English Learning Using Infographics for Balinese Secondary School Students

As the facilitator of the learning process, the teacher needs to utilize appropriate media for students to help them learn better. Visual media is considered a great help as it provides information more attractively. Thus, this study aimed to develop infographics as an English teaching medium for 8th-grade junior high school students. The subject of this research was the English learning media used by the 8th-grade teacher at SMPN 4 Singaraja. This study was a Design and Development research which consisted of 3 steps of research, namely design, development, and evaluation. The researcher's notes, infographic development blueprints, instrument validation, and expert judgment were used to collect the data. The data were from the researchers' notes, and the infographic development blueprint was described qualitatively. Meanwhile, the score obtained from the instrument validation and the results of the expert judgment were explained quantitatively. The final result indicated that the infographic is very good to be used as an English teaching medium, especially for the 8th grade of junior high school students. Therefore, this research concluded that by developing books containing infographics, English teachers could have another type of visual media to teach all topics in grade 8 by using infographics

Experimental and calculated circular dichroism spectra of monoaza[5]helicenes

Circular dichroism (CD) spectra have been measured in the range of 400–200 nm on CH3OH solutions of both enantiomers for the almost complete series of monoaza[5]helicenes, namely the molecules where the hetero N atom occupies positions 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively (the 2 isomer is missing due to difficulties in the synthesis). CD spectra recorded at controlled room temperature allow one to define precise racemization rates, that are nicely interpreted on the basis of DFT molecular orbital calculations. Time-dependent DFT methods provide us with calculated CD and UV spectra, that are compared with the corresponding experimental data. We discuss the role of the N atom in determining the height of the racemization barrier and in shaping the appearance of the CD spectra

Effects of MDMA on Extracellular Dopamine and Serotonin Levels in Mice Lacking Dopamine and/or Serotonin Transporters

3,4-Methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has both stimulatory and hallucinogenic properties which make its psychoactive effects unique and different from those of typical psychostimulant and hallucinogenic agents. The present study investigated the effects of MDMA on extracellular dopamine (DAex) and serotonin (5-HTex) levels in the striatum and prefrontal cortex (PFC) using in vivo microdialysis techniques in mice lacking DA transporters (DAT) and/or 5-HT transporters (SERT). subcutaneous injection of MDMA (3, 10 mg/kg) significantly increased striatal DAex in wild-type mice, SERT knockout mice, and DAT knockout mice, but not in DAT/SERT double-knockout mice. The MDMA-induced increase in striatal DAex in SERT knockout mice was significantly less than in wildtype mice. In the PFC, MDMA dose-dependently increased DAex levels in wildtype, DAT knockout, SERT knockout and DAT/SERT double-knockout mice to a similar extent. In contrast, MDMA markedly increased 5-HTex in wildtype and DAT knockout mice and slightly increased 5-HTex in SERT-KO and DAT/SERT double-knockout mice. The results confirm that MDMA acts at both DAT and SERT and increases DAex and 5-HTex

MOP Reduction During Long-Term Methamphetamine Withdrawal was Restored by Chronic Post-Treatment with Fluoxetine

Previously, we found fluoxetine reduces methamphetamine preference in mice. However, effects of fluoxetine on developed methamphetamine preference and on methamphetamine induced gene expression changes have been largely unknown. The present study investigates effects of post-treatment with fluoxetine on methamphetamine dependence and on gene expressions after long-term withdrawal in mice. First, we examined whether chronic post-treatment with fluoxetine attenuated methamphetamine-conditioned place preference. Next, we examined the changes in gene expression levels after long-term withdrawal (with saline or fluoxetine treatment) following chronic methamphetamine treatment. Using mRNA from the pooled frontal cortices of 10 mice per group, gene expression analyses were performed using a custom-developed cDNA array and a real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. Chronic post-treatments with fluoxetine abolished the conditioned place preference developed by methamphetamine administrations. Even after long-term withdrawal from repeated methamphetamine administration, µ-opioid receptor (MOP) gene expression was significantly reduced in the frontal cortex. The reduced MOP gene expression in the frontal cortex was restored by chronic administration with fluoxetine. These changes were confirmed by Western blot analyses. These findings suggest that the chronic post-treatments with fluoxetine might be effective for restoring the reduction of MOP levels in the frontal cortex following long-term abstinence from methamphetamine

Association Study of Two Cannabinoid Receptor Genes, CNR1 and CNR2, with Methamphetamine Dependence

Several studies have suggested that the endocannabinoid system plays significant roles in the vulnerability to psychiatric disorders including drug abuse. To examine the possible association of the CNR1 and CNR2 genes, which encode cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2, with methamphetamine dependence, we investigated three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs806379, rs1535255, rs2023239) in intron 2 of the CNR1 gene and a nonsynonymous SNP, Q63R, in the CNR2 gene. The study samples consisted of 223 patients with methamphetamine dependence and 292 age- and sex- matched controls. There were no significant differences between the patients and controls in genotypic or allelic distribution of any SNP of the CNR1 and CNR2 genes. We also analyzed the clinical features of methamphetamine dependence. Rs806379 of the CNR1 gene showed a significant association with the phenotype of latency of psychosis after the first consumption of methamphetamine. Patients with the T allele or T-positive genotypes (T/T or A/T) may develop a rapid onset of psychosis after methamphetamine abuse. The present study suggests a possibility that genetic variants of the CNR1 gene may produce a liability to the complication of psychotic state after abuse of methamphetamine; however, our findings need to be confirmed by future replications

Association Between 5HT1b Receptor Gene and Methamphetamine Dependence

Several lines of evidence implicate serotonergic dysfunction in diverse psychiatric disorders including anxiety, depression, and drug abuse. Mice with a knock-out of the 5HT1b receptor gene (HTR1B) displayed increased locomotor response to cocaine and elevated motivation to self-administer cocaine and alcohol. Previous genetic studies showed significant associations of HTR1B with alcohol dependence and substance abuse, but were followed by inconsistent results. We examined a case-control genetic association study of HTR1B with methamphetamine-dependence patients in a Japanese population. The subjects were 231 patients with methamphetamine dependence, 214 of whom had a co-morbidity of methamphetamine psychosis, and 248 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs130058 (A-165T), rs1228814 (A-700C) and rs1228814 (A+1180G) of HTR1B were genotyped. There was no significant difference in allelic and genotypic distributions of the SNPs between methamphetamine dependence and the control. Genetic associations of HTR1B were tested with several clinical phenotypes of methamphetamine dependence and/or psychosis, such as age at first abuse, duration of latency from the first abuse to onset of psychosis, prognosis of psychosis after therapy, and complication of spontaneous relapse of psychotic state. There was, however, no asscocation between any SNP and the clinical phenotypes. Haplotype analyses showed the three SNPs examined were within linkage disequilibrium, which implied that the three SNPs covered the whole HTR1B, and distribution of estimated haplotype frequency was not different between the groups. The present findings may indicate that HTR1B does not play a major role in individual susceptibility to methamphetamine dependence or development of methamphetamine-induced psychosis

Altered Neurocircuitry in the Dopamine Transporter Knockout Mouse Brain

The plasma membrane transporters for the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine modulate the dynamics of these monoamine neurotransmitters. Thus, activity of these transporters has significant consequences for monoamine activity throughout the brain and for a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Gene knockout (KO) mice that reduce or eliminate expression of each of these monoamine transporters have provided a wealth of new information about the function of these proteins at molecular, physiological and behavioral levels. In the present work we use the unique properties of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to probe the effects of altered dopaminergic dynamics on meso-scale neuronal circuitry and overall brain morphology, since changes at these levels of organization might help to account for some of the extensive pharmacological and behavioral differences observed in dopamine transporter (DAT) KO mice. Despite the smaller size of these animals, voxel-wise statistical comparison of high resolution structural MR images indicated little morphological change as a consequence of DAT KO. Likewise, proton magnetic resonance spectra recorded in the striatum indicated no significant changes in detectable metabolite concentrations between DAT KO and wild-type (WT) mice. In contrast, alterations in the circuitry from the prefrontal cortex to the mesocortical limbic system, an important brain component intimately tied to function of mesolimbic/mesocortical dopamine reward pathways, were revealed by manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI). Analysis of co-registered MEMRI images taken over the 26 hours after introduction of Mn^(2+) into the prefrontal cortex indicated that DAT KO mice have a truncated Mn^(2+) distribution within this circuitry with little accumulation beyond the thalamus or contralateral to the injection site. By contrast, WT littermates exhibit Mn^(2+) transport into more posterior midbrain nuclei and contralateral mesolimbic structures at 26 hr post-injection. Thus, DAT KO mice appear, at this level of anatomic resolution, to have preserved cortico-striatal-thalamic connectivity but diminished robustness of reward-modulating circuitry distal to the thalamus. This is in contradistinction to the state of this circuitry in serotonin transporter KO mice where we observed more robust connectivity in more posterior brain regions using methods identical to those employed here

Validation and reference values of the EORTC QLQ-CML24 questionnaire to assess health-related quality of life in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) assessment is important to facilitate decisions in the current treatment landscape of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Therefore, the availability of a validated HRQOL questionnaire, specifically developed for CML patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), may enhance quality of research in this area. We performed an international study including 782 CML patients to assess the validity of the EORTC QLQ-CML 24 questionnaire, and to generate HRQOL reference values to facilitate interpretation of results in future studies. Internal consistency, assessed with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, ranged from 0.66 to 0.83. In the confirmatory factor analysis, all standardized factor loadings exceeded the threshold of 0.40 (range 0.49–0.97), confirming the hypothesized scale structure. Reference values stratified by age and sex were also generated. Our findings support the use of the EORTC QLQ-CML 24, in conjunction with the EORTC QLQ-C30, as a valuable measure to assess HRQOL in CML patients