Female rat hippocampal cell density after conditioned place preference

The hippocampus is important for learning tasks, such as conditioned place preference (CPP), which is widely used as a model for studying the reinforcing effects of drugs with dependence liability. Long-term opiate use may produce maladaptive plasticity in the brain structures involved in learning and memory, such as the hippocampus. We investigated the phenomenon of conditioning with morphine on the cell density of female rat hippocampus. Forty-eight female Wistar rats weighing on average 200-250 g were used. Rats were distributed into eight groups. Experimental groups received morphine daily (three days) at different doses (2.5, 5, 7.5 mg/kg) and the control-saline group received normal saline (1 ml/kg), and then the CPP test was performed. Three sham groups received only different doses (2.5, 5, 7.5 mg/kg) of morphine without CPP test. Forty-eight hours after behavioural testing animals were decapitated under chloroform anaesthesia and their brains were fixed, and after tissue processing, slices were stained with cresyl violet for neurons and phosphotungstic acid haematoxylin for astrocytes. The maximum response was obtained with 5 mg/kg of morphine. The density of neurons in CA1 and CA3 areas of hippocampus after injection of morphine and CPP was decreased. The number of astrocytes in different areas of hippocampus was increased after injection of morphine and CPP. It seems that the effective dose was 5 mg/kg, as it led to the CPP. We concluded that both injection of morphine and CPP can decrease the density of neurons and also increase the number of astrocytes in the rat hippocampus

Production of biological nanoparticles from &#920- lactalbumin for drug delivery and food science application

In recent years, the concept of controlled release of encapsulated ingredients at the right place and the right time has become of more interest to the food and pharmaceutical industry. Whey proteins are valuable by-products from the cheese industry. The physicochemical properties of the whey proteins suggest that they may be suitable for novel food and drug delivery system. The objective of this study was to characterize the two step desolvation process of -lactalbumin for preparation of its nanoparticles. Following the desolvation of the protein with acetone, the produced nanoparticles were stabilized and cross linked by addition of glutaraldehyde. Nanoparticle sample was subsequently purified by 3 cycle’s centrifugation (15000 ×g, 20 min). Three process parameters were examined to achieve a suitable size of nanoparticles including the pH value, temperature and desolvating agent type. In addition, fabricated nanoparticles were analyzed by photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The smallest size of the nanoparticles achieved was 102 nm while the largest size was 454 nm

Modeling Accuracy and Variability of Motor Timing in Treated and Untreated Parkinson’s Disease and Healthy Controls

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by difficulty with the timing of movements. Data collected using the synchronization–continuation paradigm, an established motor timing paradigm, have produced varying results but with most studies finding impairment. Some of this inconsistency comes from variation in the medication state tested, in the inter-stimulus intervals (ISI) selected, and in changeable focus on either the synchronization (tapping in time with a tone) or continuation (maintaining the rhythm in the absence of the tone) phase. We sought to re-visit the paradigm by testing across four groups of participants: healthy controls, medication naïve de novo PD patients, and treated PD patients both “on” and “off” dopaminergic medication. Four finger tapping intervals (ISI) were used: 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 ms. Categorical predictors (group, ISI, and phase) were used to predict accuracy and variability using a linear mixed model. Accuracy was defined as the relative error of a tap, and variability as the deviation of the participant’s tap from group predicted relative error. Our primary finding is that the treated PD group (PD patients “on” and “off” dopaminergic therapy) showed a significantly different pattern of accuracy compared to the de novo group and the healthy controls at the 250-ms interval. At this interval, the treated PD patients performed “ahead” of the beat whilst the other groups performed “behind” the beat. We speculate that this “hastening” relates to the clinical phenomenon of motor festination. Across all groups, variability was smallest for both phases at the 500-ms interval, suggesting an innate preference for finger tapping within this range. Tapping variability for the two phases became increasingly divergent at the longer intervals, with worse performance in the continuation phase. The data suggest that patients with PD can be best discriminated from healthy controls on measures of motor timing accuracy, rather than variability

Daily Habits in Parkinson's Disease: Validation of the Daily Habit Scale

Objective: The objective of the study was to validate a new scale for assessing habitual behavior—the Daily Habit Scale in patients with Parkinson's disease. Background: Parkinson's disease patients are impaired in habit learning and skill acquisition. Despite repeated practice, they have difficulty developing habitual responses. Methods: One hundred seventy-nine patients (Median (Mdn) = 69 [64–76], 65 females) participated in the study. Corrected item-to-total correlations were calculated to assess the item-convergent and item discriminant validity. Confirmatory factor analysis and assessment of internal consistency were also carried out. Concurrent validity in respect to measures of anxiety and depression, apathy, impulsivity, personality, multidimensional health locus of control, and health-related quality of life was also calculated. To determine the test–retest reliability of the scale, 30 patients (Mdn = 69 [66–73], 9 females) completed a second copy of the scale 6 months after the first. Results: Twenty-nine items (76%) and 9 items (24%) of the 38-item scale, respectively, showed a very good and good convergent validity. All the items discriminated between their own factor and the other factors. The comparative fit index of 0.932 indicated an acceptable model fit of the data, whereas the root mean square error of approximation of 0.06 moderate model fit. The scale had a good internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.792), and a moderate test–retest reliability (0.57). Females had higher scores on two factors compared to men (Factor 3: household activities and Factor 8: sleep-related activities). Conclusions: The Daily Habit Scale is a reliable and valid tool to measure daily habits in Parkinson's disease

Development and Validation of a Daily Habit Scale

Habits are defined as automatic behaviours triggered by cues and performed without awareness. They are difficult to control and mentally efficient, which contrasts with goal-directed behaviour, which is characterised by active thought, high computational effort, and the ability to modify this behaviour in response to a changing environment and contextual demands. Habits are not only defined by the frequency with which a behaviour is performed but represent a complex construct that also includes the strength and automaticity of the habitual behaviour. We report here the development and validation of a Daily Habit Scale (DHS) to assess the frequency, automaticity, and strength of daily habits in healthy individuals. Item reduction based on factor analysis resulted in a scale with 38 items grouped into eight factors explaining 52.91% of the variance. The DHS showed very good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.738) and test-retest reliability (Intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.892, p<0.001) as well as convergent and divergent reliability compared to other scales measuring habits. We found a significant effect of age, gender, anxiety, and depression on the DHS. Considering certain limitations of the DHS, such as not considering the context of performance of habits, and the absence of certain items, such as transportation use, the results of this study suggest that DHS is a reliable and valid measure of daily habits that can be used by both clinicians and researchers as a measure of daily habits

Link Slab Details and Materials

This report contains the findings of a synthesis study on the use of link slabs to eliminate intermediate joints in bridges of Indiana. The study was conducted under the sponsorship of the Joint Transportation Research Program. The motivation for the study was to investigate this promising technique to mitigate the damage associated with expansion joints that has long been recognized as a persistent and costly issue negatively impacting the bridge service life. The report summarizes the background information and motivation for the study. It also provides a description of the report organization. The results of an extensive literature review of DOTs’ experience related to the use of this system and main research findings are presented as well as construction practice and examples of application. The results of the analysis of a bridge in Indiana where the link slab system has been implemented are presented. The bridge connecting the State Road 68 over the Interstate 64 was selected as a representative bridge based on the analysis of the inspection. A parametric study on the effects of various parameters was conducted to evaluate the effect of support conditions and debonded length on the stress distribution and potential crack initiation in link slabs. Each variable was investigated separately to isolate its effect. Two bridge structures were investigated in this study. The first structure (Case 1) represents a bridge structure rehabilitated using link slabs. A second bridge structure (Case 2) with the same geometrical and material properties, but with a continuous and fully bonded deck, was also included in the parametric study for comparison purposes. This structure simulated new bridge construction

Unilateral subthalamotomy in Parkinson's disease: Cognitive, psychiatric and, neuroimaging changes

Unilateral subthalamotomy is an effective treatment for the cardinal motor features of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, non-motor changes possibly associated with right or left subthalamotomy remain unknown. Our aim was to assess cognitive, psychiatric and neuroimaging changes after treatment with unilateral subthalamotomy. Fourteen medicated patients with PD were evaluated before and after (mean 6 months after operation) unilateral subthalamotomy (5 right, 9 left). In addition to motor assessments, cognitive (global cognition and executive functions), psychiatric (apathy, depression, anxiety, mania, hypo- and hyperdopaminergic behaviours, impulsivity), quality of life evaluations and volume of lesions were obtained. After surgery, significant improvement of motor signs was observed. Unilateral subthalamotomy improved general cognitive status, but left subthalamotomy reduced semantic verbal fluency compared to the pre-operative state. Depression and quality of life were improved with both right and left subthalamotomy. However, hyper-emotionality was present after surgery and right subthalamotomy increased impulsivity and disinhibition (on NeuroPsychiatric Inventory and Ardouin Scale for Behaviour in PD), a result linked to larger lesion volumes. We conclude that unilateral subthalamotomy is effective for treating the cardinal motor features of PD and improves mood. Right subthalamotomy is associated with greater risk of impulsivity and disinhibition, while left subthalamotomy induces further impairment of semantic verbal fluency

Coil optimization for electromagnetic levitation using a genetic like algorithm

he technique of electromagnetic levitation (EML) provides a means for thermally processing an electrically conductive specimen in a containerless manner. For the investigation of metallicliquids and related melting or freezing transformations, the elimination of substrate-induced nucleation affords access to much higher undercooling than otherwise attainable. With heating and levitation both arising from the currents induced by the coil, the performance of any EML system depends on controlling the balance between lifting forces and heating effects, as influenced by the levitation coil geometry. In this work, a genetic algorithm is developed and utilized to optimize the design of electromagnetic levitation coils. The optimization is targeted specifically to reduce the steady-state temperature of the stably levitated metallic specimen. Reductions in temperature of nominally 70 K relative to that obtained with the initial design are achieved through coil optimization, and the results are compared with experiments foraluminum. Additionally, the optimization method is shown to be robust, generating a small range of converged results from a variety of initial starting conditions. While our optimizationcriterion was set to achieve the lowest possible sample temperature, the method is general and can be used to optimize for other criteria as well

The substantia nigra pars compacta and temporal processing

The basal ganglia and cerebellum are considered to play a role in timing, although their differential roles in timing remain unclear. It has been proposed that the timing of short milliseconds-range intervals involves the cerebellum, whereas longer seconds-range intervals engage the basal ganglia (Ivry, 1996). We tested this hypothesis using positron emission tomography to measure regional cerebral blood flow in eight right-handed males during estimation and reproduction of long and short intervals. Subjects performed three tasks: (1) reproduction of a short 500 ms interval, (2) reproduction of a long 2 s interval, and (3) a control simple reaction time (RT) task. We compared the two time reproduction tasks with the control RT task to investigate activity associated with temporal processing once additional cognitive, motor, or sensory processing was controlled. We found foci in the left substantia nigra and the left lateral premotor cortex to be significantly more activated in the time reproduction tasks than the control RT task. The left caudate nucleus and right cerebellum weremoreactive in the short relative to the long interval, whereas greater activation of the right putamen and right cerebellum occurred in the long rather than the short interval. These results suggest that the basal ganglia and the cerebellum are engaged by reproduction of both long and short intervals but play different roles. The fundamental role of the substantia nigra in temporal processing is discussed in relation to previous animal lesion studies and evidence for the modulating influence of dopamine on temporal processing