The muscarinic-cholinergic system is involved in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD), and contributes to attention and the top-down and bottom-up cognitive and affective mechanisms of emotional processing, functionally altered in BD. Emotion processing can be assessed by the ability to inhibit a response when the content of the image is emotional. Impaired regulatory capacity of cholinergic neurotransmission conferred by reduced M2-autoreceptor availability is hypothesized to play a role in elevated salience of negative emotional distractors in euthymic BD relative to individuals with no history of mood instability. Thirty-three euthymic BD type-I (DSM-V-TR) and 50 psychiatrically-healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and an emotion-inhibition paradigm before and after intravenous cholinergic challenge using the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, physostigmine (1 mg), or placebo. Mood, accuracy, and reaction time on either recognizing or inhibiting a response associated with an image involving emotion and regional functional activation were examined for effects of cholinergic challenge physostigmine relative to placebo, prioritizing any interaction with the diagnostic group. Analyses revealed that (1) at baseline, impaired behavioral performance was associated with lower activation in the anterior cingulate cortex in BD relative to controls during emotion processing; (2) physostigmine (vs. placebo) affected behavioral performance during the inhibition of negative emotions, without altering mood, and increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex in BD (vs. controls); (3) In BD, lower accuracy observed during emotion inhibition of negative emotions was remediated by physostigmine and was associated with cingulate cortex overactivation. Our findings implicate abnormal regulation of cholinergic neurotransmission in the cingulate cortices in BD, which may mediate exaggerated emotional salience processing, a core feature of BD.

The Louisiana State University (LSU) Communication across the Curriculum (CxC) Program is a campus-wide initiative that seeks to integrate four key communications components (spoken, written, visual and technological) into existing curricula. The LSU College ofEngineering has served as a pilotfor implementation ofthe CxC program at the discipline-specific level. Central to the program is a process that certifies selected courses that emphasize any two ofthefour communication 'flavors " as Communications Intensive (C-I). Students andfaculty in C-I courses are supported by the Engineering Communication Studio, a 3, 000 squarefootfacility that was opened in October 2005. Several tools are being employed to measure the effectiveness ofthis initiative and the supporting studio. Data generated to date have indicatedpositive responses by bothfaculty and students. Preliminary data have also been used to modify selected components ofthe initiative to enhance the potentialfor future success in the overallprogram.

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He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University and an M.S. in Environmental Health from Harvard University. His engineering career spans nearly 40 years. He is a licensed Professional Engineer who was previously an engineering consultant, and is also a retired military officer.

As the field of nanotechnology develops, resources have been dedicated to studying the societal implications of nanotechnology therefore it is an important topic for an undergraduate course in nanotechnology. A service-learning course project provides students with an opportunity to engage in informing the public because students present topics of nanotechnology to small groups at a local high school. Prior to their service-learning project, students have built a solid understanding of the field and have participated in other assignments that established a theme of the societal implications of nanotechnology. The service-learning course project provides a meaningful learning opportunity that reinforces both the core concepts and the societal implications of nanotechnology.

In order to develop an expert-like mental model of complex systems, causal reasoning is essential. This study examines the differences between forward and backward instructional strategies' in terms of efficiency, students' learning and progression of their mental models of the electronic transport chain in an undergraduate metabolism course (n = 151). Additionally, the participants' cognitive flexibility, prior knowledge, and mental effort in the learning process are also investigated. The data were analyzed using a series of general linear models to compare the strategies. Although the two strategies did not differ significantly in terms of mental model progression and learning outcomes, both groups' mental models progressed significantly. Mental effort and prior knowledge were identified as significant predictors of mental model progression. An interaction between instructional strategy and cognitive flexibility revealed that the backward instruction was more efficient than the conventional (forward) strategy for students with lower cognitive flexibility, whereas the conventional instruction was more efficient for students with higher cognitive flexibility. The results are discussed and suggestions for future research on the possible moderating role of cognitive flexibility in the area of health education are presented.

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