Spontaneous eye blink rate predicts learning from negative, but not positive, outcomes.

A large body of research shows that striatal dopamine critically affects the extent to which we learn from the positive and negative outcomes of our decisions. In this study, we examined the relationship between reinforcement learning and spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR), a cheap, non-invasive, and easy to obtain marker of striatal dopaminergic activity. Based on previous findings from pharmacological and patient studies, our main prediction was that in healthy individuals, low blink rates (and concomitant lower striatal dopamine levels) would be associated with better learning from negative choices, while high blink rates (and concomitant higher striatal dopamine levels) would be associated with learning from positive choices.

Distractor inhibition predicts individual differences in recovery from the attentional blink.

Background: The attentional blink (AB) refers to an impairment in detecting the second of two target stimuli presented in close succession in a rapid stream of distractors. Recent studies indicate that the AB results, in part, from distractor suppression mechanisms, that may be mediated by striatal dopamine. Yet, it is currently unclear how distractor suppression ability may contribute to the AB.

Differential effect of Pistacia vera extracts on experimental atherosclerosis in the rabbit animal model: an experimental study.

Background: Lipid-enriched diets and oxidative stress are risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis. The effects of the methanolic (ME) and cyclohexane (CHE) extracts of the Pistacia vera nut, often included in the Mediterranean diet, were studied in the rabbit model of atherosclerosis.

Methods And Results: Twenty-four New Zealand White rabbits received atherogenic diet (Control Group), supplemented with ME (Group ME) or CHE (Group CHE) for 3 months.

Relation between insomnia mood disorders and clinical and biochemical parameters in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis.

Background: Sleep disturbances are usually the outcome of a complex interplay between intrinsic factors and environmental influences. Aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of insomnia and to assess its relation to clinical and laboratory parameters in hemodialysis patients.

Methods: Using Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), sleeping profile of 45 subjects (32 male, 13 female, mean age 59+/-16.

Composition and enantiomeric analysis of the essential oil of the fruits and the leaves of Pistacia vera from Greece.

The essential oils of the fruits and the leaves of pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Fresh unripe pistachio fruits were richer in essential oil (0.

In vitro activity of 10-deacetylbaccatin III against Leishmania donovani promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes.

Current treatments for leishmaniasis are unsatisfactory due to their route of administration, toxicity and expense but, most importantly, to the developed resistance of Leishmania to first-line drugs. Therefore, the identification of new effective targeted drugs is an urgent need. Since many studies have shown that medicinal plants contain compounds active against protozoa we have undertaken a study aiming to determine the antileishmanial activity of the taxoid 10-deacetylbaccatin III, isolated from dried needles and small branches of the European yew tree (Taxus baccata).