Calcium modeling of spine apparatus-containing human dendritic spines demonstrates an "all-or-nothing" communication switch between the spine head and dendrite.

Dendritic spines are highly dynamic neuronal compartments that control the synaptic transmission between neurons. Spines form ultrastructural units, coupling synaptic contact sites to the dendritic shaft and often harbor a spine apparatus organelle, composed of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, which is responsible for calcium sequestration and release into the spine head and neck. The spine apparatus has recently been linked to synaptic plasticity in adult human cortical neurons.

Multi-scale modeling toolbox for single neuron and subcellular activity under Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

Background: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a widely used non-invasive brain stimulation method. However, its mechanism of action and the neural response to TMS are still poorly understood. Multi-scale modeling can complement experimental research to study the subcellular neural effects of TMS.

Sublingual buprenorphine/naloxone precipitated withdrawal in subjects maintained on 100mg of daily methadone.

Rationale: Acute doses of buprenorphine can precipitate withdrawal in opioid dependent persons. The likelihood of this withdrawal increases as a function of the level of physical dependence.

Objectives: To test the acute effects of sublingual buprenorphine/naloxone tablets in volunteers with a higher level of physical dependence.

Cash value of voucher reinforcers in pregnant drug-dependent women.

This study examined the relative reinforcing potency of vouchers and cash in drug-dependent pregnant women (N = 48) across voucher values (US 10 dollars, US 50 dollars, and US 100 dollars) by use of a series of choices to understand how exchange-delay features of voucher reinforcers influence their reinforcing potency compared with cash. The study also examined a no delay vs. 2-day delay of the cash alternative.

What if they do not want treatment?: lessons learned from intervention studies of non-treatment-seeking, drug-using pregnant women.

Despite specialized drug treatment, many pregnant drug-using women do not seek admission to such programs. This study examined two types of brief drug use intervention models for attracting and retaining pregnant women in drug abuse treatment. Both models offered motivational interviewing (MI) + behavioral incentives (BI) for drug abstinence.