Innate and Acquired Quinine‐Resistant Alcohol, but not Saccharin, Drinking in Crossed High–Alcohol‐Preferring Mice

Background Alcohol consumption despite aversive consequences is often a key component of an alcoholism diagnosis. Free‐choice alcohol consumption despite bitter quinine adulteration in rodents has been seen following several months of free‐choice drinking, but there has been little study of whether prolonged access to other palatable substances such as saccharin yields quinine resistance. Selectively bred crossed high–alcohol‐preferring (cHAP) mice average blood alcohol levels of over 250 mg/dl during free‐choice access, considerably higher than other models. We hypothesized that higher intakes would yield more rapid development of quinine‐resistant alcohol (QRA) drinking and quinine‐resistant saccharin (QRS) drinking. Methods All experiments used male and female cHAP mice. Experiment 1 compared mice with either 0 or 5 weeks of alcohol drinking history, testing varying (0.032, 0.10, 0.32 g/l) quinine concentrations in ethanol. Experiment 2 examined whether innate QR may exist, comparing animals with a 1 or zero day of drinking history. Experiment 3 examined the effect of varying histories (0, 2, or 5 weeks) of free‐choice 10% alcohol drinking on QR alcohol consumption at high quinine concentrations. Finally, Experiment 4 investigated the development of QRS drinking. Results We found that we could not detect a history effect in commonly used quinine concentrations, indicating that cHAP mice are innately quinine resistant to 0.10 g/l quinine. However, we were able to determine that a 2‐week drinking history was sufficient to induce QRA drinking in cHAP mice at extremely high quinine concentrations (0.74 and 0.32 g/l). However, the history effect was specific to QRA, a saccharin drinking history, did not yield QRS drinking. Conclusions These data suggest that an alcohol drinking history induces maladaptive behaviors, such as drinking in spite of negative consequences, a pattern not seen with saccharin. Furthermore, a strong genetic predisposition to drink may promote an innate aversion resistance compared with commonly used inbred strains

Attentional set shifting in HAP3, LAP3, and cHAP mice is unaffected by either genetic differences in alcohol preference or an alcohol drinking history

Alcohol consumption may precede, or result from, behavioral inflexibility and contribute to individuals' difficulties ceasing drinking. Attentional set shifting tasks are an animal analog to a human behavioral flexibility task requiring recognition of a previous strategy as inappropriate, and the formation and maintenance of a novel strategy (Floresco, Block, & Tse, 2008). Abstinent individuals with alcohol use disorder, nonalcoholic individuals with a family history of alcoholism, and mice exposed to chronic-intermittent alcohol vapor show impaired behavioral flexibility (Gierski et al., 2013; Hu, Morris, Carrasco, & Kroener, 2015; Oscar-Berman et al., 2009). Behavioral flexibility deficits can be linked to frontal cortical regions connected to the striatum (Ragozzino, 2007), and alterations to the endocannabinoid system, implicated in drug seeking and consumption (Economidou et al., 2006; Serrano & Parsons, 2011), may affect these behaviors. Alcohol-preferring and nonpreferring rodents exhibit differences in CB1 receptor expression (CB1R; Hansson et al., 2007; Hungund & Basavarajappa, 2000), but whether dorsal striatal CB1Rs are important for other alcohol-related behaviors such as attentional set shifting tasks remains unclear. This study assesses whether selectively bred high (HAP) versus low alcohol-preferring mice differ in an operant attentional set shifting task or CB1R levels in the dorsal striatum and whether a history of voluntary alcohol consumption in crossed HAP mice exacerbates inflexibility. Contrary to our hypothesis, neither genetic differences in alcohol preference nor drinking affected set shifting. However, high alcohol-preferring mice-3 mice showed reduced levels of dorsal striatal CB1R compared with low alcohol-preferring-3 mice, suggesting that genetic differences in alcohol consumption may be mediated in part by striatal CB1R

The effectiveness of therapeutic exercise for joint hypermobility syndrome: A systematic review

Background: Joint hypermobility syndrome (JHS) is a heritable connective tissue disorder characterised by excessive range of movement at multiple joints accompanied by pain. Exercise is the mainstay of management yet its effectiveness is unclear. Objectives: To establish the effectiveness of therapeutic exercise for JHS. Design: Systematic literature review. Data sources: A search of nine online databases, supplemented by a hand search and snowballing. Study eligibility criteria (participants and interventions): People diagnosed with JHS (rather than asymptomatic generalised joint laxity); therapeutic exercise (of any type) used as an intervention; primary data reported; English language; published research. Study appraisal and synthesis methods: Methodological quality was appraised by each reviewer using Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists. Articles were then discussed collectively and disagreements resolved through debate. Results: 2001 titles were identified. Four articles met the inclusion criteria, comprising one controlled trial, one comparative trial and two cohort studies. All studies found clinical improvements over time. However there was no convincing evidence that exercise was better than control or that joint-specific and generalised exercise differed in effectiveness. Limitations: The studies used heterogeneous outcome measures, preventing pooling of results. Only one study was a true controlled trial which failed to report between-group statistical analyses post-treatment. Conclusions and implications of key findings: There is some evidence that people with JHS improve with exercise but there is no convincing evidence for specific types of exercise or that exercise is better than control. Further high quality research is required to establish the effectiveness of exercise for JHS. © 2013 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

Standards of proficiency for registered nurses—To what end? A critical analysis of contemporary mental health nursing within the United Kingdom context

Against the backdrop of cultural and political ideals, this article highlights both the significance of mental health nursing in meeting population needs and the regulatory barriers that may be impeding its ability to adequately do so. Specifically, we consider how ambiguous notions of ‘proficiency’ in nurse education—prescribed by the regulator—impact the development of future mental health nurses and their mental health nursing identity. A key tension in mental health practice is the ethical‐legal challenges posed by sanctioned powers to restrict patients' freedom at the same time as the desire (and obligation) to promote patients' self‐determined recovery. The genericism of the UK's Future Nurse Standards do little to prepare mental health nurses to navigate the tensions that ensue. This has consequences for nurses and patients alike, as both risk experiencing the distress and dissonance that attends giving or receiving poor care. We argue that more needs to be done to enable mental health nurses to define and articulate the nuances of the profession as part of becoming critical, thoughtful and confident practitioners. Educators can contribute to this mission by aligning curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to create meaningful opportunities for mental health nursing students to engage with the complexities of mental health nursing practice. Without this, the credibility of the profession will continue to be questioned; its future uncertain

The Human-Animal Relationship in Australian Caged Laying Hens

Studies on farm animals have shown relationships between stockperson attitudes and behaviour and farm animal fear, stress and productivity. This study investigated how the avoidance behaviour of Australian commercial caged laying hens may be related to stockperson behaviour, albumen corticosterone, and the number of weeks producing within 5% of peak egg production. Nineteen laying houses were assessed over 3 days. Fear of humans in hens, based on their avoidance response to an unfamiliar human, was assessed using two behavioural tests. Albumen corticosterone concentrations were measured from egg samples collected immediately prior to behavioural testing. Stockperson attitudes were assessed using a questionnaire and stockperson behaviour was observed over 2 days. Productivity records for each laying house were also obtained. The duration of peak production was negatively related to both noise made by the stockperson and hen avoidance. No relationship between stockperson behaviour or attitudes and hen avoidance was found, but stockpeople with negative attitudes made more noise. In conclusion, this study could not confirm a relationship between stockperson behaviour and hen avoidance behaviour for Australian caged laying hens. However, this study did confirm a relationship between hen avoidance behaviour, albumen corticosterone concentration, and the duration of peak egg production