Nutritional value and taste play different roles in learning and memory in the honey bee (Apis mellifera).

Honey bees will learn to respond to an odor when their antennae are stimulated with sucrose, even if they are not fed during the conditioning phase. However, if they are not fed, the memory of this association is significantly reduced 24 h after conditioning. These results suggest that stimulation of proboscis with sucrose and/or the nutritional quality of the reward plays an important role in establishing a long lasting memory. Three sugars, xylose, sorbitol and mannitol, are used to investigate the relationship among learning, sensory perception and nutritional value. The proboscis extension reflex is used to show that honey bees cannot taste these sugars, whereas mortality data suggest that bees can metabolize all three sugars. Feeding with sorbitol or xylose during olfactory associative conditioning restores robust 24 h memories. However, when given a free choice between consuming sucrose alone or sucrose supplemented with these nutritional sugars, bees did not show a preference for food containing the higher nutritional content. Furthermore, bees did not ingest solutions containing only the tasteless sugar even when it was the only food source. Together, these results suggest that nutritional content and not just sensory information is important for establishing long term memories, but that bees may not be able to assess nutritional content when it is disassociated from taste.

Engagement in mental health treatment following primary care mental health integration contact.

Although the majority of mental health conditions are treated in primary care, treatment provided in this setting is often inadequate. In response to this problem, integrated mental health programs were created to enhance direct patient care and increase support for primary care providers. Data on the efficacy of these programs have suggested improved access, treatment outcomes, and patient satisfaction. However, infrequently examined is how interaction with integrated mental health providers impacts completion of referrals to specialty mental health (SMH) programs for patients whose treatment needs are too severe to treat in primary care alone. The current study examined referral acceptance rates among a veteran population at a large Midwest Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center. Results found that completion rates to SMH following integrated mental health contact (87.1%) were higher than published comparisons (32% in 1 study). It was found that a large proportion of these veterans maintained continued attendance to SMH treatment at 1- and 6-month follow-up (88.9% and 71.9%, respectively). Finally, data also suggest that only a small amount of contact (5 or more minutes) was needed to significantly increase the likelihood of SMH referral success but was not related to improved continued attendance in treatment at follow-up intervals. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record