BACKGROUND The authors developed and evaluated an interactive, Web-based module to train medical students in screening and brief intervention (SBI) for unhealthy alcohol use. METHODS First-year students were randomized to module versus lecture. Change in knowledge, attitudes, and confidence were compared. Performance was assessed by objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and analyze...

| In a note at the end of his paper Recherches sur les fractions continues, Stieltjes gave a necessary and suucient condition when a continued fraction is represented by a meromorphic function. This result is related to the study of compact Jacobi matrices. We indicate how this notion was developped and used since Stieltjes, with special attention to the results by M. G. Krein. We also pay atte...

Some adults fail to adapt to chronic stress, developing symptoms of depression and anxiety. In this issue of Neuron, Uchida and colleagues link maladaptive stress responses to GDNF through a comprehensive investigation of the neurotrophic factor's regulation. Further, this study is an excellent example for investigators interested in neuroepigenetics research.

BDNF is a neurotrophic peptide that regulates synaptic plasticity. New work by Lu and coworkers in this issue of Neuron now identifies BDNF as a gatekeeper of synaptic and behavioral plasticity in cocaine sensitization. In the medial prefrontal cortex, upregulated BDNF facilitates LTP and contributes to neurobehavioral adaptations to psychostimulants.

Thermal fluctuations significantly affect the behavior of microscale systems rotating in shear flow, such as microvortexes, microbubbles, rotating micromotors, microactuators and other elements of lab-on-a-chip devices. The influence of Brownian torque on the motion of individual magnetic microparticles in a rotating magnetic field is experimentally determined using optical tweezers. Rotational...

Cardiff University, the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales are working together to implement screening and brief interventions across a variety of health and community settings through a unique collaboration; a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP). Previous research has uncovered both barriers and facilitators to implementation. This KTP seeks to build upon this work and translate the res...

The clogging of arteries by neointima is a hallmark of atherosclerosis and of restenosis following balloon angioplasty. The realization in the 1980s that PDGF and its receptor play a key role in the onset of neointimal formation led us to develop PDGFR kinase inhibitors as antirestenosis agents. In this review, we describe the development of these inhibitors and their implementation as antirest...

The small GTP-binding protein Arf6 is known to be an important regulator of the actin cytoskeleton and of cell motility associated with metastasis. A recent study identifies yet another role for Arf6 in metastasis - as a regulator of plasma-membrane-derived microvesicle release.

Retina has long been considered less plastic than cortex or hippocampus, the very sites of experience-dependent plasticity. Now, we show that retinal development is responsive to the experience provided by an enriched environment (EE): the maturation of retinal acuity, which is a sensitive index of retinal circuitry development, is strongly accelerated in EE rats. This effect is present also in...

Many studies were conducted on acoustic differences between female and male voices. However, they were generally led on speakers of only one language, and focused on a single acoustic parameter. The present study is an acoustic analysis of dissyllabic words or pseudo-words produced by Northeastern American English speakers and Parisian French speakers. Resonant frequencies, mean F0, F0 range, V...