Taking the Perspective that a Depressive State Reflects Inflammation: Implications for the Use of Antidepressants.

This paper reviews both the evidence that supports the characterization of depression as an inflammatory disorder and the different biochemical mechanisms that have been postulated for the connection between inflammation and depression. This association offers credible explanation for the short term efficacy of antidepressants, which have short term anti-inflammatory effects. Evidence for those anti-inflammatory effects is discussed.

Liquid courage or liquid fear: alcohol intoxication and anxiety facilitate physical aggression.

Participants were 138 male social drinkers between 18 and 30 years of age from a university community in the southeastern United States in 2000. Trait and state anxiety was measured using the Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Facial Action Coding System, respectively. Participants consumed an alcoholic or nonalcoholic control beverage and completed a shock-based aggression task.

Monkeys (macaca mulatta and cebus apella) and human adults and children (homo sapiens) compare subsets of moving stimuli based on numerosity.

Two monkey species (Macaca mulatta and Cebus apella) and human children and adults judged the numerousness of two subsets of moving stimuli on a computer screen. Two sets of colored dots that varied in number and size were intermixed in an array in which all dots moved in random directions and speeds. Participants had to indicate which dot color was more numerous within the array.

A Hypothesis of the Co-evolution of Cooperation and Responses to Inequity.

Recent evidence demonstrates that humans are not the only species to respond negatively to inequitable outcomes which are to their disadvantage. Several species respond negatively if they subsequently receive a less good reward than a social partner for completing the same task. While these studies suggest that the negative response to inequity is not a uniquely human behavior, they do not provide a functional explanation for the emergence of these responses due to similar characteristics among these species.

Circadian activity rhythms for mothers with an infant in ICU.

Circadian rhythms influence sleep and wakefulness. Circadian activity rhythms (CAR) are altered in individuals with dementia or seasonal affective disorder. To date, studies exploring CAR and sleep in postpartum women are rare.

Paradoxical sleep suppresses immediate early gene expression in the rodent suprachiasmatic nuclei.

Light stimulates neuronal activity with subsequent expression of the protein product of the immediate early gene, c-fos, in the Suprachiasmatic Nuclei (SCN). Non-photic stimuli is also thought to modulate activity within the SCN. Here, we sought to determine the effects intrinsic stimuli, specifically, the states of sleep upon c-fos protein expression in the SCN.

Neuromechanical simulation.

The importance of the interaction between the body and the brain for the control of behavior has been recognized in recent years with the advent of neuromechanics, a field in which the coupling between neural and biomechanical processes is an explicit focus. A major tool used in neuromechanics is simulation, which connects computational models of neural circuits to models of an animal's body situated in a virtual physical world. This connection closes the feedback loop that links the brain, the body, and the world through sensory stimuli, muscle contractions, and body movement.

NeuronBank: A Tool for Cataloging Neuronal Circuitry.

The basic unit of any nervous system is the neuron. Therefore, understanding the operation of nervous systems ultimately requires an inventory of their constituent neurons and synaptic connectivity, which form neural circuits. The presence of uniquely identifiable neurons or classes of neurons in many invertebrates has facilitated the construction of cellular-level connectivity diagrams that can be generalized across individuals within a species.

Neonatal injury alters adult pain sensitivity by increasing opioid tone in the periaqueductal gray.

Studies in both rodents and humans have shown that acute inflammatory pain experienced during the perinatal period produces long-term decreases in pain sensitivity (hypoalgesia) (Grunau et al., 1994a, 2001; Ren et al., 2004; LaPrairie and Murphy, 2007).

Enhanced permeability of the antimicrobial agent 2,5-bis(4-amidinophenyl)furan across Caco-2 cell monolayers via its methylamidoidme prodrug.

Purpose: DB75 [2.5-bis(4-amidinophenyl)furan] is a promising antimicrobial agent although it has poor oral potency. In contrast, its novel prodrug, 2,5-bis(4-amidinophenyl)furan-bis-O-methylamidoxime (DB289).

Force patterns of heel strike and toe off on different heel heights in normal walking.

This study investigated the changes of force patterns of the heel strike and toe off phases at different heel heights during normal walking. Ten healthy female college students wore running shoes, flat leather shoes and high heeled shoes while walking on a Kistler force platform at their self-comfortable paces. It was found that the high heeled shoes and the leather shoes generated significantly greater vertical impact forces and anterior-posterior forces in the toe off phase than those in the heel strike phase.

Disclosing HIV status: are mothers telling their children?

Objective: Mothers living with HIV face a complex set of child-rearing decisions, often within the context of many competing stressors. One difficult decision for HIV-infected mothers is whether to disclose their HIV status to their children. The purpose of this study is to provide information to HIV-affected families and the professionals working with them as they approach disclosure-related decisions.