Analysis of SPAR 8 single-axis levitation experiment

The melting and resolidification of SPAR 8 payload melting and resolidification of a glass specimen from the in a containerless condition and the retrieval and examination of the specimen from the. The absence of container contact was assured by use of a single-axis acoustic levitation system. However, the sample contacted a wire cage after being held without container contact by the acoustic field for only approximately 87 seconds. At this time, the sample was still molten and, therefore, flowed aroung the wire and continued to adhere to it. An analysis of why the sample did not remain levitated free of container contact is presented. The experiment is described, and experimental observations are discussed and analyzed

Electronic Raman scattering in Magnetite, Spin vs. Charge gap

We report Raman scattering data of single crystals of magnetite (Fe3O4) with Verwey transition temperatures (Tv) of 123 and 117K, respectively. Both single crystals reveal broad electronic background extending up to 900 wavenumbers (~110 meV). Redistribution of this background is observed when samples are cooled below Tv. In particular, spectra of the low temperature phase show diminished background below 300 wavenumbers followed by an enhancement of the electronic background between 300 and 400 wavenumbers. To enhance the effect of this background redistribution we divide the spectra just below the transition by the spectra just above the transition. A resultant broad peak-like feature is observed, centered at 370 wavenumbers (45 meV). The peak position of this feature does not scale with the transition temperature. We discuss two alternative assignments of this feature to a spin or charge gap in magnetite.Comment: 4 figures, 1 tabl

Comparing Cigarette-Cue Attentional Bias Between People With HIV/Aids and People With Opioid Use Disorder Who Smoke

BACKGROUND: Special populations like people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and people with opioid use disorder (OUD) smoke tobacco cigarettes at rates three to four times greater than the general population. Patients with tobacco use disorder exhibit attentional bias (AB) for cigarette cues. Eye tracking can quantify this bias by measuring fixation time (FT) on cigarette and matched neutral cues, to calculate an AB score. Although previous studies have measured this bias in people who smoke without any other comorbid conditions, no study, to our knowledge, has measured or compared this bias in special populations. METHODS: We performed exploratory analyses on eye tracking data collected in two separate randomized clinical trials (RCTs) (NCT05049460, NCT05295953). We compared FT and cigarette-cue AB score (measured by subtracting FT on neutral cues from FT on cigarette cues) between PLWHA and people with OUD who smoke, using a visual probe task and Tobii Pro Fusion eye tracker. We used two cigarette cue types, one encompassing people smoking cigarettes and the other consisting of cigarette paraphernalia. We used two cue presentation times, 1000 and 2000 milliseconds (ms). RESULTS: Cues of people smoking cigarettes elicited greater AB than cues of cigarette paraphernalia across both subject groups when cues were presented for 2000 ms, but not 1000 ms. PLWHA who smoke exhibited greater AB for cues of people smoking cigarettes than cigarette paraphernalia when presented for 2000 ms compared to people with OUD who smoke. CONCLUSION: We use cigarette-cue AB to quantify craving and cigarette consumption in two populations smoking at elevated rates. The addition of social cues potentiates cigarette cue AB, based on cue type and stimulus presentation time. Understanding the neurobiology of this relationship can help design novel smoking cessation treatments that target AB and prevent relapse in these populations with suboptimal response to smoking cessation treatments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical trials that provided the data for post hoc analyses are NCT05049460 and NCT05295953

A Pilot Investigation of Acute Inhibitory Control Training in Cocaine Users

Background—Disrupted response inhibition and presence of drug-cue attentional bias in cocaine-using individuals have predicted poor treatment outcomes. Inhibitory control training could help improve treatment outcomes by strengthening cognitive control. This pilot study assessed the effects of acute inhibitory control training to drug- and non-drug-related cues on response inhibition performance and cocaine-cue attentional bias in cocaine-using individuals. Methods—Participants who met criteria for a cocaine-use disorder underwent five sessions of inhibitory control training to either non-drug-related cues (i.e., rectangles) or cocaine cues (n=10/condition) in a single day. Response inhibition and attentional bias were assessed prior to and following training using the stop-signal task and visual-probe task with eye tracking, respectively. Results—Training condition groups did not differ on demographics, inhibitory control training performance, response inhibition, or cocaine-cue attentional bias. Response inhibition performance improved as a function of inhibitory control training in both conditions. Cocaine-cue attentional bias was observed, but did not change as a function of inhibitory control training in either condition. Conclusions—Response inhibition in cocaine-using individuals was augmented by acute inhibitory control training, which may improve treatment outcomes through better behavioral inhibition. Future studies should investigate longer-term implementation of inhibitory control training, as well as combining inhibitory control training with other treatment modalities

Effectiveness of a Pharmacist-Directed Tdap Immunization Program for a University Campus

Background/Objectives: Despite a slight increase in Tdap immunization rates, the total numbers are still low among adults. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of a pharmacist-directed immunization program. The primary objective was to assess the increase in vaccination rates among the subjects indicated to receive the Tdap vaccine. The secondary objective was to assess changes in pre and post vaccine knowledge scores.Methods: Employees enrolled in the pharmacist-directed employee wellness clinic on a university campus in Ohio were screened forTdap vaccination at the annual employee health fair during Fall of 2016. Results were cross-referenced with the state vaccination database. Subjects were recruited via email to an educational program. Indicated patients were asked to schedule an appointment with a pharmacist. Assessment data on the educational program was collected before the presentation and after the appointment when the vaccine was administered. The efficacy endpoint for the primary objective was a 20% increase in baseline vaccination rates.Results: Of the 198 subjects recruited, a total of 54 received Tdap vaccination. The baseline vaccination rate of the study populationwas 37.4% and increased by 27.2% after the intervention to a total vaccination rate of 64.6% (p< 0.001). Six knowledge assessmentswere utilized for the secondary objective; however, these results did not show significance.Conclusions: A pharmacist-directed Tdap immunization program is effective at increasing vaccination rates. Even though the changein education assessment data proved more observational, the education provided will empower subjects to make informed healthcaredecisions

Effect of short-term lycopene supplementation and postprandial dyslipidemia on plasma antioxidants and biomarkers of endothelial health in young, healthy individuals

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the effect of a high-fat meal (HFm) on plasma lipid-soluble antioxidants and biomarkers of vascular oxidative stress and inflammation would be attenuated by short-term lycopene supplementation in young healthy subjects. Following restriction of lycopene-containing foods for 1-wk (LYr), blood was collected in a fasting state and 3 h after a HFm and a low-fat meal (LFm) in N = 18 men aged 23 ± 2 years, and after a HFm only in N = 9 women aged 23 ± 1 years. Blood was also sampled pre- and post-meals following 1-wk of 80 mg/day lycopene supplementation (LYs) under continued dietary LYr. In the fasting state, LYs compared with LYr not only evoked a >2-fold increase in plasma lycopene but also increased plasma β-carotene and α-tocopherol (p < 0.01), though LYs did not affect plasma nitrate/nitrite (biomarker of nitric oxide), malondialdehyde (biomarker of lipid oxidative stress), vascular- and intercellular-adhesion molecules or C-reactive protein (biomarkers of inflammation). Contrary to the hypothesis, the HFm-induced dyslipidemic state did not affect plasma malondialdehyde, C-reactive protein, or adhesion molecules in either LYr or LYs. Both the HFm and LFm were associated with decreases in the nitric oxide metabolites nitrate/nitrite and lipid-soluble antioxidants (p < 0.05). The data revealed that 1-wk of LYs increased plasma lycopene, β-carotene, and α-tocopherol yet despite these marked changes to the plasma lipid-soluble antioxidant pool, biomarkers of vascular oxidative stress and inflammation were unaffected in the fasted state as well as during dyslipidemia induced by a HFm in young healthy subjects

N-Acetylcysteine Reduces Cocaine-Cue Attentional Bias and Differentially Alters Cocaine Self-Administration Based on Dosing Order

Background—Disrupted glutamate homeostasis is thought to contribute to cocaine-use disorder, in particular, by enhancing the incentive salience of cocaine stimuli. n-Acetylcysteine might be useful in cocaine-use disorder by normalizing glutamate function. In prior studies, n-acetylcysteine blocked the reinstatement of cocaine seeking in laboratory animals and reduced the salience of cocaine stimuli and delayed relapse in humans. Methods—The present study determined the ability of maintenance on n-acetylcysteine (0 or 2400 mg/day, counterbalanced) to reduce the incentive salience of cocaine stimuli, as measured by an attentional bias task, and attenuate intranasal cocaine self-administration (0, 30, and 60 mg). Fourteen individuals (N = 14) who met criteria for cocaine abuse or dependence completed this within-subjects, double-blind, crossover-design study. Results—Cocaine-cue attentional bias was greatest following administration of 0 mg cocaine during placebo maintenance, and was attenuated by n-acetylcysteine. Cocaine maintained responding during placebo and n-acetylcysteine maintenance, but the reinforcing effects of cocaine were significantly attenuated across both maintenance conditions in participants maintained on n-acetylcysteine first compared to participants maintained on placebo first. Conclusions—These results collectively suggest that a reduction in the incentive salience of cocaine-related stimuli during n-acetylcysteine maintenance may be accompanied by reductions in cocaine self-administration. These results are in agreement with, and link, prior preclinical and clinical trial results suggesting that n-acetylcysteine might be useful for preventing cocaine relapse by attenuating the incentive salience of cocaine cues

Morphology of the 12-micron Seyfert Galaxies: II. Optical and Near-Infrared Image Atlas

We present 263 optical and near-infrared (NIR) images for 42 Seyfert 1s and 48 Seyfert 2s, selected from the Extended 12-micron Galaxy Sample. Elliptically-averaged profiles are derived from the images, and isophotal radii and magnitudes are calculated from these. We also report virtual aperture photometry, that judging from comparison with previous work, is accurate to roughly 0.05mag in the optical, and 0.07mag in the NIR. Our B-band isophotal magnitude and radii, obtained from ellipse fitting, are in good agreement with those of RC3. When compared with the B band, V, I, J, and K isophotal diameters show that the colors in the outer regions of Seyferts are consistent with the colors of normal spirals. Differences in the integrated isophotal colors and comparison with a simple model show that the active nucleus+bulge is stronger and redder in the NIR than in the optical. Finally, roughly estimated Seyfert disk surface brightnesses are significantly brighter in B and K than those in normal spirals of similar morphological type.Comment: 17 pgs including figures; Table 2 is a separate file. Complete Figure 1 is available by contacting the authors. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Naltrexone-Bupropion Combinations Do Not Affect Cocaine Self-Administration in Humans

The FDA has not yet approved a pharmacotherapy for cocaine use disorder despite nearly four decades of research. This study determined the initial efficacy, safety, and tolerability of naltrexone-bupropion combinations as a putative pharmacotherapy for cocaine use disorder. Thirty-one (31) non-treatment seeking participants with cocaine use disorder completed a mixed-design human laboratory study. Participants were randomly assigned to the naltrexone conditions (i.e., 0, 50 mg/day; between-subject factor) and maintained on escalating doses of bupropion (i.e., 0, 100, 200, 400 mg/day; within-subject factor) for at least four days prior to the conduct of experimental sessions. Cocaine self-administration (IN, 0, 40, 80 mg) was then determined using a modified progressive ratio and relapse procedure. Subjective and cardiovascular effects were also measured. Cocaine produced prototypical dose-related increases in self-administration, subjective outcomes (e.g., Like Drug ), and cardiovascular indices (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure) during placebo maintenance. Naltrexone and bupropion alone, or in combination, did not significantly decrease self-administration on either procedure. Low doses of bupropion (i.e., 100 mg) blunted the effects of the cocaine on subjective measures of Like Drug and Stimulated . No unexpected adverse effects were observed with naltrexone and bupropion, alone and combined, in conjunction with cocaine. Together, these results do not support the use of these bupropion-naltrexone combinations for the treatment of cocaine use disorder. Future research should determine if novel drug combinations may decrease cocaine self-administration