The Vehicle, Fall 1978

Vol. 2, No. 1 Table of Contents FarewellGregory Manifoldpage 4 Visiting HoursCindy Grocepage 5 The Deer KillerG.L. Bullardpage 6 Identity CrisisCindy Grocepage 9 I ScreamDale Stroheckerpage 11 John RobertLee Martinpage 12 Smiling in WinterNancy Cunninghampage 20 Walt Disney Told Us LiesThomas C. Howellpage 20 LakesideMary McDanielpage 21 Heavy LiteratureTerry Kroenungpage 22 Old FriendsMary McDanielpage 27 A Sunny AfternoonJoan O\u27Connorpage 28 Always TomorrowMary McDanielpage 29 Four SunsetsGregory Manifoldpage 30 Come FreeBob Welshpage 32 Faded PinstripesLee Martinpage 33 WindsongCarolyn Perrypage 38 SilenceSylvia Aldertonpage 39 One More TimeCheri Clousepage 40 Grandfather Was IlliterateCindy Grocepage 41 StonehengeGregory Manifoldpage 43 GabsCheri Clousepage 44 Spindley Bare BranchesJeanne Hansenpage 48 Art CoverLafayette Wilson PhotographBill Cochranpage 3 DrawingLafayette Wilsonpage 10 DrawingLafayette Wilsonpage 19 PhotographBill Cochranpage 21 PhotographBarbara Colemanpage 28 DrawingJoyce Bonwellpage 31 PhotographKathy Sanderspage 39 DrawingKathy Sanderspage 42https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1035/thumbnail.jp

Standardized and reproducible measurement of decision-making in mice

Progress in science requires standardized assays whose results can be readily shared, compared, and reproduced across laboratories. Reproducibility, however, has been a concern in neuroscience, particularly for measurements of mouse behavior. Here we show that a standardized task to probe decision-making in mice produces reproducible results across multiple laboratories. We designed a task for head-fixed mice that combines established assays of perceptual and value-based decision making, and we standardized training protocol and experimental hardware, software, and procedures. We trained 140 mice across seven laboratories in three countries, and we collected 5 million mouse choices into a publicly available database. Learning speed was variable across mice and laboratories, but once training was complete there were no significant differences in behavior across laboratories. Mice in different laboratories adopted similar reliance on visual stimuli, on past successes and failures, and on estimates of stimulus prior probability to guide their choices. These results reveal that a complex mouse behavior can be successfully reproduced across multiple laboratories. They establish a standard for reproducible rodent behavior, and provide an unprecedented dataset and open-access tools to study decision-making in mice. More generally, they indicate a path towards achieving reproducibility in neuroscience through collaborative open-science approaches

Telomeres are shorter in myocardial infarction patients compared to healthy subjects: correlation with environmental risk factors

Shorter telomeres have been reported in premature myocardial infarction (MI) patients. Our work aimed at confirming the association of shorter telomere with MI in two case–control studies and in familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The HIFMECH study compared 598 white male patients (<60 years) who survived a first MI and 653 age-matched controls from North and South Europe. Additionally, from the UK, 413 coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients and two groups of 367 and 94 FH patients, of whom 145 and 17 respectively had premature CHD, were recruited. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was measured using a real-time polymerase chain reaction-based method. In HIFMECH, LTL was significantly shorter in subjects from the North (7.99 kb, SD 4.51) compared to the South (8.27 kb, SD 4.14; p = 0.02) and in cases (7.85 kb, SD 4.01) compared to controls (8.04 kb, SD 4.46; p = 0.04). In the CABG study, LTL was significantly shorter (6.89 kb, SD 4.14) compared to the HIFMECH UK controls (7.53, SD 5.29; p = 0.007). In both samples of FH patients, LTL was shorter in those with CHD (overall 8.68 kb, SD 4.65) compared to the non-CHD subjects (9.23 kb, SD 4.83; p = 0.012). Apart from a consistent negative correlation with age, LTL was not associated across studies with any measured CHD risk factors. The present data confirms that subjects with CHD have shorter telomeres than controls and extends this to those with monogenic and polygenic forms of CHD

Behavioral Defects in Chaperone-Deficient Alzheimer's Disease Model Mice

Molecular chaperones protect cells from the deleterious effects of protein misfolding and aggregation. Neurotoxicity of amyloid-beta (Aβ) aggregates and their deposition in senile plaques are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We observed that the overall content of αB-crystallin, a small heat shock protein molecular chaperone, decreased in AD model mice in an age-dependent manner. We hypothesized that αB-crystallin protects cells against Aβ toxicity. To test this, we crossed αB-crystallin/HspB2 deficient (CRYAB-/-HSPB2-/-) mice with AD model transgenic mice expressing mutant human amyloid precursor protein. Transgenic and non-transgenic mice in chaperone-sufficient or deficient backgrounds were examined for representative behavioral paradigms for locomotion and memory network functions: (i) spatial orientation and locomotion was monitored by open field test; (ii) sequential organization and associative learning was monitored by fear conditioning; and (iii) evoked behavioral response was tested by hot plate method. Interestingly, αB-crystallin/HspB2 deficient transgenic mice were severely impaired in locomotion compared to each genetic model separately. Our results highlight a synergistic effect of combining chaperone deficiency in a transgenic mouse model for AD underscoring an important role for chaperones in protein misfolding diseases

Defining Research to Improve Health Systems

Robert Terry and colleagues present working definitions of operational research, implementation research, and health systems research within the context of research to strengthen health systems