Children's Reality Status Judgments of Digital Media: Implications for a COVID-19 World and Beyond.

Even prior to the COVID-19 crisis, one of the children's most common screen activities was using the video-sharing platform YouTube, with many children preferring YouTube over television. The pandemic has significantly increased the amount of time many children spend on YouTube-watching videos for both entertainment and education. However, it is unclear how children conceptualize the people they see on YouTube. Prior to the pandemic, children 3-8 years old (N = 117) were recruited to participate. Children were told that they would see pictures taken from videos and answer questions about them. Children saw three physical photos with the same image of a man and a bird and were told that the photo was (a) from a video on the experimenter's phone, (b) from a video on television, or (c) from a video on YouTube. They were asked whether the person in the photo was real or not real, which video would be best for learning, and which video they would prefer to watch. Findings indicated that children were marginally less likely to believe that people on YouTube are real than people in a video on a phone, with no difference between beliefs about people on YouTube and television. Notably, these beliefs were similar across the age range tested here. Across all ages, children preferred to watch YouTube more than phone videos and believed that YouTube possessed greater educational value than both phone and television videos.

Controlled on-chip stimulation of quantal catecholamine release from chromaffin cells using photolysis of caged Ca2+ on transparent indium-tin-oxide microchip electrodes.

Photorelease of caged Ca(2+) is a uniquely powerful tool to study the dynamics of Ca(2+)-triggered exocytosis from individual cells. Using photolithography and other microfabrication techniques, we have developed transparent microchip devices to enable photorelease of caged Ca(2+), together with electrochemical detection of quantal catecholamine secretion from individual cells or cell arrays as a step towards developing high-throughput experimental devices. A 100 nm thick transparent indium-tin-oxide (ITO) film was sputter-deposited onto glass coverslips, which were then patterned into 24 cell-sized working electrodes (approximately 20 microm by 20 microm). We loaded bovine chromaffin cells with acetoxymethyl (AM) ester derivatives of the Ca(2+) cage NP-EGTA and Ca(2+) indicator dye fura-4F, then transferred these cells onto the working ITO electrodes for amperometric recordings. Upon flash photorelease of caged Ca(2+), a uniform rise of [Ca(2+)](i) within the target cell leads to quantal release of oxidizable catecholamines measured amperometrically by the underlying ITO electrode. We observed a burst of amperometric spikes upon rapid elevation of [Ca(2+)](i) and a "priming" effect of sub-stimulatory [Ca(2+)](i) on the response of cells to subsequent [Ca(2+)](i) elevation, similar to previous reports using different techniques. We conclude that UV photolysis of caged Ca(2+) is a suitable stimulation technique for higher-throughput studies of Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis on transparent electrochemical microelectrode arrays.

Electrochemical Properties of Carbon Nanoparticles Entrapped in Silica Matrix.

Carbon-based electrode materials have been widely used for many years for electrochemical charge storage, energy generation, and catalysis. We have developed an electrode material with high specific capacitance by entrapping graphite nanoparticles into a sol-gel network. Films from the resulting colloidal suspensions were highly porous due to the removal of the entrapped organic solvents from sol-gel matrix giving rise to high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface areas (654 m(2)/g) and a high capacitance density ( approximately 37 F/g). An exponential increase of capacitance was observed with decreasing scan rates in cyclic voltammetry studies on these films suggesting the presence of pores ranging from micro (< 2 nm) to mesopores. BET surface analysis and scanning electron microscope images of these films also confirmed the presence of the micropores as well as mesopores. A steep drop in the double layer capacitance with polar electrolytes was observed when the films were rendered hydrophilic upon exposure to a mild oxygen plasma. We propose a model whereby the microporous hydrophobic sol-gel matrix perturbs the hydration of ions which moves ions closer to the graphite nanoparticles and consequently increase the capacitance of the film.

Role of NMDA, opioid and dopamine D1 and D2 receptor signaling in the acquisition of a quinine-conditioned flavor avoidance in rats.

A conditioned flavor preference (CFP) can be produced by pairing a flavor (conditioned stimulus, CS+) with the sweet taste of fructose. Systemic dopamine (DA) D1, D2 and NMDA, but not opioid, receptor antagonists significantly reduce the acquisition of the fructose-CFP. A conditioned flavor avoidance (CFA) can be produced by pairing a CS+flavor with the bitter taste of quinine. To evaluate whether fructose-CFP and quinine-CFA share common neurochemical substrates, the present study determined the systemic effects of DA D1 (SCH23390: SCH), DA D2 (raclopride: RAC), NMDA (MK-801) or opioid (naltrexone: NTX) receptor antagonists on the acquisition of quinine-CFA. In Experiment 1, food-restricted male rats were trained over 8 alternating one-bottle sessions to drink an 8% fructose+0.2% saccharin solution (FS) mixed with one flavor (CS-, e.g., grape) and a different flavor (CS+, e.g., cherry) mixed in a solution (FSQ) containing fructose+saccharin and quinine at 0.001-0.030% concentrations. In six subsequent two-bottle choice tests (1-3: two sessions each) with the CS- and CS+ flavors presented in FS solutions, only rats trained with 0.03% quinine displayed a CS+ avoidance in Test 1. In Experiment 2, rats received vehicle (Veh), SCH (200 nmol/kg), RAC (200 nmol/kg), MK-801 (100 µg/kg) or NTX (1 mg/kg) 30 min prior to the 8 one-bottle training sessions with CS-/FS and CS+/FSQ (0.03% quinine) solutions. An additional vehicle group (Veh 0.06%) was trained with a CS+/FSQ containing 0.06% quinine. In the two-bottle choice tests, the Veh and RAC groups avoided the CS+ flavor in Test 1 only, whereas the SCH, MK801, and NTX groups significantly avoided the CS+ in Tests 1-3. The Veh.06% group trained avoided the CS+ in Tests 1 and 2, but not Test 3. In Experiment 3, Veh and SCH groups were trained as in Experiment 2, but were tested with CS flavors presented in 0.2% saccharin solutions. The SCH group avoided the CS+ flavor in Tests 1-3 while the Veh group avoided the CS+ in Test 1 only. Thus whereas DA D1, DA D2 and NMDA, but not opioid receptor antagonism blocked acquisition of sweet taste-based CFP, DA D1, NMDA and opioid, but not DA D2 receptor antagonism enhanced the CFA produced by the bitter taste of quinine.

Effect of dopamine D1 and D2 receptor antagonism in the lateral hypothalamus on the expression and acquisition of fructose-conditioned flavor preference in rats.

The attraction to sugar-rich foods is influenced by conditioned flavor preferences (CFP) produced by the sweet taste of sugar (flavor-flavor learning) and the sugar's post-oral actions (flavor-nutrient) learning. Brain dopamine (DA) circuits are involved in both types of flavor learning, but to different degrees. This study investigated the role of DA receptors in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) on the flavor-flavor learning produced the sweet taste of fructose. In an acquisition study, food-restricted rats received bilateral LH injections of a DA D1 receptor antagonist (SCH23390), a D2 antagonist (RAC, raclopride) or vehicle prior to 1-bottle training sessions with a flavored 8% fructose+0.2% saccharin solution (CS+/F) and a less-preferred flavored 0.2% saccharin solution (CS-). Drug-free 2-bottle tests were then conducted with the CS+ and CS- flavors presented in saccharin. The fructose-CFP did not differ among groups given vehicle (76%), 12 nmol SCH (78%), 24 nmol (82%) or 24 nmol RAC (90%) during training. In an expression study with rats trained drug-free, LH injections of 12 or 24 nmol SCH or 12-48 nmol RAC prior to 2-bottle tests did not alter CS+ preferences (77-90%) relative to vehicle injection (86%). Only a 48 nmol SCH dose suppressed the CS+ preference (61%). The minimal effect of LH DA receptor antagonism upon fructose flavor-flavor conditioning differs with the ability of LH SCH injections to block the acquisition of glucose flavor-nutrient learning.

Automated targeting of cells to electrochemical electrodes using a surface chemistry approach for the measurement of quantal exocytosis.

Here we describe a method to fabricate a multi-channel high-throughput microchip device for measurement of quantal transmitter release from individual cells. Instead of bringing carbon-fiber electrodes to cells, the device uses a surface chemistry approach to bring cells to an array of electrochemical microelectrodes. The microelectrodes are small and "cytophilic" in order to promote adhesion of a single cell whereas all other areas of the chip are covered with a thin "cytophobic" film to block cell attachement and facilitate movement of cells to electrodes. This cytophobic film also insulates unused areas of the conductive film, thus the alignment of cell docking sites to working electrodes is automatic. Amperometric spikes resulting from single-granule fusion events were recorded on the device and had amplitudes and kinetics similar to those measured using carbon-fiber microelectrodes. Use of this device will increase the pace of basic neuroscience research and may also find applications in drug discovery or validation.

Preferential cell attachment to nitrogen-doped diamond-like carbon (DLC:N) for the measurement of quantal exocytosis.

Electrochemical measurement of transmitter or hormone release from individual cells on microchips has applications both in basic science and drug screening. High-resolution measurement of quantal exocytosis requires the working electrode to be small (cell-sized) and located in immediate proximity to the cell. We examined the ability of candidate electrode materials to promote the attachment of two hormone-secreting cell types as a mechanism for targeting cells for to recording electrodes with high precision. We found that nitrogen-doped diamond-like carbon (DLC:N) promoted cell attachment relative to other materials tested in the rank order of DLC:N>In(2)O(3)/SnO(2) (ITO), Pt>Au. In addition, we found that treating candidate electrode materials with polylysine did not increase attachment of chromaffin cells to DLC:N, but promoted cell attachment to the other tested materials. We found that hormone-secreting cells did not attach readily to Teflon AF as a potential insulating material, and demonstrated that patterning of Teflon AF leads to selective cell targeting to DLC:N "docking sites". These results will guide the design of the next generation of biochips for automated and high-throughput measurement of quantal exocytosis.