Opiate Drug Seeking and Addiction: The Influence of Sucrose Consumption on the Acquisition and Expression of Morphine-induced Conditioned Place Preferences (CPP)

Sucrose intake may lead to changes in brain and behavior similar to the effects of abused drugs. For example, sucrose may agonize endogenous opiate systems and modulate opiate-seeking behavior. Previous research reported equivocal outcomes where sucrose may either enhance (i.e., cross-sensitization) or attenuate (i.e., cross-tolerance) drug seeking as measured by morphine-induced CPP. The present experiment extends from past work and evaluated the impact of sucrose administered prior to place conditioning. Additionally, unique groups received sucrose prior to tests for CPP to measure sucrose influences on CPP expression. Sprague-Dawley rats (n=24) were assigned to sucrose (15% w/v) or water pre-exposure conditions. Subsequently, subjects received morphine place conditioning where morphine (10mg/kg) was administered on the initially non-preferred side of the apparatus. Three post-tests were conducted and, prior to each test, animals within each pre-exposure group (sucrose or water) received either sucrose or water. Factorial ANOVA was used to analyze data. Results showed robust morphine-induced CPP. Although animals in the sucrose pre-exposure condition displayed enhanced CPP, the outcomes were not statistically significant. The present findings support the value of CPP techniques to measure opiate drug-seeking behavior. Future work may discover the sufficient conditions for detecting sucrose cross-sensitization of morphine CPP

From Me to You

As an artist, my work has allowed me to produce as a multidisciplinary thinker, maker, and communicator. Beyond the physicality of medium, much of my desire to make my work manifests in the nuances of human relationships and genuine experiences that I seek and recall in my own life. My most lasting work meanders around the elements of unspoken communication, intimate gestures, and quixotic quests.Through performative sculpture, I pursue thinking and making through nontraditional materials, utilizing some form of human interaction in the process. Exploring my curiosity for relational and performative art, I’m interested in works that are exist through temporary installation and ephemeral experience rather than art objects that last forever. I seek out ways of making through in invisible exchanges that occur between people, which are often difficult to physically preserve and document. As evidenced by both tangible and intangible works, I am interested in the idea of the gift, and the politics and economy surrounding the act of gift giving. With the generosity that a giver extends through a gift, for example, there is also a demand of the receiver to accept the gift, and reciprocate in some form. This invisible give and take, and the unspoken rules dictating our social interactions, feed into my work constantly. With an ongoing inquiry for the true meaning of empathy, my attraction to human interaction has developed into one of the most important parts of my art and life practice. The moments lingering in the overlap of both my life and art practices are those that I’m most drawn to

Building spelling power: word analysis lessons for grade 2.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Exploring Racially Informed Factors and Assessing Their Impacts on the Working Conditions and Burnout among Bicultural Asian Human Service Workers

The United States has undergone a significant increase in cultural diversity, with Asians being the fastest-growing immigrant group. Their population has almost doubled from 11.9 million in 2000 to 22.4 million in 2019, marking an 88% increase in less than two decades. Presently, Asians make up 6% of the total U.S. population and are estimated to grow to 46 million by 2060, representing over 10% of the U.S. population. Asians are often considered a model minority due to their higher educational and health status compared to other minority groups. However, they are still perceived as perpetual foreigners regardless of their length of stay and generational status in the country. During the pandemic, they became the target of pandemic-related racism that was supported by a political agenda. Amidst unprecedentedly heightened racism and collective trauma in the Asian community, bicultural and bilingual Asian human service workers play a critical role in providing culturally and linguistically aligned health and social services. However, these dedicated workers have not received much attention. Therefore, this research, based on the Asian Critical Race Theory, investigates how the racial positioning and racial realities of Asians in the United States relate to the working conditions of bicultural and bilingual Asian human service workers. This study uses a sequential exploratory mixed-method approach to explore the connection between racially informed factors and the working conditions and burnout of workers in the health and social service fields. The study applies the Job Demands and Job Resources Model to understand this link. The findings of this study support the need to better support a diverse and resilient workforce in the health and social service fields to achieve racial equity for an ever-growing Asian population

Synesthetic Soundtrack

This disclosure describes techniques to generate an audio experience or soundscape corresponding to the visual field of a user. With user permission, objects within the feed of a head-mounted camera are semantically identified using computer vision techniques. Based on the detected objects, a unique audio experience, shaped by the world around a user and by the physical items they engage with, is generated

ASTRO Journals' Data Sharing Policy and Recommended Best Practices.

Transparency, openness, and reproducibility are important characteristics in scientific publishing. Although many researchers embrace these characteristics, data sharing has yet to become common practice. Nevertheless, data sharing is becoming an increasingly important topic among societies, publishers, researchers, patient advocates, and funders, especially as it pertains to data from clinical trials. In response, ASTRO developed a data policy and guide to best practices for authors submitting to its journals. ASTRO's data sharing policy is that authors should indicate, in data availability statements, if the data are being shared and if so, how the data may be accessed

Les traitements non chirurgicaux de l’ostéoarthrose du genou

Travail d'intégration réalisé dans le cadre du cours PHT-6113.Introduction : L’ostéoarthrose est la pathologie articulaire la plus fréquente au niveau du genou. Elle peut entraîner un niveau d’incapacité important ainsi qu’un fardeau économique considérable. Objectifs : Expliquer la physiopathologie, les facteurs de risque et la présentation clinique. Présenter les outils d’évaluation valides et fidèles. Comparer l’efficacité des traitements non-chirurgicaux de la gonarthrose. Méthodologie : Étude de la littérature existante en utilisant les moteurs de recherches Pubmed, Medline, Cochrane, Pedro, des livres spécialisés et d’autres ressources électroniques. Résultats : La gonarthrose est causée par une détérioration anormale du cartilage. Les principaux facteurs de risque sont l’âge, l’hérédité et une surcharge mécanique excessive. Les principales raisons de consultations sont la douleur et la perte de fonction. Le diagnostic s’effectue à l’aide de l’examen physique et de radiographie. Plusieurs outils d’évaluation valides et fidèles permettent de suivre l’évolution de la condition de ces individus. Les exercices de renforcements musculaires, de contrôle musculaire et d’étirement; les exercices aérobiques et le Tai Chi démontrent une bonne efficacité pour diminuer la douleur et améliorer la fonction. L’enseignement est considéré comme essentiel dans la prise en charge de ces patients. Les effets bénéfiques des traitements médicamenteux traditionnels et des ultrasons ont été démontrées. Par contre, il y a peu d’articles et un manque de consensus sur l’efficacité de la thérapie manuelle, du tapping, des orthèses, de l’hydrolysat de collagène, du TENS et du laser. Les évidences sont contradictoires pour la glucosamine. Conclusion : La physiothérapie s’avère une discipline incontournable dans le traitement non-chirurgical de la gonarthrose

Robust, reproducible, industrialized, standard membrane feeding assay for assessing the transmission blocking activity of vaccines and drugs against Plasmodium falciparum.

BackgroundA vaccine that interrupts malaria transmission (VIMT) would be a valuable tool for malaria control and elimination. One VIMT approach is to identify sexual erythrocytic and mosquito stage antigens of the malaria parasite that induce immune responses targeted at disrupting parasite development in the mosquito. The standard Plasmodium falciparum membrane-feeding assay (SMFA) is used to assess transmission-blocking activity (TBA) of antibodies against candidate immunogens and of drugs targeting the mosquito stages. To develop its P. falciparum sporozoite (SPZ) products, Sanaria has industrialized the production of P. falciparum-infected Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, incorporating quantitative analyses of oocyst and P. falciparum SPZ infections as part of the manufacturing process.MethodsThese capabilities were exploited to develop a robust, reliable, consistent SMFA that was used to assess 188 serum samples from animals immunized with the candidate vaccine immunogen, Pfs25, targeting P. falciparum mosquito stages. Seventy-four independent SMFAs were performed. Infection intensity (number of oocysts/mosquito) and infection prevalence (percentage of mosquitoes infected with oocysts) were compared between mosquitoes fed cultured gametocytes plus normal human O(+) serum (negative control), anti-Pfs25 polyclonal antisera (MRA39 or MRA38, at a final dilution in the blood meal of 1:54 as positive control), and test sera from animals immunized with Pfs25 (at a final dilution in the blood meal of 1:9).ResultsSMFA negative controls consistently yielded high infection intensity (mean = 46.1 oocysts/midgut, range of positives 3.7-135.6) and infection prevalence (mean = 94.2%, range 71.4-100.0) and in positive controls, infection intensity was reduced by 81.6% (anti-Pfs25 MRA39) and 97.0% (anti-Pfs25 MRA38), and infection prevalence was reduced by 12.9 and 63.5%, respectively. A range of TBAs was detected among the 188 test samples assayed in duplicate. Consistent administration of infectious gametocytes to mosquitoes within and between assays was achieved, and the TBA of anti-Pfs25 control antibodies was highly reproducible.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate a robust capacity to perform the SMFA in a medium-to-high throughput format, suitable for assessing large numbers of experimental samples of candidate antibodies or drugs

High resolution characterisation of microcapsule structure, adhesion and release properties

This thesis aims to characterise the structural, adhesion and release properties of polymeric microcapsules which are used ina griculture for t he controlled delivery of pesticides to crops. An adaptation of atomic force microscopy (AFM) known as chemical force microscopy (CFM) has been used to investigate the adhesion characteristics of functionalised polyurea microcapsules to surfaces. The adhesion properties of microcapsules (attached to AFM cantilevers) to self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkyl thiols on gold have been investigated at the single capsule level, and as a function of polymer wall surface functionality. Measurements have been made to OHterminated, CH3-terminated and mixed CH3: COOH-terminated SAMs. The importance of microcapsule topography and elasticity on adhesion measurements has been discussed. The surface pK1I2 of a capsule with a surface modified with a sulfonateterminated molecule has been estimated using force titration methodology. The adhesion properties of functionalised microcapsules to the leaf cuticle of Prunus laurocerasus have been examined, highlighting areas of hydrophilicity on the surface of the leaf. The release properties of a ctive ingredients from p olyurea microcapsules into solution using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) have been investigated. Preliminary studies obtained the optimum species to use inside the microcapsule and the solution into which the species should be released. The release characteristics 0 f six varieties of microcapsule, differing in the wall thickness and cross linking density were examined and from the release profiles obtained, the product of the mass transfer coefficient and solubility coefficient could be calculated. The high resolution imaging capabilities of the confocal microscope have been demonstrated, providing detail on the structure of the leaf of the Prunus Laurocerasus plant and t he caterpillars Heliothis virescens and P lutella xylostella, two of t he most common pests, which the microcapsules of interest are aimed at controlling. The release properties to leaf surfaces of two types of polyurea microcapsules, which have different release mechanisms, were investigated using CLSM. Detailed release studies to model surfaces showed that one type of capsule (lambda cyhalothrin) released in the dry state and the other (emamectin benzoate) did not. A release rate was determined in the former case. A technique has been developed which is capable of visualising the release and diffusion of a species (Cd2+) from a hemisphere. Voltammetry has been used in conjunction with CLSM to monitor quantitatively and visually the preconcentration and release of Cd2+ into and away from a mercury hemisphere UME. The fluorescent indicator used was Calcium Green-5N, which is a cadmium-sensitive fluorophore that fluoresces upon binding Cd2+and can thus be detected by CLSM. A delay was observed between the release of C d2+ from t he hemisphere (determined voltammetrically) and binding to the fluorophore (visualised using CLSM).EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Testing the associations between poverty stigma and mental health:the role of received stigma and perceived structural stigma

Background: Previous research has documented how people living on low incomes in the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally experience various forms of poverty stigma. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively examine how experiences of poverty stigma is associated with mental health outcomes. Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1,000 adults living in predominantly low and middle income households in the UK. The survey included a questionnaire designed to measure participants’ experiences of different forms of poverty stigma, as well as measures of anxiety, depression, and mental well-being.Findings: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the poverty stigma questionnaire supported a two-factor solution. One factor reflected participants’ experiences of being mistreated and judged unfairly by other people because they live on low income (received stigma) and the other factor reflected participants’ perceptions of how people living in poverty are treated by media outlets, public services, and politicians (perceived structural stigma). Both received and perceived structural stigma were independently associated with anxiety, depression, and mental well-being, and these relationships persisted after controlling for socioeconomic indicators. There was also evidence that received stigma and perceived structural stigma partially mediated the relationships between financial hardship and mental health outcomes. Discussion: Experiences of received and perceived structural poverty stigma are both associated with mental health and well-being. This suggests that addressing interpersonal and structural forms of poverty stigma may help to narrow socioeconomic inequalities in mental health.<br/