text:
After leading Astana Arlans Kazakhstan to the World Series of Boxing (WSB) semi-finals last season and qualifying for the 2012 Individual Championships after going unbeaten in the group stages, 27-year-old Kazak Heavyweight (91+kg) Ruslan Myrsatayev was named by ASBC President Gofur Rakhimov as the Best Asian WSB Boxer of 2012.
2012 was a very successful year for Asian boxers with a haul of 15 medals across the ten men and three women's categories at the London 2012 Olympic Games and with the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships to be staged in Almaty in October, the Asian continent continues to go from strength to strength. Astana Arlans Kazakhstan are the WSB's third season early pace steers with four wins from four matches already in tough Group B.
For the Best Asian WSB Boxer of 2012, hard-hitting Ruslan Myrsatayev's was the unanimous choice following the vote cast by the ASBC Executive Committee Members. He was chosen after reaching the WSB Individual Championships in May, but it was also the culmination of two years of impressive performances in the competition.
The President of Asian Boxing Confederation congratulated Myrsatayev on this achievement, wishing him all the best and great success for 2013. The ceremony for the award presentation will be held either during the upcoming ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships Subic Bay 2013 (March 10-16, 2013) or at ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in April 2013.


text:
Chicago and China partner to strengthen cross-cultural tourism initiatives
- Published by Ozgur Tore
Choose Chicago signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cultural cooperation with the China International Culture Association, under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China. "China is Chicago's largest inbound overseas market," said Don Welsh, President and CEO of Choose Chicago.
The MOU signifies a commitment to further develop cultural ties in an effort to strengthen each as a prominent global cultural tourism destination.
"Mayor Emanuel recognizes the enormous potential of Chicago's visitor industry - particularly in China - and continues to invest. We are committed to the Chinese market, and it is with great pride that Choose Chicago signs this MOU today. We look forward to a rewarding cultural exchange that educates and enriches the experience for both our Chinese guests and for Chicagoans abroad in China." Welsh added.
The agreement signifies the beginning of a bilateral partnership to strengthen cross-cultural tourism initiatives in Chicago and China. Choose Chicago and the China International Culture Association will collaborate on strategic partnerships to drive visitation and promote cultural attractions and events from regional, national and international markets; educate cultural partners and travel trade through cultural exchange missions and trainings; and enhance programming for, but not limited to, Chicago's Chinese New Year celebration, EXPO CHICAGO and the Chicago Architecture Biennial for 2015 and beyond.
The signing of the MOU follows the launch of Chicago's first advertising campaign in China in collaboration with the Illinois Office of Tourism and with the support of Brand USA. The new leisure multi-media campaign began on May 4, 2015 and will run through June 30, 2015 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The campaign includes online video, digital display, paid content and social. The Chicago online video called "Chicago Epic," developed by FCB Chicago in collaboration with FCB Shanghai, highlights the epic experiences that Chicago offers, showcasing Chicago's award-winning restaurants, vibrant nightlife and shopping.
In 2013, Chicago became the first U.S. city to expand beyond its tourism and trade operations in Beijing and Shanghai and into China's third largest city, Guangzhou. In April 2015, Choose Chicago celebrated the opening of its fourth office in the City of Chengdu. The Chengdu office builds on Chicago's continued investment in the market, which now represents the leading inbound overseas market for Chicago with 128,000 Chinese visitors in 2013.
For more information on Chicago, please visit ChooseChicago.cn.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Obama voter gauges out uncle's eyes in dispute over TV remote control
Must have been a hell of a good show
In its tradition of vigorously searching for truth, Harvard fires a prominent professor for his comments about Islam
At least there's one thing the Islamists and Zionist have in common at US universities: Silencing dissent
Death threat tweeter suspended by Labour party
The Rainbow Party shows how multicultural Britain works in practice
Child rapist used 'human rights' to fight deportation - then struck again
Asylum-seeker raped four-year-old girl before heading off to preach as a Jehovah's witness. Britain's judges again show why we think they're all just wonderful
New York pastor arrested in connection with Myrtle Beach area robbery
How did I guess from the headline that he was an Obama voter? You gotta check out the mug shot of this 'pastor'.
32 comments:
Oh, most definitely, Savant ... and if I may just add one?
I would never dream of suggesting that the First Dipshit is a carpet muncher, but ...
Please check these out and tell me, hand on heart, that the possibility did not occur to you?
Go here:-
Scroll down to:- Ever Lighter in the Loafers
Check out the pics and tell me that Obongobongo doesn't have a lower sperm count than his wife.
Has anyone suggested DNA testing his alleged kids?
Jus' curious.
Uncle Nasty
- 8 January 2012 at 02:07
How about this one, concerning a near-riot of 300 Negroes over a "diss" comment?
- 8 January 2012 at 02:36
Greece is more diverse than Minatur Wunderland
- 8 January 2012 at 06:21
Great idea. As the months go by I get more and more angry by this grand deceit. I didn't start as anti-semitic but times change. I love to read articles & comments from people who feel likewise re. the marxist-invasion of the Highest Culture in our World (Caps on purpose). Your site is the best I've encountered in all of cyberspace and your writing is incisive and simultaneously concise. I salute you as I would salute any leader who is animated by passion and not personal gain. The passion has to correspond to mine and I hope that through the internet we can form a movement, or collection of like-minded people.
- 8 January 2012 at 07:02
- SAVANT said...
Uncle Nasty, my friends in Illinois (mostly university liberals) tell me that he is indeed a carpet muncher. The MSM are frantically closing down anything that might suggest same.
But hey, wouldn't you think of becoming one if you saw the First Ho' bearing down on you? I know I would.
- 8 January 2012 at 12:49
- SAVANT said...
Thanks for the positive response folks. I'll keep it going and do send in anything you feel might be worth sharing.
- 8 January 2012 at 12:50
- SAVANT said...
@Dan Dare. Thanks for the kind words. They really are appreciated and convince me to continue with the work.
PS - you didn't do too badly yourself with that space travel an' all!
- 8 January 2012 at 12:52
I love the idea of links. BUT please don't let it takeover from your indepth insights of the world.
- 8 January 2012 at 14:41
- SAVANT said...
Geo - that's not the idea at all. Same level of posting but some links every few days.
- 8 January 2012 at 15:26
Savant. Yours is the most provocative and succinct blog I have ever found. Not to mention the most hilarious. Do what you Glean is right.
- 8 January 2012 at 16:49
Savant, Gleanings is a fine idea but don't you on any account cut back on your normal postings. Like some of the others on this thread I look forward to them and they brighten up my day.
- 8 January 2012 at 17:29
- Bemused stare said...
SAVANT said...
Geo - that's not the idea at all. Same level of posting but some links every few days.
Perhaps whenever you have a few links, you could add them after the main post.Have you considered a small forum that is freely readable to the public but needs registration to post?
- 8 January 2012 at 20:23
Glean away, I say!
- 8 January 2012 at 22:09
SAVANT said...
...But hey, wouldn't you think of becoming one if you saw the First Ho' bearing down on you? I know I would.
Too true, kangaroo. I had just arrived in New Zealand when there was this minor craze of people asking "Who would you turn gay for?"
I made the mistake of answering "Helen Clark".
Those folks won't invite me back again.
A few images of "Our Hel".
New Zealand's Helen is the one with the teeth.
Getting back to the First Ho', ho'ever, there is someone to scare the testosterone out of DSK ... and he'd sink his little schwanz into his mama's lox-filled breakfast bagel.
God. Sometimes I frighten myself.
Uncle Nasty
PS: Seriously, does anyone know how DSK's wife must feel about hubby sinking his circumsized doodledad into every third-world petri-dish that strolls by?
The woman must wrap herself in fifty metres of cling-wrap just to sleep in the same bed.
Then again, if she is a jewess then she is hadass and probably quite proud of little Dom.
They're like that.
Read the books.
- 8 January 2012 at 22:48
UN - it's emerged now that Mr and Mrs DSK attended an elegant wife-swapping club in Paris. So maybe that explains her indulgence?
- 8 January 2012 at 23:54
I think it's a good idea. I agree with the others - don't let it intrude on your own writing.
- 9 January 2012 at 00:17
Anonymous said...
UN - it's emerged now that Mr and Mrs DSK attended an elegant wife-swapping club in Paris. So maybe that explains her indulgence?
Apparently there is a subset of shirt-lifters who purposefully seek out third-worlders because of the increased possibility of contracting a virulent STD. It's is called bug chasing. Sort of living on the edge.
I am reminded of the husband and wife proprietors of a B and B in the UK who were recently hounded into oblivion for turning away a pair of male(?) carpet munchers.
The question that is avoided at all costs, is: What is it that faggots actually do when they get up to what we shall euphemistically call hanky-panky?
The aforementioned proprietors had obviously had similar experience before ... and simply could no longer afford the decontamination costs.
As for bug-chasing ... I have no problem with it. One could call it a self-solving problem.
To each its own.
PS: Getting back to DSK and his obviously very adventurous wife, I had an image of one or both having a hearty sneeze and literally dissolving into their respective puddles.
PPS: Who's surprised that Belgium is supposedly the pedo centre of Europe? Must be all that unearned wealth.
- 9 January 2012 at 02:36
Giving Homeland Security a whole new meaning.
Trouble is ... it's the wrong homeland.
Thousands of American troops are being sent to Israel
Have U.S. troops ever been deployed, for any purpose, in Israel? I am not aware of it. But now they have been.
The following article from DebkaFile, January 6, repeatedly states that the purpose of the deployment is to prepare for a joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, e.g, "The joint force will now be in place ready for a decision to attack Iran's nuclear installations or any war emergency." However, such statements appear to come only from DebkaFile, not from any official sources.
Following the article, see a comment from a reader at Israpundit that puts a sinister construction on the deployment, namely that its real purpose is not to mount a joint defense against Iran, but to put Israel in an even tighter U.S. embrace, preventing it from defending itself.
(The article has been edited slightly for spelling.)
Thousands of U.S. troops began descending on Israel this week. Senior U.S. military sources told debkafile Friday, Jan. 6 that many would be staying up to the end of the year as part of the U.S.-IDF deployment in readiness for a military engagement with Iran and its possible escalation into a regional conflict. They will be joined by a U.S. aircraft carrier. The warplanes on its decks will fly missions with Israeli Air Force jets. The 9,000 U.S. servicemen gathering in Israel in the coming weeks are mostly airmen, missile interceptor teams, marines, seamen, technicians and intelligence officers.
The incoming American soldiers are officially categorized as participants in Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint U.S.-Israeli war game ever held.
Okay, let's see.
Voice Of America said in October:-
U.S. troops are landing in Uganda and from there may deploy to the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and southern Sudan - areas were the L.R.A. - a scattered force whose numbers are estimated to be around 400 - are operating.
The U.S. troops are combat-ready and have instructions to fight if attacked, but Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby said the U.S. troops' mission is limited to helping Ugandan soldiers and the armies of other nations stamp out the L.R.A.
So ... that's Uganda; C.A.R.; the Congo and Sudan. Now ... Israel?
Yup, the US is now officially collecting third-world counties.
Any comments?
Uncle Nasty
- 9 January 2012 at 06:04
Further to my last, I am reminded of the apprehension of Roman senators when Rome's legions, having pretty much run out of world to conquer began returning home ... to receive their pensions and much-promised farms in the provinces.
Just when Rome was broke.
Amazing how history repeats ... no? I wonder how this one will play out when the US hands israel the bill.
Oh? No charge? Well, that's all right, then. We'll take lots. One has to wonder at what point the ragheads will lose it entirely ... after all the US left Iraq a week ago.
Now they're back. Like sponging relatives without a home to go to.
Uncle Nasty
BTW, ever wonder just how many US troops are deployed around the world? Over 200 000 in over 50 countries not counting the latest in Africa and israel.
That's a lot of legionaries, Luigi.
- 9 January 2012 at 06:23
Thats a lot of manpower UncleN.
The British ruled their Empire with far less than that.
Maybe,when in Uganda,they can get our mountain bikes back for us.If we ask nicely.
- 9 January 2012 at 16:10
That is Personpower mr. a.
Be careful or Harriet Harman will be down on you like a ton of bricks.
- 9 January 2012 at 19:39
Mr a. says:
Thats a lot of manpower UncleN.
The British ruled their Empire with far less than that.
Indeed they did, Mr. a. But that was when they adhered to Mr Kipling's dictum:-
Whatever happens, we have got
the Maxim gun and they have not.
Ah, golden days. Colonial days.
When men were men, sheep were nervous and the darkies knew their place.
Speaking of the unspeakable, Lady Abbott-Whatsherface keeps whingeing about being judged by the colour of her skin.
Be grateful, darlin'.
If we judged you by your character, you'd be swaying in the breeze alongside the other 646 traitors in the UK establishment.
- 10 January 2012 at 00:16
If we judged you by your character, you'd be inspiring us to have your fat head swaying in the breeze alongside the other 646 traitors in the UK establishment.
Jacqui Smith was another obnoxious trougher.
What was it with Balir's babes that had them treat public money as their own?
- 10 January 2012 at 02:08
True feminists anon.
Never had a proper job.
Married wealthy men.
Safe seats handed to them.
Everything handed to them.
Everything is mine by entitlement.
Especially that which is yours.
- 10 January 2012 at 16:09
Here's something weird ... is israel falling apart?:-
10 January 2012
Riots reveal cracks in Israeli society
Published in: Jewish Chronicle
When it comes to shooting itself in the foot and other essential bits, Israel undoubtedly takes the all-time prize.
For the past few weeks, Israel has been convulsed by how women are treated by fanatics in the strictly Orthodox community. Women are being segregated on buses serving Charedi neighbourhoods. At an IDF base, women soldiers were barred from a public singing ceremony; at another, religious male soldiers walked out to avoid hearing women sing.
These concerns became uproar after a "modern orthodox" eight year-old, Na'ama Margolis, told a TV interviewer she was terrified of walking to school in Bet Shemesh after being spat on and cursed because her demure attire was considered not modest enough. Appallingly, pupils have been running this gauntlet of hatred by neighbouring Charedim since it opened months ago.
Journalists and police who descended on Bet Shemesh were subsequently pelted with rocks and eggs by Charedi rioters. Suddenly, the deep resentment among secular folk towards all religious people boiled over in a national explosion of rage. Although the abuse was blamed on a few hundred fanatics from one particular sect, all of the strictly Orthodox were cast as deranged bigots.
For intolerance is by no means confined to these communities. Many secular Israelis not only demonise Charedim but also subject the modern Orthodox, who work, pay taxes, fight and die for their country with exemplary courage, to similar disdain.
These events played into the hands of the Israel-bashers. Ludicrously, Hillary Clinton even suggested that Israel, the one Middle East country where women have full equality, was in danger of becoming another Iran.
I would have thought there was nothing wrong in israel that huge quantities of other people's money could not solve.
Seriously though, is the much-vaunted joosh solidarity nothing more than an illusion?
I know nothing about Melanie Phillips or her blog. Can anyone enlighten me on where she stands?
- 10 January 2012 at 23:08
UN - Melanie Phillips is fanatically anti-Islamic and deplores the mass immigration of muzzies to Europe. However, if you say anything at all negative about the Joos she goes completely apeshit.
Hope that explains.
- 10 January 2012 at 23:39
religious male soldiers walked out to avoid hearing women sing.
What? Why did they have that nutter Sinead O'Connor singing for?
- 11 January 2012 at 00:06
Melanie Phillips has at least one Jewish parent but despite starting "work" at the guardian and New Statesman did NOT get rid of her brain.
- 11 January 2012 at 00:09
UN - there's a school of thought which says Israel is held together only by the 'threat' of external enemies. Were it not for these the country would tear itself to shreds. I know for a fact that the secularists simply loath the extremists orthodox religious. This belief even extends to saying that Israel stirs things up in order to unite the country when things start look like kicking off internally.
- 11 January 2012 at 00:11
This belief even extends to saying that Israel stirs things up in order to unite the country when things start look like kicking off internally.
Guess who funded Hamas (before they lost control of it.)
- 11 January 2012 at 03:50
kulak. That's true about Hamas. I got that from a guy who was very high up in the Jordanian security services.
- 11 January 2012 at 11:53
Thank you to the last half-dozen posters for putting me right on the Melanie Phillips woman.
I find it rather endearing to hear that the jews are as fucked up as the white liberals -- if not even more so.
And, I might add, very, very heartening. I think I shall sleep a lot better tonight, secure in the knowledge that, when I said the heebs are not that smart or omnipotent ... I got it right.
Uncle Nasty
- 11 January 2012 at 13:36


text:
Carwash has been storming the globe since 1989 with its joyful and fun approach combined with a colourful up for it dress code. We proudly hold the title of Europe's longest running disco and 80s pop club with residencies in London and Ibiza, and with homes in Paris, Vienna, St Tropez, Geneva and numerous European holiday hot spots. World tours have taken us to all corners of the globe such as Miami, Dubai, Singapore, Australia.
28th Birthday – 80s Electric Youth
Sat 25th November – Come back to the future, dust off your leg warmers and tease up your hair. A vibrant decade of bold styles, soft pastels and dark silhouettes. We are visiting the birth of the electronic age. Batteries Not Included.
It's been 28 years and we 'Just Can't Get Enough'. We are going back to the days of pop kings, club queens and glossy big hair. Find some leg warmers, muscle shirts or leggings to wear. A party to celebrate the best decade yet. You can even show up in a little red Corvette. The music is sure to be loud and great. And you are welcome to bring your friends or a date. Leg Warmers. Shoulder Pads and Big Perms are a must. Oversized Jewellery. Lycra. Tutus. Petticoats or Bust.
Dress Code
"Makes the movie Boogie Nights seem like a dress rehearsal"– The Sun
Dress to excess as your favourite 70s music or 80s style icon. Mix and match the high street with vintage finds, circus wear and costumes to create your own personal style. Shake your body in neon gym wear, blame it on the boogie in Miami Vice suits, or use it up and wear it out in high tops and gold chains. You don't have to go mad unless you want to…
Our London Home
3 Floors of Pure Partying in Central London
Carwash is the premier party for an unforgettable night out. Join hundreds of dressed up people packing out the main under lit disco dance floor to a fresh mix of Disco classics & 80s Pop anthems. Our sumptuous middle floor offers Chart, Dance, R&B, Party Tunes and Club Anthems.
When you arrive you'll be given party accessories by roller-skating show girls, to put you in the mood and get the party started.
We offer party wristbands with two free drinks and entry prior to 11pm for £10. If you fancy splashing out and being seated with your friends you can opt for one of our VIP packages. We often sell out several days prior to each party so it is advisable not to delay. All tickets go off-sale at 8pm on Saturdays. You can buy general entry tickets for £10 on the door if you wish to come later.
Please note due to new licensing conditions, Photo ID is absolutely essential for entry. There can be no exceptions; not for regulars, those clearly over the age of 18, those that have booked a table, celebrities, friends, etc. If a person from group forgets their ID, we will turn that person away regardless of any ticket purchases.
Everyone comes to Carwash in a group and we know this can be tricky to organise. To make things easier we offer from as little as £50 3* Star packages for the whole group, which includes entry and drinks at your table. All we need is an estimate of your group size. All you have to do is decide what you would like to drink. It is as simple as that. Buying a package automatically reserves you an area.
For those extra special occasions you can treat yourself and your friends to a 4 or 5 Star package for the ultimate Carwash experience, which includes a choice of Laurent Perrier Rose, Moet & Chandon Champagne, Pierre Jouet Brut Champagne, bottles of Greygoose vodka or Jack Daniels served with mixers. You'll also receive luxury sharing platters too.
When our tables sell out you have the option of putting your group onto our waiting list for as little as £50. Please note due to new licensing conditions Photo ID is absolutely essential for entry. There can be no exceptions; not for regulars, those clearly over the age of 18, those that have booked a table, celebrities, friends, etc. If a person from group forgets their ID, we will turn that person away regardless of any ticket purchases.
Table Area reserved all night. Select one item from 'Refreshment' and another from 'Fill Me Up' then your bundle is ready!
• Refreshment
· 8x Bottled Beers
· 2x Cocktail Jugs
· 3x Bottles of House Wine (Red or White)
· 8x Single Spirit & Mixers
• Fill Me Up
· 1x Classic Sharing Platter
· 10x Cupcakes
• Table Area reserved all night
• 1x Bottle of Spirit + Mixers (Eristoff, Bacardi, Johnnie Walker, Beefeater)
• 3x Giant Pornstar Martinis (Balanced as pyramid with flaming passionfruits!)
• 1x Classic Food Platter
• Table Area reserved all night
• 10x Bubbly Reception
• Ultimate Bath Tub Sharer (Includes 1x Bottle of either Vodka or Rum + A Magnum of Bubbly, mixed at your table & served with dry ice & bubbles)
• 10x Bath Bombs (Jager, Cointreu or Vodka, served with Red Bull)
• 2x Classic Food Platters
• Table Area reserved all night
• 2x Bottles of Premium Spirits + Mixers
• 2x Bottles of Champagne
• 10x Shots (Jager, Tequila or Vodka)
• 2x Classic Food Platters
Area reserved all night
1 x Festive Food Platter
1 x Bucket (12) of Beer/3 Bottles of House Wine
Area reserved all night
2 x Festive Food Platters
1 x Bottle of Premium Spirit
1 x Bottle of Moet &Chandon
Area reserved all night
3 x Festive Food Platters
2 x Bottles of House Spirit
Area reserved all night
3 x Festive Food Platters
1 x Bottle of Premium Spirit
1 x Bottle of Deluxe Spirit
1 x Bottle of Moet & Chandon
• When our tables sell out, which happens frequently, you have the option of putting your group onto our waiting list for as little as £50.
• We will then prioritise your group for the first available table. You can enjoy your £50 bar tab while you wait.
• Welcome Drink on arrival
• Fun lesson in mixology
• A 'behind the bar' session to make & drink 2 of your own
• Shots provided during games
• Food Platters to share (as above)
• Time to chill out and enjoy your creations
• 3 Course set menu
• See pre club fun page to download menus
• Automatic entry into club to continue your party
One of the following:
• Bottle of Prosecco
• Bottle of Cava
(Minimum spend of £100 please before you can add something extra)
*Selected drinks only. Each package is subject to availability. Terms & Conditions Apply.
"London's legendary disco club" – Mixmag
The soundtrack sees disco meet 80s anthems, with dollops of mash-up 90s, servings of funk, soul and classic hip-hop across an under lit dance floor. The second room sees RnB, Hip Hop and commercial chart hits and together our two dynamic dance floors create an incredible energy all night long. A liberal host of fresh and fabulous musicians will be performing on our bars, tables, podiums, mirror balls and anywhere else they care to shake and shimmy.
Evening Standard
I got down on the dance floor next to a girl in a baby doll chiffon negligee over white hot pants and a white fur bra with fluffy bunny ears in her hair
Time Out
Ace of Clubs
London's legendary disco club
Time Out
The most popular club in London
Carwash promises a hedonistic blend of the best disco music
The Sun
Makes the movie Boogie Nights seem like a dress rehearsal
Time Out
Disco-A-Go-Go glamour with funky & soulful slammers
Club On
They come to Carwash and for those hours they are happy in the world
Recent Pics
Visit our Facebook page on Wednesdays to see if you have been snapped partying at Carwash. You can also find out more about our infamous parties worldwide. If you spot yourself in the photo slider below email us on email@example.com to win a free VIP table.
Corporate Parties & Tours
With more than 5000 parties under our glitter belt, a big international reputation and winner of BEDA and Disco International awards for Best Club Night, Carwash is a guarantee for an unforgettable night.
We create bespoke events for clubs, festivals and corporate clients such as Virgin, EMI, BBC, Film on Four, Radio 1, Estee Lauder, Associated Newspapers, Terrence Higgins Trust, London and New York Fashion Weeks. Our illustrious history has attracted celebrities such as Robbie Williams, Jay Kay, Shakira, Denise Van Outen to Kylie and Dannie Minogue.


text:
Still Sleeping With The Enemy
December 9, 1998
Corporate giving by large corporations to public affairs organizations continues to disproportionately benefit those seeking to expand regulation and the welfare state.
This conclusion is based on an examination of corporate giving by the 250 largest publicly held corporations to more than 300 public affairs organizations in 1995 (the latest year for which information is available).
- For every dollar corporations gave to conservative and free-market groups, $3.23 went to liberal and pro- regulation/pro-welfare groups.
- One hundred thirteen of the largest corporations gave more than $25 million to left-wing organizations while contributing less than $8 million to groups supporting limited government and market-oriented policy reforms.
Still, the pattern is improving. In 1993, the ratio of left-to- right giving peaked at $4.07 to $1, capping seven years of continual increases. When the corporations are ranked on a scale of 1 (liberal) to 8 (conservative), according to the number and ideology of organizations they support and the size of their grants, Eli Lilly & Company gets the best grade for the third year in a row. May Department Stores is the lowest-rated company.
Source: Patterns of Corporate Philanthropy XI (Washington, D.C.: Capital Research, 1998).
Browse more articles on Government Issues


text:
"I really wonder what Cheats thinks about the current state of Richmond," – said no one…ever
Here's the thing about Richmond…the lingering war regarding the changing of Richmond is over yet some people still remain on the battle field trying to rally what's left of their outdated ideals.
What do I mean? When it comes to Richmond, the future isn't coming, the future is here and all that's left is how Richmond will define its identity moving forward. What does it mean to be Richmond for the years to come?
Will Richmond's identity be the heritage (or hate…depending on who you ask) of Monument Ave and Shockoe Bottom? Will it the James River or the emerging restaurant scene? Will it be the historic neighborhoods and communities of Church Hill, Highland Park and Jackson Ward? If so, is it their old identities or the current model of gentrification that has those neighborhoods filled with tattooed VCU graduate hipsters that create start-ups, hang out in coffee houses and ride in their newly designated bike lanes? Is it all of the above and more? I think it's definitely all of the above and much more.
The current battle in Richmond is really a struggle over identity. That requires an understanding of where we've come from, who we are, and where we are going. It also requires an understanding of what we stand for. But here is the kicker – most of the aforementioned have already been decided, whether you know it or not.
There is no backwards clock – no Marty McFly time travel and therefore, there is no going back to those fictional glory days that some Richmonders still long for but can't really tell you what was so great about them. People that want to go backwards are already on the wrong side of history and I'd hate for those people to be defining what it means to be Richmond in the future.
I may be overstating the obvious to make my point but neighborhoods like Carver, Jackson Ward, Manchester, Battery Park and Church Hill are not "getting" gentrified – that's like saying Harlem is getting gentrified, the pendulum has swung on those communities and swinging in places like Highland Park and all over Southside. I'm not staying that's a good or bad thing, though I'm sure some of you will tell me. I'm saying it's a real thing and the challenge now is how you define the identities of those communities in a truthful way now that the make-up of those neighborhoods have changed.
This leads me to the challenge Richmond faces whenever it takes on a leadership role in doing new things. I intentionally waited until the end of the UCI Road World Championships to release Part 1 of this series (total number of parts is undetermined) because I was fascinated by my social media timelines. I read just about every comment I could on Richmond's role and execution of the UCI Championships.
I read people praising and cursing the bike race in the same 140 characters of twitter. It was hilarious and reminded me of an old Chris Rock joke: one of his relatives was an old racist black man but he was married to a white lady. And he would say things like, "I love my wife but if the revolution comes, I'd kill her first." This happens all the time in Richmond (and in life I guess) it's hedging your bet – being for it before you were against it – being against it until it works. I tend to look at those things with the attitude of: haters are going to hate – it's their job. Critics give people a reason to step up and execute. And UCI had a lot of critics but also a lot of triumph, often in the same Facebook post.
Here's the thing: Whether or not you debate the 645,000 10 day total, whether or not every restaurant/vendor sold out, I think it's more than fair to say that the UCI Road World Championships was a great example of Richmond doing a world-class event correctly. And I think it proves that the city can do things correctly but in order to do so there needs to be an understanding of who we are, what we stand for, and where we are going. It's truly an issue of priorities.
I think UCI is a good microcosm of the current struggle I see over Richmond's future: Leaders are supposed to lead, in all aspects of the region. They're supposed to do cool things like champion the UCI and well, haters are going to hate; it's how the game works. But here's the thing I've learned about Richmond critics: Most Richmond critics don't universally hate – they just hate on things that don't line up with their priorities of a better future. If the flavor of the day is UCI – it's not that the naysayers hate UCI as much as they want those resources going to something that lines up with their priorities – maybe that's education or housing or the arts.
Style Weekly wrote on Op-Ed last week that essentially said to Richmonders – you can both cheer cool things in Richmond and maintain you're fight for your priorities. I tend to agree with that. It's a good piece.
The honest answer is Richmond is moving forward; there is really no alternative. So what are Richmond's priorities going to be moving forward? Who sets the agenda regarding public education, poverty, policing, baseball in the region, a children's hospital, public art, GRTC? Those are just a few of the priorities that will define our identity in the future.
Richmond has been on the wrong side of history… a lot. And I think we're starting to see to a progressive shift that is being led by the art and start-up/DIY business communities, along with Richmond's amazing non-profits. And the interesting question is: Can the region's government priorities catch-up to the leadership and drive of these outside factors that are already defining Richmond's identity? Can leadership work effectively with all of the varying factions to forge identity of Richmond that move us forward together?
And let's face the facts, not everyone is on board with the future – and those people will be frustrated and left behind in Richmond's past. That's just a fact.
My honest guess is that future will include more diversity in historic neighborhoods, more independent businesses, more festivals and events, more VCU sprawl, more bike lanes, some type of major development in Shockoe Bottom ..etc…etc….etc. And in turn, more of Richmond's historic identities will get more faded, outside of places like The Valentine Museum.
The real battle in Richmond is one over identity. And trust me; the ball is already in the red zone. The future is upon us – it just how we're setting the agenda and telling the story.
This is part I of a randomly long series – Love/Hate and follow me on twitter at: @CheatsMovement
Clearly, the words expressed here are my own – no one else will take credit for them — well, maybe Diddy.


text:
Here is my dilema: I would like to upgrade my Grey's Papaya Lunch Budget to include NY's best for a day. I have always wanted to try New Yorks Pricey superlatives, and figure that maybee I could afford it for lunch. Has anyone had an outstanding Prix-fix or reduced lunches for 20-40 per person at one of these places (or elsewhere)? Or are these places fiscaly an
all-or-nothing necessity.
thanks so much for your time,


text:
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Smoking-related environmental stimuli have been implicated as an important factor in triggering relapse in abstinent tobacco smokers, and recent evidence indicates that drug-associated stimuli can reinstate nicotine-seeking in rats. However, there is little investigation on the factors that contribute to the latter effect.
This study examined whether a nicotine-associated visual stimulus (VS) can reinstate nicotine-seeking after extinction in a response-reinstatement model of relapse, and whether the behavioral effects of the VS are sensitive to pharmacological blockade of nicotinic neurotransmission. It also determined whether active lever reassignment after food training influences nicotine self-administration and the VS-induced reinstatement.
Male Sprague–Dawley rats were trained to self-administer nicotine (0.03 mg/kg/infusion, IV) and associate a VS with each nicotine infusion in 30 daily 1-h sessions. Half of the animals received nicotine infusions for responding at the same lever that previously delivered food; for the other half, infusions resulted from pressing the previously inactive lever during food training. Then, the nicotine-maintained response was extinguished by saline substitution and withholding the VS. One day after rats reached extinction criterion, the reinstatement tests were conducted where the VS was response-contingent represented without further delivery of nicotine. In pharmacological tests, a nicotinic antagonist, mecamylamine, was subcutaneously administered 30 min before reinstatement sessions.
Presentation of the nicotine-associated VS significantly reinstated responding at the previously drug-reinforced lever and pretreatment with mecamylamine effectively attenuated the response-reinstating effect of the VS. Additionally, animals showed similar profiles of nicotine-taking and nicotine-seeking behavior regardless of reassignment of the active lever after food training.
Nicotine self-administration and the VS-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking do not result from a lever bias due to prior experience for food reinforcement. Significantly, these results suggest that environmental stimuli associated with nicotine self-administration can effectively elicit nicotine-seeking behavior in abstinent subjects, that this effect is blocked by nicotine antagonism, and that the present procedures may be useful for studying neurobiological mechanisms of nicotine-seeking behavior and relapse.
Tobacco use is a chronic relapsing disorder, and recurrent resumption of smoking after abstinence is one of the principal characteristics of nicotine addiction. Although there have been behavioral and pharmacological treatments designed to promote smoking cessation, the great majority of smokers who attempt to quit relapse into tobacco smoking (Balfour and Fagerstrom 1996; Fiore et al. 2000; Shiffman et al. 1998). One factor thought to be important in relapse of drug use, including smoking, is exposure to environmental stimuli previously associated with the drug (Caggiula et al. 2001; Childress et al. 1993; Niaura et al. 1989; O'Brien et al. 1998).
Tobacco smoking may be particularly effective in establishing or magnifying the incentive properties of nicotine-associated environmental stimuli (cues), such as the site, smell and taste of cigarettes, contexts in which smoking occurred, or other behaviors, including other drug-taking, that frequently accompanied smoking (Balfour et al. 2000; Caggiula et al. 2001; Goldberg et al. 1981; Rose and Levin 1991). Clinical studies have demonstrated that smoking cues produce physiological responses (Abrams et al. 1988; Niaura et al. 1989, 1992; Saumet and Dittmar 1985), enhance desire to smoke (Drobes and Tiffany 1997; Droungas et al. 1995; Lazev et al. 1999; McDermut and Haaga 1998; Perkins et al. 1994), and increase the rate, intensity and time of smoking (Mucha et al. 1998; Surawy et al. 1985). Smoking denicotinized cigarettes (i.e., cue alone) produces an equal amount of smoke intake and similar or even higher levels of satisfaction compared to nicotine-containing cigarettes (i.e., cue plus nicotine) (Butschky et al. 1995; Gross et al. 1997; Rose et al. 2000).
In animal self-administration experiments, the infusion of nicotine is typically paired with contextual stimuli such as lights (e.g., Caggiula et al. 2001; Corrigall and Coen 1989; Watkins et al. 1999). Importantly, presentation of these contextual stimuli promotes nicotine-taking and nicotine-seeking responses. Goldberg et al. (1981) found a 50% decrease in nicotine self-administration in squirrel monkeys when a brief light stimulus that had been associated with the drug was omitted. Rats spontaneously recovered previously extinguished behavior after re-exposure to the nicotine self-administration context after being maintained in their home cages for 21 days (Shaham et al. 1997). Recently, it has been found that reintroduction of nicotine-paired stimuli after extinction resulted in increased response at the active lever (Caggiula et al. 2001; Cohen et al. 2005; LeSage et al. 2004; Paterson et al. 2005). There have been numerous studies on the reinstatement of cocaine-, alcohol- and heroin-seeking behavior, and these studies have provided significant information on the underlying mechanisms of relapse (Epstein and Preston 2003; Shaham et al. 2003 for reviews). However, there is little information on the environmental and neurobiological bases of nicotine relapse. Therefore, the present study used a response-reinstatement model of relapse to characterize the significance of a nicotine-associated visual stimulus (VS) in inducing nicotine-seeking behavior after extinction and to examine whether motivational effect of the VS is sensitive to pharmacological blockade of nicotinic neurotransmission by a noncompetitive nicotinic receptor antagonist, mecamylamine.
Drug self-administration studies typically employ food-reinforced training to facilitate learning of the operant response used in subsequent drug self-administration sessions; the food-reinforced lever becomes the drug-reinforced lever (e.g., Caggiula et al. 2002; Cohen et al. 2005; Corrigall and Coen 1989; Paterson et al. 2005). One may speculate that the prior food training produces a bias or residual preference for the active lever that is prolonged and intensified by the general activating effects of a drug like nicotine, and results in high levels of lever pressing that are mistakenly interpreted as evidence for the reinforcing effects of the drug. Thus, another purpose of this study was to examine whether prior lever experience with or without food reinforcement biases acquisition, maintenance, and extinction of nicotine self-administration as well as the VS-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior. Specifically, this study included an active lever reassignment design in which the inactive lever during food training was switched to the active lever for nicotine self-administration, whereas the active food lever became the inactive nicotine lever.
Male Sprague–Dawley rats (Charles River), weighing 225–250 g upon arrival, were used. Animals were individually housed in a humidity- and temperature-controlled (21–22°C) vivarium on a 12:12-h light/dark cycle (lights on 7:00 a.m. and off 7:00 p.m.) with unlimited access to water. After the first week of habituation to the vivarium during which food was freely available, rats were placed on a diet of 20 g of food per day for the remainder of the study. All training and experimental sessions were conducted during the light phase at the same time each day (9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.). All experimental procedures were carried out in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH Publication no. 86-23, 1996).
Operant training and reinstatement tests were conducted in operant conditioning chambers located inside sound-attenuating, ventilated cubicles (Med Associates, St. Albans, VT). The chambers were equipped with two response levers on one side panel and with a 28-V white cue light above each lever as well as a white house light on the top of the chambers. Between the two levers was a recessed food receptacle. Intravenous nicotine injections were delivered by a drug delivery system with a syringe pump (Med Associates, model PHM100-10 rpm).
On days 8–10 after arrival, rats were handled twice per day. Beginning on day 10, animals were placed on the food restriction regimen of 20 g/day, and daily food training sessions began on a continuous reinforcement schedule. The assignment of the active lever was counterbalanced across animals so that half of the rats responded on the right lever and the other half on the left lever for food delivery. Daily sessions lasted 1 h with a maximum delivery of 100 food pellets (45 mg each). After the rats successfully earned 100 food pellets, the reinforcement schedule was increased to FR5 with maximum of 50 food pellets delivered in each 1-h sessions. Responses at the inactive lever had no consequences. During the food training sessions, there was no presentation of the lever light, and the house light remained on.
After food training, the rats were anesthetized with isoflurane and implanted with jugular catheters as described previously (Caggiula et al. 2001). The rats were allowed at least 7 days to recover from surgery. For the first 2 weeks after surgery, the cannulae were flushed twice a day with 0.1 ml of sterile saline containing heparin (20 units/ml), ticarcillan (14 mg/ml), and streptokinase (5 mg/ml) to maintain catheter patency and prevent infection. Thereafter, the catheters were flushed with the heparinized saline prior to and after the operant conditioning sessions throughout the studies.
The rats were divided into two groups according to whether the right or left lever was the active lever. One group (n=7) was assigned to the Same Lever group for which the active lever for nicotine self-administration was the same as the active lever during food-reinforced training, whereas for the other (Switched Lever) group (n=8), the active nicotine lever was the previous inactive lever used during food training. Thus, in both groups, assignment of the active lever was counterbalanced between the right and the left levers across animals. The rats were trained to self-administer nicotine. Daily 1-h sessions were conducted 5 days a week (Monday through Friday). In the training sessions, animals were placed in the operant conditioning chambers and connected to a drug delivery system. Operant conditioning sessions were initiated with illumination of the house light. Once the rats reached the FR requirement at the active lever, an infusion of nicotine (0.03 mg/kg, free base) was dispensed by the drug delivery system in a volume of 0.1 ml in approximately 1 s. For the duration of nicotine infusion, the lever light above the active lever was illuminated, and following the infusion, there was a 20-s time-out during which time all lights were extinguished, and the responding was recorded but not reinforced. The 1-s turn-on of lever light followed by 20-s turn-off of house light was referred to as the nicotine-associated VS. Responses at the inactivate lever were recorded but had no consequence. An FR1 schedule was used for days 1–5, an FR2 for days 6–8, and an FR5 for days 9–30. Experimental events and data collection were controlled by an interfaced computer and software (Med Associates, MED-PC 2.0).
After completion of the self-administration phase, the nicotine-reinforced responses were extinguished by withholding nicotine and its associated VS. Specifically, the daily 1-h extinction sessions began with illumination of the house light and responses at the active lever resulted in the delivery of saline rather than nicotine. During the saline infusion, there was no illumination of the lever light. The house light remained on throughout the whole session. Responses at the inactive lever were recorded but had no consequence. The criterion for extinction was that, for 3 consecutive days, the number of responses/session decreased to less than 20% of the number of responses/session that occurred during the last 3 days of nicotine self-administration.
One day after the final extinction session, reinstatement tests were conducted during which lever pressing resulted in the VS (1-s turn-on of lever light followed by 20-s turn-off of house light) but saline rather than nicotine infusions. Total lever responses (including time-out responses) were recorded.
For 12 rats, reinstatement test sessions were conducted as described above, except that 6 rats received a subcutaneous injection of mecamylamine (2 mg/kg at a volume of 1 ml/kg, dissolved in physiological saline), while the other 6 rats received saline injections 30 min before the session. The 2-mg/kg dose of mecamylamine was selected because it has been found to reliably inhibit nicotine intake in self-administration procedures (e.g., Glick et al. 2002; Watkins et al. 1999).
Data were presented as the mean (±SEM) number of nicotine infusions and lever responses. Nicotine infusion data were analyzed by using one-factor ANOVA with repeated measures. Lever response data from the self-administration and the extinction phases as well as reinstatement vs extinction were first analyzed by using two-factor ANOVA with repeated measures, and then the active and inactive response data were separately analyzed by using one-factor repeated measures ANOVA. Differences among individual means were verified by subsequent Newman–Keuls post hoc tests. Unpaired t test was used to analyze the effect of Mecamylamine on recovery of lever responses.
As shown in Fig. 1, after 30 daily 1-h self-administration sessions, rats developed stable levels of operant responding for IV nicotine infusion. The assignment of the active lever had no effect on the number of nicotine infusions with mean (±SEM) infusions of 22.5±2.0 in the Switched Lever group and 22.6±2.0 in the Same Lever group, averaged across the last three sessions. A one-factor ANOVA with repeated measures analysis yielded no significant effect of group across the whole self-administration phase [F(1,13)=0.85, p=0.37]. However, there was a significant interaction between group and session [F(29,377)=4.17, p<0.0001] and a significant main effect of group across the initial five FR1 sessions F(1,13)=45.00, p<0.0001]. Subsequent Newman–Keuls post hoc tests verified that the Same Lever group took more infusions in the first (p<0.001) and second (p<0.05) sessions (Fig. 1).
As to the number of responses at both the active and inactive levers, an overall repeated measures ANOVA with group as between-subject factor as well as lever and session as within-subject factors yielded significant main effects of lever [F(1,26)=229.08, p<0.0001] and session [F(29,754)=20.69, p<0.0001] but not group [F(1,26)=3.22, p=0.08]. There was significant interaction of group×session [F(29,754)=1.51, p<0.05], lever×session [F(29,754)=26.54, p<0.0001], and group×lever×session [F(29,754)=3.61, p<0.0001].
The profiles of active lever responses were shown in Fig. 2, top panel. There was no significant effect of group across the whole self-administration phase [one-factor ANOVA with repeated measures: F(1,13)=0.85, p=0.37]. However, further analysis yielded a significant group effect across the initial five FR1 sessions [F(1,13)=45.00, p<0.001], and subsequent Newman–Keuls post hoc test verified a significant difference at the first session between the two groups (p<0.001).
The patterns of responses at the inactive lever were shown in Fig. 2, bottom panel. One-factor ANOVA with repeated measures analyses yielded significant main effect of group during the initial five FR1, the three FR2 sessions, and the first nine sessions of the FR5 phase (sessions 9 through 17) [F(1,13)=52.77, p<0.0001; F(1,13)=14.47, p<0.01; and F(1,13)=5.57, p<0.05]. However, during the last 13 sessions of the FR5 phase (sessions 18 through 30), there was no significant effect of group [F(1,13)=0.36, p=0.56].
During the extinction phase, saline substitution for nicotine and omission of the nicotine-associated VS extinguished active lever responding (Fig. 3). In the first extinction session, animals emitted a mean (±SEM) of 86.3±11.0 (Switched Lever) and 78.0±10.3 (Same Lever) responses at the active lever. During the subsequent extinction sessions, responses gradually decreased. The rats reached the extinction criterion within 12 daily sessions. An overall repeated measures ANOVA yielded significant effects of session [F(11,286)=18.15, p<0.0001] and lever [F(1,1)=44.97, p<0.0001] but not group [F(1,26)=0.19, p=0.67]. There was a significant interaction between lever and session [F(11,286)=17.62, p<0.0001]. Further ANOVA analysis of the active lever responses verified the significant change across sessions [F(11,143)=22.51, p=0.0001], indicating extinction of responding.
In the reinstatement tests, response-contingent presentation of the nicotine-associated VS elicited significant recovery of responding at the active lever (compared with extinction responses at criterion), and the magnitude of this effect was similar in the Switched Lever and the Same Lever groups (Fig. 4, top). A repeated measures ANOVA analysis with group as between-subject factor, lever, and session (extinction and reinstatement) as within-subject factors revealed significant main effects of session [F(1,26)=16.90, p<0.001] and lever [F(1,26)=20.98, p<0.001] and a significant interaction between session and lever [F(1,26)=15.58, p<0.001]. There was no significant main effect of group [F(1,26)=0.05, p=0.83]. Subsequent Newman–Keuls post hoc tests verified the significant (p<0.01) difference in the number of response at the active lever between reinstatement vs extinction (averaged across the final three sessions) in both the Switched Lever and the Same Lever groups. However, responses at the inactive lever remained indistinguishable from extinction responses at criterion (Fig. 4, bottom).
As shown in Fig. 5, pretreatment with mecamylamine significantly attenuated the VS-induced reinstatement of responding at the active lever with a mean (±SEM) of 26.0±7.3 responses as compared to the saline control group (54.7±8.8 responses) [t(10)=2.51, p<0.05]. Mecamylamine did not change responses at the inactive lever.
This study yielded three main findings. First, reintroduction of the VS previously paired with nicotine self-administration reinstated nicotine-seeking behavior after extinction in rats, which suggests that exposure to nicotine-associated environmental stimuli may play an important role in relapse to tobacco smoking in abstinent smokers. Second, animals showed similar profiles of acquisition, maintenance, and extinction of nicotine self-administration and the VS-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior regardless of whether or not their prior lever experience had been reinforced with food reward, which rules out a speculation that nicotine self-administration behavior might be due to preexisting lever bias because of prior food training that is typically used in the self-administration paradigms. Third, pretreatment of mecamylamine significantly attenuated the response-reinstating effect of the VS, suggesting the clinical potential of this agent in treatment and prevention of relapse to tobacco smoking in abstinent smokers.
The first objective of the present study was to examine the behavioral significance of a nicotine-associated stimulus in the response-reinstatement model of relapse. The results verified the motivational effects of the nicotine-associated VS. Specifically, response-contingent presentation of the VS significantly reinstated extinguished responding at the active lever previously reinforced by nicotine. This effect cannot be attributed to the nonspecific arousal effects of reintroduction of the VS because responding at the inactive lever remained at extinction levels. Thus, the reinstatement of responding at the active lever after extinction was selectively controlled by the response-contingent representation of the visual cue that had been associated with delivery and reinforcing actions of nicotine during self-administration training. This finding confirms our previous observation (Caggiula et al. 2001) and is consistent with three recent reports (Cohen et al. 2005; LeSage et al. 2004; Paterson et al. 2005) that showed that reintroduction of nicotine-associated stimuli produced significant recovery of extinguished responding. It also lends support for a previous observation that exposing rats to the self-administration training chambers after 21 drug-free days, during which time the rats remained in home cages, resulted in recovery of lever pressing (Shaham et al. 1997). It is interesting to note that the number of responses in the reinstatement tests was higher than that reported by the other studies (Cohen et al. 2005; LeSage et al. 2004; Paterson et al. 2005). In addition to significant procedural differences such as different cues and reinforcement schedules as well as multiple self-administration, withdrawal, extinction, and behavioral tests, the modest primary reinforcing effect of the VS is likely to be another factor that may have contributed to the higher number of reinstatement responses in the present study, since our studies have demonstrated that the compound VS is capable of maintaining low but sustained levels of responding, indicating its primary reinforcing effect (Caggiula et al. 2002). The relative contributions of intrinsic reinforcing properties of the stimulus and its conditioned reinforcing effects, derived from pairing with nicotine infusions, to stimulus-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior are currently being examined.
Of particular significance is that the present study determined whether lever experience with food reinforcement during prior food training produces a response bias, which is then nonspecifically sustained by nicotine and can account for the subsequent acquisition and maintenance of nicotine self-administration as well as reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior induced by environmental cues. To address this issue, in the present study, the active and inactive levers were switched after completion of food training. In this active lever reassignment procedure, during nicotine self-administration sessions, the previous food-reinforced, active lever was made inactive, while the inactive lever in food training phase was made active, at which responses were reinforced by nicotine infusion. As such, the rats in the Switched Lever group had no prior experience of food reinforcement at the active lever. Overall, these rats showed profiles of nicotine self-administration similar to that of rats of the Same Lever assignment group, where responses at the same active lever were reinforced first with food pellets and in the subsequent drug self-administration training with nicotine infusion. This observation indicates that animals developed stable level of nicotine self-administration regardless of whether or not their prior lever experience had been rewarded by delivery of food pellets, and that nicotine self-administration does not result from a preexisting bias for the active lever due to previous food reinforcement.
An interesting phenomenon is that the inactive lever responses (previously food-reinforced lever) in the Switch Lever group remained higher until session 17 (9th session of the FR5 phase) as compared to that in the Same Lever group. Since operant food-seeking responding was found to be successfully extinguished in seven daily 45-min sessions (Ahmed and Koob 1997), it seemed that in the present procedure where rats received nicotine infusions by responding at the other (active) lever, the food-seeking responses at the inactive lever remained more resistant to extinction. There are two possible factors that might contribute to the extended existence of food-seeking responses. First, nicotine was found to increase the inactive lever response rate in an early study at the same dose as the one used in the present study (Cox et al. 1984). Second, nicotine was found to support lever responding for reinforcing, nonpharmacological stimuli (Caggiula et al. 2002; Donny et al. 2003). The rats of the Switched Lever group had lever experience for food reinforcement in the prior food training phase at the later-on inactive lever during nicotine self-administration, so that the lever would still bear a reinforcing value (or served as a conditioned reinforcer) due to its previous association with food delivery. Responding at this lever would be supported/sustained by noncontingent nicotine exposure (Chaudhri et al. 2005; Donny et al. 2003). This finding may suggest that the lever switch paradigm after food training is necessary when nicotine self-administration is studied in a short time frame.
The similarity in nicotine self-administration profiles at the final stage of the self-administration phase between the two groups ruled out the possible residual effect of food reinforcement-induced response bias on subsequent lever responding for nicotine self-administration. Moreover, the indistinguishable patterns of extinction and the VS-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior further negate influence of this factor. In the present response-reinstatement procedure, the ultimate dependent variable is the stimulus-induced recovery of extinguished lever responding in the reinstatement tests. Since the VS was never associated with food reinforcement in food training sessions, there was no residual influence of previous food training on the reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior.
The present data, together with others (Caggiula et al. 2001; Cohen et al. 2005; LeSage et al. 2004; Paterson et al. 2005; Shaham et al. 1997), indicate that the environmental stimuli associated with availability and subjective actions of nicotine may play an important role in relapse to tobacco smoking in abstinent smokers. Thus, these animal studies lend support for clinical observations that smoking-related cues enhance desire to smoke (Drobes and Tiffany 1997; Droungas et al. 1995; Lazev et al. 1999; McDermut and Haaga 1998; Perkins et al. 1994). It has been hypothesized that when compared to other drugs of abuse, environmental stimuli associated with nicotine intake play a more important role in maintaining nicotine self-administration and tobacco smoking (Balfour et al. 2000). Consistent with this view, tobacco smoking or nicotine self-administration is particularly effective in establishing or magnifying the incentive properties of accompanying environmental stimuli (Balfour et al. 2000; Caggiula et al. 2001; Goldberg et al. 1981; Rose and Levin 1991). In light of the fact that the reinstatement tests dissociate the motivation to engage in nicotine-seeking behavior from the direct reinforcing properties of nicotine, the procedures used in the present study may be useful for understanding the factors involved in nicotine relapse and in the neurobiological mechanisms involved in nicotine-seeking behavior and relapse to tobacco smoking.
Another purpose of this study was to examine sensitivity of the response-reinstating effect of nicotine-associated stimulus to pharmacological blockade of nicotinic neurotransmission. The results showed that pretreatment of mecamylamine significantly attenuated reinstatement of active lever responses elicited by response-contingent representation of the VS. The effect of mecamylamine could not be readily attributed to its nonspecific impairment of general locomotor activity since it only inhibited responding at the active lever, while inactive lever responding remained unchanged (slightly but not significantly higher than saline group), and previous observations have shown that this agent did not influence operant responding for food reinforcement at the dose used in the present study (Mansbach et al. 2000). In light of the fact that mecamylamine has been found in animal studies to completely inhibit the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine (Mansbach et al. 2000; Varvel et al. 1999) and decrease nicotine intake in the nicotine self-administration paradigms (e.g., Corrigall and Coen 1989; Donny et al. 1999; Glick et al. 2002; Watkins et al. 1999) and in human behavioral pharmacological tests to reduce the desire to smoke (Rose et al. 1989) and satisfaction derived from smoking (Lundahl et al. 2000; Nemeth-Coslett et al. 1986), the present finding may suggest clinical potential of this agent for, in addition to its smoking-attenuating effect, treatment and prevention of relapse to smoking in abstinent smokers. However, since nicotinic neurotransmission has been implicated in mediating processes of cognitive attention, associative learning, and memory (Blokland 1995; Olausson et al. 2003; Rezvani and Levin 2001), it is possible that the reinstatement-attenuation by mecamylamine can be due to its general inhibitory effect on the conditioned goal-directed responses rather than a specific action on cue-induced nicotine-seeking. This issue, along with other characteristics of the effect of this agent such as dose-dependency, is currently under investigation in our lab.
In conclusion, animals showed similar patterns of nicotine-taking and nicotine-seeking behavior regardless of reassignment of the active lever after food training, indicating that nicotine self-administration and reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior does not result from a lever bias due to prior experience for food reinforcement. The finding that the VS-elicited reinstatement of nicotine-seeking was blocked by mecamylamine suggests implication of nicotinic neurotransmission in mediating conditioned responses to the nicotine-associated environmental stimuli. These results also suggest that the present procedures may be useful for investigating neurobiological mechanisms of nicotine-seeking and relapse.
This work was supported by the State of California TRDRP grant 12RT-0188 and NIH grant DA 017288 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (X. Liu).
Xiu Liu, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 3131 Sennott Square, 210 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA ; Email: ude.ttip@uiluix Tel.: +1-412-6247345 Fax: +1-412-6248558. Department of Psychiatry, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Anthony R. Caggiula, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 3131 Sennott Square, 210 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
Susan K. Yee, Department of Psychiatry, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Hiroko Nobuta, Department of Psychiatry, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Russell E. Poland, Department of Psychiatry, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Robert N. Pechnick, Department of Psychiatry, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
PubMed Central Canada is a service of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) working in partnership with the National Research Council's national science library in cooperation with the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the U.S. National Library of Medicine(NCBI/NLM). It includes content provided to the PubMed Central International archive by participating publishers.


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. Whole wheat flour ( blank ) 1 mug
. Brown sugar or honies – ? goblet
. Baking soda pop and Preparing your receipee powder- 1 Tablespoon each
. Ovum – Just one
. Salt and also Cinnamon * ? – pertaining to flavor
. Crushed bananas * 1 ? mug
This is the easiest method to make the very best healthy banana bread recipe. A 1 ? cup of mashed banana could be equal to 5-6 bananas. Allow us to see the guidelines to make a dough in order to bake.
. The First step is to overcome the egg cell and then conquer it while using the mashed banana bread recipe. Now combine the hitter with the different ingredients that we certainly have ready, sugar/honey or even a mix of the two, salt and also cinnamon.
. The second step should be to mix flour, wheat flour, baking powder and soft drink. Once they tend to be mixed fill in the blend made in step one. If needed, it's fine to use nuts with it.
. The third phase is to blend the mixture for a while in addition to pour this a loaf of bread pan. Bake the crepe mixture in One hundred eighty C or 350 Farreneheit for 1 out of 3 minutes.
After 50 a matter of minutes stick a knife for the bread and also confirm to control your emotions. Now you can trim the lf in to the shapes your children need and function them.
You are able to always obtain numerous facts concerning banana bread recipe at our site dedicated to Banana Recipes.
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