Cue-Reactors: Individual Differences in Cue-Induced Craving after Food or Smoking Abstinence

Background: Pavlovian conditioning plays a critical role in both drug addiction and binge eating. Recent animal research suggests that certain individuals are highly sensitive to conditioned cues, whether they signal food or drugs. Are certain humans also more reactive to both food and drug cues? Methods: We examined cue-induced craving for both cigarettes and food, in the same individuals (n = 15 adult smokers). Subjects viewed smoking-related or food-related images after abstaining from either smoking or eating. Results: Certain individuals reported strong cue-induced craving after both smoking and food cues. That is, subjects who reported strong cue-induced craving for cigarettes also rated stronger cue-induced food craving. Conclusions: In humans, like in nonhumans, there may be a ‘‘cue-reactive’ ’ phenotype, consisting of individuals who are highly sensitive to conditioned stimuli. This finding extends recent reports from nonhuman studies. Further understanding this subgroup of smokers may allow clinicians to individually tailor therapies for smoking cessation

Role of the mesoamygdaloid dopamine projection in emotional learning

Amygdala dopamine is crucially involved in the acquisition of Pavlovian associations, as measured via conditioned approach to the location of the unconditioned stimulus (US). However, learning begins before skeletomotor output, so this study assessed whether amygdala dopamine is also involved in earlier 'emotional' learning. A variant of the conditioned reinforcement (CR) procedure was validated where training was restricted to curtail the development of selective conditioned approach to the US location, and effects of amygdala dopamine manipulations before training or later CR testing assessed. Experiment 1a presented a light paired (CS+ group) or unpaired (CS- group) with a US. There were 1, 2 or 10 sessions, 4 trials per session. Then, the US was removed, and two novel levers presented. One lever (CR+) presented the light, and lever pressing was recorded. Experiment 1b also included a tone stimulus. Experiment 2 applied intra-amygdala R(+) 7-OH-DPAT (10 nmol/1.0 A mu l/side) before two training sessions (Experiment 2a) or a CR session (Experiment 2b). For Experiments 1a and 1b, the CS+ group preferred the CR+ lever across all sessions. Conditioned alcove approach during 1 or 2 training sessions or associated CR tests was low and nonspecific. In Experiment 2a, R(+) 7-OH-DPAT before training greatly diminished lever pressing during a subsequent CR test, preferentially on the CR+ lever. For Experiment 2b, R(+) 7-OH-DPAT infusions before the CR test also reduced lever pressing. Manipulations of amygdala dopamine impact the earliest stage of learning in which emotional reactions may be most prevalent

Congenital Cytomegalovirus Mortality in the United States, 1990–2006

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a member of the herpes family of viruses, which is transmitted by sexual and non-sexual contact. Human CMV causes a wide variety of infection and illness in healthy adults, in those with compromised immune systems (such as AIDS), in those with cardiovascular disease, and in pregnant women who can pass the infection to their unborn child (congenital CMV). Treatment options for congenital CMV are limited and no effective vaccine to protect against CMV currently exists. Previous studies have demonstrated that African Americans and Mexican Americans are at an increased risk for congenital CMV infections. In this study, the authors examined death certificate data of US Residents from 1990–2006 in which congenital CMV was listed as one of the diagnoses at death. The analysis demonstrated that there is a significant burden of congenital CMV deaths in infants (<1 year old) with African Americans and Native Americans overrepresented. This study helps quantify congenital CMV deaths among US residents and adds further support to the importance of funding CMV vaccine research

Negative life events and suicide risk in college students: Conditional indirect effects of hopelessness and self-compassion

Objective: Suicide risk is a significant public health concern for college students and may be exacerbated by hopelessness resulting from negative life events (NLE), yet may be ameliorated by self-compassion. We examined the mediating role of hopelessness in the relation between NLE and suicidal behavior, and the moderating influence of self-compassion on all model paths. Participants: Participants were 338 undergraduates (89% white; 67% female). Data were collected from December 2014 to December 2015. Methods: Participants completed the Life Events Checklist for College Students, Beck Hopelessness Inventory, Self-Compassion Scale, and Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire – Revised. Results: Negative life events were related to greater hopelessness and, in turn, to more suicidal behavior, yet self-compassion attenuated this effect. Conclusions: Self-compassion may buffer the NLE–hopelessness linkage, thereby reducing suicide risk among college students. Therapeutic promotion of self-compassion, and reduction of hopelessness, may be important suicide prevention strategies on college campuses

Missing paternal demographics: A novel indicator for identifying high risk population of adverse pregnancy outcomes

BACKGROUND: One of every 6 United Status birth certificates contains no information on fathers. There might be important differences in the pregnancy outcomes between mothers with versus those without partner information. The object of this study was to assess whether and to what extent outcomes in pregnant women who did not have partner information differ from those who had. METHODS: We carried out a population-based retrospective cohort study based on the registry data in the United States for the period of 1995–1997, which was a matched multiple birth file (only twins were included in the current analysis). We divided the study subjects into three groups according to the availability of partner information: available, partly missing, and totally missing. We compared the distribution of maternal characteristics, maternal morbidity, labor and delivery complications, obstetric interventions, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, low birth weight, congenital anomalies, fetal death, neonatal death, post-neonatal death, and neonatal morbidity among three study groups. RESULTS: There were 304466 twins included in our study. Mothers whose partner's information was partly missing and (especially) totally missing tended to be younger, of black race, unmarried, with less education, smoking cigarette during pregnancy, and with inadequate prenatal care. The rates of preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, low birth weight, Apgar score <7, fetal mortality, neonatal mortality, and post-neonatal mortality were significantly increased in mothers whose partner's information was partly or (especially) totally missing. CONCLUSIONS: Mothers whose partner's information was partly and (especially) totally missing are at higher risk of adverse pregnant outcomes, and clinicians and public health workers should be alerted to this important social factor

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

The motivational drive to natural rewards is modulated by prenatal glucocorticoid exposure

Exposure to elevated levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) during neurodevelopment has been identified as a triggering factor for the development of reward-associated disorders in adulthood. Disturbances in the neural networks responsible for the complex processes that assign value to rewards and associated stimuli are critical for disorders such as depression, obsessive–compulsive disorders, obesity and addiction. Essential in the understanding on how cues influence behavior is the Pavlovian–instrumental transfer (PIT), a phenomenon that refers to the capacity of a Pavlovian stimulus that predicts a reward to elicit instrumental responses for that same reward. Here, we demonstrate that in utero exposure to GCs (iuGC) impairs both general and selective versions of the PIT paradigm, suggestive of deficits in motivational drive. The iuGC animals presented impaired neuronal activation pattern upon PIT performance in cortical and limbic regions, as well as morphometric changes and reduced levels of dopamine in prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, key regions involved in the integration of Pavlovian and instrumental stimuli. Normalization of dopamine levels rescued this behavior, a process that relied on D2/D3, but not D1, dopamine receptor activation. In summary, iuGC exposure programs the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic circuitry, leading to a reduction in the attribution of the incentive salience to cues, in a dopamine-D2/D3-dependent manner. Ultimately, these results are important to understand how GCs bias incentive processes, a fact that is particularly relevant for disorders where differential attribution of incentive salience is critical.We thank Pedro Morgado for discussions and help in the technical aspects of PIT procedure. This project was supported by a grant of Institute for the Study of Affective Neuroscience (ISAN) and by Janssen Neuroscience Prize. CS-C, SB, MMC and AJR are recipients of Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) fellowships (CS-C: SFRH/BD/51992/2012; SB: SFRH/BD/89936/2012; MMC: SRFH/BD/51061/2010; AJR: SFRH/BPD/33611/2009)

MediPlEx - a tool to combine in silico & experimental gene expression profiles of the model legume Medicago truncatula

Henckel K, Küster H, Stutz L, Goesmann A. MediPlEx - a tool to combine in silico and experimental gene expression profiles of the model legume Medicago truncatula. BMC Research Notes. 2010;3(1): 262.BACKGROUND:Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) are in general used to gain a first insight into gene activities from a species of interest. Subsequently, and typically based on a combination of EST and genome sequences, microarray-based expression analyses are performed for a variety of conditions. In some cases, a multitude of EST and microarray experiments are conducted for one species, covering different tissues, cell states, and cell types. Under these circumstances, the challenge arises to combine results derived from the different expression profiling strategies, with the goal to uncover novel information on the basis of the integrated datasets.FINDINGS:Using our new application, MediPlEx (MEDIcago truncatula multiPLe EXpression analysis), expression data from EST experiments, oligonucleotide microarrays and Affymetrix GeneChips can be combined and analyzed, leading to a novel approach to integrated transcriptome analysis. We have validated our tool via the identification of a set of well-characterized AM-specific and AM-induced marker genes, identified by MediPlEx on the basis of in silico and experimental gene expression profiles from roots colonized with AM fungi.CONCLUSIONS:MediPlEx offers an integrated analysis pipeline for different sets of expression data generated for the model legume Medicago truncatula. As expected, in silico and experimental gene expression data that cover the same biological condition correlate well. The collection of differentially expressed genes identified via MediPlEx provides a starting point for functional studies in plant mutants. MediPlEx can freely be used at http://www.cebitec.uni-bielefeld.de/mediplex