REAL-TIME DETECTION OF CRAVINGS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE USING WEARABLE BIOSENSORS AND MACHINE LEARNING

Deaths in the US have drastically increased over the past decade due to addictive behaviors and drugs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 20 adults between the age of 15 and 64 years are addicted to at least one illicit drug; globally, 29 million people are suffering from drug use disorder. The addiction of narcotics alters a person’s primary function as well as critical areas of the brain due to multiple reasons like genetics, hereditary, stress or pressure, and mental health conditions. It not only affects an individual but also their families. Intensive research has been launched all over the world to spread awareness about how to prevent addiction. The current problem for efficiently managing and treating these addicted individuals is the lack of biomarker for detecting cravings. If clinicians could identify cravings in individuals, they might able to design appropriate intervention strategies, including mobile based mindfulness techniques, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) based exercises, or direct contact with support persons to mitigate risky situations (cravings) that could otherwise result in relapse. In our work, we explored the possibility of employing wearable biosensors along with machine learning approaches to define a reliable biomarker of craving. In this work, participants wore wrist-mounted biosensors on their non-dominant arm for all waking hours for a four-day period. An event marker was used to denote any time they perceived drug craving. For analysis, raw accelerometer data in three axes (x, y, and z) evaluated 20 minutes before and 20 minutes after each marked event. A sliding window technique with signal processing Hilbert transformation approach was applied to extract relevant features mean, variance, shape, scale, and (a distance measure derived using six parameters in a hypothetical six-dimensional space). These features employed in machine learning approach with two different quadratic (non-linear) models to detect cravings. The collaborative work of two machine learning models provided us an accuracy of 72% in the detection of cravings

Digital health in ambulatory assessment

In this volume all accepted contributions to the 5th Biennial Conference of the Society for Ambulatory Assessment are published. The number and quality of these contributions testify to the high standard of international research in ambulatory monitoring, the rapid advances in technology and data handling supporting ambulatory assessment, and the importance of these developments for the rapidly expanding area of Digital Health. Converging technologies such as Internet applications, social networks, smartphones and wearable sensors in the area of health, are now beginning to transform our approach to health research, healthcare, and communication and access to information

Recent Advances in Drug Addiction Research and Clinical Applications

Although it is well-accepted that drug addiction is a major public health concern, how we address it as a society continues to evolve as recent advances in the lab and clinic clarify the nature of the problem and influence our views. This unique collection of eight chapters reviews key findings on the neurobiology and therapeutics of addiction while capturing the diversity of perspectives that shape these concepts, which range from evolutionary biology to psychiatry to the legal system. This book discusses in depth how technological advances have led to important discoveries and how these discoveries, in turn, are increasingly being translated into clinical practice. It also presents avenues for future study that hold promise for the many affected by addiction

Does a Sensitive Palate Beget Sensitive Mmood? The Relation Between Supertasting and Disordered Mood

Objective: Prevalence rates of bipolar disorder may be as high as 11% (Angst et al., 2003); currently, research is being conducted on biologically-based traits, with the goal to find ways to ascertain a person’s risk for bipolar disorder, or to lend greater certainty to a diagnosis. One trait of interest is an individual’s ability to taste phenothioureas, a family of bitter-tasting compounds (Wooding, 2006). The aim of the present study is to determine whether this taste sensitivity has utility as a biomarker for mood disorder risk and, if so, whether emotional reactivity and regulation moderate this relation. Method: Participants (N=499) were undergraduates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Participants completed a series of questionnaires related to their mood, emotion regulation, and family history of psychiatric disorder. Next, participants completed a mood induction paradigm. Finally, participants’ taste sensitivity was measured. Results: Three groups, based on taste sensitivity, were identified. Ratings of hypomania, family history of psychiatric disorder, psychological treatment seeking, and emotion regulation did not differ across groups. Scores on the BDI were related to taste sensitivity (p<.05), but this relation was driven primarily by outliers. Using regression, tasting predicted stronger responses to both positive and negative mood inductions (p<.05). Additionally, the interaction of negative emotion regulation and tasting predicted weaker responses to the mood inductions. Finally, emotion regulation strategies were predictive of both depression and hypomania scores (p<.05). Testing the effect sizes against the zone of indifference (r= ±0.2), only the emotion regulation strategies showed promise as predictors of mood disorder. Discussion: The present study represents the largest sample investigating mood and supertasting. Therefore, the low – or absent – effect size of taste sensitivity in the present analyses sheds doubt on the utility of taste sensitivity as a biomarker for mood disorder risk. However, there were trends to suggest that supertasters are more sensitive to their environment than nontasters and that they may have increased risk for depression. Additionally, taste – or threat – sensitivity may interact with negative emotion regulation strategies in intriguing ways. Future studies, using a clinical sample, may help to better elaborate the trends found in this study.Doctor of Philosoph

Attention and Social Cognition in Virtual Reality:The effect of engagement mode and character eye-gaze

Technical developments in virtual humans are manifest in modern character design. Specifically, eye gaze offers a significant aspect of such design. There is need to consider the contribution of participant control of engagement. In the current study, we manipulated participants’ engagement with an interactive virtual reality narrative called Coffee without Words. Participants sat over coffee opposite a character in a virtual café, where they waited for their bus to be repaired. We manipulated character eye-contact with the participant. For half the participants in each condition, the character made no eye-contact for the duration of the story. For the other half, the character responded to participant eye-gaze by making and holding eye contact in return. To explore how participant engagement interacted with this manipulation, half the participants in each condition were instructed to appraise their experience as an artefact (i.e., drawing attention to technical features), while the other half were introduced to the fictional character, the narrative, and the setting as though they were real. This study allowed us to explore the contributions of character features (interactivity through eye-gaze) and cognition (attention/engagement) to the participants’ perception of realism, feelings of presence, time duration, and the extent to which they engaged with the character and represented their mental states (Theory of Mind). Importantly it does so using a highly controlled yet ecologically valid virtual experience

Effects of gut hormones, glucagon-like peptide-1 and desacyl ghrelin, on eating behaviour in obesity and ex-smokers

Introduction: Unhealthy eating behaviour is more prevalent in obesity and contributes to weight regain after dieting. Smoking cessation weight gain, a common reason for relapse to cigarettes, also has adverse health consequences. Gut hormones, such as GLP-1 and desacyl ghrelin (DAG), reduce appetite and weight in obesity and Prader-Willi syndrome. GLP-1 and ghrelin signalling systems modulate central reward networks for food and nicotine in preclinical and human studies. However, the impact of GLP-1 and DAG on neurocircuitry involved in eating behaviour in obesity and ex-smokers remains unclear therefore further insight is needed to guide clinical use of gut hormones in prevention of weight gain during dieting and smoking cessation. Aims: Here, the effects of acute administration of GLP-1 analogue, Exenatide or DAG was explored in dieting adults with obesity, or in abstinent nicotine-dependence (double blind randomised placebo controlled cross-over design), on food cue responsivity using fMRI in reward-processing regions, food intake, food reward and appetite. Results: In dieting group with obesity, both Exenatide and DAG increased BOLD signal to high-energy (HE) food pictures in prefrontal cortex regions, implicated in inhibitory control. In contrast, in ex-smokers, both Exenatide and DAG decreased BOLD signal to HE food pictures in the mesolimbic reward-processing regions and prefrontal cortex, suggesting a reduction in anticipatory food reward with a concomitant decrease in executive control. With Exenatide, there was also a reduction in HE food appeal, food intake and appetite ratings in both groups. With DAG, there was no overall effect on HE food appeal, food intake or appetite ratings in both groups. Conclusion: These findings are in accord with the possibility that Exenatide and DAG could be used in prevention of smoking cessation weight gain. This experimental medicine study has provided pilot data for a larger clinical study to trial these gut hormones as potential therapies in smoking cessation.Open Acces

Quantification of appetite-regulating hormones in children with hypothalamic and common obesity

Background. Current understanding of the appetite-regulating neuroendocrine circuitry remains incomplete, and efficacious treatments for both common and hypothalamic obesity (HyOb) are lacking. Concurrently, the expanded role of oxytocin (OXT) in energy homeostasis and human behaviour is beginning to be understood. Objectives. To optimise and translate an OXT enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to elucidate whether there were any unique differences in the plasma endocrine milieu in patients with HyOb. Methods. Optimisation work was carried out using EIAs with polyclonal and monoclonal secondary antibodies. Obese (BMI>+2 SDS) and lean (BMI≤+2 SDS) children with (HyOb and HyLean) and without (Ob and Lean) hypothalamic disorders (septo-optic dysplasia or suprasellar tumours) were phenotyped using the Dykens’ Hyperphagia Questionnaire Score (DHQS). Plasma concentrations of leptin, insulin, OXT, BDNF, αMSH, acylated ghrelin, AgRP and copeptin were measured. Results. Solid phase extraction demonstrated markedly variable OXT recovery, and potentially increased rather than decreased interference. A polyclonal secondary antibody-containing EIA showed significant cross-reactivity with several peptides in human plasma compared to a monoclonal secondary antibody-containing EIA. Of the 122 children recruited (50 HyOb, 29 HyLean, 24 Ob, 19 Lean, mean age 11.3±3.9 years) there were no differences in DHQS or hormone concentrations between HyOb and Ob groups. Obesity was associated with compensatorily increased leptin and insulin, and decreased ghrelin and AgRP concentrations. More rapidly increasing BMI was independently associated with a younger age and lower plasma αMSH concentrations. OXT concentrations did not show any correlation with BMI or DHQS. Conclusion. The use of plasma extraction processes and EIAs in the literature needs re-examination. The plasma endocrine milieu in HyOb vs. common obesity does not differ, with a compensatory increase in anorexigens and decrease in orexigens. Lower plasma αMSH was associated with more rapid weight gain, suggesting that MC4R agonists may be a therapeutic option in all forms of obesity

Cannabinoids, Chemical Senses, and Regulation of Feeding Behavior

The herb Cannabis sativa has been traditionally used in many cultures and all over the world for thousands of years as medicine and recreation. However, because it was brought to the Western world in the late 19th century, its use has been a source of controversy with respect to its physiological effects as well as the generation of specific behaviors. In this regard, the CB1 receptor represents the most relevant target molecule of cannabinoid components on nervous system and whole-body energy homeostasis. Thus, the promotion of CB1 signaling can increase appetite and stimulate feeding, whereas blockade of CB1 suppresses hunger and induces hypophagia. Taste and flavor are sensory experiences involving the oral perception of food-derived chemicals and drive a primal sense of acceptable or unacceptable for what is sampled. Therefore, research within the last decades focused on deciphering the effect of cannabinoids on the chemical senses involved in food perception and consequently in the pattern of feeding. In this review, we summarize the data on the effect of cannabinoids on chemical senses and their influences on food intake control and feeding behavior

Interactions between metabolic, reward and cognitive processes in appetite control:Implications for novel weight management therapies

Traditional models of appetite control have emphasised the role of parallel homeostatic and hedonic systems, but more recently the distinction between independent homeostatic and hedonic systems has been abandoned in favour of a framework that emphasises the cross talk between the neurochemical substrates of the two systems. In addition, evidence has emerged more recently, that higher level cognitive functions such as learning, memory and attention play an important role in everyday appetite control and that homeostatic signals also play a role in cognition. Here, we review this evidence and present a comprehensive model of the control of appetite that integrates cognitive, homeostatic and reward mechanisms. We discuss the implications of this model for understanding the factors that may contribute to disordered patterns of eating and suggest opportunities for developing more effective treatment approaches for eating disorders and weight management