Employee satisfaction and stock returns during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on how employees and employers operate. Employees, directly affected by workplace changes, may provide information regarding future efficiencies. As a result, crowdsourced employee satisfaction ( ) reviews mentioning the COVID-19 Pandemic may contain useful information regarding the future profitability of these firms.

Longitudinal Alterations in Prefrontal Resting Brain Connectivity in Non-Treatment-Seeking Young Adults With Cannabis Use Disorder.

Cannabis is increasingly perceived as a harmless drug by recreational users, yet chronic use may impact brain changes into adulthood. Repeated cannabis exposure has been associated with enduring synaptic changes in executive control and reward networks. It is important to determine whether there are brain functional alterations within these networks in individuals that do not seek treatment for chronic cannabis abuse.

Variations in Hospice Utilization and Length of Stay for Medicare Patients With Melanoma.

Context: Timely hospice referral is an indicator of high-quality end-of-life care for cancer patients. Variations in patient characteristics associated with hospice utilization and length of stay have been demonstrated in studies of other malignancies but not melanoma.

Objectives: We sought to understand hospice utilization and patient characteristics associated with variability in use for the older melanoma population.

Longitudinal changes in cognition in young adult cannabis users.

Introduction: Adolescent cannabis use (CU) is associated with impaired attention, executive function, and verbal learning/memory. These associations are generally observed in cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal studies of cannabis users are lacking.

Abundant collateralization of temporal lobe projections to the accumbens, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, central amygdala and lateral septum.

Behavioral flexibility is subserved in part by outputs from the cerebral cortex to telencephalic subcortical structures. In our earlier evaluation of the organization of the cortical-subcortical output system (Reynolds and Zahm, J Neurosci 25:11757-11767, 2005), retrograde double-labeling was evaluated in the prefrontal cortex following tracer injections into pairs of the following subcortical telencephalic structures: caudate-putamen, core and shell of the accumbens (Acb), bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BST) and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). The present study was done to assess patterns of retrograde labeling in the temporal lobe after similar paired tracer injections into most of the same telencephalic structures plus the lateral septum (LS).

Longitudinal changes in white matter microstructure after heavy cannabis use.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies of cannabis users report alterations in brain white matter microstructure, primarily based on cross-sectional research, and etiology of the alterations remains unclear. We report findings from longitudinal voxelwise analyses of DTI data collected at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up on 23 young adult (18-20 years old at baseline) regular cannabis users and 23 age-, sex-, and IQ-matched non-using controls with limited substance use histories. Onset of cannabis use was prior to age 17.

Initiation of oral contraceptives and changes in blood pressure and body mass index in healthy adolescents.

Objectives: To describe changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and body mass index (BMI) associated with initiation and continued use of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) in healthy adolescents.

Study Design: This observational, matched cohort study was conducted in 2 large health systems. Utilizing claims and electronic medical records, we identified adolescents 14-17.

Neurocognition in college-aged daily marijuana users.

Background: Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States. Use, particularly when it occurs early, has been associated with cognitive impairments in executive functioning, learning, and memory.

Method: This study comprehensively measured cognitive ability as well as comorbid psychopathology and substance use history to determine the neurocognitive profile associated with young adult marijuana use.

In vivo H magnetic resonance spectroscopy in young-adult daily marijuana users.

To date, there has been little work describing the neurochemical profile of young, heavy marijuana users. In this study, we examined 27 young-adult marijuana users and 26 healthy controls using single-voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy on a 3 T scanner. The voxel was placed in the dorsal striatum, and estimated concentrations of glutamate + glutamine, -inositol, taurine + glucose, total choline and total -acetylaspartate were examined between groups.

Classifying the health of Connecticut streams using benthic macroinvertebrates with implications for water management.

Bioassessments have formed the foundation of many water quality monitoring programs throughout the United States. Like many state water quality programs, Connecticut has developed a relational database containing information about species richness, species composition, relative abundance, and feeding relationships among macroinvertebrates present in stream and river systems. Geographic Information Systems can provide estimates of landscape condition and watershed characteristics and when combined with measurements of stream biology, provide a useful visual display of information that is useful in a management context.

Evaluation of an agency-based occupational therapy intervention to facilitate aging in place.

Purpose: The United States faces a growing population of older adults and accompanying functional disabilities, coupled with constrained public resources and diminishing informal supports. A variety of interventions that aim to improve client outcomes have been studied, but to date, there is limited translational research that examines the efficacy of moving such interventions from clinical trials to agency settings.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate a restorative occupational therapy intervention relative to "usual care" among community-dwelling older adults.

Childhood traumatic stress and obesity in women: the intervening effects of PTSD and MDD.

In this study, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) were modeled as intervening variables in the relationship between childhood traumatic stress and weight outcomes in civilian women in the United States. Of the 148 participants, 72 had current PTSD, 64 had current MDD, and 32 had neither disorder. In separate single indirect effect models, there were significant indirect effects of both PTSD and depressive symptoms on body mass index and waist-hip ratio.

Fos after single and repeated self-administration of cocaine and saline in the rat: emphasis on the Basal forebrain and recalibration of expression.

The effects of addictive psychostimulant drugs on the brain change over repeated administrations. We evaluated a large sample of brain structures, particularly ones comprising basal forebrain macrosystems, and determined in which the immediate-early gene product, Fos, is expressed following a single and repeated self-administrations of cocaine. The caudate-putamen and accumbens, comprising the basal ganglia input structures, and the hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, lateral and medial habenula, mesopontine rostromedial tegmental nucleus and anterior cingulate cortex exhibited Fos expression enhanced by acute self-administration of cocaine (SAC), but desensitized after repeated administrations.

Preliminary findings from a clinical demonstration project for veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.

Military veterans are at high risk for nicotine dependence. This clinical demonstration project used invitational letters, referral to the National Cancer Institute's Smoking Quitline, and local Veteran Affairs prescriptions for tobacco cessation to evaluate whether this low-cost method would potentially reduce smoking in separated veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Three cohorts (500 each) of recently separated veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq were contacted by survey letters.

Nursing student caring behaviors during blood pressure measurement.

The purpose of this multisite, nonexperimental study was to examine, using a repeated measures design, the effects of a teaching intervention designed to promote caring behaviors as students learn the psychomotor skill of blood pressure measurement. Watson's theory of human caring and a combination of cognitive and connectionist learning theories were used as the organizing construct. Baccalaureate nursing student participants were videotaped and evaluated at two points in time while performing the psychomotor skill of blood pressure measurement on a role-player.

Prominent activation of brainstem and pallidal afferents of the ventral tegmental area by cocaine.

Blockade of monoamine transporters by cocaine should not necessarily lead to certain observed consequences of cocaine administration, including increased firing of ventral mesencephalic dopamine (DA) neurons and accompanying impulse-stimulated release of DA in the forebrain and cortex. Accordingly, we hypothesize that the dopaminergic-activating effect of cocaine requires stimulation of the dopaminergic neurons by afferents of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). We sought to determine if afferents of the VTA are activated following cocaine administration.

A placebo-controlled trial of bupropion SR in the treatment of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder.

Objective: Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been the most empirically studied pharmacotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a need remains for the investigation of additional pharmacological agents in the treatment of PTSD. The present study examined the use of bupropion sustained release (SR) as compared with placebo for symptom reduction in patients with PTSD: approximately half who were already prescribed an selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and half who were not.

Method: Thirty patients (mean age, 50 years) with civilian- or military-related PTSD enrolled in an 8-week evaluation of bupropion SR versus placebo assigned in a 2:1 ratio in addition to their usual pharmacological care.

Uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide into silk fiber by silkworms.

The relation between the uptake of atmospheric CO(2) and insect's production of silk fiber has not yet been reported. Here, we provide the first quantitative demonstrations that four species of silkworms (Bombyx mori, Samia cynthia ricini, Antheraea pernyi, and Antheraea yamamai) and a silk-producing spider (Nephila clavata) incorporate atmospheric CO(2) into their silk fibers. The abundance of (13)C incorporated from the environment was determined by mass spectrometry and (13)C NMR measurements.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in women: current concepts and treatments.

In the US, 13% of women develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during their lifetime. An accurate diagnosis of PTSD requires screening for trauma and symptoms of PTSD. Current research in the neurobiologic and psychologic responses to traumatic stress supports the use of pharmacologic and psychosocial interventions.

Posttraumatic stress disorder in women: assessment and treatment in primary care.

The focus of this article is to provide primary care clinicians with a better understanding of women who have undergone sexual trauma and have related post-traumatic stress disorder. Victimization has adverse physical and mental health effects and affects a woman's clinical presentation, her coping skills, and the primary care intervention strategies needed to treat her. The article reviews issues of victimization and related PTSD among women, including the prevalence and sequel of victimization, and provides a theoretical framework for primary care intervention, treatment, and referral.