Craving-induced effects of different drug cues on persons abstaining from heroin

Background: The key factors of inducing drug cravings in persons abstaining from drug use remain a focus of addictions research. Given the accumulating evidences, the scope of cues investigated in the cue-reactivity paradigm has increased considerably. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of the intensity and endurance of different types of cues on their ability to induce craving. This study investigated differences among drug-cue words, negative physiological-cue words, and negative social-cue words in the induction of drug cravings among persons abstaining from heroin.

Methods: The sample consisted of 149 male abstinent heroin abusers from four addiction rehabilitation centers in China. Based on their abstinence lengths, they were labeled as short-term, medium-term, and long-term abstainer participants respectively. All participants completed a stress-imagery task and rated craving by visual analog scale.

Results: There was a significant interaction of cue type and abstinence length. There was no difference on the craving induced by three types of cue words in the short-term group. In the medium-term group, craving induced by negative social-cue words was significantly stronger than that by negative physiological-cue words, but not that by drug-cue words. In the long-term group, the craving induced by negative social-cue words remained the strongest, significantly stronger than that by both drug-cue words and negative physiological-cue words.

Conclusion: Negative social-cue words presented in the current study retain the ability to induce craving in heroin abstainers; this finding suggests that negative social cues encountered under more general circumstances could be a risk factor for relapse.     

Voluntary head stabilization in space during oscillatory trunk movements in the frontal plane performed in weightlessness

 The ability voluntarily to stabilize the head in space during lateral rhythmic oscillations (0.59±0.09 Hz) of the trunk has been investigated during microgravity (μG) and normal gravity (nG) conditions (parabolic flights). Five healthy young subjects, who gave informed consent, were examined. The movements were performed with eyes open or eyes closed, during phases of either μG or nG. The main result was that head orientation with respect to vertical may be stabilized about the roll axis under μG with, as well as without vision, despite the reduction in vestibular afferent and muscle proprioceptive inputs. Moreover, the absence of head stabilization about the yaw axis confirms that the degrees of freedom of the neck can be independently controlled, as was previously reported. These results seem to indicate that voluntary head stabilization does not depend crucially upon static vestibular afferents. Head stabilization in space may in fact be organized on the basis of either dynamic vestibular afferents or a short-term memorized postural body schema. Received: 4 October 1995 / Accepted: 30 September 1996     

Central and peripheral psychophysiological responses to trauma-related cues in subclinical posttraumatic stress disorder: a pilot study

This study examined verbal-subjective, peripheral and central physiological responses of motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors with subclinical posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), without PTSD symptoms as well as healthy controls. Seven persons of each group were exposed to positive, neutral, accident-related and negative, non-accident-related slides. The verbal-subjective ratings of the slides did not differ between the groups. In contrast to the verbal ratings of the trauma-related materials, the behavioral and physiological responses showed a remarkable dissociation from these reports. The startle responses were enhanced to accident-related slides only in the PTSD group and MVA survivors with PTSD had a significantly lower response to the neutral slides than MVA survivors without PTSD. P200 was lower to positive, neutral and negative slides in the PTSD group compared to both other groups. The late positive complex showed no group-related effects. The data suggest that traumatized persons with PTSD show exaggerated emotional responses to trauma-related stimuli and reduced cognitive responses to several types of stimuli that may interfere with the extinction of the emotional trauma memory.     

β-Glucuronidase activation of latent aggression-promoting cues in mouse bladder urine

The present study was designed to investigate the chemical properties of the aggression-promoting cues present in bladder urine of male mice. The results of the first experiment confirmed earlier work by demonstrating the presence of an aggression-promoting chemosignal in bladder urine. In Experiment 2, behavioral assays were separately performed on the organic and aqueous layers of bladder urine obtained by repeated dichloromethane extractions. Only the combined organic layers of the initial three extractions demonstrated behavioral activity. A fourth extraction showed no behavioral activity for both organic and aqueous layers. However, the findings of Experiment 3 showed that incubation of the aqueous layer from the third CH₂Cl₂ extraction in β-glucuronidase can free additional aggression-promoting cues into a subsequent CH₂Cl₂ extraction. It is concluded that two forms of the aggression-promoting chemosignal are present in bladder urine. One is lipophilic and behaviorally active, whereas the other is conjugated, possessing latent chemosignal properties.     

Minority mating advantage of certain eye color mutants ofDrosophila melanogaster. I. Multiple-choice and single-female tests

Alleles at the brown locus ofDrosophila melanogaster combined with homozygous scarlet provide a useful model to demonstrate minority advantage of males in mating. Heterozygotes with orange (O) eyes equal in numbers to homozygotes with red (R) eyes (1010 in both sexes) displayed no bias favoring either eye color, but each eye color was favored when males occurred in a minority ratio (218). In direct observation of single females with equal numbers of males (33) as controls,O males courted less and more slowly thanR males, but females mated with either type without bias. When unequal (41), the minority males were successful at more than twice the frequency expected. Whether successful or not, the minority males did not change their level of courtship, and thus cannot be said to compensate for their frequency in any way. The time between first courtship and mating was less for the minority males than for the majority males. We discard the hypothesis that the minority male will be accepted immediately or ahead of a majority male, because the opposite tended to occur: that if a minority male courted first he was less likely to be successful than if he waited until the majority courted. Our results then are in conformity with the hypothesis that a female samples males and their courtship cues, thus becoming habituated to the majority of the first courting male, but she accepts a male with a cue different from that which she originally detected but avoided. That male is most often the minority.This research was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grants GB-34206 to August 31, 1974, and BMS 72-02110 after that date.     

Sprouting and regeneration after pyramidotomy and blockade of the myelin-associated neurite growth inhibitors NI 35/250 in adult rats

After a selective unilateral lesion of the corticospinal tract (CST) at the level of the brainstem (pyramidotomy) and neutralization of the myelin associated neurite growth inhibitors NI-35/250 with the monoclonal antibody (mAb) IN-1, we had previously observed a strong behavioural recovery in parallel with an enhanced structural plasticity of the lesioned as well as the unlesioned CST. The present study focuses on the regenerative response of the cut CST axons at the lesion site in these adult rats. The results show a strong enhancement of regenerative sprouting of CST fibres by treatment with the mAb IN-1. Successful elongation of these sprouts through the pyramidal decussation and into the cervical spinal cord was also dependent on the presence of this antibody. In the spinal cord, regenerating fibres were rarely found in the position of the former CST; most of the fibres were distributed seemingly randomly over the entire lateral extent of the spinal cord.     

Deficient processing of alcohol cues in the addicted brain: Evidence from event-related potential microstates

ObjectivePatients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) show altered brain responses to alcohol cues as compared to healthy controls. Event-related potential (ERP) studies mostly focus on the P3, which is usually diminished in AUD patients. The few studies that have investigated earlier components have yielded inconsistent results. The present study aimed at identifying the onset of impaired alcohol cue processing in AUD patients, as well as the association between neurophysiological processing and subjective craving.MethodsA sample of 15 inpatients with AUD and 15 healthy controls completed a cue reactivity task with alcohol-related, neutral, and scrambled pictures. Multichannel-EEG was recorded from 70 scalp electrodes, and ERP microstates were analyzed.ResultsPatients displayed impaired neurophysiological processing, as indexed by a weaker P3 and a weaker, insensitive P1. The blunted P1 was associated with higher subjective craving.ConclusionsImpaired alcohol cue processing in AUD emerges early, at the stage of sensory processing. Such deficient initial processing seems crucial to understanding cue reactivity processes in the brain and in the subjective experience of craving.SignificanceThe results highlight the importance of investigating early ERP components preceding the P3, and contribute to the debate on the onset of information-processing dysfunction in the addicted brain.     

Sensory influences on food intake control: moving beyond palatability

The sensory experience of eating is an important determinant of food intake control, often attributed to the positive hedonic response associated with certain sensory cues. However, palatability is just one aspect of the sensory experience. Sensory cues based on a food's sight, smell, taste and texture are operational before, during and after an eating event. The focus of this review is to look beyond palatability and highlight recent advances in our understanding of how certain sensory characteristics can be used to promote better energy intake control. We consider the role of visual and odour cues in identifying food in the near environment, guiding food choice and memory for eating, and highlight the ways in which tastes and textures influence meal size and the development of satiety after consumption. Considering sensory characteristics as a functional feature of the foods and beverages we consume provides the opportunity for research to identify how sensory enhancements might be combined with energy reduction in otherwise palatable foods to optimize short‐term energy intake regulation in the current food environment. Moving forward, the challenge for sensory nutritional science will be to assess the longer‐term impact of these principles on weight management.     

Do children with autism and Asperger's disorder have difficulty controlling handwriting size? A kinematic evaluation

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often show difficulties in controlling letter size and consistent letter formation during handwriting; however, there has been little research into the underlying nature of handwriting impairments in this group. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of children with ASD to regulate the size and consistency of fundamental handwriting movements when using writing guides, and determine whether the kinematic profile during writing is different to typically developing children. Twenty-six boys with ASD (16 with high-functioning autism, 10 with Asperger's disorder) aged 8–13 years (IQ > 75), and 17 typically developing children wrote a series of four cursive letter l's using 10 mm and 40 mm writing guides, using a graphics tablet and stylus. Movement size and consistency was comparable between groups when the writing guides were set at 10 mm; however, handwriting movements of children with ASD were significantly faster and more fluent than typically developing children when writing guides were set at 40 mm. Neuromotor noise was comparable to that of typically developing children across both writing sizes. Clinically, our findings indicate that children with ASD have a well-automated motor plan for simple handwriting movements when writing guides are present and that problems of handwriting legibility in ASD are likely to arise from other factors, such as complex motor chaining (i.e. writing whole words and sentences), or attentional, working memory and linguistic demands when writing.