Cue-Evoked Dopamine Release Rapidly Modulates D2 Neurons in the Nucleus Accumbens During Motivated Behavior.

Unlabelled: Dopaminergic neurons that project from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) fire in response to unpredicted rewards or to cues that predict reward delivery. Although it is well established that reward-related events elicit dopamine release in the NAc, the role of rapid dopamine signaling in modulating NAc neurons that respond to these events remains unclear. Here, we examined dopamine's actions in the NAc in the rat brain during an intracranial self-stimulation task in which a cue predicted lever availability for electrical stimulation of the VTA.

Engaging primary care patients to use a patient-centered personal health record.

Purpose: Health care leaders encourage clinicians to offer portals that enable patients to access personal health records, but implementation has been a challenge. Although large integrated health systems have promoted use through costly advertising campaigns, other implementation methods are needed for small to medium-sized practices where most patients receive their care.

Methods: We conducted a mixed methods assessment of a proactive implementation strategy for a patient portal (an interactive preventive health record [IPHR]) offered by 8 primary care practices.

From mission to measures: performance measure development for a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.

The Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) sought to create a comprehensive set of performance measures to capture the performance of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program. This performance measurement system needed to provide measures that could be used internally (by both OAH and the TPP grantees) for management and program improvement as well as externally to communicate the program's progress to other interested stakeholders and Congress. This article describes the selected measures and outlines the considerations behind the TPP measurement development process.

Optical properties of solid-core photonic crystal fibers filled with nonlinear absorbers.

A theoretical and experimental investigation of the transmission of solid-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) filled with nonlinear absorbers shows a sharp change in the threshold for optical limiting and in leakage loss as the refractive index of the material in the holes approaches that of the glass matrix. Theoretical calculations of the mode profiles and leakage loss of the PCF are in agreement with experimental results and indicate that the change in limiting response is due to the interaction of the evanescent field of the guided mode with the nonlinear absorbers in the holes.

Interactive preventive health record to enhance delivery of recommended care: a randomized trial.

Purpose: Americans receive only one-half of recommended preventive services. Information technologies have been advocated to engage patients. We tested the effectiveness of an interactive preventive health record (IPHR) that links patients to their clinician's record, explains information in lay language, displays tailored recommendations and educational resources, and generates reminders.

Sources contributing to the average extracellular concentration of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens.

Mesolimbic dopamine neurons fire in both tonic and phasic modes resulting in detectable extracellular levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). In the past, different techniques have targeted dopamine levels in the NAc to establish a basal concentration. In this study, we used in vivo fast scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) in the NAc of awake, freely moving rats.

Characterization of strong fiber Bragg gratings using an applied thermal chirp and iterative algorithm.

Coupling coefficients of various grating types and strengths are calculated from measurements of the complex reflectivity using an applied thermal chirp and optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). The complex reflectivity is then utilized by a layer peeling algorithm to determine the coupling coefficient of the thermally chirped grating. A guess of the temperature profile enables the coupling coefficient of the unchirped grating to be estimated.

Phencyclidine false positive induced by lamotrigine (Lamictal®) on a rapid urine toxicology screen.

Background: This report describes two cases with unexplained positive results for phencyclidine (PCP).

Aims: This case will correlate lamotrigine (Lamictal®) use with false-positive results for PCP on a rapid urine toxicology screen.

Methods: Case 1: A 62-year-old male arrived to the emergency department in extreme psychosis.

Failure of amoxicillin to produce false-positive urine screens for cocaine metabolite.

Amoxicillin has been causally linked in the lay and medical literature to false-positive urine drug screens for cocaine metabolites. An exhaustive search of the peer-reviewed medical literature revealed no data to support this link. We hypothesized that amoxicillin does not cause false-positive urine drug screens for cocaine metabolites.

A Retinal Prosthesis Technology Based on CMOS Microelectronics and Microwire Glass Electrodes.

A very large format neural stimulator device, to be used in future retinal prosthesis experiments, has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The device was designed to be positioned against a human retina for short periods in an operating room environment. Demonstrating a very large format, parallel interface between a 2-D microelectronic stimulator array and neural tissue would be an important step in proving the feasibility of high resolution retinal prosthesis for the blind.

Production of antibodies to canine IL-1beta and canine TNF to assess the role of proinflammatory cytokines.

IL-1 and TNF are important proinflammatory cytokines implicated in both antimicrobial host defense and pathogenesis of diseases with an immune-mediated and/or inflammatory component. Respective studies in the dog have been hampered by the unavailability of reagents allowing the specific measurement of canine cytokine proteins and the effect of canine cytokine neutralization by Ab. Starting with recombinant canine (rcan) IL-1beta and rcanTNF, four polyclonal antisera and 22 mAb specific for rcanIL-1beta and rcanTNF were generated.

Noncontact fluorescence thermometry of acoustically levitated waterdrops.

Noncontact thermometry based on the fluorescence excitation spectrum of aqueous Eu(3+) (EDTA) near 579 nm allows us to measure the temperature of an evaporating drop of water. The results for drop diameters in the 500-microm-3-mm range confirm theoretical temperature predictions for steady state evaporation. Calibration of the excitation spectrum in a constant temperature cell indicates that +/-1.

Semi-automated vs. visual reading of urinalysis dipsticks.

Semi-automated reflectance readings of urinalysis dipsticks showed better precision than visual readings in the case of artificially prepared urine samples containing glucose, ketone, and protein. Actual pathological specimens containing glucose, protein, and nitrite also showed that instrumental readings were better than visual. Results of repeated visual readings spread over three different color blocks for certain concentrations of glucose, ketone, and protein, whereas repeated instrumental readings were never spread greater than two color blocks.

Evaluation of Ames' "Clini-Tek".

Reproducibility of reading "N-Multistix" dipsticks by a semi-automated urinalysis instrument (Ames' "Clini-Tek") has been described for artifically prepared samples. Glucose, ketone, urobilinogen, and nitrite showed high reproducibility (greater than 90%) for reading multiple samples at predetermined analyte concentrations. Determination of proteinuria showed the lowest proportion of false positives (2-3%) and false negatives (0%).

Metabolism of naturally occurring propenylbenzene derivatives. III. Allylbenzene, propenyl benzene, and related metabolic products.

The acidic and neutral urinary metabolites of allylbenzene, propenylbenzene, 1'-hydroxyallylbenzene, and cynnamyl alcohol were identified and related through a common metabolic scheme. The rat metabolizes allylbenzene to 1'-hydroxyallylbenzene which can rearrange to yield cinnamyl alcohol whick is further metabolized. This mechanism is proposed to account for the appearance of "propenyl type" metabolites from allylbenzene compounds.

Combined gel filtration, biuret/copper method compared with an immunochemical method for urinary protein measurement.

We compared an immunochemical method specific for plasma proteins with a chemical method, in which interfering substances are separated by gel filtration and "total" urinary protein is determined by the biuret reaction followed by reaction of protein-bound copper with diethyldithiocarbamate after a second gel filtration to remove nonprotein-bound copper. More than 250 24-h urine samples were analyzed by each method. There was linear agreement and a correlation of 0.