Examination of the surrogate conditioned motivating operation to influence eating behavior in pigeons

Successful demonstrations of the surrogate conditioned motivating operation (S-CMO) have been elusive in psychological literature throughout the years. Of the previous studies that have demonstrated the presence of an S-CMO, replications of these studies have often failed to produce the same results (Mineka, 1975). The present study attempted to establish a gradually increasing light and sound stimulus as an S-CMO for food consumption in pigeons, as well as identify the relevant features that contributed to the positive results of previous literature. After repeated pairings of light and sound stimuli with food deprivation, testing was conducted at a moderate level of deprivation to determine if a pigeon’s eating behavior was influenced by the stimuli. Results did not support an S-CMO effect for any of the subjects. Although researchers utilized procedures closely resembling those implemented in previous studies that demonstrated an effect (Gorenflo, 2014), the current study was unable to replicate those results, adding to the elusiveness of establishing external stimuli as S-CMOs

Binge Eating Disorder: A Clinical Review

Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder (ED) in the United States (U.S.) and is characterized by recurrent episodes of eating a larger than normal amount of food in a discrete period of time and includes a sense of loss of control over food intake. BED is often comorbid with serious somatic and psychiatric disorders and is associated with reduced quality of life and excess mortality. Some consider BED a public health concern due to frequent co-occurrence with obesity and worse outcomes in those populations. The diagnosis is often delayed due to shame and underreporting of symptoms and inadequate screening practices. BED is primarily managed with psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, which are both focused on reducing binge-eating behavior to reduce medical and psychiatric complications. This clinical review aims to advance the clinician’s competence in proper evaluation and intervention with current evidence-based management strategies to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with BED and restore functioning and quality of life for patients

Thermodynamic Modeling of Binary and Ternary Systems of Interest to Gas Antisolvent Precipitation

CO2 is a poor solvent for polar and complex molecules. The batch process known as GAS precipitation exploits the ability of CO2 to function as an antisolvent. CO2 is dissolved at low temperatures and moderate pressures into an organic solvent into which a solute has been dissolved. The liquid phase is expanded, reducing the solvent power, and causing precipitation of the solute. In this way, thermally-labile pharmaceutical compounds can be purified from organic solutions as very fine, uniform particles. In a simple (1) antisolvent — (2) solvent — (3) solute GAS system, solid-vapor-liquid equilibrium (SVLE) exists at the point of precipitation. The solubilities of acetaminophen in CO2-expanded ethanol, x3, and of acetaminophen in the equilibrium vapor phase, y3, were predicted using a three-component, ternary-phase Mathcad code. The Peng-Robinson equation of state was used to represent the fluid phases and a simple fugacity expression was used to represent the solid phase. Binary interaction parameters for the CO2-ethanol and ethanol-acetaminophen pairs, k12=0.0890 and k23=0.0099, were regressed from literature solubility data. The binary interaction parameter for the CO2-acetaminophen pair, k13=0.2614, was regressed using solubility data taken using a static equilibrium apparatus. The vapor phase mole fraction of acetaminophen in CO2 at 323K ranges from 10-6 to 10-4 over the pressure range 1500 psi to 4000 psi. The Peng-Robinson equation of state model is unable to capture the solubility behavior, but the data are adequately fit using a non-predictive density-based correlation. A sensitivity analysis conducted on the SVLE model to determine the effect of the binary interaction parameters on the prediction of x3 indicates that a poor fit for k13 does not prevent making an adequate prediction for the change in x3 with increasing pressure. At a given temperature, the solubility of acetaminophen in CO2-expanded ethanol decreases with pressure, indicating that GAS precipitation could be a viable means of forming acetaminophen particles. At a given pressure, the liquid phase acetaminophen solubility increases with temperature, indicating that higher operating temperatures will require higher operating pressures to achieve maximum solute product yields. In the future, experimental x3 data can be used to fit the k13 parameter in order to improve and validate the thermodynamic model

High-frequency phosphorus monitoring of the River Kennet, UK: are ecological problems due to intermittent sewage treatment works failures?

The River Kennet in southern England has exhibited excessive benthic algal growth and associated ecological problems, such as loss of macrophytes and invertebrates, since the 1980s. These ecological problems were attributed to regular peaks in phosphorus concentration, which were widely attributed to intermittent failures of the Marlborough sewage treatment works (STW). This study deployed highfrequency phosphorus auto-analysers to monitor the total reactive phosphorus (TRP) concentrations of Marlborough STW final effluent and the downstream River Kennet at hourly and 30 minute resolution respectively, between 2008 and 2009. This monitoring confirmed that the Marlborough STW was operating well within its 1000 mg l-�1 annual mean total phosphorus consent limit, with mean total P and soluble reactive P concentrations of 675 and 345 mg l-�1 respectively. There were two occasions where effluent TRP concentration exceeded 1000 mg l-�1, and only one of these resulted in a peak in TRP concentration of over 100 mg l-�1 in the River Kennet at Mildenhall. The other nine peaks of over 100 mg l-�1 in the River Kennet during the monitoring period were associated with storm events, indicating that diffuse-source inputs and remobilisation of stored within-channel phosphorus were the cause of the peaks in river concentration, rather than Marlborough STW. The value of high-frequency environmental monitoring and the problems associated with using nutrient auto-analysers in the field are discussed. Seasonal phosphorus consents for STWs could provide a useful and cost effective means to improve both water quality and river ecology in the upper River Kennet