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While the harmful effects of alcohol abuse are well documented, experimental and clinical data support a potential benefit of light to moderate alcohol consumption. Cross-sectional studies have suggested an association between alcohol consumption and multiple sclerosis (MS) disability. In the absence of prospective, longitudinal studies, the causal nature of this relationship cannot be established. It remains possible that patients with increased disability progression reduce their alcohol intake. Even though there is substantial evidence for anti-inflammatory effects of low-to-moderate doses of alcohol, the associations need to be interpreted very cautiously. This study discusses the current state of knowledge about MS and alcohol consumption, and the limitations in conducting research with retrospective data in patients with MS.

Systemic delivery of therapeutic agents remains ineffective against diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), possibly due to an intact blood-brain-barrier (BBB) and to dose-limiting toxicity of systemic chemotherapeutic agents. Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) into the brainstem may provide an effective local delivery alternative for DIPG patients.The aim of this study is to develop a method to perform CED into the murine brainstem and to test this method using the chemotherapeutic agent carmustine (BiCNU). To this end, a newly designed murine CED catheter was tested in vitro and in vivo. After determination of safety and distribution, mice bearing VUMC-DIPG-3 and E98FM-DIPG brainstem tumors were treated with carmustine dissolved in DW 5% or carmustine dissolved in 10% ethanol.Our results show that CED into the murine brainstem is feasible and well tolerated by mice with and without brainstem tumors. CED of carmustine dissolved in 5% DW increased median survival of mice with VUMC-DIPG-3 and E98FM-DIPG tumors with 35% and 25% respectively. Dissolving carmustine in 10% ethanol further improved survival to 45% in mice with E98FM-DIPG tumors.Since genetically engineered and primary DIPG models are currently only available in mice, murine CED studies have clear advantages over CED studies in other animals.CED in the murine brainstem can be performed safely, is well tolerated and can be used to study efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents orthotopically. These results set the foundation for more CED studies in murine DIPG models.

Repeated treatment of rats with ethanol (1 g/kg, once daily for 15 days) enhanced the locomotor effect of morphine, 3 weeks post-treatment. This ethanol-induced long-term behavioural sensitization to morphine was associated with an increase in the electrically evoked release of [3H]dopamine (DA) and [14C]acetylcholine (ACh) from nucleus accumbens slices. A similar enhanced responsiveness of accumbal dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons to depolarization was apparent 3 weeks after repeated morphine, amphetamine or cocaine administration. Prior ethanol exposure also caused a long-term enhancement of electrically evoked release of [3H]DA and [14C]ACh from slices of the caudate-putamen. Unlike the locomotor effect of morphine, that of amphetamine was not enhanced in ethanol-pretreated rats. These data indicate that ethanol administration may cause long-term behavioural sensitization associated with adaptive changes in dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons of rat nucleus accumbens and caudate-putamen. Furthermore, an enhanced reactivity of nucleus accumbens dopaminergic nerve terminals and dopamine-sensitive cholinergic neurons appears to be a common long-term neuroadaptive effect of distinct types of addictive drugs. However, since repeated ethanol exposure did not cause a long-term increase in the locomotor effect of amphetamine, these neuroadaptations may not always be sufficient to cause long-lasting behavioural (cross-)sensitization.

To review new putative mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of a disturbed energy balance in cancer cachexia, which can lead to novel targets for clinical cachexia management. In the context of rapid developments in tumour treatment with potential systemic consequences, this article reviews recent data on energy requirements. Furthermore, we focus on new insights in brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity and reward processing in the brain in relation to the cachexia process.Nearly no new data have been published on energy requirements of cancer patients in the light of comprehensive new therapies in oncology. New developments, such as the introduction of staging with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET-computed tomography scanning, led to the observation that BAT activation may contribute to impaired energy balance in cancer cachexia. Animal and human data to date provide an indication that BAT activation indeed occurs, but its quantitative impact on the degree of cachexia is controversial. The peripheral and central nervous system is known to influence satiation, with a possible role for impaired food reward processing in the brain. To date, there are limited confirmatory data, but this is an interesting new area to explore for better understanding and treating cancer-induced anorexia.The multimodal approach to counteract cancer cachexia should expand its targets to BAT and food reward processing in the brain.

In this study, the suitability of amide proton transfer (APT) imaging as a biomarker for the characterization of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)-treated tumor tissue was assessed.APT imaging was performed on tumor-bearing mice before (n = 15), directly after (n = 15) and at 3 days (n = 8) after HIFU treatment. A control group (n = 7) of nontreated animals was scanned at the same time points. Histogram analysis of the tumor APT-weighted signal distributions was performed to assess HIFU-induced changes in the tumor APT contrast.Distinct regions of decreased APT-weighted signal were observed at both time points after HIFU treatment. Analysis of the tumor APT-weighted signal distribution showed a pronounced shift toward lower APT-weighted signal values after HIFU treatment. A significantly increased fraction of pixels with an APT-weighted signal value between -10 and -2% was observed both directly (0.37 ± 0.16) and at 3 days (0.49 ± 0.16) after HIFU treatment as compared to baseline (0.22 ± 0.16).The presented results show that APT imaging is sensitive to HIFU-induced changes in tumor tissue and may thus serve as a new biomarker for monitoring the response of tumor tissue to HIFU treatment.

In the present study, the reactivity of striatal dopamine and dopamine-sensitive neurons in super-fused striatal slices of ethanol-experienced rats was compared to that of ethanol-naive rats, 3 weeks after oral ethanol self-administration. During the acquisition phase (17 days), rats were offered increasing concentrations of ethanol (from 2 to 10%, 24 h per day) on an alternate-day schedule in a free choice with water. Following 2 weeks of unrestricted 10% ethanol consumption, the highest and lowest drinkers (representing about 25% of the upper and lower extremes of the total population) were selected. Preliminary experiments revealed that both groups of rats displayed a profound increase in ethanol consumption and preference 3 weeks after cessation of ethanol self-administration (deprivation effect). This deprivation effect was associated with an increase in electrically evoked release of [3H]dopamine from superfused nucleus accumbens slices, whereas the evoked [3H]dopamine release from caudate putamen slices remained unchanged. In slices of the caudate putamen, but not in nucleus accumbens slices, postsynaptic dopamine D1 receptor-stimulated cyclic AMP production was also enhanced. In addition, prior ethanol consumption enhanced the electrically evoked release of [14C]acetylcholine release in both striatal regions. Interestingly, the magnitude of these long-term neuroadaptations correlated with the amount of daily ethanol consumption, i.e. neuronal hyperresponsiveness in the striatum was more profound in the high than in the low ethanol drinkers. These data show for the first time that unrestricted free-choice ethanol consumption in rats is associated with a long-term increase in dopaminergic and cholinergic neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens and caudate putamen. These (and other) neuroadaptations may underlie the enhanced motivation to self-administer ethanol and the maintenance of ethanol consumption long after deprivation.

The main result of this study is that biarticular leg muscles contribute significantly to the work done at joints, due to transfer of power during explosive leg extensions. In particular, a net power transfer was shown from hip to knee joint during jumping and sprinting. Seven elite athletes performed explosive one legged jump and spring push offs. Kinematics, ground reaction forces and electromyography (EMG) of leg muscles were recorded. The mechanical output of six individual muscle groups was estimated by using Hill-based muscle models. The EMG and kinematics served as input to these models. For jumping as well as for sprinting, the model estimated similar results for the relative work contribution done about a joint due to transfer of power by the biarticular muscles. Rectus femoris showed a power transfer from hip to knee joint, while in contrast hamstrings showed a power transfer from knee to hip joint. Regardless of these opposite directions of power transfer, a net transfer occurred from the hip to the knee joint. The relative work contribution of hamstrings done in hip extension was 7% in jumping and 11% in sprinting. For rectus femoris, the relative work contribution done in knee extension was 21% in jumping and 31% in sprinting. Power transferring actions by gastrocnemius from knee to ankle contributed 25% in jumping and 28% in sprinting to the work done in plantar flexion. These results support the hypothesis that the action of biarticular muscles contributes to a net transfer of power from proximal to distal joints during explosive leg extensions. This action of the biarticular muscles causes an efficient conversion of body segment rotations into the desired translation of the body centre of gravity.

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a critical component of the human mediofrontal neural circuit that monitors ongoing processing in the cognitive system for signs of erroneous outcomes. Here, we show that the consumption of alcohol in moderate doses induces a significant deterioration of the ability to detect the activation of erroneous responses as reflected in the amplitude of brain electrical activity associated with the ACC. This impairment was accompanied by failures to instigate performance adjustments after these errors. These findings offer insights into how the effects of alcohol on mediofrontal brain function may result in compromised performance.