No evidence for trait- and state-level urgency moderating the daily association between negative affect and subsequent alcohol use in two college samples

It remains unclear whether the negative reinforcement pathway to problematic drinking exists, and if so, for whom. One idea that has received some support recently is that people who tend to act impulsively in response to negative emotions (i.e., people high in negative urgency) may specifically respond to negative affect with increased alcohol consumption. We tested this idea in a preregistered secondary data analysis of two ecological momentary assessment studies using college samples. Participants (N = 226) reported on their current affective state multiple times per day and the following morning reported alcohol use the previous night. We assessed urgency both at baseline and during the momentary affect assessments. Results from our Bayesian model comparison procedure, which penalizes increasing model complexity, indicate that no combination of the variables of interest (negative affect, urgency, and the respective interactions) outperformed a baseline model that included two known demographic predictors of alcohol use. A non- preregistered exploratory analysis provided some evidence for the effect of daily positive affect, positive urgency, as well as their interaction on subsequent alcohol use. Taken together, our results suggest that college students’ drinking may be better described by a positive rather than negative reinforcement cycle.

Attitudes of dental students towards paediatric dental behaviour guidance

Aim: To compare the pre-clinical and clinical students` perceptions about the non-pharmacological behaviour management techniques in paediatric dentistry and to investigate the influence of the dental curriculum on the students` knowledge regarding this issue. Methods: A total of 283 students from the IV-and X-semester completed a questionnaire, consisted of 12 statements, describing the nonpharmacological behaviour management techniques for the treatment of paediatric dental patients. The acceptability rate was evaluated with a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. Results: The students from all courses demonstrated high acceptance for Reinforcement and Desensitization techniques and low for the Negative reinforcement and Physical restraint. The comparison between the perceptions of the pre-clinical and clinical students demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the acceptance of the physical restraint, along with Nonverbal communication, Modelling and Parental presence/absence (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results provide information about the students’ knowledge and skills in behaviour management techniques together with some insights about how the educational process can modify the students` perceptions and views in dealing with paediatric dental patients.

Descended Social Anxiety Disorder and Craving in Women Heroin Dependence Through Exercise Alerts Plasma Oxytocin Levels

Purpose: This study explored the association between peripheral blood oxytocin (OT) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) and cue-induced cravings in female heroin addicts. The effect of exercise on alleviation of SAD and OT levels was also explored.Methods: A total of 72 females with heroin dependence were assigned to three groups based on SAD severity. The three groups were Non-SAD control, SAD control, and SAD exercise groups. Subjects in the SAD exercise group underwent aerobic exercise and resistance training for 8 weeks (60 min/day, 5 days/week). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) scores were used to determine plasma OT concentration and SAD, respectively. Cue-induced craving was assessed using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Desires for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ). Mixed-effect analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis were used to explore the effect and correlation between different parameters.Results: OT levels in the SAD exercise group were significantly high after exercise (p &lt; 0.01). LSAS, VAS, and DDQ (“Desire and Intention” and “Negative reinforcement”) scores in the SAD exercise group were significantly lower after exercise (p &lt; 0.01). Plasma OT level was negatively correlated with LSAS score (r = −0.534, p &lt; 0.001), VAS score (r = −0.609, p &lt; 0.001), “Desire and Intention” score (r = −0.555, p &lt; 0.001), and “Negative reinforcement” score (r = −0.332, p &lt; 0.01) and positively correlated with the “control” score (r = 0.258, p &lt; 0.05). LSAS was positively correlated with VAS score (r = 0.588, p &lt; 0.001) and “Desire and Intention” score (r = 0.282, p &lt; 0.05).Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicate that plasma OT is a potential peripheral biomarker for prediction of the severity of social anxiety in female heroin withdrawal patients. Aerobic exercise combined with resistance training plus incremental load for 8 weeks can increase plasma OT levels and significantly reduce severity of SAD and cue-induced cravings in female heroin addicts.

Basic Behavioral Processes Involved in Procrastination

Procrastination involves an irrational putting off of engaging in a course of action, in spite of expecting to be worse off for the delay. I suggest that to understand the processes underlying procrastination one should examine its relation to several behavioral procedures that have been studied in humans and other animals. For example, in delay discounting, smaller rewards that come sooner are often preferred over larger rewards that come later. In the context of delay discounting, procrastination can be viewed as the preference for an immediate competing activity over the delay to work on a required task. Another process similar to procrastination can be seen in free operant, temporal avoidance (or Sidman avoidance) in which an animal will receive a shock (a deadline not met) if an interval passes without a specified response (task completion). Once animals learn about the interval, they often procrastinate by waiting until the interval has almost passed before responding. Finally, research with animals suggests that the persistence of procrastination may involve a form of negative reinforcement associated with the sudden decline in anxiety or fear (relief) when the task is completed prior to the deadline. Research with animals suggests that the mechanisms responsible for human procrastination may involve systems that derive from several procedures known to produce similar behavior animals.

Single Cell Scale Neuronal and Glial Gene Expression and Putative Cell Phenotypes and Networks in the Nucleus Tractus Solitarius in an Alcohol Withdrawal Time Series

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) is characterized by neuronal hyperexcitability, autonomic dysregulation, and severe negative emotion. The nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) likely plays a prominent role in the neurological processes underlying these symptoms as it is the main viscerosensory nucleus in the brain. The NTS receives visceral interoceptive inputs, influences autonomic outputs, and has strong connections to the limbic system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to maintain homeostasis. Our prior analysis of single neuronal gene expression data from the NTS shows that neurons exist in heterogeneous transcriptional states that form distinct functional subphenotypes. Our working model conjectures that the allostasis secondary to alcohol dependence causes peripheral and central biological network decompensation in acute abstinence resulting in neurovisceral feedback to the NTS that substantially contributes to the observed AWS. We collected single noradrenergic and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) neurons and microglia from rat NTS and measured a subset of their transcriptome as pooled samples in an alcohol withdrawal time series. Inflammatory subphenotypes predominate at certain time points, and GLP-1 subphenotypes demonstrated hyperexcitability post-withdrawal. We hypothesize such inflammatory and anxiogenic signaling contributes to alcohol dependence via negative reinforcement. Targets to mitigate such dysregulation and treat dependence can be identified from this dataset.

Study protocol: evaluation of the addictive potential of e-cigarettes (EVAPE): neurobiological, sociological, and epidemiological perspectives

Background Tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of diseases and deaths; reducing tobacco intake is, therefore, an urgent public health goal. In recent years, e-cigarettes have been marketed as a 'healthier' alternative to tobacco smoking, whilst product features have evolved tremendously in the meantime. A lively scientific debate has developed regarding the potential benefits and risks of e-cigarettes although, surprisingly, there are few studies investigating the addictive potential of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. The present work comprises three work packages investigating the addictive potential of e-cigarettes from different perspectives: (1) the neurobiological addictive potential of e-cigarettes; (2) the experience and perception of dependence symptoms among users of e-cigarettes in a social context; and (3) the epidemiological perspective regarding factors influencing the potential for dependence. Methods Work package I: the neurobiological study will investigate the key elements of addiction in e-cigarettes compared to tobacco cigarettes using neurobiological and neuropsychological correlates associated with craving, incentive motivation, cue reactivity and attentional bias. Work package II: the sociological study part examines self-reports on the experience and perception of dependence symptoms in a social context, using focus group interviews and the analysis of posts in online discussion forums on e-cigarettes. Work package III: the epidemiological study part focuses on tolerance development and the role of psychosocial and product factors by analyzing longitudinal data from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC). Discussion The present study offers a chosen mix of three methodological approaches, thereby comprehensively examining core symptoms of positive and negative reinforcement in addiction. Whether e-cigarettes are as reinforcing and addictive as combustible tobacco cigarettes is an important public health issue with implications for prevention and treatment programs. Trial registration: Work package I: Registered at clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04772014. Work package II: Registered at OSF Registries: https://osf.io/dxgya (2021, January 14).

The Role of the Dopamine D1 Receptor in Cognition

<p>The dopamine D1 receptor (DD1R) has been linked to cognitive functioning in various human and animal studies using diverse methods from pharmacological manipulations to brain imaging. Moreover, suboptimal or supraoptimal functioning of the DD1R has been linked to cognitive dysfunction. However, the previous research on this topic has mainly relied on correlational evidence, or the use of drugs that are not selective to the DD1R. Therefore, the current study investigated whether cognitive dysfunction is due to suboptimal functioning of the DD1R. The DD1R mutant rat (Smits et al., 2006) provides an opportunity to examine the role of the DD1R in cognitive functioning. The performance of the DD1R mutant rats was compared to that of littermate control rats (wildtypes). Across five experiments we found tentative evidence to suggest that the DD1R is necessary for normal cognitive ability. First, the DD1R mutant rats were unable to improve their performance when an egocentric strategy was required in the starmaze, using both positive and negative reinforcement. Second, compared to wildtype rats, the DD1R mutants were impaired in learning an allocentric strategy in the starmaze with positive reinforcement when they had been previously trained in an egocentric task. Third, the mutants were unable to improve when an egocentric strategy was required in the Y-maze. Finally, the DD1R mutant rats took longer than the wildtypes to reverse their learning when a baited arm was switched after two weeks of training with a different arm as the baited arm in the T-maze. Despite some of the limitations of the experiments, these initial findings suggest an impairment in cognition. Ideas for future research and applications are discussed.</p>

The Role of the Dopamine D1 Receptor in Cognition

<p>The dopamine D1 receptor (DD1R) has been linked to cognitive functioning in various human and animal studies using diverse methods from pharmacological manipulations to brain imaging. Moreover, suboptimal or supraoptimal functioning of the DD1R has been linked to cognitive dysfunction. However, the previous research on this topic has mainly relied on correlational evidence, or the use of drugs that are not selective to the DD1R. Therefore, the current study investigated whether cognitive dysfunction is due to suboptimal functioning of the DD1R. The DD1R mutant rat (Smits et al., 2006) provides an opportunity to examine the role of the DD1R in cognitive functioning. The performance of the DD1R mutant rats was compared to that of littermate control rats (wildtypes). Across five experiments we found tentative evidence to suggest that the DD1R is necessary for normal cognitive ability. First, the DD1R mutant rats were unable to improve their performance when an egocentric strategy was required in the starmaze, using both positive and negative reinforcement. Second, compared to wildtype rats, the DD1R mutants were impaired in learning an allocentric strategy in the starmaze with positive reinforcement when they had been previously trained in an egocentric task. Third, the mutants were unable to improve when an egocentric strategy was required in the Y-maze. Finally, the DD1R mutant rats took longer than the wildtypes to reverse their learning when a baited arm was switched after two weeks of training with a different arm as the baited arm in the T-maze. Despite some of the limitations of the experiments, these initial findings suggest an impairment in cognition. Ideas for future research and applications are discussed.</p>