Propensity for risky choices despite lower cue reactivity in adolescent rats.

Adolescence is a time of heightened risk-taking across species. Salient audiovisual cues associated with rewards are a common feature of gambling environments and have been connected to increased risky decision-making. We have previously shown that, in adult male rats, sign tracking - a behavioral measure of cue reactivity - predicts an individual's propensity for suboptimal risky choices in a rodent gambling task (rGT) with win-paired cues. However, adolescents perform less sign tracking than adult animals, suggesting that they are less cue-reactive than adults in some circumstances. Therefore, we investigated the performance of adolescent male rats on the rGT with win cues and examined its relationship with their sign-tracking behavior. We found that adolescents make more risky choices and fewer optimal choices on the rGT compared with adults, evidence of the validity of the rGT as a model of adolescent gambling behavior. We also confirmed that adolescents perform less sign tracking than adults, and we found that, unlike in adults, adolescents' sign tracking was unrelated to their risk-taking in the rGT. This implies that adolescent risk-taking is less likely than that of adults to be driven by reward-related cues. Finally, we found that adults trained on the rGT as adolescents retained an adolescent-like propensity toward risky choices, suggesting that early exposure to a gambling environment may have a long-lasting impact on risk-taking behavior.

Genetic hypogonadal mouse model reveals niche-specific influence of reproductive axis and sex on intestinal microbial communities.

BACKGROUND: The gut microbiome has been linked to many diseases with sex bias including autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and reproductive disorders. While numerous studies report sex differences in fecal microbial communities, the role of the reproductive axis in this differentiation is unclear and it is unknown how sex differentiation affects microbial diversity in specific regions of the small and large intestine. METHODS: We used a genetic hypogonadal mouse model that does not produce sex steroids or go through puberty to investigate how sex and the reproductive axis impact bacterial diversity within the intestine. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we analyzed alpha and beta diversity and taxonomic composition of fecal and intestinal communities from the lumen and mucosa of the duodenum, ileum, and cecum from adult female (n = 20) and male (n = 20) wild-type mice and female (n = 17) and male (n = 20) hypogonadal mice. RESULTS: Both sex and reproductive axis inactivation altered bacterial composition in an intestinal section and niche-specific manner. Hypogonadism was significantly associated with bacteria from the Bacteroidaceae, Eggerthellaceae, Muribaculaceae, and Rikenellaceae families, which have genes for bile acid metabolism and mucin degradation. Microbial balances between males and females and between hypogonadal and wild-type mice were also intestinal section-specific. In addition, we identified 3 bacterial genera (Escherichia Shigella, Lachnoclostridium, and Eggerthellaceae genus) with higher abundance in wild-type female mice throughout the intestinal tract compared to both wild-type male and hypogonadal female mice, indicating that activation of the reproductive axis leads to female-specific differentiation of the gut microbiome. Our results also implicated factors independent of the reproductive axis (i.e., sex chromosomes) in shaping sex differences in intestinal communities. Additionally, our detailed profile of intestinal communities showed that fecal samples do not reflect bacterial diversity in the small intestine. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that sex differences in the gut microbiome are intestinal niche-specific and that sampling feces or the large intestine may miss significant sex effects in the small intestine. These results strongly support the need to consider both sex and reproductive status when studying the gut microbiome and while developing microbial-based therapies.

Microbial communities in the intestinal tract, known as the gut microbiome, regulate many critical aspects of host physiology. Previous studies have shown that the diversity of the gut microbiome differs between the sexes. There are also many diseases with a sex bias linked to the gut microbiome, including autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and reproductive disorders. The gut microbiome differentiates during puberty, but it is unknown if the reproductive axis, the system responsible for sexual maturation and production of gonadal sex hormones, is critical for this process. Furthermore, since most studies use feces to examine the gut microbiome, it is unknown how sex influences the microbial communities within different segments of the small and large intestine. To address this gap in knowledge, we used DNA-based molecular methods to compare the intestinal-specific microbiomes of a mouse model with a genetically inactivated reproductive axis to that of wild-type mice. We found that both sex and the reproductive axis impacted gut microbial diversity in an intestinal section-specific manner. We also detected significant differences in intestinal microbial diversity between male and female mutant mice, suggesting that sex chromosome factors also affect the gut microbiome. We also showed that fecal samples were dissimilar to small intestine microbial communities, indicating that studies only sampling feces likely miss sex differences specific to the small intestine. Our results strongly support the need to consider both sex and reproductive status when studying the gut microbiome and while developing microbial-based therapies.

Importance of the Nature of Acidic Sites of Different Aluminosilicates on Fixation of Carbon Dioxide with Styrene Oxide.

The nature of acidic sites in commercially available aluminosilicates, zeolite Na-Y, zeolite NH4 + -ZSM-5, and as-synthesized Al-MCM-41 have been investigated by employing them as catalysts for capturing CO2 by styrene oxide. The catalysts, in tandem with tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB), produce styrene carbonate, and the yield of the product is observed to be governed by the acidity of the catalysts and hence, the Si/Al ratio. All these aluminosilicate frameworks have been characterized by IR, BET, TGA, and XRD. XPS, NH3 -TPD, and 29 Si solid-state NMR studies have been carried out to analyze the Si/Al ratio and the acidity of these catalysts. According to TPD studies, the number of weak acidic sites of these materials follow an order as NH4 + -ZSM-5 < Al-MCM-41 < zeolite Na-Y, which is just in accordance with their Si/Al ratios and the yield of the cyclic carbonates obtained, i. e., 55.3 %, 68 %, and 75.4 % respectively. The TPD data and the yield of the product carried out with calcined zeolite Na-Y indicate that not only the weak acidic sites but also the role of strong acidic sites might appear crucial in the cycloaddition reaction.

Regional Anaesthesia in Harris Platelet Syndrome for Transurethral Resection of Prostate-A Clinical Conundrum or Certitude?

Routine use of the autoanalyzer has helped uncover the increasing incidence of thrombocytopenia. Disorders associated with macrothrombocytes with thrombocytopenia necessitate a preoperative evaluation to assess the bleeding tendencies and the need for transfusion of blood products. Harris platelet syndrome is one such disorder where macrothrombocytes with thrombocytopenia are associated with no congenital abnormalities and low risk of bleeding intraoperatively. There are cases where Harris platelet syndrome has been treated with steroids or splenectomy, which is unwarranted. We report successful management of a patient with Harris platelet syndrome who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate under spinal anaesthesia with no complications.

Oxidant-free, three-component synthesis of 7-amino-6H-benzo[c]chromen-6-ones under green conditions.

An oxidant-free three-component synthesis of biologically significant 7-amino-6H-benzo[c]chromen-6-ones was established involving a Sc(OTf)3 catalyzed three-component reaction between primary amines, ß-ketoesters and 2-hydroxychalcones under green conditions. In this strategy, both the B and C rings of 6H-benzo[c]chromen-6-ones were constructed simultaneously starting from acyclic precursors by generating four new bonds including two C-C, one C-N and one C-O in a single synthetic operation. The mechanism of this sequential cascade process involves the initial formation of a ß-enaminone intermediate followed by Michael addition with 2-hydroxychalcone, intramolecular cyclization, dehydration, lactonization and aromatization steps. Unlike the related literature approaches, this reaction delivered the products without the addition of any external oxidants to achieve the key aromatization step.