Miniaturized electromagnetic tracking enables efficient ultrasound-navigated needle insertions.

Ultrasound (US) has gained popularity as a guidance modality for percutaneous needle insertions because it is widely available and non-ionizing. However, coordinating scanning and needle insertion still requires significant experience. Current assistance solutions utilize optical or electromagnetic tracking (EMT) technology directly integrated into the US device or probe.

Neurobehavioral Precursors of Compulsive Cocaine Seeking in Dual Frontostriatal Circuits.

Background: Only some individuals who use drugs recreationally eventually develop a substance use disorder, characterized in part by the rigid engagement in drug foraging behavior (drug seeking), which is often maintained in the face of adverse consequences (i.e., is compulsive).

The development of compulsive coping behavior depends on dorsolateral striatum dopamine-dependent mechanisms.

Humans greatly differ in how they cope with stress, a natural behavior learnt through negative reinforcement. Some individuals engage in displacement activities, others in exercise or comfort eating, and others still in alcohol use. Across species, adjunctive behaviors, such as polydipsic drinking, are used as a form of displacement activity that reduces stress.

Immersive Cooling in the Prehospital Setting for Heat Stroke: A Case Report.

Non-exertional heat stroke is defined as exposure to high outdoor temperatures, core body temperature >40 °C, and alteration of mentation. Early identification and treatment are imperative to reduce morbidity and mortality in these patients. Cold water immersion therapy is the most efficient and efficacious modality in treating heat stroke, yet it is rarely initiated in the prehospital setting.

Spectral imaging enables contrast agent-free real-time ischemia monitoring in laparoscopic surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery has evolved as a key technique for cancer diagnosis and therapy. While characterization of the tissue perfusion is crucial in various procedures, such as partial nephrectomy, doing so by means of visual inspection remains highly challenging. We developed a laparoscopic real-time multispectral imaging system featuring a compact and lightweight multispectral camera and the possibility to complement the conventional surgical view of the patient with functional information at a video rate of 25 Hz.

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide type 1 receptor within the nucleus accumbens core mediates excessive alcohol drinking in alcohol-preferring rats.

Alcohol use disorders (AUD) have a strong component of heritability; however, the neurobiological mechanisms mediating the propensity to consume excessive amounts of alcohol are still not well understood. Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), a highly conserved neuropeptide which exerts its effects mainly through the PAC1 receptor (PAC1R), has been suggested to be one of the mediators of the effects of drugs of abuse and alcohol. Here, we investigated the role of the PACAP/PAC1R system in excessive alcohol drinking in alcohol-preferring rats, an established animal model of AUD.

Negative Urgency Exacerbates Relapse to Cocaine Seeking After Abstinence.

Background: The mechanisms through which drug-cue-induced negative affective states are involved in relapse have not been defined. We tested the hypothesis that in individuals having developed a dorsolateral striatum (DLS)-dependent cue-controlled cocaine-seeking habit, the loss of the opportunity to enact the drug-seeking response during abstinence results in an urge to act that exacerbates relapse severity mediated by negative urgency.

Methods: Eighty-seven male Sprague Dawley rats were trained to seek cocaine under the influence of the conditioned reinforcing properties of drug-paired cues or not.

Opposing roles for striatonigral and striatopallidal neurons in dorsolateral striatum in consolidating new instrumental actions.

Comparatively little is known about how new instrumental actions are encoded in the brain. Using whole-brain c-Fos mapping, we show that neural activity is increased in the anterior dorsolateral striatum (aDLS) of mice that successfully learn a new lever-press response to earn food rewards. Post-learning chemogenetic inhibition of aDLS disrupts consolidation of the new instrumental response.

Individual differences in the engagement of habitual control over alcohol seeking predict the development of compulsive alcohol seeking and drinking.

Excessive drinking is an important behavioural characteristic of alcohol addiction, but not the only one. Individuals addicted to alcohol crave alcoholic beverages, spend time seeking alcohol despite negative consequences and eventually drink to intoxication. With prolonged use, control over alcohol seeking devolves to anterior dorsolateral striatum, dopamine-dependent mechanisms implicated in habit learning and individuals in whom alcohol seeking relies more on these mechanisms are more likely to persist in seeking alcohol despite the risk of punishment.

A Pilot Study to Assess Urban, Fire-Based Paramedic Accuracy in Identification of Anatomical Landmarks Necessary for Cricothyrotomy and Needle Chest Decompression Using Live Patient Models.

Background: Cricothyrotomy and chest needle decompression (NDC) have a high failure and complication rate. This article sought to determine whether paramedics can correctly identify the anatomical landmarks for cricothyrotomy and chest NDC.

Methods: A prospective study using human models was performed.

Baclofen decreases compulsive alcohol drinking in rats characterized by reduced levels of GAT-3 in the central amygdala.

While most individuals with access to alcohol drink it recreationally, some vulnerable individuals eventually lose control over their intake and progressively develop compulsive alcohol drinking and decreased interest in alternative sources of reinforcement, two key features of addiction. The neural and molecular mechanisms underlying this vulnerability to switch from controlled to compulsive alcohol intake have not been fully elucidated. It has been shown that rats having reduced levels of expression of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter, GAT-3, in the amygdala tend to persist in seeking and drinking alcohol even when adulterated with quinine, suggesting that pharmacological interventions aimed at restoring GABA homeostasis in these individuals may provide a targeted treatment to limit compulsive alcohol drinking.

Environment-dependent behavioral traits and experiential factors shape addiction vulnerability.

The transition from controlled drug use to drug addiction depends on an interaction between a vulnerable individual, their environment and a drug. Here we tested the hypothesis that conditions under which individuals live influence behavioral vulnerability traits and experiential factors operating in the drug taking environment to determine the vulnerability to addiction. The role of behavioral vulnerability traits in mediating the influence of housing conditions on the tendency to acquire cocaine self-administration was characterized in 48 rats housed in either an enriched (EE) or a standard (SE) environment.

The Basolateral Amygdala to Nucleus Accumbens Core Circuit Mediates the Conditioned Reinforcing Effects of Cocaine-Paired Cues on Cocaine Seeking.

Background: Individuals addicted to cocaine spend much of their time foraging for the drug. Pavlovian drug-associated conditioned stimuli exert a major influence on the initiation and maintenance of drug seeking often long into abstinence, especially when presented response-contingently, acting as conditioned reinforcers that bridge delays to drug use. The acquisition of cue-controlled cocaine seeking has been shown to depend on functional interactions between the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the nucleus accumbens core (NAcC).

The anterior insular cortex in the rat exerts an inhibitory influence over the loss of control of heroin intake and subsequent propensity to relapse.

The anterior insular cortex (AIC) has been implicated in addictive behaviour, including the loss of control over drug intake, craving and the propensity to relapse. Evidence suggests that the influence of the AIC on drug-related behaviours is complex as in rats exposed to extended access to cocaine self-administration, the AIC was shown to exert a state-dependent, bidirectional influence on the development and expression of loss of control over drug intake, facilitating the latter but impairing the former. However, it is unclear whether this influence of the AIC is confined to stimulant drugs that have marked peripheral sympathomimetic and anxiogenic effects or whether it extends to other addictive drugs, such as opiates, that lack overt acute aversive peripheral effects.

Impulsivity is a heritable trait in rodents and associated with a novel quantitative trait locus on chromosome 1.

Impulsivity describes the tendency to act prematurely without appropriate foresight and is symptomatic of a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. Although a number of genes for impulsivity have been identified, no study to date has carried out an unbiased, genome-wide approach to identify genetic markers associated with impulsivity in experimental animals. Herein we report a linkage study of a six-generational pedigree of adult rats phenotyped for one dimension of impulsivity, namely premature responding on the five-choice serial reaction time task, combined with genome wide sequencing and transcriptome analysis to identify candidate genes associated with the expression of the impulsivity trait.

The transition to compulsion in addiction.

Compulsion is a cardinal symptom of drug addiction (severe substance use disorder). However, compulsion is observed in only a small proportion of individuals who repeatedly seek and use addictive substances. Here, we integrate accounts of the neuropharmacological mechanisms that underlie the transition to compulsion with overarching learning theories, to outline how compulsion develops in addiction.

Correction: Withdrawal from escalated cocaine self-administration impairs reversal learning by disrupting the effects of negative feedback on reward exploitation: a behavioral and computational analysis.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Withdrawal from escalated cocaine self-administration impairs reversal learning by disrupting the effects of negative feedback on reward exploitation: a behavioral and computational analysis.

Addiction is regarded as a disorder of inflexible choice with behavior dominated by immediate positive rewards over longer-term negative outcomes. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects of self-administered drugs on behavioral flexibility are not well understood. To investigate whether drug exposure causes asymmetric effects on positive and negative outcomes we used a reversal learning procedure to assess how reward contingencies are utilized to guide behavior in rats previously exposed to intravenous cocaine self-administration (SA).

A Pragmatic Clinical Trial to Compare the Real-World Effectiveness of V-Go versus Standard Delivery of Insulin in Patients with Advanced Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: Many patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) do not have adequate glycemic control, leading to poor patient outcomes and high healthcare costs.

Objective: This prospective pragmatic clinical trial evaluated V-Go, a wearable insulin delivery device, compared with standard treatment optimization (STO) among insulin-treated patients with T2DM in a real-world, community-based practice setting.

Methods: Study sites, rather than individual patients, were randomized to V-Go or STO via cluster randomization.

The role of prediction error and memory destabilization in extinction of cued-fear within the reconsolidation window.

Extinction of a cued-fear memory within the reconsolidation window has been proposed to prevent fear reacquisition by reconsolidation interference. This 'retrieval-extinction' procedure has received interest for its therapeutic potential to reduce the impact of fear memories on behavior. To fully exploit its therapeutic potential, it is critical to understand the mechanisms that underlie the 'retrieval-extinction' effect.

Compulsive Alcohol Seeking Results from a Failure to Disengage Dorsolateral Striatal Control over Behavior.

The acquisition of drug, including alcohol, use is associated with activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system. However, over the course of drug exposure the control over drug seeking progressively devolves to anterior dorsal striatum (aDLS) dopamine-dependent mechanisms. The causal importance of this functional recruitment of aDLS in the switch from controlled to compulsive drug use in vulnerable individuals remains to be established.