Impulsivity in abstinent alcohol and polydrug dependence: a multidimensional approach.

RATIONALE: Dependence on drugs and alcohol is associated with impaired impulse control, but deficits are rarely compared across individuals dependent on different substances using several measures within a single study. OBJECTIVES: We investigated impulsivity in abstinent substance-dependent individuals (AbD) using three complementary techniques: self-report, neuropsychological and neuroimaging. We hypothesised that AbDs would show increased impulsivity across modalities, and that this would depend on length of abstinence. METHODS: Data were collected from the ICCAM study: 57 control and 86 AbDs, comprising a group with a history of dependence on alcohol only (n = 27) and a group with history of dependence on multiple substances ("polydrug", n = 59). All participants completed self-report measures of impulsivity: Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, UPPS Impulsive Behaviour Scale, Behaviour Inhibition/Activation System and Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory. They also performed three behavioural tasks: Stop Signal, Intra-Extra Dimensional Set-Shift and Kirby Delay Discounting; and completed a Go/NoGo task during fMRI. RESULTS: AbDs scored significantly higher than controls on self-report measures, but alcohol and polydrug dependent groups did not differ significantly from each other. Polydrug participants had significantly higher discounting scores than both controls and alcohol participants. There were no group differences on the other behavioural measures or on the fMRI measure. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the current set of self-report measures of impulsivity is more sensitive in abstinent individuals than the behavioural or fMRI measures of neuronal activity. This highlights the importance of developing behavioural measures to assess different, more relevant, aspects of impulsivity alongside corresponding cognitive challenges for fMRI.This article presents independent research funded by the Medical Research Council as part of their addiction initiative (grant number G1000018). GSK kindly funded the functional and structural MRI scans that took place at Imperial College. The research was carried out at the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Imperial Clinical Research Facility, the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Cambridge Research Facility and Clinical Trials Unit at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, and is supported by the North West London, Eastern and Greater Manchester NIHR Clinical Research Networks.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4245-

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Several aromatic and heterocyclic aldehydes are reduced at atmospheric pressure by calcined Ni-Al hydrotalcite and the catalyst is reused for several cycles with consistent activity and selectivity

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Acylation of alcohols in an efficient manner using [N,N'-ethylene bis(salicylideneaminato)] manganese(III) chloride [Mn(III) salen complex 1] with anhydrides/acetic acid under novel heterogeneous media is reported for the first time

The first example of Michael addition catalysed by modified Mg-Al hydrotalcite

Selective 1,4-additions (Michael reactions) on methyl vinyl ketone, methyl acrylate, simple and substituted chalcones by donors such as nitroalkane, malononitrile, diethylmalonate, cyanoacetamide and thiols were catalysed by solid base, modified Mg-Al hydrotalcite as catalyst in quantitative yields in liquid phase under mild reaction conditions. Products of undesirable side reactions resulting from 1,2-addition, polymerisation and bis-addition are not observed. The work-up procedure is simplified by simple filtration with the use of solid bases