Evaluating sex and line differences in successive negative contrast and ethanol consumption using alcohol preferring and high alcohol drinking rats.

Background: The loss of a job or relationship are a couple of examples of unexpected reward loss. Life events, such as these can induce negative emotional reactions (e.g.

Development of a unique crosslinked glycosaminoglycan for soft tissue repair: Treatment of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome.

Chemical modification of naturally derived glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) expands their potential utility for applications in soft tissue repair and regenerative medicine. Here we report the preparation of a novel crosslinked chondroitin sulfate (~200 to 2000 kilodaltons) that is both soluble in aqueous solution and microfilterable. We refer to these materials as "SuperGAGs.

Medicare Risk Arrangement and Use and Outcomes Among Physician Groups.

Importance: Many physician groups are in 2-sided risk payment arrangements with Medicare Advantage plans (at-risk MA). Analysis of quality and health resource use under such arrangements may inform ongoing Medicare policy concerning payment and service delivery.

Objective: To compare quality and efficiency measures under 2 payment models: at-risk MA and fee-for-service (FFS) MA.

Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands.

Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth's land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the assumption of linear relationships between plant biomass and the environment and an underestimation of interactions of environmental variables.