Identification of the TRPA1 cannabinoid-binding site.

Chronic pain accounts for nearly two-thirds of conditions eligible for medical cannabis licenses, yet the mechanisms underlying cannabis-induced analgesia remain poorly understood. The principal phytocannabinoids, the psychoactive Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD), exhibit comparable efficacy in pain management. Notably, THC functions as an agonist of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1), whereas CBD shows minimal activity on CB1 and CB2 receptors.

Meeting employees where they are: The rise of workplace mental health services.

Many key organizations have called attention to the importance of addressing workplace mental health. In this Open Forum piece, two academic psychiatrists present recommendations from their experiences providing psychiatric care in a corporate setting. A literature review using the PubMed database was performed.

Changes in Psychiatric Emergency Room Visits Following the Boston Marathon Bombing.

Objective: This study reviews patient encounters at a Boston-area community hospital Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) following the Boston Marathon bombings, with the goal of describing the impact of terrorist attacks on PES encounters.

Methods: All PES encounters for 2 months preceding and 2 months following the bombing were identified in the electronic medical record. Demographics, current and past psychiatric problems, and trauma history were assessed for all records.

Psychiatry residents' confidence in integrated care skills on a collaborative care rotation at a safety net health care system.

Objective: This letter to the editor describes how psychiatry residents' confidence in delivering population based care improved after working within a collaborative care system.

Methods: An anonymous online survey was delivered to 24 psychiatry residents who matriculated through Cambridge Health Alliance residency from 2012 to 2014 and participated in the collaborative care rotation. During the rotation, residents provided direct and indirect consultations, used measurement-based care (MBC) and took a population approach to patient management.

Tricyclic Spirolactones as Modular TRPV1 Synthetic Agonists.

TRPV1 is a prominent signal integrator of the pain system, known to be activated by vanilloids, a family of endogenous and exogenous pain-evoking molecules, through the vanilloid-binding site (VBS). The extensive preclinical profiling of small molecule inhibitors provides intriguing evidence that TRPV1 inhibition can be a useful therapeutic approach. However, the dissimilarity of chemical species that activate TRPV1 creates a major obstacle to understanding the molecular mechanism of pain induction, which is viewed as a pivotal trait of the somatosensory system.

Accurate determination of plasmonic fields in molecular junctions by current rectification at optical frequencies.

Current rectification, i.e., induction of dc current by oscillating electromagnetic fields, is demonstrated in molecular junctions at an optical frequency.

Measurement of electronic transport through 1G0 gold contacts under laser irradiation.

Metal quantum point contacts (MQPCs) with dimensions comparable to the de Broglie wavelength of conducting electrons reveal ballistic transport of electrons and quantized conductance in units of G(0) = 2e(2)/h. We measure the transport properties of 1G(0) Au contacts under laser irradiation. The observed enhancement of conductance appears to be wavelength-dependent, while thermal effects on conductance are determined to be negligible.

Detection of heating in current-carrying molecular junctions by Raman scattering.

As the scaling of electronic components continues, local heating will have an increasing influence on the stability and performance of nanoscale electronic devices. In particular, the low heat capacity of molecular junctions means that it will be essential to understand local heating and heat conduction in these junctions. Here we report a method for directly monitoring the effective temperature of current-carrying junctions with surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) that involves measuring both the Stokes and anti-Stokes components of the Raman scattering.

Fabrication of very high aspect ratio metal nanowires by a self-propulsion mechanism.

A novel synthesis method of very high aspect ratio metal nanowires is described. The synthesis utilizes a nanoporous membrane as a template and self-electrophoresis as a directed force that continuously push formed nanowires out of the pores in a rate that is identical to the rate of their elongation. As a result, while the pores of membranes are only 6 microm long, the formed nanowires could be more than 100 microm long.

SB 202026: a novel muscarinic partial agonist with functional selectivity for M1 receptors.

The finding that ascending cholinergic systems are severely degenerated in Alzheimer's disease has driven the search for a cholinomimetic therapy. Adverse effects observed with cholinesterase inhibitors and high-efficacy muscarinic agonists led us to design compounds with an improved profile. SB 202026 (R-(Z)-(+)-alpha-(methoxyimino)-1-azabicyclo[2.

A bioactive tetraprenylphenol from Lactarius lignyotus.

2-Geranylgeranyl-1,4-dihydroxybenzene [1] and a mixture of fatty acid esters of this phenol were isolated from the fruiting bodies of Lactarius lignyotus. Compound 1 was highly active in the brine shrimp test and showed significant inhibitory activity on DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis in HeLa and HL-60 cell lines.

The Middle East External Quality Assessment Scheme for Clinical Chemistry: The first decade.

The Middle East External Quality Assessment Scheme for Clinical Chemistry has been operating for ten years, during which the number of participants has increased from 32 to 95 in 1990. The success of the Scheme in supporting better health care is reflected in the general improvement in performance of most laboratories. Initially linked to the United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Scheme, it is anticipated that the Scheme will soon operate independently.

The Middle East external quality assessment scheme for clinical chemistry.

The establishment and first 7 years' operation of an external quality assessment scheme for clinical chemistry in the Middle East region are described. The scheme utilises specimens distributed previously in the UK, and the performance of participating laboratories is assessed relative to the UK consensus values, taking account of method. Variance Index scoring has been used to quantitate performance, and there has been an improvement in average scores during the operation of the scheme.

Hormonal and metabolic responses in brittle diabetic patients during feedback intravenous insulin infusion.

Twenty-four hour profiles of blood hormones and intermediary metabolites were obtained in seven 'brittle' diabetic subjects during their usual insulin therapy and during feedback intravenous insulin infusion from an artificial pancreas (GCIIS). The results were compared to those in matched stable diabetics and normal controls. Although routine insulin doses were higher in the brittle group than in the stable group (164 +/- 32 (mean +/- SE) vs.

Comparison of the activity and pharmacokinetics of porcine insulin and human insulin (Novo) as assessed by the glucose clamp technique in normal and diabetic man.

Using the glucose clamp technique, human insulin (Novo) and natural porcine insulin were found to have identical potency in terms of glucose delivery in the second hour of i.v. infusion at low (0.

The metabolic and hormonal response to acute normoglycaemia in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes: studies with a glucose controlled insulin infusion system (artificial endocrine pancreas).

Twelve insulin deficient Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic subjects were studied over an 11 1/2 h period during both subcutaneous insulin therapy and closed loop insulin delivery, using a glucose controlled insulin system (Biostator) programmed to maintain normoglycaemia. Results were compared with those from 21 age and weight-matched normal subjects. Using the Biostator, normoglycaemia was achieved in all diabetic subjects within 3.

Acetate: inhibitor of growth hormone hypersecretion in diabetic and non-diabetic uraemic subjects.

Five diabetic and 14 non-diabetic uraemic patients on long-term haemodialysis were studied during twenty-one 24 h periods including 5 to 7 h of haemodialysis against glucose-free acetate buffered dialysis fluid. Half-hourly blood samples were collected for hormonal and metabolite analysis. In addition, blood samples were analyzed in 40 experiments covering the haemodialysis and a pre-dialysis period.

Differential response to infusions of highly purified and conventional bovine and porcine insulins.

The glucose clamp technique allows quantification of tissue sensitivity to insulin without modulation by the effects of hypoglycemia. The amount of glucose infused to maintain euglycemia during an insulin infusion gives a direct measure of tissue sensitivity. We have used this technique to compare the metabolic effects of highly purified porcine, highly purified bovine, and conventional insulins in diabetic subjects: (A) a group normally taking conventional bovine insulin, and (B) diabetics who had originally been treated with conventional bovine insulin and had changed to highly purified porcine insulin.

Glucose controlled insulin infusion system (Biostator) application during surgery for a presumed pancreatic microinsulinoma.

A glucose controlled insulin infusion system has been used during and after surgery for organic hyperinsulinism in a 37 year old woman. During surgery the system was used to monitor the blood glucose and, in order to avoid insulin hypersecretion, glucose was not infused. A strict correlation was observed between surgical procedures and metabolic behaviour, suggesting the resection of a microinsulinoma despite negative frozen section histology.