Contemporary perspective on addictive behaviors: underpinning mechanisms, assessment, and treatment

This special issue gathered contributions from authors in the scientifc community working on addictive behaviors. In particular, authors were solicited to relate about underpinning mechanisms, assessment protocols, and intervention programs that are currently proposed for substance abuse, Internet addiction, and other forms of problematic conducts in pediatric populations, adolescence, and adulthood. Most of the papers used a biopsychosocial model for the onset and maintaining of addictive behaviors and their comorbidities with other psychopathologies. Although the intent was accept contributions focused on all forms of addictive behaviors, this special issue is composed of four papers concerning problematic use of the web and two articles focusing on substance use. Of note, all papers addressed the developmental phases of childhood and adolescence

VUV photoemission studies of candidate Large Hadron Collider vacuum chamber materials

In the context of future accelerators and, in particular, the beam vacuum of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27 km circumference proton collider to be built at CERN, VUV synchrotron radiation (SR) has been used to study both qualitatively and quantitatively candidate vacuum chamber materials. Emphasis is given to show that angle and energy resolved photoemission is an extremely powerful tool to address important issues relevant to the LHC, such as the emission of electrons that contributes to the creation of an electron cloud which may cause serious beam instabilities and unmanageable heat loads on the cryogenic system. Here we present not only the measured photoelectron yields from the proposed materials, prepared on an industrial scale, but also the energy and in some cases the angular dependence of the emitted electrons when excited with either a white light (WL) spectrum, simulating that in the arcs of the LHC, or monochromatic light in the photon energy range of interest. The effects on the materials examined of WL irradiation and /or ion sputtering, simulating the SR and ion bombardment expected in the LHC, were investigated. The studied samples exhibited significant modifications, in terms of electron emission, when exposed to the WL spectrum from the BESSY Toroidal Grating Monochromator beam line. Moreover, annealing and ion bombardment also induce substantial changes to the surface thereby indicating that such surfaces would not have a constant electron emission during machine operation. Such characteristics may be an important issue to define the surface properties of the LHC vacuum chamber material and are presented in detail for the various samples analyzed. It should be noted that all the measurements presented here were recorded at room temperature, whereas the majority of the LHC vacuum system will be maintained at temperatures below 20 K. The results cannot therefore be directly applied to these sections of the machine until measurements at cryogenic temperatures, i.e., in the presence of cryosorbed gas layers, are obtained. However, these results are directly relevant to all the warm regions of the LHC vacuum system, such as the experimental vacuum chambers and warm element vacuum chambers in the insertion regions

VUV photoemission studies of candidate LHC vacuum chamber materials

In the context of future accelerators and, in particular, the beam vacuum of the LargeHadron Collider (LHC), a 27 km circumference proton collider to be built at CERN, VUVsynchrotron radiation (SR) has been used to study both qualitatively and quantitatively candidatevacuum chamber materials. Emphasis is given to show that angle and energy resolvedphotoemission is an extremely powerful tool to address important issues relevant to the LHC, suchas the emission of electrons that contribute to the creation of an electron cloud which may causeserious beam instabilities. Here we present not only the measured photoelectron yields (PY)from the proposed materials, prepared on an industrial scale, but also the energy and, in some cases,the angular dependence of the emitted electrons when excited with either a white light (WL)spectrum, simulating that in the arcs of the LHC or monochromatic light in the photon energy rangeof interest. The effects on the materials examined of WL irradiation and/or ion sputtering,simulating the SR and ion bombardment expected in the LHC, were investigated. The studiedsamples exhibited significant modifications, in terms of electron emission, when exposed to the WLspectrum from the BESSY TGM7 beamline. Moreover, annealing and ion bombardment alsoinduce substantial changes to the surface thereby indicating that such surfaces would not have aconstant electron emission during machine operation. Such characteristics may be an importantissue to define the surface properties of the LHC vacuum chamber material and are presented indetail for the various samples analysed

Electronic structure of Ca1−x_{1-x}Srx_xVO3_3: a tale of two energy-scales

We investigate the electronic structure of Ca$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$VO$_3$ using photoemission spectroscopy. Core level spectra establish an electronic phase separation at the surface, leading to distinctly different surface electronic structure compared to the bulk. Analysis of the photoemission spectra of this system allowed us to separate the surface and bulk contributions. These results help us to understand properties related to two vastly differing energy-scales, namely the low energy-scale of thermal excitations (~$k_{B}T$) and the high-energy scale related to Coulomb and other electronic interactions.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figures. Europhysics Letters (appearing

Six questions on the construction of ontologies in biomedicine

(Report assembled for the Workshop of the AMIA Working Group on Formal Biomedical Knowledge Representation in connection with AMIA Symposium, Washington DC, 2005.) Best practices in ontology building for biomedicine have been frequently discussed in recent years. However there is a range of seemingly disparate views represented by experts in the field. These views not only reflect the different uses to which ontologies are put, but also the experiences and disciplinary background of these experts themselves. We asked six questions related to biomedical ontologies to what we believe is a representative sample of ontologists in the biomedical field and came to a number conclusions which we believe can help provide an insight into the practical problems which ontology builders face today

miR-214 coordinates melanoma progression by upregulating ALCAM through TFAP2 and miR-148b downmodulation.

Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive human cancers, but the mechanisms governing its metastatic dissemination are not fully understood. Upregulation of miR-214 and ALCAM and the loss of TFAP2 expression have been implicated in this process, with TFAP2 a direct target of miR-214. Here, we link miR-214 and ALCAM as well as identify a core role for miR-214 in organizing melanoma metastasis. miR- 214 upregulated ALCAM, acting transcriptionally through TFAP2 and also posttranscriptionally through miR-148b (itself controlled by TFAP2), both negative regulators of ALCAM. We also identified several miR-214–mediated prometastatic functions directly promoted by ALCAM. Silencing ALCAM in miR-214–overexpressing melanoma cells reduced cell migration and invasion without affecting growth or anoikisin vitro, and it also impaired extravasation and metastasis formation in vivo. Conversely, cell migration and extravasation was reduced in miR-214–overexpressing cells by upregulation of either miR 148b or TFAP2. These findings were consistent with patterns of expression of miR-214, ALCAM, and miR-148b in human melanoma specimens. Overall, our results define a pathway involving miR-214, miR-148b, TFAP2, and ALCAM that is critical for establishing distant metastases in melanoma

miR-214 coordinates melanoma progression by upregulating ALCAM through TFAP2 and miR-148b downmodulation

Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive human cancers, but the mechanisms governing its metastatic dissemination are not fully understood. Upregulation of miR-214 and ALCAM and the loss of TFAP2 expression have been implicated in this process, with TFAP2 a direct target of miR-214. Here, we link miR-214 and ALCAM as well as identify a core role for miR-214 in organizing melanoma metastasis. miR- 214 upregulated ALCAM, acting transcriptionally through TFAP2 and also posttranscriptionally through miR-148b (itself controlled by TFAP2), both negative regulators of ALCAM. We also identified several miR-214–mediated prometastatic functions directly promoted by ALCAM. Silencing ALCAM in miR-214–overexpressing melanoma cells reduced cell migration and invasion without affecting growth or anoikisin vitro, and it also impaired extravasation and metastasis formation in vivo. Conversely, cell migration and extravasation was reduced in miR-214–overexpressing cells by upregulation of either miR 148b or TFAP2. These findings were consistent with patterns of expression of miR-214, ALCAM, and miR-148b in human melanoma specimens. Overall, our results define a pathway involving miR-214, miR-148b, TFAP2, and ALCAM that is critical for establishing distant metastases in melanoma