Implications of microbe-derived ɣ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in gut and brain barrier integrity and GABAergic signaling in Alzheimer's disease.

The gut microbial ecosystem communicates bidirectionally with the brain in what is known as the gut-microbiome-brain axis. Bidirectional signaling occurs through several pathways including signaling via the vagus nerve, circulation of microbial metabolites, and immune activation. Alterations in the gut microbiota are implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disease.

Potential Differences in Psychedelic Actions Based on Biological Sex.

The resurgence of interest in psychedelics as treatments for psychiatric disorders necessitates a better understanding of potential sex differences in response to these substances. Sex as a biological variable (SABV) has been historically neglected in medical research, posing limits to our understanding of treatment efficacy. Human studies have provided insights into the efficacy of psychedelics across various diagnoses and aspects of cognition, yet sex-specific effects remain unclear, making it difficult to draw strong conclusions about sex-dependent differences in response to psychedelic treatments.

The impact of early intervention psychosis services on hospitalisation experiences: a qualitative study with young people and their carers.

Background: While a core aim of early intervention psychosis services (EIPS) is to prevent hospitalisation, many with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) will require inpatient care. We explored young people's (YP) and their carers' hospitalisation experiences prior to and during EIPS engagement and how factors across these services influenced these experiences.

Methods: Using purposive sampling, we recruited twenty-seven YP, all of whom had been involved with the hospital system at some stage, and twelve support persons (parents and partners of YP) from state and federally funded EIPS in Australia with different models of care and integration with secondary mental health care.

Psilocybin restrains activity-based anorexia in female rats by enhancing cognitive flexibility: contributions from 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptor mechanisms.

Psilocybin has shown promise for alleviating symptoms of depression and is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN), a condition that is characterised by persistent cognitive inflexibility. Considering that enhanced cognitive flexibility after psilocybin treatment is reported to occur in individuals with depression, it is plausible that psilocybin could improve symptoms of AN by breaking down cognitive inflexibility. A mechanistic understanding of the actions of psilocybin is required to tailor the clinical application of psilocybin to individuals most likely to respond with positive outcomes.

A transdiagnostic and translational framework for delineating the neuronal mechanisms of compulsive exercise in anorexia nervosa.

Objective: The development of novel treatments for anorexia nervosa (AN) requires a detailed understanding of the biological underpinnings of specific, commonly occurring symptoms, including compulsive exercise. There is considerable bio-behavioral overlap between AN and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), therefore it is plausible that similar mechanisms underlie compulsive behavior in both populations. While the association between these conditions is widely acknowledged, defining the shared mechanisms for compulsive behavior in AN and OCD requires a novel approach.

A qualitative exploration of young people's mental health needs in rural and regional Australia: engagement, empowerment and integration.

Background: Australian rural and regional communities are marked by geographic isolation and increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters such as drought, bushfires and floods. These circumstances strain the mental health of their inhabitants and jeopardise the healthy mental and emotional development of their adolescent populations. Professional mental health care in these communities is often inconsistent and un-coordinated.

Antagonism of D2 receptors via raclopride ameliorates amphetamine-induced associative learning deficits in male mice.

Dopamine levels in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) are highly dynamic and are thought to underly the encoding of action-outcome associations. Although it is known that amphetamine disrupts the learning that is required for goal-directed action, the role of D1 and D2 receptors in this process has not been established. In this study, we examined the role of D1 and D2 receptor antagonists on learning in response to amphetamine.

Rapid, automated, and experimenter-free touchscreen testing reveals reciprocal interactions between cognitive flexibility and activity-based anorexia in female rats.

Anorexia nervosa has among the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder and is characterized by cognitive inflexibility that persists after weight recovery and contributes to the chronic nature of the condition. What remains unknown is whether cognitive inflexibility predisposes individuals to anorexia nervosa, a question that is difficult to address in human studies. Our previous work using the most well-established animal model of anorexia nervosa, known as activity-based anorexia (ABA) identified a neurobiological link between cognitive inflexibility and susceptibility to pathological weight loss in female rats.

The prevalence of gender stereotypes in pharmacy student simulated counseling sessions utilizing standardized patients.

Introduction: Simulation in healthcare has been a widely adopted modality to gain practical experience prior to working directly with patients. While simulation in academic settings affords many opportunities to enhance learning, it may also present an opportunity to identify cultural stereotypes. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of gender stereotypes in pharmacy student simulated counseling sessions.

Experiences of service transitions in Australian early intervention psychosis services: a qualitative study with young people and their supporters.

Background: Different Early Intervention Psychosis Service (EIPS) models of care exist, but many rely upon community-based specialist clinical teams, often with other services providing psychosocial care. Time-limited EIPS care creates numerous service transitions that have potential to interrupt continuity of care. We explored with young people (YP) and their support people (SP) their experiences of these transitions, how they affected care and how they could be better managed.

Activity in the Dorsomedial Striatum Underlies Serial Reversal Learning Performance Under Probabilistic Uncertainty.

Background: Corticostriatal circuits, particularly the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and lateral orbitofrontal cortex, are critical for navigating reversal learning under probabilistic uncertainty. These same areas are implicated in the reversal learning impairments observed in individuals with psychosis as well as their psychotic symptoms, suggesting that they may share a common neurobiological substrate. To address this question, we used psychostimulant exposure and specific activation of the DMS during reversal learning in mice to assess corticostriatal activity.

Peer-based Retention Of people who Use Drugs in Rural Research (PROUD-R): a multisite, randomised, 12-month trial to compare efficacy of standard versus peer-based approaches to retain rural people who use drugs in research.

Introduction: Rural communities bear a disproportionate share of the opioid and methamphetamine use disorder epidemics. Yet, rural people who use drugs (PWUD) are rarely included in trials testing new drug use prevention and treatment strategies. Numerous barriers impede rural PWUD trial engagement and advancing research methods to better retain rural PWUD in clinical trials is needed.

Gotcha: Working memory prioritization from automatic attentional biases.

Attention is an important resource for prioritizing information in working memory (WM), and it can be deployed both strategically and automatically. Most research investigating the relationship between WM and attention has focused on strategic efforts to deploy attentional resources toward remembering relevant information. However, such voluntary attentional control represents a mere subset of the attentional processes that select information to be encoded and maintained in WM (Theeuwes, Journal of Cognition, 1[1]: 29, 1-15, 2018).

Evaluation of a pharmacist-led antibiotic stewardship program and implementation of prescribing order sets.

Background: It is established that pharmacists can play a role in antibiotic stewardship in inpatient settings; however, there remains a paucity of data regarding pharmacist impact on antibiotic stewardship in outpatient care.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an outpatient pharmacist antimicrobial stewardship program involving the implementation of prescribing order sets on the rate of compliance with guideline-recommended antibiotic use.

Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective study conducted at a resident-run, adult medicine clinic evaluating the implementation of a pharmacist-led antimicrobial stewardship education program and prescribing order sets.

Maternal transfer of polychlorinated biphenyls in Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), Puget Sound, Washington.

We measured polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in multiple age and size classes of Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), including eggs, young-of-the year, and adults to evaluate maternal transfer as a pathway for contaminant uptake and to add to the limited information on the occurrence of PCBs in sand lance in Puget Sound. Sampling was replicated at an urban embayment (Eagle Harbor) and a state park along an open shoreline (Clayton Beach), during spring and fall. Lipid-normalized concentrations of PCBs in sand lance at Eagle Harbor were 5-11 times higher than PCB concentrations in comparable samples at Clayton Beach.

School-Level Efforts to Address Sexual Health and Risky Sexual Behavior Among Students in Texas Alternative High Schools.

We compared sexual/reproductive health services and sexuality education topics provided in Texas alternative high schools (AHSs) with the prevalence of sexual risk behaviors among students in AHS. Using cross-sectional data from convenience samples of 14 principals, 14 lead health educators, and 515 students, we calculated descriptive statistics for 20 services and 15 sexuality education topics provided by AHSs and seven sexual risk behaviors among students in AHS. AHSs provided few sexual/reproductive health services and limited educational content, despite high levels of sexual risk taking among students.

Evidence for rapid gut clearance of microplastic polyester fibers fed to Chinook salmon: A tank study.

Marine and freshwater plastic pollution is a challenging issue receiving large amounts of research and media attention. Yet, few studies have documented the impact of microplastic ingestion to aquatic organisms. In the Pacific Northwest, Chinook salmon are a culturally and commercially significant fish species.

Legacy and current-use toxic contaminants in Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes personatus) from Puget Sound, Washington, USA.

Forage fish are primary prey for seabirds, fish and marine mammals. Contaminant transfer and biomagnification of the toxic compounds measured in this study likely contribute to elevated levels in Puget Sound, Washington, salmon and killer whale tissues that could be sufficiently high to elicit adverse effects and hamper population recovery efforts. Polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, chlorinated pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alkylphenols, and chlorinated paraffins were detected in all Pacific sand lance tissue samples generally below available health effect levels.