Microfabrication has greatly matured and proliferated in use amongst many disciplines. There has been great interest in micromachined flow sensors due to the benefits of miniaturization: low cost, small device footprint, low power consumption, greater sensitivity, integration with on-chip circuitry, etc. This paper reviews the theory of thermal flow sensing and the different configurations and operation modes available. Material properties relevant to micromachined thermal flow sensing and selection criteria are also presented. Finally, recent applications of micromachined thermal flow sensors are presented. Detailed tables of the reviewed devices are included.

The provided electrophysiological and immunohistochemical data provide strong support to the viability of the developed probe technology. Furthermore, the obtained data provide insights into further optimization of the probe design, including tip geometry, use of neurotrophic and anti-inflammatory drugs in the Matrigel coating, and placement of the recording sites.

Parenting styles and mother-child interaction were examined with 97 Mainland Chinese mothers (M age ¼ 29.64 years, SD ¼ 3.64) and their young children (M ¼ 24.30 months, SD ¼ 4.57). Mothers completed questionnaires about their parenting styles, orientation to Chinese cultural values, perceived parenting stress, and sources of social support. The regression analyses showed that mothers' adherence to Chinese values was associated with both authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles. Other characteristics of the family contexts, such as perceived parenting distress, social support, and years of education, also contributed to Chinese mothers' parenting styles. Mother-child dysfunctional interaction was associated with mothers' heightened parenting distress, a lack of perceived social support, and perceptions of children's difficultness. Group comparisons revealed that Chinese mothers who had high scores for both authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles adhered most strongly to the Chinese cultural values. The findings suggest that the aspects of families' eco-cultural settings such as mothers' endorsement of Chinese cultural values and perceived parenting stress contribute to their parenting styles and interaction with their children.

Contexts exert bi-directional control over relapse to drug seeking. Contexts associated with drug self-administration promote relapse, whereas contexts associated with the absence of self-administration protect against relapse. The nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh) is a key brain region determining these roles of context. However, the specific cell types, and projections, by which AcbSh serves these dual roles are unknown. Here, we show that contextual control over relapse and abstinence is embedded within distinct output circuits of dopamine 1 receptor (Drd1) expressing AcbSh neurons. We report anatomical and functional segregation of Drd1 AcbSh output pathways during context-induced reinstatement and extinction of alcohol seeking. The AcbSh→ventral tegmental area (VTA) pathway promotes relapse via projections to VTA Gad1 neurons. The AcbSh→lateral hypothalamus (LH) pathway promotes extinction via projections to LH Gad1 neurons. Targeting these opposing AcbSh circuit contributions may reduce propensity to relapse to, and promote abstinence from, drug use.

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