The Paleocene-Eocene Flagstaff Formation in the Sixmile Canyon area of the Wasatch Plateau, Central Utah

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A Dissipative Model for Hydrogen Storage: Existence and Regularity Results

We prove global existence of a solution to an initial and boundary value problem for a highly nonlinear PDE system. The problem arises from a thermomechanical dissipative model describing hydrogen storage by use of metal hydrides. In order to treat the model from an analytical point of view, we formulate it as a phase transition phenomenon thanks to the introduction of a suitable phase variable. Continuum mechanics laws lead to an evolutionary problem involving three state variables: the temperature, the phase parameter and the pressure. The problem thus consists of three coupled partial differential equations combined with initial and boundary conditions. Existence and regularity of the solutions are here investigated by means of a time discretization-a priori estimates-passage to the limit procedure joined with compactness and monotonicity arguments

International study of heavy drinking: attitudes and sociodemographic factors in university students.

The authors studied the prevalence of heavy drinking among students in 21 developed and developing countries using an anonymous survey of 7,846 male and 9,892 female students aged 17 to 30 years. There were wide variations in the prevalence of drinking among countries, and the highest rates of heavy drinking (defined as 5 or more drinks for men and 4 or more drinks for women on at least 1 occasion over the past 2 weeks) were reported in Belgium, Colombia, Ireland, and Poland (men), and Ireland and England (women). Heavy drinking was associated with living away from home, having a wealthier family background, and having well-educated parents. Beliefs about the dangers to health of excessive consumption were negatively related to heavy drinking. Heavy drinking is a concern among students in several countries and is associated with greater affluence. Challenging beliefs concerning health risks is a crucial aspect of prevention in this population

The effects of environmental context on laboratory rat social recognition

The effects of environmental context on laboratory rat social recognitio

Antidepressant activity of anti-cytokine treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials of chronic inflammatory conditions.

Inflammatory cytokines are commonly elevated in acute depression and are associated with resistance to monoaminergic treatment. To examine the potential role of cytokines in the pathogenesis and treatment of depression, we carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of antidepressant activity of anti-cytokine treatment using clinical trials of chronic inflammatory conditions where depressive symptoms were measured as a secondary outcome. Systematic search of the PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Cochrane databases, search of reference lists and conference abstracts, followed by study selection process yielded 20 clinical trials. Random effect meta-analysis of seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs) involving 2370 participants showed a significant antidepressant effect of anti-cytokine treatment compared with placebo (standardised mean difference (SMD)=0.40, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.22-0.59). Anti-tumour necrosis factor drugs were most commonly studied (five RCTs); SMD=0.33 (95% CI; 0.06-0.60). Separate meta-analyses of two RCTs of adjunctive treatment with anti-cytokine therapy and eight non-randomised and/or non-placebo studies yielded similar small-to-medium effect estimates favouring anti-cytokine therapy; SMD=0.19 (95% CI, 0.00-0.37) and 0.51 (95% CI, 0.34-0.67), respectively. Adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab and tocilizumab all showed statistically significant improvements in depressive symptoms. Meta-regression exploring predictors of response found that the antidepressant effect was associated with baseline symptom severity (P=0.018) but not with improvement in primary physical illness, sex, age or study duration. The findings indicate a potentially causal role for cytokines in depression and that cytokine modulators may be novel drugs for depression in chronically inflamed subjects. The field now requires RCTs of cytokine modulators using depression as the primary outcome in subjects with high inflammation who are free of other physical illnesses.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 18 October 2016; doi:10.1038/mp.2016.167

Psychological adjustment and autonomic disturbances in inflammatory bowel diseases and irritable bowel syndrome.: Psychological and autonomic dysfunctions in IBD and IBS

International audiencePsychological factors and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This study aimed to assess, firstly the way IBS and IBD patients cope with their pathology according to their affective adjustment and secondly the possible links between these affective adjustments and ANS reactivity. Patients with Crohn's disease (CD; n=26), ulcerative colitis (UC; n=22), or IBS (n=27) were recruited and compared to 21 healthy subjects based on psychological variables (trait- and state anxiety, depressive symptomatology, negative mood, perceived stress, coping, health locus of control) and sympatho-vagal balance through heart-rate variability monitored at rest. A principal component analysis, performed on all affective variables, isolated a leading factor labelled as "affective adjustment". In each disease, patients were distributed into positive and negative affective adjustment. In all the diseases, a positive affect was associated with problem-focused coping, and a negative affect with emotion-focused coping and external health locus of control. Results show that the sympatho-vagal balance varied according to the disease. In CD presenting positive affectivity, an adapted high sympathetic activity was observed. In UC, a parasympathetic blunt was observed in the presence of negative affectivity and an equilibrated sympatho-vagal balance in the presence of positive affectivity. In contrast, in IBS, an important dysautonomia (with high sympathetic and low parasympathetic tone) was constantly observed whatever the affective adjustment. In conclusion, this study suggests that the equilibrium of the ANS is differentially adapted according to the disease. This equilibrium is conjugated with positive affective and cognitive adjustment in IBD (CD and UC) but not in IBS

Excretion of 14C-Fumonisin B1, 14C-Hydrolyzed Fumonisin B1, and 14C-Fumonisin B1-Fructose in Rats

14C-Fumonisin B1 (FB1) was produced by Fusarium proliferatum M-5991 in modified Myro liquid medium and purified to \u3e95% purity with a specific activity of 1.7 mCi/mmol. Nine male and nine female F344/N rats were each dosed by gavage with 0.69 μmol of 14C-FB1, 14C-hydrolyzed FB1, or 14C-FB1-fructose/kg body weight. Urinary excretion of 14C-FB1 and 14C-FB1-fructose was 0.5% and 4.4% of the total dose, respectively, and was similar between male and female rats. Urinary excretion of 14C-hydrolyzed HFB1 was significantly greater (P \u3e 0.05) in female rats as compared with male rats (17.3% vs 12.8% of the total dose, respectively). There were no significant (P \u3e 0.05) differences in biliary excretion of the three fumonisin compounds with a mean of 1.4% of the dose excreted at 4 h after dosing. Lesser amounts continued to be excreted up to 9.25 h after dosing. Although biliary excretion of the14C-FB1, 14C-hydrolyzed FB1, and 14C-FB1-fructose was similar, increased urinary excretion of the 14C-hydrolyzed FB1 as compared to 14C-FB1 and 14C-FB1-fructose indicated a greater absorption of the hydrolyzed form

Reaction with Fructose Detoxifies Fumonisin B1 while Stimulating Liver-Associated Natural Killer Cell Activity in Rats

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) was reacted with fructose in an attempt to detoxify this mycotoxin. Fischer 344/N rats were initiated with diethylnitrosamine (15 mg/kg body weight) and then fed 69.3 μmol FB1/kg diet or 69.3 μmol FB1 reacted with fructose (FB1−fructose)/kg diet for 4 weeks. In comparison with the rats fed basal diet or FB1−fructose, the FB1-fed rats had significantly increased plasma cholesterol (P \u3c 0.01), plasma alanine aminotransferase activity (P \u3c 0.05), and endogenous hepatic prostaglandin production (P \u3c 0.05). Placental glutathione S-transferase-positive and γ-glutamyl transferase-positive altered hepatic foci occurred only in the FB1-fed rats. Liver-associated natural killer (NK) cell activity was significantly decreased in the FB1-fed rats and increased in the group fed FB1-fructose, as compared with the basal group (P \u3c 0.03). Therefore, modifying FB1 with fructose seems to prevent FB1-induced hepatotoxicity and promotion of hepatocarcinogenesis while stimulating liver-associated NK cell activity in rats