Positive reinforcement-based magnet training permits social housing in catheterized squirrel monkeys.

Background: Non-human primates play a critical role in neuroscience research. Though they are social animals, laboratory study requirements can sometimes require single housing and thereby prevent social housing.

New Method: To eliminate single housing and promote well-being within our squirrel monkey colony, we used positive reinforcement training in combination with magnetic/mechanical clasps and custom jackets to permit pair housing of catheterized squirrel monkeys used in behavioral studies.

Effects of buprenorphine, methadone, and cariprazine on economic choice between remifentanil and food in squirrel monkeys.

We recently reported an economic choice task in which squirrel monkeys chose between differing amounts of remifentanil, a fast-acting opioid, or a food reward to develop a preclinical screen for evaluating potential pharmacotherapies for opioid dependence. Herein, two known opioid addiction treatments are evaluated using this task, as well as a potential new agent, cariprazine, a dopamine D2/D3 receptor partial agonist currently used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Preclinical rodent studies suggest this class of compounds may reduce opiate self-administration.

Estimation of tube wall compliance using pulse-echo acoustic reflectometry.

This paper focuses on the estimation of tube wall compliance using reflection analysis of acoustic pulses. The wall compliance of a rubber latex tube was found theoretically using an acoustical transmission line model. Wall compliance was also obtained experimentally from acoustical and mechanical measurements.