Nicotine leads to both activation and desensitization (inactivation) of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). This study tested the hypothesis that nicotine and a selective antagonist of β2*nAChRs would have similar effects on affective behavior. Adult C57BL/6J male mice were tested in a conditioned emotional response (CER) assay which evaluates the ability of an aversive stimulus to inhi...

Burying beetles, Nicrophorus orbicollis, depend on the location of an unpredictable resource, a small vertebrate carcass, for reproduction. When they discover a carcass, they undergo a correlated rapid rise in titers of juvenile hormone (JH) in the hemolymph and ovarian development. This study investigates the regulation of the changes in JH during breeding in both male and female burying beetl...

extraordinary financial pressures that the NIH currently experience threatens the US science enterprise. This not only puts extreme pressure on established scientists but makes it very difficult for young people to develop their research programs. The NIH have put in place mechanisms to make it easier for young people to obtain their first grant, but all this does is get new researchers through...

Autism spectrum disorders are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by two core symptoms; impaired social interactions and communication, and ritualistic or repetitive behaviors. Both epidemiological and biochemical evidence suggests that a subpopulation of autistics may be linked to immune perturbations that occurred during fetal development. These findings have given rise to an animal mo...