Running away from addiction: Can exercise attenuate methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity?

Methamphetamine (METH) abuse continues to be a major public health concern. Use is endemic in the Western states and growing in the Midwest; Colorado currently ranks 7th in the nation for total number of METH users over the age of 25. Psychostimulant abuse carries with it several potential health risks, including addiction, and METH abuse carries the additional danger of permanent brain injury. It is well established that exposure to multiple high doses of METH produces damage to central monoamine systems. Long-lasting decreases in markers of dopamine (DA) innervation of the striatum have been reported in both human METH abusers and rodent models of binge METH use. In fact, recent studies have shown that METH abusers are more likely to develop Parkinson\u27s disease, suggesting enduring and possibly progressive DA loss as a consequence of METH abuse. Prior studies using rodent models of Parkinson\u27s disease, have demonstrated beneficial effects of exercise on both neurochemical and behavior recovery. Recently, this work has been extended to the study of METH neurotoxicity; with data showing that wheel running ameliorates METH-induced monoaminergic loss. Importantly, that study employed an exercise designed to elucidate whether this effect was the result of protection against the initial neurotoxic insult, or promoted neurochemical recovery after METH administration. We\u27ve been examining a more clinically-relevant option and have now shown that 3 weeks of post-METH exercise significantly attenuates monoaminergic neurotoxicity

Sexual Minority Stress and Suicide Risk: Identifying Resilience through Personality Profile Analysis

Sexual minority-based victimization, which includes threats or enacted interpersonal violence, predicts elevated suicide risk among sexual minority individuals. However, research on personality factors that contribute to resilience among sexual minority populations is lacking. Using the Five-Factor Model, we hypothesized that individuals classified as adaptive (vs. at-risk) would be at decreased risk for a suicide attempt in the context of reported lifetime victimization. Sexual minority-identified young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years (N = 412) were recruited nationally and asked to complete an online survey containing measures of personality, sexual minority stress, and lifetime suicide attempts. A 2-stage cluster analytic method was used to empirically derive latent personality profiles and to classify respondents as adaptive (lower neuroticism and higher extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness) or at-risk (higher neuroticism, lower extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness) on the basis of their Five-Factor Personality trait scores. Adaptive individuals were slightly older and less likely to conceal their sexual orientation, but they reported similar rates of victimization, discrimination, and internalized heterosexism as their at-risk counterparts. Logistic regression results indicate that despite reporting similar rates of victimization, which was a significant predictor of lifetime suicide attempt, adaptive individuals evidenced decreased risk for attempted suicide in the context of victimization relative to at-risk individuals. These findings suggest that an adaptive personality profile may confer resilience in the face of sexual minority-based victimization. This study adds to our knowledge of sexual minority mental health and highlights new directions for future research

Characterizing Quantum Properties of a Measurement Apparatus: Insights from the Retrodictive Approach

Using the retrodictive approach of quantum physics, we show that the state retrodicted from the response of a measurement apparatus is a convenient tool to fully characterize its quantum properties. We translate in terms of this state some interesting aspects of the quantum behavior of a detector, such as the non-classicality or the non-gaussian character of its measurements. We also introduce estimators - the projectivity, the ideality, the fidelity or the detectivity of measurements perfomed by the apparatus - which directly follow from the retrodictive approach. Beyond their fundamental significance for describing general quantum measurements, these properties are crucial in several protocols, in particular in the conditional preparation of non-classical states of light or in measurement-driven quantum information processing

Predicting Malawian women’s intention to adhere to antiretroviral therapy

Background. With the increase in scaling up of antiretroviral therapy (ART), knowledge of the need for adherence to ART is pivotal for successful treatment outcomes. Design and Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out between October and December 2013. We administered theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and adherence questionnaires to 358 women aged 18-49 years, from a rural and urban ART-clinics in southern Malawi. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to predict intentions to adhere to ART. Results. Regression models showed that attitude (β=0.47), subjective norm (β=0.31), and perceived behavioral control (β=0.12) explain 55% of the variance in intentions to adhere to ART. The relationship between both food insecurity and perceived side effects with intentions to adhere to ART is mediated by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. Household (r=0.20) and individual (r=0.21) food insecurity were positively and significantly correlated with perceived behavioural control. Household food insecurity had a negative correlation with perceived side effects (r=-0.11). Perceived side effects were positively correlated with attitude (r=0.25). There was no statistically significant relationship between intentions to adhere to ART in the future and one month self-report of past month adherence. These interactions suggest that attitude predicted adherence only when food insecurity is high or perception of side effects is strong.Conclusions. This study shows that modification might be needed when using TPB constructs in resource constraint environment

THE ACCUSED IS ENTERING THE COURTROOM: THE LIVE-TWEETING OF A MURDER TRIAL.

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThe use of social media is now widely accepted within journalism as an outlet for news information. Live tweeting of unfolding events is standard practice. In March 2014, Oscar Pistorius went on trial in the Gauteng High Court for murder. Hundreds of journalists present began live-tweeting coverage, an unprecedented combination of international interest, permission to use technology and access which resulted in massive streams of consciousness reports of events as they unfolded. Based on a corpus of Twitter feeds of twenty-four journalists covering the trial, this study analyses the content and strategies of these feeds in order to present an understanding of how microblogging is used as a live reporting tool. This study shows the development of standardised language and strategies in reporting on Twitter, concluding that journalists adopt a narrow range of approaches, with no significant variation in terms of gender, location, or medium. This is in contrast to earlier studies in the field (Awad, 2006, Hedman, 2015; Kothari, 2010; Lariscy, Avery, Sweetser, & Howes, 2009 Lasorsa, 2012; Lasorsa, Lewis, & Holton, 2011; Sigal, 1999, Vis, 2013).Peer reviewe

Satellite Detection of Smoke Aerosols Over a Snow/Ice Surface by TOMS

The use of TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) satellite data demonstrates the recently developed technique of using satellite UV radiance measurements to detect absorbing tropospheric aerosols is effective over snow/ice surfaces. Instead of the traditional single wavelength (visible or infrared) method of measuring tropospheric aerosols, this method takes advantage of the wavelength dependent reduction in the backscattered radiance due to the presence of absorbing aerosols over snow/ice surfaces. An example of the resulting aerosol distribution derived from TOMS data is shown for an August 1998 event in which smoke generated by Canadian forest fires drifts over and across Greenland. As the smoke plume moved over Greenland, the TOMS observed 380 nm reflectivity over the snow/ice surface dropped drastically from 90-100% down to 30-40%. To study the effects of this smoke plume in both the UV and visible regions of the spectrum, we compared a smoke-laden spectrum taken over Greenland by the high spectral resolution (300 to 800 nm) GOME instrument with one that is aerosol-free. We also discuss the results of modeling the darkening effects of various types of absorbing aerosols over snow/ice surfaces using a radiative transfer code. Finally, we investigated the history of such events by looking at the nearly twenty year record of TOMS aerosol index measurements and found that there is a large interannual variability in the amount of smoke aerosols observed over Greenland. This information will be available for studies of radiation and transport properties in the Arctic

The generalized Kochen-Specker theorem

A proof of the generalized Kochen-Specker theorem in two dimensions due to Cabello and Nakamura is extended to all higher dimensions. A set of 18 states in four dimensions is used to give closely related proofs of the generalized Kochen-Specker, Kochen-Specker and Bell theorems that shed some light on the relationship between these three theorems.Comment: 5 pages, 1 Table. A new third paragraph and an additional reference have been adde

How Stands Collapse II

I review ten problems associated with the dynamical wave function collapse program, which were described in the first of these two papers. Five of these, the \textit{interaction, preferred basis, trigger, symmetry} and \textit{superluminal} problems, were discussed as resolved there. In this volume in honor of Abner Shimony, I discuss the five remaining problems, \textit{tails, conservation law, experimental, relativity, legitimization}. Particular emphasis is given to the tails problem, first raised by Abner. The discussion of legitimization contains a new argument, that the energy density of the fluctuating field which causes collapse should exert a gravitational force. This force can be repulsive, since this energy density can be negative. Speculative illustrations of cosmological implications are offered.Comment: 37 page

No-signaling Principle Can Determine Optimal Quantum State Discrimination

We provide a general framework of utilizing the no-signaling principle in derivation of the guessing probability in the minimum-error quantum state discrimination. We show that, remarkably, the guessing probability can be determined by the no-signaling principle. This is shown by proving that in the semidefinite programming for the discrimination, the optimality condition corresponds to the constraint that quantum theory cannot be used for a superluminal communication. Finally, a general bound to the guessing probability is presented in a closed form.Comment: 4 page