Cathode Strip Chamber (CSC) raw data unpacking and packing using bit field classes

Unprecedented data rates that are expected at the LHC put high demand on the speed of the detector data acquisition system. The CSC subdetector located in the Muon Endcaps of the CMS detector has a data readout system equivalent in size to that of a whole Tevatron detector (60 VME crates in the CSC DAQ equal to the whole D0 DAQ size). As a part of the High Level Trigger, the CSC data unpacking runs online and it needs to be able to cope with high data rates online. Early versions of the unpacking code used bit shifts and masks to unpack binary data. To reduce the unpacking time we decided to switch to bit field based data unpacking. The switch allowed us to gain an order of magnitude in speed. In this paper we explain how bit field data unpacking works and why it is dramatically faster compared to conventional bit shift and mask methods

Pavlovian drug discrimination with bupropion as a feature positive occasion setter: Substitution by methamphetamine and nicotine, but not cocaine

Bupropion can serve as a discriminative stimulus (SD) in an operant drug discrimination task, and a variety of stimulants substitute for the bupropion SD. There are no reports, however, of bupropion functioning as a Pavlovian occasion setter (i.e., feature positive modulator). The present experiment seeks to fill this gap in the literature by training bupropion in rats as a feature positive modulator that disambiguates when a light will be paired with sucrose. Specifically, on bupropion (10 mg/kg IP) sessions, offset of 15-sec cue lights were followed by brief delivery of liquid sucrose; saline sessions were similar except no sucrose was available. Rats readily acquired the discrimination with more conditioned responding to the light on bupropion sessions. Bupropion is approved for use as a smoking cessation aid, and more recently has drawn attention as a potential pharmacotherapy for cocaine and methamphetamine abuse. Accordingly, after discrimination training we tested the ability of cocaine (1 to 10 mg/kg), methamphetamine (0.1 to 1 mg/kg), and nicotine (0.00625 to 0.2 mg/kg) to substitute for the bupropion feature. Nicotine (0.05 mg/kg) and methamphetamine (0.3 mg/kg) substituted fully for bupropion; cocaine did not substitute. These results extend previous research on shared stimulus properties between bupropion and other stimulants to a Pavlovian occasion setting function. Further, this is the first report of nicotine and methamphetamine substitution for bupropion. The overlap in stimulus properties might explain the effectiveness of bupropion as a smoking cessation aid and highlight the possible utility of bupropion for treatment of stimulant use disorder

ADOPT: a tool for predicting adoption of agricultural innovations

A wealth of evidence exists about the adoption of new practices and technologies in agriculture but there does not appear to have been any attempt to simplify this vast body of research knowledge into a model to make quantitative predictions across a broad range of contexts. This is despite increasing demand from research, development and extension agencies for estimates of likely extent of adoption and the likely timeframes for project impacts. This paper reports on the reasoning underpinning the development of ADOPT (Adoption and Diffusion Outcome Prediction Tool). The tool has been designed to: 1) predict an innovation‘s likely peak extent of adoption and likely time for reaching that peak; 2) encourage users to consider the influence of a structured set of factors affecting adoption; and 3) engage R, D & E managers and practitioners by making adoptability knowledge and considerations more transparent and understandable. The tool is structured around four aspects of adoption: 1) characteristics of the innovation, 2) characteristics of the population, 3) actual advantage of using the innovation, and 4) learning of the actual advantage of the innovation. The conceptual framework used for developing ADOPT is described.Adoption, Diffusion, Prediction, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Reference place conditioning procedure with cocaine: Increased sensitivity for measuring associatively motivated choice behavior in rats

Place conditioning is widely used to study the conditioned rewarding effects of drugs. In the standard version, one reward (cocaine) is compared to no reward (saline). A modified variant of this task, “reference-conditioning” procedure, compares two potentially rewarding stimuli (high versus low cocaine dose). There has been little research on the utility of this procedure. Experiment 1 used the standard protocol with saline administered before confinement to the reference compartment of a place-conditioning chamber. On alternating days, saline, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, or 20 mg/kg cocaine was administered before confinement to the opposite compartment. In Experiments 2 and 3, reference-compartment saline was replaced with 5 and 7.5 mg/kg cocaine, respectively. Relative to saline, 7.5–20 mg/kg cocaine had comparable conditioned rewarding effects (i.e., similar increase in time in paired compartment). When cocaine replaced saline, there was competition at doses lower than 7.5 mg/kg. Rats that received 7.5 versus 2.5 mg/kg spent similar time in each compartment, indicating competition. Competition was not seen with 5 versus 20 mg/kg; preference was for the 20 mg/kg compartment. Experiment 4 showed that the competition at 2.5 mg/kg was not due to reward sensitization—. The reference-conditioning procedure has increased sensitivity for measuring associatively-motivated choice behavior

Vaccines to Combat Smoking

Background—Current U.S. FDA approved biological therapies for treating smoking target central nervous system processes. Although these therapies have had some success, relapse within a year is still high. Clearly additional strategies are needed to aid individuals in maintaining abstinence. Objective & Methods—We briefly discuss promising research using vaccines to combat smoking and then identify some potentially important directions for future research. Results & Conclusions—Immunization with a nicotine vaccine generates drug-specific antibodies that sequester some of the nicotine in peripheral circulation preventing it from entering the brain thus decreasing its addictive effects. Albeit promising, much more research is necessary to identify more efficacious vaccine designs and formulations, as well as optimal immunization regimens. A further understanding of the contributing factors to the substantial individual differences in immunogenicity to these vaccines and how to best use vaccines in combination with other treatment strategies will increase the success of intervention efforts

Vaccines to Combat Smoking

Background—Current U.S. FDA approved biological therapies for treating smoking target central nervous system processes. Although these therapies have had some success, relapse within a year is still high. Clearly additional strategies are needed to aid individuals in maintaining abstinence. Objective & Methods—We briefly discuss promising research using vaccines to combat smoking and then identify some potentially important directions for future research. Results & Conclusions—Immunization with a nicotine vaccine generates drug-specific antibodies that sequester some of the nicotine in peripheral circulation preventing it from entering the brain thus decreasing its addictive effects. Albeit promising, much more research is necessary to identify more efficacious vaccine designs and formulations, as well as optimal immunization regimens. A further understanding of the contributing factors to the substantial individual differences in immunogenicity to these vaccines and how to best use vaccines in combination with other treatment strategies will increase the success of intervention efforts

An investigation of bupropion substitution for the interoceptive stimulus effects of nicotine

smoking cessation aid has not been fully elucidated, studies have found that bupropion and nicotine share behavioral and neurophysiological properties suggesting that bupropion might serve as a substitute for nicotine. In fact, bupropion prompts nicotine-appropriate responding in operant and Pavlovian drug discrimination studies with rats. A majority of the literature examining this substitution pattern has been done with an operant paradigm. The present research extended this literature by further characterizing the behavioral and neuropharmacological properties underlying the substitution for a nicotine conditioned stimulus (CS). Examination of the dose-effect function and temporal dynamics of this substitution pattern showed that bupropion (20 mg/kg) produced conditioned responding similar to nicotine (0.4 mg base/kg) (ED50=9.9 mg/kg) at 15 and 30 min after injection and partially substituted 5 and 60 min post-injection. Bupropion produced a pattern of conditioned responding similar to nicotine during a 60-min extinction test. Additionally, it has been hypothesized that bupropion and nicotine have an overlapping dopaminergic mechanism. We tested the effects of bupropion pretreatment the nicotine dose-effect function and the ability of dopamine antagonist to block the substitution of bupropion for nicotine. Pretreatment with doses of bupropion that did not substitute for the nicotine stimulus (5 and 10 mg/kg) did not effect nicotine conditioned responding; pretreatment with 20 mg/kg attenuated nicotine-evoked responding. Pretreatment with the dopamine antagonists SCH-23390 and eticlopride blocked the substitution. Finally, S,S-hydroxybupropion, the major metabolite of bupropion in humans, did not substitute for the nicotine CS

Identifying Opportunities for Improved Adoption of New Grazing Innovations

Those aiming for high levels of adoption of grazing-related innovation are often frustrated at low and slow uptake by farmers. This paper describes a new tool, ADOPT (Adoption and Diffusion Outcome Prediction Tool), that can be used to evaluate the potential adoptability of grazing innovations (Kuehne et al. 2012). ADOPT aims to: (1) predict an innovation’s likely peak level of adoption and likely time for reaching that peak; (2) encourage users to consider factors affecting adoption during project design; and (3) engage R, D & E managers and practitioners by making adoptability knowledge and considerations more transparent and understandable

Mecamylamine, dihydro-β-erythroidine, and dextromethorphan block conditioned responding evoked by the conditional stimulus effects of nicotine

Current smokers express the desire to quit. However, the majority find it difficult to remain abstinent. As such, research efforts continually seek to develop more effective treatment. One such area of research involves the interoceptive stimulus effects of nicotine as either a discriminative stimulus in an operant drug discrimination task, or more recently as a conditional stimulus (CS) in a discriminated goal-tracking task. The present work investigated the potential role nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the CS effects of nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) using antagonists with differential selectivity for β2*, α7*, α6β2*, and α3β4* receptors. Methyllycaconitine (MLA) had no effect on nicotine-evoked conditioned responding. Mecamylamine and dihydro-β-erythroidine (DHβE) dose dependently blocked responding evoked by the nicotine CS. In a time-course assessment of mecamylamine and DHβE, each blocked conditioned responding when given 5 min before testing and still blocked conditioned responding when administered 200 min before testing. Two novel bis-picolinium analogs (N, N’-(3, 3′-(dodecan-1,12-diyl)-bis-picolinium dibromide [bPiDDB], and N, N’- (decan-1,10-diyl)-bis-picolinium diiodide [bPiDI]) did not block nicotine-evoked conditioned responding. Finally, pretreatment with low dose combinations of mecamylamine, dextromethorphan, and/or bupropion were used to target α3β4* receptors. No combination blocked conditioned responding evoked by the training dose of nicotine. However, a combination of mecamylamine and dextromethorphan partially blocked nicotine-evoked conditioned responding to a lower dose of nicotine (0.1 mg/kg). These results indicate that β2* and potentially α3β4* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors play a role in the CS effects of nicotine and are potential targets for the development of nicotine cessation aids

Mecamylamine, dihydro-β-erythroidine, and dextromethorphan block conditioned responding evoked by the conditional stimulus effects of nicotine

Current smokers express the desire to quit. However, the majority find it difficult to remain abstinent. As such, research efforts continually seek to develop more effective treatment. One such area of research involves the interoceptive stimulus effects of nicotine as either a discriminative stimulus in an operant drug discrimination task, or more recently as a conditional stimulus (CS) in a discriminated goal-tracking task. The present work investigated the potential role nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the CS effects of nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) using antagonists with differential selectivity for β2*, α7*, α6β2*, and α3β4* receptors. Methyllycaconitine (MLA) had no effect on nicotine-evoked conditioned responding. Mecamylamine and dihydro-β-erythroidine (DHβE) dose dependently blocked responding evoked by the nicotine CS. In a time-course assessment of mecamylamine and DHβE, each blocked conditioned responding when given 5 min before testing and still blocked conditioned responding when administered 200 min before testing. Two novel bis-picolinium analogs (N, N’-(3, 3′-(dodecan-1,12-diyl)-bis-picolinium dibromide [bPiDDB], and N, N’- (decan-1,10-diyl)-bis-picolinium diiodide [bPiDI]) did not block nicotine-evoked conditioned responding. Finally, pretreatment with low dose combinations of mecamylamine, dextromethorphan, and/or bupropion were used to target α3β4* receptors. No combination blocked conditioned responding evoked by the training dose of nicotine. However, a combination of mecamylamine and dextromethorphan partially blocked nicotine-evoked conditioned responding to a lower dose of nicotine (0.1 mg/kg). These results indicate that β2* and potentially α3β4* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors play a role in the CS effects of nicotine and are potential targets for the development of nicotine cessation aids