 24 hours later in the same context when the footshock was not presented. Rears were markedly attenuated immediately post-shock and, the next day, and only recovered significantly in the CON rats.;The data presented are consistent with PS rats being more reactive to fear provoking stimuli. The ramifications of this are discussed in terms of the neural circuitry that underlie the behaviors with possible changes that might be induced by prenatal stress. Additionally, some observations regarding the contextual influence on the acoustic startle response and freezing are discussed. Finally, several pieces of evidence are presented demonstrating that gross developmental and some neurochemical parameters of PS rats are indistinguishable from CON rats from birth to adulthood suggesting that source of the behavioral differences noted above is subtle in nature

Recent Decisions

Comments on recent decisions by William C. Rindone, Ray F. Drexler, Eugene G. Griffin, Ronald Patrick Smith, and John G. Curran

Recent Decisions

Comments on recent decisions by John F. Murray, William C. Rindone, Eugene G. Griffin, John G. Curran, John P. Callahan, and William J. Ragan

Influence of Visual Attention on the Likelihood of Choice Through Regression Analysis

Eye tracking technology allows for a relatively direct and continuous measurement of unconcealed visual attention. In the consumer goods market today, it is important for companies to make their brand or product stand out within a vast competitive array. Even though it is highly unlikely that a product would be purchased without having been noticed (unseen is unsold), it is important to investigate if products that garner high attention are in fact purchased in the marketplace, and if a correlation between the two metrics exists. Through the utilization of real consumers in an immersive consumer retail experience laboratory, an eye tracking study on seasoned breading mix was conducted to test the correlation between attention and sales data. Data captured from 37 study participants were used to create a regression model by utilizing the Fit Y by X function in the statistical program JMP Pro 12. Statistical analysis indicated that including attention metrics in the prediction model significantly improves the ability to predict average sales. Demographics such as gender, age, relationship status, education, employment, shopping habits were also investigated in order to understand the trends of individual participants to find ideal consumers. Overall, eye tracking is a viable option to foreshadow sales and attention performance within this category

A Planetary Companion to gamma Cephei A

We report on the detection of a planetary companion in orbit around the primary star of the binary system $\gamma$ Cephei. High precision radial velocity measurements using 4 independent data sets spanning the time interval 1981--2002 reveal long-lived residual radial velocity variations superimposed on the binary orbit that are coherent in phase and amplitude with a period or 2.48 years (906 days) and a semi-amplitude of 27.5 m s$^{-1}$. We performed a careful analysis of our Ca II H & K S-index measurements, spectral line bisectors, and {\it Hipparcos} photometry. We found no significant variations in these quantities with the 906-d period. We also re-analyzed the Ca II $\lambda$8662 {\AA} measurements of Walker et al. (1992) which showed possible periodic variations with the ``planet'' period when first published. This analysis shows that periodic Ca II equivalent width variations were only present during 1986.5 -- 1992 and absent during 1981--1986.5. Furthermore, a refined period for the Ca II $\lambda$8662 {\AA} variations is 2.14 yrs, significantly less than residual radial velocity period. The most likely explanation of the residual radial velocity variations is a planetary mass companion with $M$ sin $i$ = 1.7 $M_{Jupiter}$ and an orbital semi-major axis of $a_2$ $=$ 2.13 AU. This supports the planet hypothesis for the residual radial velocity variations for $\gamma$ Cep first suggested by Walker et al. (1992). With an estimated binary orbital period of 57 years $\gamma$ Cep is the shortest period binary system in which an extrasolar planet has been found. This system may provide insights into the relationship between planetary and binary star formation.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted in Ap. J. Includes additional data and improved orbital solutio

Results of Catheter Ablation of Ventricular Tachycardia Using Direct Current Shocks

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74779/1/j.1540-8159.1989.tb02654.x.pd

Suppression of human immunodeficiency virus replication during acute measles.

To determine the effect of measles virus coinfection on plasma human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA levels, a prospective study of hospitalized children with measles was conducted between January 1998 and October 2000 in Lusaka, Zambia. Plasma HIV RNA levels were measured during acute measles and 1 month after hospital discharge. The median plasma HIV RNA level in 33 children with measles who were followed longitudinally was 5339 copies/mL at study entry, 60,121 copies/mL at hospital discharge, and 387,148 copies/mL at 1-month follow-up. The median plasma HIV RNA level in children without acute illness was 228,454 copies/mL. Plasma levels of immune activation markers were elevated during the period of reduced plasma HIV RNA. Plasma levels of several potential HIV suppressive factors also were elevated during acute measles. HIV replication is transiently suppressed during acute measles at a time of intense immune activation