Brief emotion regulation strategies to reduce alcohol craving: Mediating role of state difficulties in emotion regulation.

OBJECTIVE: This study experimentally compared the effects of emotion regulation (ER) strategies on alcohol craving and examined the mediating effect of state difficulties in emotion regulation (S-DER) on the relationship between negative/positive emotion and alcohol craving. METHOD: 417 participants (76.74% women, Mage = 20.76 years) endorsing past-month heavy/binge drinking were randomly assigned to one of four ER conditions (positive reappraisal, distancing, distraction, and acceptance). Participants completed state assessments, including negative/positive emotion, S-DER, and alcohol craving, prior to (T0) and after (T1) engaging in a negative emotion induction task. Subsequently, participants completed an ER strategy task based on their assigned ER strategy condition and completed a third state assessment (T2). RESULTS: Time had a significant quadratic effect on alcohol craving, such that craving increased from T0 to T1 and decreased from T1 to T2. There was no significant effect of ER strategy condition on craving. Change in S-DER mediated the relationship between the change in negative/positive emotion and the change in craving, with emotional modulation and emotional acceptance facets of S-DER dominating the mediating effect during negative emotion induction and ER strategy induction, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest interventions targeting S-DER's emotional modulation and acceptance facets could reduce acute craving when experiencing undesired emotions.

Improvement of Corrosion and Wear Resistance of CoCrNiSi0.3 Medium-Entropy Alloy by Sputtering CrN Film.

In this study, Co, Cr, and Ni were selected as the equal-atomic medium entropy alloy (MEA) systems, and Si was added to form CoCrNiSi0.3 MEA. In order to further improve its wear and corrosion properties, CrN film was sputtered on the surface. In addition, to enhance the adhesion between the soft CoCrNiSi0.3 substrate and the super-hard CrN film, a Cr buffer layer was pre-sputtered on the CoCrNiSi0.3 substrate. The experimental results show that the CrN film exhibits a columnar grain structure, and the film growth rate is about 2.022 µm/h. With the increase of sputtering time, the increase in CrN film thickness, and the refinement of columnar grains, the wear and corrosion resistance improves. Among all CoCrNiSi0.3 MEAs without and with CrN films prepared in this study, the CoCrNiSi0.3 MEA with 3 h-sputtered CrN film has the lowest wear rate of 2.249 × 10-5 mm3·m-1·N-1, and the best corrosion resistance of Icorr 19.37 µA·cm-2 and Rp 705.85 Ω·cm2.

Effects of content and valence of episodic future thinking on delay discounting and alcohol demand.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether the content (alcohol vs. nonalcohol) and valence (positive vs. negative) of episodic future thinking (EFT) are associated with delay discounting (DD) and alcohol demand. METHOD: Participants (N = 360) were college students (Mage = 21.64 years, 84.44% female, 76.11% White) reporting alcohol consumption in the past month recruited to participate in an online, cross-sectional study. Participants were randomly assigned to a control condition or one of four EFT cue-generation conditions (positive alcohol, negative alcohol, positive nonalcohol, and negative nonalcohol). Then participants in EFT conditions generated EFT cues based on the assigned condition. Afterward, all participants completed the DD task and alcohol purchase task; participants in the EFT conditions completed modified tasks during which their EFT cues were displayed. Finally, participants completed a self-report battery assessing alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and demographics. RESULTS: Participants assigned to nonalcohol EFT conditions discounted future rewards significantly less than those in alcohol EFT conditions, F(1, 266) = 6.87, p = .009, ηp² = .025. However, there was no main effect of EFT valence on DD. EFT content around professional work, but not social relationships, was associated with less steep DD (ß = -.24, p < .001). No effect of EFT on alcohol demand intensity was found. CONCLUSIONS: EFT effect on DD may lie in content rather than valence, in which alcohol-free EFT, whether positive or negative, was associated with preference for later but larger rewards. Incorporating a professional goal into imagined events might play a key role in EFT effects on promoting the valuation of future consequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Interplay of Prenatal and Postnatal Risk Factors in the Behavioral and Histological Features of a "Two-Hit" Non-Genetic Mouse Model of Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a multifactorial developmental neuropsychiatric disorder. This study examined the interplay of maternal infection and postweaning social isolation, which are prenatal and postnatal risk factors, respectively. Pregnant mice received poly I:C or saline injection on gestation day 9 and the pups were weaned at postnatal day 28. After weaning, male offspring were randomly assigned into group-rearing and isolation-rearing groups. In their adulthood, we performed behavioral tests and characterized the histochemical features of their mesocorticolimbic structures. The sociability and anxiety levels were not affected by either manipulation, but synergistic effects of the two hits on stress-coping behavior was observed. Either of the single manipulations caused defects in sensorimotor gating, novel object recognition and spatial memory tests, but the combination of the two hits did not further exacerbate the disabilities. Prenatal infection increased the number of dopaminergic neurons in midbrain, whereas postweaning isolation decreased the GABAergic neurons in cortex. Single manipulation reduced the dendritic complexity and spine densities of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and dentate gyrus. Our results support the current perspective that disturbances in brain development during the prenatal or postnatal period influence the structure and function of the brain and together augment the susceptibility to mental disorders, such as schizophrenia.

Prenatal infection affects the neuronal architecture and cognitive function in adult mice.

Environmental factors such as prenatal infection are involved in the pathogenic processes of neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders. In the present study, we administered a viral mimic, polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid (poly I:C, 20 mg/kg, i.p.), to pregnant B6 mice at gestational day 9.5. Neonates born to these poly I:C-treated dams showed an increase of microglia in the hippocampus, indicating an activation of the immune system in the brains. Moreover, a significant increase in the number of dopamine-producing neurons in the ventral tegmental area was observed in adult male poly I:C offspring compared with age-matched saline offspring. Poly I:C offspring also exhibited hypolocomotor activity in a novel open-field arena but did not display signs of anxiety or depression in the elevated plus maze or the forced swim test, respectively. However, the short-term memory of the poly I:C offspring was impaired in a novel object recognition task. Therefore, the dendritic architecture of granule cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) and pyramidal neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were examined. The dendritic complexity was reduced in the DG granule cells of the poly I:C offspring and exhibited shorter dendritic length compared with the saline offspring. The density of dendritic spines in the DG granule cells was also decreased in the poly I:C offspring. Furthermore, the dendritic complexity and spine density were reduced in layer II/III mPFC pyramidal neurons of the poly I:C offspring. Together, these data demonstrate impaired short-term memory and altered dendritic architecture in adult poly I:C offspring, which validates the prenatal infection paradigm as a model for neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders.

Porous inorganic materials from living porogens: channel-like TiO2 from yeast-assisted sol-gel process.

Vitality of yeast cells maintained in an aqueous sol-gel solution containing titanium tetraisopropoxide and glucose. The living cells and their metabolites acted as the porogens for a channel-like TiO2 precursor. Further processing of the precursor offered a channel-like meso/macroporous TiO2, a potential anode material for Li-ion battery.

Molecular mechanisms of treadmill therapy on neuromuscular atrophy induced via botulinum toxin A.

Botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) is a bacterial zinc-dependent endopeptidase that acts specifically on neuromuscular junctions. BoNT-A blocks the release of acetylcholine, thereby decreasing the ability of a spastic muscle to generate forceful contraction, which results in a temporal local weakness and the atrophy of targeted muscles. BoNT-A-induced temporal muscle weakness has been used to manage skeletal muscle spasticity, such as poststroke spasticity, cerebral palsy, and cervical dystonia. However, the combined effect of treadmill exercise and BoNT-A treatment is not well understood. We previously demonstrated that for rats, following BoNT-A injection in the gastrocnemius muscle, treadmill running improved the recovery of the sciatic functional index (SFI), muscle contraction strength, and compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude and area. Treadmill training had no influence on gastrocnemius mass that received BoNT-A injection, but it improved the maximal contraction force of the gastrocnemius, and upregulation of GAP-43, IGF-1, Myo-D, Myf-5, myogenin, and acetylcholine receptor (AChR) subunits α and ß was found following treadmill training. Taken together, these results suggest that the upregulation of genes associated with neurite and AChR regeneration following treadmill training may contribute to enhanced gastrocnemius strength recovery following BoNT-A injection.

Therapeutic Potential of Andrographolide Isolated from the Leaves of Andrographis paniculata Nees for Treating Lung Adenocarcinomas.

Andrographolide is one of the major diterpene lactones found in Andrographis paniculata Nees and exhibits remarkable inhibitory effects on various cancers. In this study, the antipulmonary cancer effects of andrographolide were studied in a lung tumor mouse model induced by human vascular endothelial growth factor A 165 (hVEGF-A165). These results demonstrated that andrographolide significantly reduced the expression of hVEGF-A165 compared with a mock group in the Clara cells of the lungs. In addition, andrographolide also decreased tumor formation by reducing VEGF, EGFR, Cyclin A, and Cyclin B expression on the transcriptional and translational levels. These results indicated that andrographolide treatment on the overexpression of VEGF can arrest the cell cycle, which induced pulmonary tumors in transgenic mice. In conclusion, the antiangiogenesis and chemotherapeutic potential of andrographolide may provide a cure for pulmonary tumors in the future.

Gestational ingestion of oxidized frying oil by C57BL/6J mice differentially affects the susceptibility of the male and female offspring to diet-induced obesity in adulthood.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether maternal ingestion of oxidized frying oil (OFO) during pregnancy influences the susceptibility to diet-induced obesity (DIO) of the adult offspring. Pregnant C57BL/6J mice were fed either a control diet [10% fresh soybean oil (SO)] or an OFO-containing diet (10% OFO) throughout the entire gestational period. After parturition, all pups were nursed by SO-fed dams for 3 wk, weaned onto a nonpurified standard diet for 4 wk, and shifted to a high-fat diet (29% butter + 1% SO) for 5 wk. Consequently, 4 groups of offspring were obtained, consisting of the male (m) or female (f) offspring of dams fed the OFO diet (OFO-m and OFO-f) or the SO diet (SO-m and SO-f). At pregnancy d 18, higher amounts (P < 0.05) of mRNA for PPARα target genes were found in the liver of the OFO-fed dams and their fetuses than in their SO controls. Although all pups were raised under the same conditions in postnatal life, a comparison based on the gender of pups from dams fed the different diets showed that adult OFO-f mice were prone to DIO, whereas adult OFO-m mice were resistant. The adult OFO-m mice also had higher expression of PPARα target genes in the liver and white adipose tissue (WAT) and of thermogenic genes in the WAT than adult SO-m mice, whereas adult OFO-f and SO-f mice did not differ. We conclude that uterine PPARα activation caused by maternal OFO ingestion affects hepatic PPARα activity and adipose thermogenic capacity and contributes to the differential susceptibility to DIO in the male and female offspring in adulthood.

Mutation of isoleucine 705 of the oxidosqualene-lanosterol cyclase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae affects lanosterol's C/D-ring cyclization and 17α/ß-exocyclic side chain stereochemistry.

Site-saturated substitution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae oxidosqualene-lanosterol cyclase at Ile705 position produced three chair-boat-chair (C-B-C) truncated tricyclic compounds, two 17α-exocyclic protosteryl intermediates, two protosteryl C-17 truncated rearranged intermediates and the normal biosynthetic product, lanosterol. These results indicated the importance of the Ile705 residue in affecting lanosterol's C/D ring stabilization including 6-6-5 tricyclic and protosteryl C-17 cations and 17α/ß-exocyclic side chain stereochemistry.

Identification of melamine/cyanuric acid-containing nephrolithiasis by infrared spectroscopy.

Melamine-contaminated milk formula caused infant nephrolithiasis in some areas of China. Its combination with cyanuric acid causes crystallization in renal tubules. Following this renal damage and even renal failure that require long-term hemodialysis has been reported. Therefore, correct and timely diagnosis of these complex diseases is critical. Melamine containing stone is a combination of equal molar ratios of common stone compositions that has been reported from previous animal studies. We have previously identified the compositions of urinary tract stones with infrared (IR) spectroscopy. We hypothesized that the absorbance of wavelength of IR can identify melamine/cyanuric acid in the presence of mixing human stone compositions. In this study, we made an artificial stone composition and examine under IR absorbance by mixing equal molar ratios of melamine/cyanuric acid with different types of human urinary stones, and established a reference of IR analysis for the identification of melamine/cyanuric acid-containing human urinary tract stones. Knowledge of the precise stone composition allowed institution of appropriate prophylactic dietary and medical therapy and this may help in the prevention of urinary stone recurrence. The results are promising that melamine and cyanuric acid can be identified clearly in a low percentile (approximately 1%) of stone mixture pellet. Therefore, IR seems to be an ideal tool for the identification of melamine/cyanuric acid-containing stones.

Genetic analysis of Parkin in early onset Parkinson's disease (PD): Novel intron 9 g > a single nucleotide polymorphism and risk of Taiwanese PD.

Early onset Parkinson's disease (PD) has been associated with mutations in Parkin. We screened Parkin mutations in a cohort of Taiwanese early onset PD using direct cDNA sequencing. Two deletions (Ex2-3del and Ex5del), one point mutation (R334C), one 86-bp IVS9 insertion (c.1084intron(+)), and two polymorphisms (S167N and V380L) were identified. The mutations identified are heterozygous and none of the mutation carriers possess two Parkin mutations. The c.1084intron(+) was due to a novel IVS9 g > a change. To assess the association of IVS9 g > a, S167N and V380L with the risk of PD, we conducted a case-control study in a cohort of PD and ethnically matched controls. Although the difference is not significant, the V380L C allele frequency was notably lower in PD patients than the controls and a trend toward decrease in risk of developing PD was evident (odds ratio: 0.71, 95% confidence interval: 0.53-0.97, P = 0.029). Contrarily the IVS9 g > a a allele frequency was notably higher in PD patients than the controls and a trend toward increase in risk of developing PD was also evident (odds ratio: 1.65, 95% confidence interval: 1.06-2.59, P = 0.028). Quantitative real-time PCR showed that the relative Parkin c.1084intron(+) mRNA expression was increased in PD patients with IVS9 ga genotype as compared to gg genotype. Pairwise genotype analysis revealed that IVS9 gg genotype strengthens the negative association of the V380L GC genotype with PD (odds ratio: 0.67, 95% confidence interval: 0.48-0.94, P = 0.021). The results of Parkin mutation/polymorphism screening may contribute to our understanding of PD.

Antioxidative and hepatoprotective effects of magnolol on acetaminophen-induced liver damage in rats.

Acute liver failure (ALF), an often fatal condition characterized by massive hepatocyte necrosis, is frequently caused by drug poisoning, particularly with acetaminophen (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol/APAP). Hepatocyte necrosis is consecutive to glutathione (GSH) depletion and mitochondrial damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction. Magnolol, one major phenolic constituent of Magnolia officinalis, have been known to exhibit potent antioxidative activity. In this study, the anti-hepatotoxic activity of magnolol on APAP-induced toxicity in the Sprague-Dawley rat liver was examined. After evaluating the changes of several biochemical parameters in serum, the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were elevated by APAP (500 mg/kg) intraperitoneal administration (8 and 24 h) and reduced by treatment with magnolol (0.5 h after APAP administration; 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mug/kg). Histological changes around the hepatic central vein, lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance/TBARS), and GSH depletion in liver tissue induced by APAP were also recovered by magnolol treatment. The data show that oxidative stress followed by lipid peroxidation may play a very important role in the pathogenesis of APAP-induced hepatic injury; treatment with lipid-soluble antioxidant, magnolol, exerts anti-hepatotoxic activity. Our study points out the potential interest of magnolol in the treatment of toxic ALF.