Impulsivity and relapse during treatment of methamphetamine use disorder

Author(s):  
Jana Schultz ◽  
Robert Neumann ◽  
Sabine Steins-Loeber

Abstract. Aims: The increasing prevalence of patients seeking treatment for methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) in some regions of Germany and the high relapse rates following common treatment interventions make more effective interventions highly needed. The aim of the present study was to enhance our understanding of the impact of impulsivity on relapse during treatment and thus to outline possible individual characteristics that make more tailored interventions necessary. Methodology: Forty-two patients with a diagnosis of MUD admitted to inpatient treatment and 21 matched healthy control participants (HC) completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) as a self-reported measure of trait impulsivity and a go/no-go task with methamphetamine-associated and neutral stimuli to assess deficits of response inhibition. Relapse rates of patients during treatment were assessed. Results: Higher impairment of response inhibition, but not trait impulsivity, significantly predicted relapse during treatment. These findings were observed although patients with MUD compared to HC did not differ with regard to deficits of response inhibition. Conclusions: These findings suggest that patients with MUD who show enhanced deficits of response inhibition are more vulnerable to relapse during treatment and need more tailored treatment interventions.

Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua B. B. Garfield ◽  
Hugh Piercy ◽  
Shalini Arunogiri ◽  
Dan I. Lubman ◽  
Samuel C. Campbell ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Globally, methamphetamine use has increased in prevalence in recent years. In Australia, there has been a dramatic increase in numbers of people seeking treatment, including residential rehabilitation, for methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). While residential rehabilitation is more effective for MUD than withdrawal treatment (i.e. “detoxification”) alone, relapse rates remain high, with approximately half of rehabilitation clients using methamphetamine within 3 months of rehabilitation. “Approach bias modification” (ABM) is a computerised cognitive training approach that aims to dampen automatically triggered impulses to approach drugs and drug-related stimuli. ABM has been demonstrated to reduce alcohol relapse rates, but no randomised controlled trials of ABM for MUD have yet been conducted. We aim to test whether a novel “personalised” form of ABM, delivered during rehabilitation, reduces post-treatment methamphetamine use, relative to a sham-training control condition. Secondary outcomes will include dependence symptoms, cravings, and approach bias. Methods We aim to recruit 100 participants attending residential rehabilitation for MUD at 3 sites in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Participants will complete baseline measures of methamphetamine use, craving, dependence severity, and approach bias before being randomised to receiving 6 sessions of ABM or “sham” training. In the active condition, ABM will be personalised for each participant, using those methamphetamine images that they rate as most relevant to their recent methods of methamphetamine use as “avoidance” images and using positive images representing their goals or healthy sources of pleasure as “approach” images. Approach bias and craving will be re-assessed following completion of training, and methamphetamine use, dependence, and craving will be assessed 4 weeks and 3 months following discharge from residential treatment. Discussion This study is the first randomised controlled trial of ABM for MUD and also the first ABM study to test using a personalised set of both approach and avoid images for ABM training. If effective, the low cost and easy implementation of ABM means it could be widely implemented as a standard part of MUD treatment. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000072910. Registered on 30 January 2020 (prospectively registered): https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=378804&isReview=true


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amirhossein Dakhili ◽  
Arshiya Sangchooli ◽  
Sara Jafakesh ◽  
Mehran Zare-Bidoky ◽  
Ghazaleh Soleimani ◽  
...  

Background: Drug-related cue-reactivity, dysfunctional negative emotion processing, and response-disinhibition constitute three core aspects of methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). These phenomena have been studied independently, but the neuroscientific literature on their interaction in addictive disorders remains scant. Methods: fMRI data were collected from 62 individuals with MUD when responding to the geometric Go or No-Go cues superimposed over blank, neutral, negative-emotional and drug-related background images. Neural correlates of drug and negative-emotional cue-reactivity, response-inhibition, and response-inhibition during drug and negative-emotional blocks were estimated, and methamphetamine cue-reactivity was compared between MUDs and 23 healthy controls (HCs). Relationships between clinical and behavioral characteristics and observed activations were subsequently investigated. Results: MUDs had longer reaction times and more errors in drug and negative-emotional blocks compared to neutral and blank ones. MUDs showed higher drug cue-reactivity than HCs across prefrontal regions, fusiform gyrus, and visual cortices (Z>3.1, p-corrected<0.05). Response-inhibition was associated with activations in the precuneus, inferior parietal lobule, and anterior cingulate, temporal and inferior frontal gyri (Z>3.1, p-corrected<0.05). Response-inhibition in drug cue blocks coincided with higher activations in the visual cortex and lower activations in the paracentral lobule and superior and inferior frontal gyri, while inhibition during negative-emotional blocks led to higher superior parietal, fusiform, and lateral occipital activations (Z>3.1, p-corrected<0.05). Conclusion: Higher visual cortical activations and lower parietal and prefrontal activations during drug-related response-inhibition suggest the down-regulation of inhibitory regions and up-regulation of bottom-up drug cue-reactivity. Our results suggest that drug and negative-emotional cue-reactivity influence response-inhibition, and the study of these interactions may aid mechanistic understandings of addiction and biomarker discovery.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Jafakesh ◽  
Arshiya Sangchooli ◽  
Ardalan Aarabi ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Helfroush ◽  
Amirhossein Dakhili ◽  
...  

Abstract Cue-induced drug craving and disinhibition are two essential components of continued drug use and relapse in substance use disorders. While these two phenomena develop and interact across time, the temporal dynamics of their underlying neural activity and their interaction remain under-investigated. To explore these dynamics, an analysis of time-varying activation was applied to fMRI data from 62 men with methamphetamine use disorder in their first weeks of recovery in abstinence-based treatment program. Using a mixed block-event, factorial cue-reactivity/Go-NoGo task, and a sliding window across the task duration, dynamically-activated regions were identified in linear mixed effects models (LMEs). Habituation to drug cues across time was observed in the superior temporal gyri, amygdalae, left hippocampus, and right precuneus, while response-inhibition was associated with the sensitization of temporally-dynamic activations across many regions of the inhibitory frontoparietal network. Cue-reactivity and response-inhibition dynamically interact in the parahippocampal gyri and right precuneus (corrected p-value < 0.001) regions, which show a declining cue-reactivity contrast and an increasing response-inhibition contrast. Overall, the declining craving-related activations (habituation) and increasing inhibition-associated activations (sensitization) along the task duration suggest the gradual recruitment of response-inhibition process and the concurrent habituation to drug cues in areas with significant dynamic interaction. This exploratory study demonstrates the time-variance of the neural activations undergirding cue-reactivity, response-inhibition, and their interaction, and suggests potentials to assess this dynamic interaction. This preliminary evidence provides justifications for new avenues in biomarker development and interventions using cue exposure paradigms, which could promote habituation to drug cues and sensitization in inhibitory control regions.


Author(s):  
Kristy Martin ◽  
Emily McLeod ◽  
Julien Périard ◽  
Ben Rattray ◽  
Richard Keegan ◽  
...  

Objective: In this review, we detail the impact of environmental stress on cognitive and military task performance and highlight any individual characteristics or interventions which may mitigate any negative effect. Background: Military personnel are often deployed in regions markedly different from their own, experiencing hot days, cold nights, and trips both above and below sea level. In spite of these stressors, high-level cognitive and operational performance must be maintained. Method: A systematic review of the electronic databases Medline (PubMed), EMBASE (Scopus), PsycINFO, and Web of Science was conducted from inception up to September 2018. Eligibility criteria included a healthy human cohort, an outcome of cognition or military task performance and assessment of an environmental condition. Results: The search returned 113,850 records, of which 124 were included in the systematic review. Thirty-one studies examined the impact of heat stress on cognition; 20 of cold stress; 59 of altitude exposure; and 18 of being below sea level. Conclusion: The severity and duration of exposure to the environmental stressor affects the degree to which cognitive performance can be impaired, as does the complexity of the cognitive task and the skill or familiarity of the individual performing the task. Application: Strategies to improve cognitive performance in extreme environmental conditions should focus on reducing the magnitude of the physiological and perceptual disturbance caused by the stressor. Strategies may include acclimatization and habituation, being well skilled on the task, and reducing sensations of thermal stress with approaches such as head and neck cooling.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Boden ◽  
James A. Foulds ◽  
Giles Newton-Howes ◽  
Rebecca McKetin

Abstract Background This study examined the association between methamphetamine use and psychotic symptoms in a New Zealand general population birth cohort (n = 1265 at birth). Methods At age 18, 21, 25, 30, and 35, participants reported on their methamphetamine use and psychotic symptoms in the period since the previous interview. Generalized estimating equations modelled the association between methamphetamine use and psychotic symptoms (percentage reporting any symptom, and number of symptoms per participant). Confounding factors included childhood individual characteristics, family socioeconomic circumstances and family functioning. Long term effects of methamphetamine use on psychotic symptoms were assessed by comparing the incidence of psychotic symptoms at age 30–35 for those with and without a history of methamphetamine use prior to age 30. Results After adjusting for confounding factors and time-varying covariate factors including concurrent cannabis use, methamphetamine use was associated with a modest increase in psychosis risk over five waves of data (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03–1.72 for the percentage measure; and IRR 1.24, 95% CI 1.02–1.50 for the symptom count measure). The increased risk of psychotic symptoms was concentrated among participants who had used at least weekly at any point (adjusted OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.21–6.69). Use of methamphetamine less than weekly was not associated with increased psychosis risk. We found no evidence for a persistent vulnerability to psychosis in the absence of continuing methamphetamine use. Conclusion Methamphetamine use is associated with increased risk of psychotic symptoms in the general population. Increased risk is chiefly confined to people who ever used regularly (at least weekly), and recently.


2021 ◽  
Vol 224 (2) ◽  
pp. S401-S402
Author(s):  
Marcela Smid ◽  
Amanda A. Allshouse ◽  
Kristine Campbell ◽  
Michelle P. Debbink ◽  
Adam G. Gordon ◽  
...  

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 968
Author(s):  
David A. Vargas ◽  
Markus F. Miller ◽  
Dale R. Woerner ◽  
Alejandro Echeverry

The use of antimicrobials in the pork industry is critical in order to ensure food safety and, at the same time, extend shelf life. The objective of the study was to determine the impact of antimicrobials on indicator bacteria on pork loins under long, dark, refrigerated storage conditions. Fresh boneless pork loins (n = 36) were split in five sections and treated with antimicrobials: Water (WAT), Bovibrom 225 ppm (BB225), Bovibrom 500 ppm (BB500), Fit Fresh 3 ppm (FF3), or Washing Solution 750 ppm (WS750). Sections were stored for 1, 14, 28, and 42 days at 2–4 °C. Mesophilic and psychrotrophic aerobic bacteria (APC-M, APC-P), lactic acid bacteria (LAB-M), coliforms, and Escherichia coli were enumerated before intervention, after intervention, and at each storage time. All bacterial enumeration data were converted into log10 for statistical analysis, and the Kruskal–Wallis test was used to find statistical differences (p < 0.05). Initial counts did not differ between treatments, while, after treatment interventions, treatment WS750 did not effectively reduce counts for APC-M, APC-P, and coliforms (p < 0.01). BB500, FF3, and WS750 performed better at inhibiting the growth of indicator bacteria when compared with water until 14 days of dark storage.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document