Cannabinoids, interoception, and anxiety.

The use of cannabis is rapidly gaining legal status across North America. Such dramatic legislative shifts have prompted an urgency in elucidating the stimulus effects of cannabis consumption. Cannabis use, though relatively safe compared to other drugs of abuse, has been associated with greater risk of mental health disorders, possibly via its primary psychoactive constituent, Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In this review, we discuss endocannabinoid activation and cannabis constituents from the perspective of subjective interoceptive (internally-perceived) states and how that relates to anxiety. Human studies have examined these subjective effects through use of self-report questionnaires. However, non-human studies use proxy methods of assessing anxiety states, such as elevated plus maze and fear conditioning paradigms. So far, this body of research has demonstrated that both endogenous and exogenous cannabinoid activation generally elicits biphasic effects on expression of the subjective state, with lower doses appearing to have anxiolytic properties and higher doses perceived as anxiogenic. Unfortunately, research with these compounds has been historically limited due to excessively tight regulatory control. Therefore, much work remains regarding the investigation of interactions between cannabinoid receptor activity and cannabis constituents on anxiety. Ongoing changes in legal status will hopefully mitigate the challenges faced by researchers attempting to access cannabis and THC that is inherently built in by federal and international classifications.

A civic engagement paradigm for reforming health administration education and recreating the community.

The education of students of health administration has traditionally combined both the theoretical and practical to enhance and balance the learning experience. Classroom exposure to the principles of management, law, organizations, and finance is coupled with problem solving, practicum, internship, and administrative residency experiences. However, just as recent years have seen the developmentof courses from managed care and alternative delivery systems to total quality management and continuous quality improvement, there is also emerging an awareness of the need to enhance the practical side of the learning equation. Perhaps this need is finding expression in curricular opportunities for students to learn from a participatory model known as civic engagement (CE). CE is a way of integrating academic study and community service to strengthen learning while promoting civic and personal responsibility to strengthen communities. Based on experiences with graduate and undergraduate students spanning the last ten years at Texas State University--San Marcos (Texas State), it is suggested that a CE paradigm has been developed within the Department of Health Administration that merits consideration by other programs of health administration. As a model for change, it has the potential for reforming both health administration education and most other higher education disciplines as well.

Effects of short-term and long-term depleted uranium exposure on open-field behavior and brain lipid oxidation in rats.

Male and female rats were exposed to depleted uranium acetate (DU) in drinking water at doses of 0, 75, or 150 mg/L for either 2 weeks or 6 months. After exposure, the animals were tested for behaviors in the open-field. After testing in the open-field, the brains were examined for levels of lipid oxidation using the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) assay. Behavioral differences (line crossing and rearing) were seen in male rats after 2 weeks exposure to DU in drinking water for the highest dose group. Increased brain lipid oxidation was seen for the highest dose group for both genders. Lipid oxidation levels correlated significantly with line crossing and rearing in the open-field. After 6 months exposure, behavioral differences for male rats in the open-field remained and expanded to include other behaviors (grooming, defecation, and urination). Female rats also demonstrated some behavioral changes after 6 months exposure. Lipid oxidation in the brain continued to be seen; however, these levels no longer correlated with open-field behaviors. These data suggest that DU is a toxin that crosses the blood-brain barrier, producing behavioral changes in male rats and lipid oxidation regardless of gender in as little as 2 weeks in the rat. Longer exposures to DU may produce greater behavioral changes but compensatory mechanisms may reduce the effects of lipid oxidation. Males appear to be more sensitive to the behavioral effects of DU.