View clinical trials related to Alcoholism.
Filter by:The proposed study is the first to explore the contribution of brain glutamate systems, a major target of ethanol in the brain, to the vulnerability to develop alcoholism. This study may lead to an enhanced understanding of the underlying neurobiological mechanism in high risk individuals that may lead to the transition from moderate to excessive use of alcohol.
This Project will explore the hypothesis that individuals with a family history positive for alcohol dependence (without any current Axis I disorder, except nicotine dependence), experience an alteration in the reward "valence" (balance of positive and negative effects) of the GABAA receptor agonist barbiturate (thiopental) compared to family history negative age-matched subjects. Further, variation in genes involved in brain GABA function may influence the risk for alcoholism by altering a component of the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol.
1. The major aims are to assess: (1) the relationship of basal and alcohol-induced neurosteroid and GABA levels to the degree of acute alcohol intoxication in healthy male and female volunteers; and (2) the effect of acute pregnenolone administration on the degree of acute alcohol intoxication in these same volunteers. Specific hypotheses are: - Baseline serum levels of pregnenolone, pregnenolone sulfate (PS), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S) will be inversely correlated with the magnitude of acute behavioral responses to alcohol (sedation, anxiolysis, amnesia, psychomotor impairment and intoxication). That is, higher baseline levels of these neurosteroids will be associated with lessened behavioral responses to alcohol. - Baseline serum levels of allopregnanolone, tetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone (THDOC), androstanediol, androsterone and GABA will be directly correlated with the magnitude of acute behavioral responses to alcohol. That is, higher baseline levels of these substances will be associated with heightened behavioral responses to alcohol. - Acute alcohol ingestion, compared to placebo ingestion, will increase serum levels of allopregnanolone and THDOC and plasma levels of GABA and will decrease plasma levels of PS. (Effects on levels of other neurosteroids are not specifically predicted based on animal data but will be examined in an exploratory manner.) - Acute alcohol-induced increases in serum levels of allopregnanolone and THDOC and in plasma levels of GABA will be directly correlated with the magnitude of acute behavioral responses to alcohol. Acute alcohol-induced decreases in serum levels of PS will be directly correlated with the magnitude of acute behavioral responses to alcohol. Correlations between alcohol-induced changes in other neurosteroids and changes in behavior are not specifically predicted but will be examined in an exploratory manner. - Pregnenolone, compared to placebo, pre-treatment will antagonize the acute effects of alcohol on the behavioral measures.
The goal of the Disseminating Organizational Screening and Brief Interventions Services (DO-SBIS) investigation is to capitalize on the unique opportunity afforded by the American College of Surgeons' mandate by taking early steps to insure high quality, evidence-based SBI services are implemented and outcomes are assessed. In the first phase of the investigation, SBI services will be assessed for all 190 level I trauma centers in the United States. In the second phase of the investigation, 20 level I trauma centers will be selected for randomization to intervention or control conditions.
This study will determine if acamprosate, a drug approved to treat alcoholism, decreases alcohol cravings in alcohol-dependent subjects following infusions of yohimbine and mCPP. Yohimbine causes anxiety and may provoke a desire for alcohol; mCPP induces a feeling of having had a few drinks, which often creates a desire for more drinks. If acamprosate can prevent a craving following these stimuli, then the effectiveness of new experimental drugs for treating alcoholism can be tested for their ability to block yohimbine or mCPP-induced cravings. This type of investigation would be less expensive and less time-consuming than conducting clinical trials with alcohol-dependent people. People between 21 and 65 years of age who are alcohol-dependent and have been drinking regularly for at least 1 month before entering the study may be eligible to participate. Participants are admitted to the NIH Clinical Center for about 35 days, during which time they are asked to participate in an alcohol treatment program. They may request passes to leave the hospital during the day but must return overnight. Upon return to the hospital, subjects are required to take a breathalyzer test for alcohol and urine screen for drug use. Participants found to have used drugs or consumed alcohol while away from the hospital are terminated from the study. Participants are randomly assigned to take acamprosate or placebo pills three times a day for about 2 weeks. They are then given three intravenous (through a vein) infusions, 5 to 7 days apart, each containing either yohimbine, mCPP or placebo. The drugs are infused for 20 minutes following a 1-hour infusion of saline (salt water). Subjects complete two questionnaires - an alcohol urge questionnaire to assess the desire for alcohol and a PASS rating scale to assess anxiety - several times during the study and during the infusions....
The purpose of this study is to determine whether motivational enhancement therapy (MET) reduces alcohol use in a population of HCV-infected veterans who are currently drinking alcohol and have alcohol disorders. We hypothesize that veterans with HCV, an alcohol use disorder and continued excessive alcohol use who receive MET will have a greater reduction in the number of standard alcohol drinks per week and a greater percentage of days abstinent than veterans who receive health education control intervention.
This is a pilot study designed to examine the potential efficacy and tolerability of zonisamide compared to placebo for the treatment of alcohol dependence.
The goal is to adapt the family-based CM treatment to target primary adolescent alcohol abuse and dependence. Specific Aim 1 is to provide a preliminary demonstration of the efficacy of a family-based CM intervention to treat adolescent alcohol abuse and dependence. CM components include: 1. an incentive program to enhance the adolescent's engagement in the treatment process and engender alcohol abstinence by providing positive reinforcement for documented abstinence via breathalyzers administered by parents regularly at home, self and parent report, and clinic-based urine drug testing; and 2. a parent management training program to enhance and maintain the positive effects of the incentive program by teaching parents how to effectively use contingency management in the home environment to motivate their adolescent to achieve abstinence and improve their behavior in other domains. A randomized trial will determine whether the CM intervention enhances outcomes when added to a standard individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Specific Aim 2 is to determine whether and how treatment interventions modify parental and adolescent risk and protective factors using observational and laboratory measures (parenting practices, family functioning, risk taking, delay discounting, and child and parent psychopathology) and to determine whether these factors are associated with outcomes over time. Specific Aim 3 is to test gene x environment (treatment) interactions in adolescent substance abuse. Findings will extend the scientific evidence for CM and support the ability of parents to implement CM at home. Findings that support the CM model's efficacy will make a significant contribution to research on the treatment of adolescent alcohol abuse, which has lagged behind research on adult substance abuse and on adolescent illicit drug use.
The proposed study is the first to explore the contribution of brain glutamate systems, a major target of ethanol in the brain, to the vulnerability to develop alcoholism. This study may lead to an enhanced understanding of the underlying neurobiological mechanism in high-risk individuals that may lead to the transition from moderate to excessive use of alcohol.
To test the preliminary efficacy of 16.0 mg of Prazosin daily versus placebo in treatment seeking alcohol dependent individuals. This proposal is a laboratory and treatment outcome study to examine the effects of Prazosin on brief exposure to stress, drug cues and neutral situations on alcohol and drug craving, mood and neurobiological reactivity in a sample of cocaine and/or alcohol dependent individuals. Prazosin will be beneficial for reduction in stress and alcohol cue induced craving and related arousal. In a sample of treatment-seeking alcohol dependent men and women, we propose to examine (a) differences in measures of alcohol craving, emotion state, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activation, physiological arousal and plasma catecholamine response to stress imagery and to alcohol cue imagery as compared to neutral imagery; (b) reduction in alcohol abstinence symptoms; and (c) improvement in alcohol treatment outcomes as measured by reductions in heavy drinking days, any drinking days, secondarily on drinks/day, anxiety, mood and sleep.