PUTTING CRAVING INTO CONTEXT: EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED SMOKING OPPORTUNITY ON THE NEURAL RESPONSE TO CIGARETTE CUE EXPOSURE

Recent years have seen the emergence of research applying functional neuroimaging to the study of cue-elicited drug craving. This research has begun to identify a distributed system of brain activity during drug craving. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the effects of smoking expectancy on the neural response to neutral (e.g., roll of tape) and smoking-related (holding a cigarette) stimuli in male cigarette smokers deprived of nicotine for 8 hours. As predicted, several brain regions exhibited differential activation during cigarette versus neutral cue exposure. Moreover, instructions about smoking opportunity affected cue-elicited activation in several regions. These results highlight the importance of perceived drug availability in the neurobiological response to drug cues

SELF-FOCUSED VERSUS OTHER-FOCUSED COGNITIVE STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH SMOKING CUE EXPOSURE: A FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING STUDY

The ability to cope effectively during high-risk situations (e.g., exposure to drug-related stimuli during acute withdrawal) is essential for forestalling relapse during attempts to quit problematic substance use. Attempting to exert executive cognitive control over affective reactions is a frequently employed strategy for managing temptation and sustaining cessation. Such attempts are not failsafe, however, with many individuals succumbing to temptation despite reporting the use of cognitive coping strategies. The reasons for such failure, as well as for the observation that the efficacy of coping varies significantly both within and between individuals, remain largely unknown. The goal of the present study was to address this important knowledge gap by investigating the mechanisms underlying cognitive coping in cigarette smokers, with two specific aims. The first aim was to examine the neural correlates of the use of two different forms of cognitive coping during drug cue exposure, with the prediction that the use of a non-self-referential strategy would be associated with relatively greater activation of the DLPFC than a strategy that entails the use of self-referential information. In contrast, it was hypothesized that a strategy that involves the generation and maintenance of self-relevant information would be associated with comparatively greater activation of portions of the anterior medial prefrontal cortex than a strategy in which the focus is on non-self-referential information. The second aim of the study was to examine whether non-self-referential and self-referential coping strategies are differentially moderated by individual differences in working memory capacity, with the hypothesis that working memory ability would more strongly predict the magnitude of cue-elicited activation of the DLPFC during the use of a non-self-referential coping strategy than during the use of a self-referential coping strategy. Findings suggest non-self-referential and self-referential coping indeed are associated with different patterns of neural activation during cue exposure, although the specific relationships that were observed proved to be more complex than initially hypothesized. In contrast to expectations, however, working memory capacity did not differentially moderate the activation of the DLPFC and measures of cue-reactivity. Potential implications and extensions of these findings are discussed

The Impact of Mental Illness Status on the Length of Jail Detention and the Legal Mechanism of Jail Release

Objective: This analysis investigated whether persons with serious mental illnesses have longer jail detentions than other detainees and whether they are released by different legal mechanisms. Methods: Jail records and mental health service records from a Medicaid database were matched for all admissions to the Philadelphia jail system in 2003. Survival analysis techniques were used to compare length of jail stays of persons with and without serious mental illnesses (N=24,290). Serious mental illness was defined as a diagnosis either in the schizophrenia spectrum (DSM-IV code 295.XX) or of a major affective disorder (DSMIV code 296.XX) recorded in Medicaid records (2001–2003). Mechanisms of release were also examined for those with release dates before September 1, 2005 (N=20,573) Results: Just over 50% of the 1,457 persons with serious mental illnesses were released from jail within 30 days of incarceration, compared with 56% of the other detainees. Mental illness status was not found to be a significant predictor of longer detentions. Forty-nine percent of those with serious mental illnesses were released from jails through unpredictable release mechanisms, such as bail, release from court, or withdrawal of a bench warrant, whereas only 19% were released through mechanisms that had release dates that allowed adequate time for discharge planning. Conclusions: The findings suggest that reentry programs and other jail-based interventions for persons with mental illnesses should ensure that they have the capacity to rapidly identify and serve clients with shorter and more unpredictable stays or risk not being responsive to the needs of a substantial proportion of this population

Evaluation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using analytical methods, toxicology, and risk assessment research: seafood safety after a petroleum spill as an example.

BackgroundPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are abundant and widespread environmental chemicals. They are produced naturally and through man-made processes, and they are common in organic media, including petroleum. Several PAHs are toxic, and a subset exhibit carcinogenic activity. PAHs represent a range of chemical structures based on two or more benzene rings and, depending on their source, can exhibit a variety of side modifications resulting from oxygenation, nitrogenation, and alkylation.ObjectivesHere we discuss the increasing ability of contemporary analytical methods to distinguish not only different chemical structures among PAHs but also their concentrations in environmental media. Using seafood contamination following the Deepwater Horizon accident as an example, we identify issues that are emerging in the PAH risk assessment process because of increasing analytical sensitivity for individual PAHs, and we describe the paucity of toxicological literature for many of these compounds.DiscussionPAHs, including the large variety of chemically modified or substituted PAHs, are naturally occurring and may constitute health risks if human populations are exposed to hazardous levels. However, toxicity evaluations have not kept pace with modern analytic methods and their increased ability to detect substituted PAHs. Therefore, although it is possible to measure these compounds in seafood and other media, we do not have sufficient information on the potential toxicity of these compounds to incorporate them into human health risk assessments and characterizations.ConclusionsFuture research efforts should strategically attempt to fill this toxicological knowledge gap so human health risk assessments of PAHs in environmental media or food can be better determined. This is especially important in the aftermath of petroleum spills