Microglial and macrophage reactions mark progressive changes and define the penumbra in the rat neocortex and striatum after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion

Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats leads to infarction of the lateral part of the striatum and adjacent neocortex, with selective neuronal necrosis in the bordering penumbral zones. Administration of glutamate, cytokine, and leukocyte antagonists have rescued mainly neocortical neurons, indicating differences in the degenerative processes. The aim of this study was, therefore, to describe the microglial/macrophage activation and polymorphonuclear leukocyte recruitment patterns and to correlate these with the ischemia-induced degenerative processes. The analysis showed significant differences in the characteristics and timing of the microglial/macrophage responses between the caudate putamen and neocortical infarct zones, the infarct zones and their associated penumbral zones, as well as between the striatal and the neocortical penumbral zone. Infiltrations with polymorphonuclear leukocytes into the infarct zones were limited and shortlasting and confined to the acutely degenerating striatum and piriform cortex. A delayed, massive infiltration with lipid phagocytes into the caudate putamen infarct markedly contrasted an early recruitment and activation of microglia/macrophages in the adjacent penumbra. Within the neocortex, a later onset of degeneration along the insular-parietal axis was marked by neuronal expression of heat shock protein and a progressive microglial activation with induction of the full repertoire of microglial activation markers, including a widespread microglial major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigen expression. We interpret the present results as delineating two differentially progressing penumbral zones, which are likely to reflect differences in the underlying degenerative processes. Differences in the microglial/macrophage activation pattern attract special attention, as these cells may constitute specific targets for therapeutic intervention.     

A randomized controlled trial of the therapeutic workplace for community methadone patients: A partial failure to engage.

The Therapeutic Workplace is an employment-based treatment for drug addiction that uses wages for work to reinforce drug abstinence. The Therapeutic Workplace has promoted abstinence from heroin and cocaine in treatment-resistant mothers in methadone treatment. This study attempted to replicate that effect in crack cocaine users recruited from community-based methadone programs. Participants were randomly assigned to a Therapeutic Workplace (n=22) or usual care control (n=25) group. Therapeutic Workplace participants were invited to work in the workplace and earn vouchers every weekday for 9 months contingent on documented opiate and cocaine abstinence. The two groups did not differ significantly on measures of cocaine or opiate use collected during study participation. Daily attendance and urinalysis results of the Therapeutic Workplace group were analyzed, and only 7 of the 22 participants initiated consistent periods of abstinence and workplace attendance. Two individuals gained access to the workplace on a few days, and 9 participants attempted to gain access to the workplace but never provided a drug-negative urine sample. Possible reasons for differences between the current study and the previous Therapeutic Workplace study are considered. Procedures that increase participant contact with the Therapeutic Workplace and its reinforcement contingencies might increase the likelihood of these individuals being successful in the treatment program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Economic impact of milk production in the State of New Mexico

The goal of this study was to quantify the economic role of dairy farming in New Mexico and to identify its linkages with allied industries in terms of income, value added, and employment impacts. An input-output model was used to estimate the direct, indirect, and induced impacts of the dairy farm industry on the economy of New Mexico. The results showed that in 2005, New Mexico's dairy farm industry had a total economic impact of $1.98 billion and accounted for 14,313 jobs. Therefore, dairy farming in New Mexico had an output multiplier (income) of 1.92, a labor income multiplier of $248 thousand/$ million of gross sales, and an employment multiplier of 13.91 jobs/$ million of gross sales. Furthermore, the New Mexico dairy farms accounted for 13.1% of the total agricultural outputs, 20.5% of the agricultural jobs, 1.5% of total state economic activity, and $80 million in tax revenue. With the exception of Lea, Eddy, and Bernalillo counties, which are diversified, the dairy farms accounted for more than two-thirds of the agricultural outputs and for more than two-fifths of the agricultural employment in counties where dairy farms are concentrated.     

Diketopyrrolopyrrole Organic Thin‐Film Transistors: Impact of Alkyl Substituents and Tolerance of Ethylhexyl Stereoisomers

Bis(thiophen‐2‐yl)‐diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) dyes bearing various alkyl substituents at the amide positions (n‐butyl, n‐pentyl, n‐hexyl, n‐heptyl, n‐octyl, 2‐ethylhexyl) and chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), or cyano (CN) substituents at the thiophene positions have been synthesized and investigated with regard to their molecular and semiconducting properties. Intense absorption, strong fluorescence, and reversible oxidation and reduction processes are common to all of these dyes. Their characterization as organic semiconductors in vacuum‐processed thin‐film transistors reveals p‐channel operation with field‐effect mobilities ranging from 0.01 to 0.7 cm² V^?1 s^?1. The highest mobility is found for the DPP dyes bearing the 2‐ethylhexyl substituents, which is surprising, considering that as a result of the chiral substituents, this material is a mixture of (R,R), (S,S), and (R,S) stereoisomers. The high carrier mobility in the films of the DPPs bearing stereoisomerically inhomogeneous ethylhexyl groups is rationalized here by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis in combination with XRD and atomic force microscopy studies on thin films, which reveal the presence of slightly different 2D layer arrangements for the n‐alkyl and the 2‐ethylhexyl derivatives. For the cyano‐substituted DPPs possessing the lowest LUMO levels, ambipolar transport characteristics are observed.     

Dream interpretation sessions: Who volunteers, who benefits, and what volunteer clients view as most and least helpful.

Undergraduate students (N ?=?336) completed measures of personality, cognitive functioning, and attitudes toward dreams; reported average hours of sleep and estimated dream recall; and kept a 2-week dream diary. A subset of 109 students volunteered to participate in and 65 students actually participated in, a dream interpretation session. The students who volunteered for dream interpretation had more positive attitudes toward dreams, recalled dreams more frequently, were more open and higher in absorption (capacity for restructuring one's phenomenal field), and were more often female than nonvolunteers. The volunteer clients who gained the most from dream interpretation reported fewer dreams in a 2-week dream diary. Clients reported that the most helpful aspects of dream interpretation were insight, links to waking life, and receiving another person's input. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low nitrogen diets preserve nutritional status but not residual renal function in rats with severe renal failure

The effects of low nitrogen diets (oral and parenteral) on nutritional status and residual renal function were evaluated in rats with experimentally induced severe renal failure (partial nephrectomy) and compared with the effects of a normal protein diet. Non-uremic rats were used as controls. Muscle protein synthesis was significantly lower in uremic rats fed a normal protein diet than in those fed low protein diets. Values for serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) were significantly lower than for controls in all uremic groups as were the wet and dry weights of skeletal muscle. The glomerular filtration rate was studied after 3 wk of nutritional intervention. Serum creatinine concentration was lower and creatinine clearance greater in uremic rats given the low nitrogen dietary treatments (both oral and parenteral) compared with those fed the normal protein diet. However, the glomerular filtration rate determined with 51Cr-EDTA clearance did not differ between uremic rats with normal and low protein intake. Thus, a low nitrogen diet had positive effects on uremic toxicity and did not compromise nutritional status. The results do not, however, establish a favorable influence on residual renal function and emphasize the need for reliable methods for studying dietary effects on renal function in uremia.