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Polydrug use is well documented in synthetic cathinone users, although the consequences of such use are not well characterized. In pre-clinical research, a pre-exposure to a drug has been reported to attenuate the aversive effects of other drugs which has implications for their abuse potential. The goal of the present study was to investigate the impact of pre-exposure to the synthetic cathinone methylone on the aversive effects of MDPV and MDMA.Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 10 mg/kg of methylone every 4th day (for a total of five injections) prior to taste avoidance training with 1.8 mg/kg of MDPV or 1 mg/kg of MDMA.MDPV and MDMA induced taste avoidance in males and females (all p's 0.05). In males, methylone pre-exposure attenuated the avoidance induced by MDPV and MDMA (all p's 0.05) with the attenuation greater with MDPV. In females, methylone pre-exposure attenuated avoidance induced by MDPV (all p's 0.05), but it had no effect on those induced by MDMA (all p's 0.05).The effects of exposure to methylone on taste avoidance induced by MDPV and MDMA were drug- (MDPVMDMA) and sex- (MDMA only in males) dependent. The attenuating effects of methylone pre-exposure on MDPV and MDMA were discussed in terms of their shared neurochemical action. These findings suggest that a history of methylone use may reduce the aversive effects of MDPV and MDMA which may have implications for polydrug use involving the synthetic cathinones.

Xiang pig (XP) is one of the best-known indigenous pig breeds in China, which is characterized by its small body size, strong disease resistance, high adaptability, favorite meat quality, small litter sizes, and early sexual maturity. However, the genomic evidence that links these unique traits of XP is still poorly understood. To identify the genomic signatures of selection in XP, we performed whole-genome resequencing on 25 unrelated individual XPs. We obtained 876.70 Gb of raw data from the genomic libraries. The LD analysis showed that the lowest level of linkage disequilibrium was observed in Xiang pig. Comparative genomic analysis between XPs and other breeds including Tibetan, Meishan, Duroc and Landrace revealed 3062, 1228, 907 and 1519 selected regions, respectively. The genes identified in selected regions of XPs were associated with growth and development processes (IGF1R, PROP1, TBX19, STAC3, RLF, SELENOM, MSTN), immunity and disease resistance (ZCCHC2, SERPINB2, ADGRE5, CYP7B1, STAT6, IL2, CD80, RHBDD3, PIK3IP1), environmental adaptation (NR2E1, SERPINB8, SERPINB10, SLC26A7, MYO1A, SDR9C7, UVSSA, EXPH5, VEGFC, PDE1A), reproduction (CCNB2, TRPM6, EYA3, CYP7B1, LIMK2, RSPO1, ADAM32, SPAG16), meat quality traits (DECR1, EWSR1), and early sexual maturity (TAC3). Through the absolute allele frequency difference (ΔAF) analysis, we explored two population-specific missense mutations occurred in NR6A1 and LTBP2 genes, which well explained that the vertebrae numbers of Xiang pigs were less than that of the European pig breeds. Our results indicated that Xiang pigs were less affected by artificial selection than the European and Meishan pig breeds. The selected candidate genes were mainly involved in growth and development, disease resistance, reproduction, meat quality, and early sexual maturity. This study provided a list of functional candidate genes, as well as a number of genetic variants, which would provide insight into the molecular basis for the unique traits of Xiang pig.

Rationale Exposure to a drug can subsequently impact its own reactivity as well as that of other drugs. Given that users of synthetic cathinones, i.e., “bath salts”, typically have extensive and varied drug histories, an understanding of the effects of drug history on the behavioral and physiological consequences of synthetic cathiones may be important to their abuse liability. Objectives The goal of the current work was to assess the effects of an ethanol pre-exposure on the rewarding and aversive effects of α-PVP. Methods Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to ethanol prior to combined conditioned taste avoidance/conditioned place preference training in which rats were injected with 1.5, 3 or 5 mg/kg of racemic α-PVP or vehicle. Following a 7-day washout period, rats were then tested for thermoregulatory effects of α-PVP using subcutaneous probes to measure body temperature changes over the course of 8 h. This was followed 10 days later by assessments for α-PVP-induced locomotor activity and stereotypies over a 1-h session. Results α-PVP induced significant dose- and trial-dependent taste avoidance that was significantly attenuated by ethanol history and dose- and time-dependent increases in locomotor activity that were significantly increased by ethanol. α-PVP also induced place preferences and dose- and time-dependent increases in body temperature, but these measures were unaffected by ethanol history. Conclusions α-PVP's aversive effects (as measured by taste avoidance) were attenuated, while its rewarding effects (as indexed by place preference conditioning) were unaffected, by ethanol pre-exposure. Such a pattern may indicate increased α-PVP abuse liability, as changes in the balance of aversion and reward may impact overall drug effects and likelihood of drug intake. Future self-administration studies will be necessary to explore this possibility.

In this study, a new species of the genus Gymnaetoides Qin, Liu & Li, 2017, namely Gymnaetoides polaoensis sp. nov., from a karst cave in Guizhou Province, China is described. This new species is the first cave-dwelling species belonging to the genus Gymnaetoides. The morphological photographs of the males of this new cave species are provided.

Some species of the subgenus Tachycines (Gymnaeta) are cavernicolous. In this paper, three new species of this subgenus, namely Tachycines (Gymnaeta) zaoshu sp. nov., Tachycines (Gymnaeta) shuangcha sp. nov., and Tachycines (Gymnaeta) tongrenus sp. nov., from karst caves in Guizhou Province, China are described. The results of this study expand our knowledge of the geographical distribution of the cave species of the subgenus Tachycines (Gymnaeta) in China. The morphological photographs of the three new cave species are provided.

Triple-negative breast cancer shows resistance to conventional radiotherapies and chemotherapies, and few molecular targeted therapies are currently available for this malignancy in clinical settings. In this work, a theranostic nanosystem with a core–shell structure was synthesized through self-assembly of amphiphilic macromolecules, which can be used in effective catalysis therapy and phototherapy. Herein, we report that superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals and IR780 dye were effectively loaded into the hydrophobic core of the nanosystem, which enabled dual-modality magnetic resonance imaging and near-infrared fluorescence imaging. Furthermore, on the hydrophilic crown, the neighboring carboxylic acid-based amide linkage showed charge conversion properties in the tumor acidic microenvironment and endowed the system with targeted diagnosis and delivery. Upon light excitation, this theranostic system exerted synergistic anti-cancer activity through the nano-enzyme catalysis effect enhanced phototherapy in a triple-negative 4T1 breast cancer model. Furthermore, there were no obvious side-effects. The results of our study demonstrate the great potential of this theranostic nanosystem in cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Some species of the subgenus Tachycines (Gymnaeta) inhabit caves. In this study, a new species of, Gymnaeta namely Tachycines (Gymnaeta) lalinus sp. nov., from two karst caves in Guizhou Province, China is described. This new species resembles the cave species Tachycines (Gymnaeta) zorzini from Guizhou Province, but can be separated from the latter by morphological characters of the male genitalia, the number of spines on hind tibiae, and coloration.

Adelung (1902) erected the genus Tachycines with Tachycines asynamorus as the type species. In this paper, a new species of the genus Tachycines, subgenus Tachycines, namely Tachycines (Tachycines) huaxi sp. nov., from Guizhou, China is described. This new species is similar to Tachycines (Tachycines) asynamorus. The morphological differentiation between the two species is discussed.