What Neuroscientists Think, and Don't Think, About Consciousness.

The approach the majority of neuroscientists take to the question of how consciousness is generated, it is probably fair to say, is to ignore it. Although there are active research programs looking at correlates of consciousness, and explorations of informational properties of what might be relevant neural ensembles, the tacitly implied mechanism of consciousness in these approaches is that it somehow just happens. This reliance on a "magical emergence" of consciousness does not address the "objectively unreasonable" proposition that elements that have no attributes or properties that can be said to relate to consciousness somehow aggregate to produce it.

CRF receptor-deficiency increases cocaine reward.

Stimulant drugs produce reward but also activate stress-responsive systems. The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and the related hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress-responsive systems are activated by stimulant drugs. However, their role in stimulant drug-induced reward remains poorly understood.

Reflex control of rat tail sympathetic nerve activity by abdominal temperature.

The thermoregulatory reflex effects of warming and cooling in the abdomen were investigated in 4 urethane-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals were shaved and surrounded by a water-perfused silastic jacket. Skin temperature under the jacket was recorded by thermocouples at 3 sites and brain temperature was monitored by a thermocouple inserted lateral to the hypothalamus.

Predicting results of DIEP flap reconstruction: the flap viability index.

Worldwide experience with the DIEP flap has established its pre-eminent role in breast reconstruction after mastectomy. CT angiographic vascular imaging has enhanced the planning of reconstruction, allowing mapping of perforator patterns to increase the predictability of surgery. This study extends the role of perforator mapping, using measurement of perforator lumen diameters and flap weights to calculate an index that reliably predicts the amount of tissue which will survive.