Lateral Habenula Inactivation Alters Willingness to Exert Physical Effort Using a Maze Task in Rats.

An impairment in willingness to exert physical effort in daily activities is a noted aspect of several psychiatric conditions. Previous studies have supported an important role for the lateral habenula (LHb) in dynamic decision-making, including decisions associated with discounting costly high value rewards. It is unknown whether a willingness to exert physical effort to obtain higher rewards is also mediated by the LHb.

Precise determination of the orientation of the Dzialoshinskii-Moriya vector in kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)(2)]Cl.

A novel electron spin-reorientation transition is discovered by 13C NMR in the quasi-two-dimensional organic antiferromagnet kappa-(BEDT-TTF)(2)Cu[N(CN)(2)]Cl. The spin reorientation occurs as an external field is swept through the orientation of the characteristic vector of the Dzialoshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, thus providing a precise determination of the orientation of the DM vector. Such a spin reorientation could help to characterize the DM interaction in other antiferromagnetic systems.