University of California, Davis

We present empirical evidence of option pricing in a created market to address stock externalities in a common-pool resource. Using unique data on New Zealand’s quota fisheries, we show that tradable quota can carry an option premium of over 10 percent (i.e., the quota price is relatively higher at the start of the fishing year). By exploiting differences in species that are exported fresh and frozen, we show that an option premium arises only if a fisher can earn higher profits by aligning harvesting with high market prices. Since quota represents a forward-looking option to produce throughout the year, the quota price accounts for the potential value of using quota later in the year, when it may be more profitable.

Childhood adversity increases risk for depression and higher allostatic load (AL), defined as long-term wear and tear on the body, and adolescence is an especially sensitive time for adversity to be biologically embedded. Individuals of Mexican origin may face multiple forms of adversities relating to their intersectional identities of ethnicity and class, including ethnic discrimination and economic hardship, the experience of which may further depend on sex. However, relatively little research has simultaneously assessed associations between these two types of adolescent adversity and outcomes of both young adult depression and AL longitudinally in Mexican-origin individuals. This preregistered study addressed these gaps in a longitudinal study of 208 Mexican-origin participants. Ethnic discrimination and economic hardship were assessed annually from ages 10-19 and AL and depression symptoms were assessed at age 26. Sex differences were also tested. Perceived discrimination in adolescence significantly predicted higher levels of depression at age 26 (β =.09, p = .045, R2 =.03, ΔR2 = 0.005, 95% CI [.002,.181]). In addition, age 26 depression levels moderated the association between adolescent economic hardship and age 26 AL (β = -.17, p = .03, R2 =.12, ΔR2 =.028, 95% CI [-.33, -.02]). Participants exhibited higher AL with high levels of economic hardship but low levels of depression, as well as with low levels of economic hardship and high depression, suggesting that both psychological resilience to economic hardship and the association between mental health and AL may depend on context. Findings indicate intersectional effects of different types of adversity during adolescence on mental and physical health in young adulthood within Latino individuals.

Second generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are widely used clinical tools; yet, they often cause negative side effects and take weeks to become effective, leading to poor patient compliance. The effect/side effect profile of individual SGAs is highly variable, and the mechanisms that underlie this variability are not well understood. Here, we identify a role of type 3 dopamine receptor (D3R) neurons in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) that mimics the aversive effects of quetiapine. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, we show that D3R is expressed in a subpopulation of D1R neurons and defines a distinct NAc cell type. We found that both clozapine and quetiapine cause acute conditioned place aversion in mice, but aversion subsides only after 21 days of treatment with quetiapine, a drug characterized as an arrestin-biased agonist at D3R. We provide evidence at both the cellular and population level that quetiapine inhibits D3R-expressing neurons in the lateral shell (LatSh) of the NAc. We also demonstrate that local injection of quetiapine into LatSh NAc is sufficient to cause place aversion. Selective optogenetic inhibition of D3R-neurons in the LatSh produces real time place aversion in mice, correlating this cell type to the aversive effects of quetiapine. These findings suggest a cell-type-specific mechanism underlying quetiapine-induced aversion and its potential attenuation with chronic treatment, offering insight into the cell types and circuitry that shape the quetiapine side effect profile.

Ferredoxin reductase (FDXR) is the sole ferredoxin reductase in humans and plays an essential role for steroidogenesis and biosynthesis of heme and iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) by transferring electrons from NADPH to ISC-containing ferredoxin 1 (FDX1) and FDX2. In this study, we found that while FDXR is classified as a mitochondria-localized flavoprotein, it can be translocated into the nucleus, especially in response to various stress signals. Next, we identified a bipartite nuclear localization signal within amino acids 271-299 of FDXR, the disruption of which impairs its nuclear translocation. Further, we found that AKT can phosphorylate threonine 277 adjacent to the NLS in FDXR and subsequently enhances its nuclear translocation. Consistent with this, mutant FDXR(T277A), in which threonine 277 was substituted with alanine, impaired FDXR nuclear translocation. Together, our data provide evidence that the mitochondrial FDXR can be translocated to the nucleus, which is regulated by AKT-mediated phosphorylation, especially in response to cellular stress. Our data suggest that FDXR plays a role in the mitochondria-nucleus communication and stress responses.