Nuance and behavioral cogency: How the Visible Burrow System inspired the Stress-Alternatives Model and conceptualization of the continuum of anxiety

By creating the Visible Burrow System (VBS) Bob Blanchard found a way to study the interaction of genetics, physiology, environment, and adaptive significance in a model with broad validity. The VBS changed the way we think about anxiety and affective disorders by allowing the mechanisms which control them to be observed in a dynamic setting. Critically, Blanchard used the VBS and other models to show how behavioral systems like defense are dependent upon context and behavioral elements unique to the individual. Inspired by the VBS, we developed a Stress Alternatives Model (SAM) to further explore the multifaceted dynamics of the stress response with a dichotomous choice condition. Like the VBS, the SAM is a naturalistic model built upon risk assessment and defensive behavior, but with a choice of response: escape or submission to a large conspecific aggressor. The anxiety of novelty during the first escape must be weighed against fear of the aggressor, and a decision must be made. Both outcomes are adaptively significant, evidenced by a 50/50 split in outcome across several study systems. By manipulating the variables of the SAM, we show that a gradient of anxiety exists that spans the contextual settings of escaping an open field, escaping from aggression, and submitting to aggression. These findings correspond with increasing levels of corticosterone and increasing levels of NPS and BDNF in the central amygdala as the context changes.Whereas some anxiolytics were able to reduce the latency to escape for some animals, only with the potent anxiolytic drug antalarmin (CRF1R-blocker) and the anxiogenic drug yohimbine (α2 antagonist) were we able to reverse the outcome for a substantial proportion of individuals. Our findings promote a novel method for modeling anxiety, offering a distinction between low-and-high levels, and accounting for individual variability. The translational value of the VBS is immeasurable, and it guided us and many other researchers to seek potential clinical solutions through a deeper understanding of regional neurochemistry and gene expression in concert with an ecological behavioral model

Learning and CRF-Induced Indecision during Escape and Submission in Rainbow Trout during Socially Aggressive Interactions in the Stress-Alternatives Model

Socially stressful environments induce a phenotypic dichotomy of coping measures for populations in response to a dominant aggressor and given a route of egress. This submission- (Stay) or escape-oriented (Escape) dichotomy represents individual decision-making under the stressful influence of hostile social environments. We utilized the Stress-Alternatives Model (SAM) to explore behavioral factors which might predict behavioral phenotype in rainbow trout. The SAM is a compartmentalized tank, with smaller and larger trout separated by an opaque divider until social interaction, and another divider occluding a safety zone, accessible by way of an escape route only large enough for the smaller fish. We hypothesized that distinctive behavioral responses during the first social interaction would indicate a predisposition for one of the behavioral phenotypes in the subsequent interactions. Surprisingly, increased amount or intensity of aggression received had no significant effect on promoting escape in test fish. In fact, during the first day of interaction, fish that turned toward their larger opponent during attack eventually learned to escape. Escaping fish also learn to monitor the patrolling behavior of aggressors, and eventually escape primarily when they are not being observed. Escape per se, was also predicted in trout exhibiting increased movements directed toward the escape route. By contrast, fish that consistently remained in the tank with the aggressor (Stay) showed significantly higher frequency of swimming in subordinate positions, at the top or the bottom of the water column, as well as sitting at the bottom. In addition, a corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-induced behavior, snap-shake, was also displayed in untreated fish during aggressive social interaction, and blocked by a CRF1 receptor antagonist. Especially prevalent among the Stay phenotype, snap-shake indicates indecision regarding escape-related behaviors. Snap-shake was also exhibited by fish of the Escape phenotype, showing a positive correlation with latency to escape. These results demonstrate adaptive responses to stress that reflect evolutionarily conserved stress neurocircuitry which may translate to psychological disorders and decision-making across vertebrate taxa

On the Effectiveness of an Opportunistic Traffic Management System for Vehicular Networks

7 pages, 5 postscript figures, submitted to Physical Review LettersWe search for hadronic decays of a light Higgs boson (A0) produced in radiative decays of an Upsilon(2S) or Upsilon(3S) meson, Upsilon --> gamma A0. The data have been recorded by the BABAR experiment at the Upsilon(3S) and Upsilon(2S) center of mass energies, and include (121.3 \pm 1.2) x 10^6 Upsilon(3S) and (98.3 \pm 0.9) x 10^6 Upsilon(2S) mesons. No significant signal is observed. We set 90% confidence level upper limits on the product branching fractions B(Upsilon(nS)-->gamma A0) x B(A0-->hadrons) (n=2 or 3) that range from 1 x 10^{-6} for an A0 mass of 0.3 GeV/c^2 to 8 x 10^{-5} at 7 GeV/c^2

Observation of a new D-s meson decaying to DK at a mass of 2.86 GeV/c(2) RID C-2728-2008 RID C-5223-2009 RID C-5719-2008 RID D-1055-2009 RID A-2675-2009

We observe a new D-s meson with mass (2856.6 +/- 1.5(stat)+/- 5.0(syst)) MeV/c(2) and width (48 +/- 7(stat)+/- 10(syst)) MeV/c(2) decaying into (DK+)-K-0 and (D+KS0). In the same mass distributions, we also observe a broad structure with mass (2688 +/- 4(stat)+/- 3(syst)) MeV/c(2) and width (112 +/- 7(stat)+/- 36(syst)) MeV/c(2). To obtain this result, we use 240 fb(-1) of data recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) storage rings at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center running at center-of-mass energies near 10.6 GeV

Observation of the exclusive reaction e(+)e(-)->phi eta at root s=10.58 GeV

We report the observation of e(+)e(-)->phi eta near root s=10.58 GeV with 6.5 sigma significance in the K+K-gamma gamma final state in a data sample of 224 fb(-1) collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II e(+)e(-) storage rings. We measure the restricted radiation-corrected cross section to be sigma(e(+)e(-)->phi eta)=2.1 +/- 0.4(stat)+/- 0.1(syst) fb within the range vertical bar cos theta(*)vertical bar < 0.8, where theta(*) is the center-of-mass polar angle of the phi meson. The phi meson is required to be in the invariant mass range of 1.008 < m(phi)< 1.035 GeV/c(2). The radiation-corrected cross section in the full cos theta(*) range is extrapolated to be 2.9 +/- 0.5(stat)+/- 0.1(syst) fb

Search for lepton flavor violating decays tau(+/-)-> l(+/-)omega

A search for lepton flavor violating decays of a tau to a lighter-mass charged lepton and an omega vector meson is performed using 384.1 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data collected with the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center PEP-II storage ring. No signal is found, and the upper limits on the branching ratios are determined to be B(tau(+/-) --> e(+/-)omega) mu(+/-)omega) < 1.0 x 10(-7) at 90% confidence level

Study of resonances in exclusive B decays to (D)over-bar((*))D((*))K

We present a study of resonances in exclusive decays of B mesons to (D) over bar (DK)-D-(*)-K-(*). We report the observation of the decays B ->(D) over bar D-(*)(s1)+(2536) where the D-s1(+)(2536) is reconstructed in the (DK+)-K-*0 and (D*+KS0) decay channels. We report also the observation of the decays B ->psi(3770)K where the psi(3770) decays to (D) over bar D-0(0) and D-D+. In addition, we present the observation of an enhancement for the (D) over bar D-*0(0) invariant mass in the decays B ->(D) over bar (DK)-D-*0-K-0, at a mass of (3875.1(-0.5)(+0.7)+/- 0.5) MeV/c(2) with a width of (3.0(-1.4)(+1.9)+/- 0.9) MeV (the first errors are statistical and the second are systematic). Branching fractions and spin studies are shown for the three resonances. The results are based on 347 fb(-1) of data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory