Active clinical trials for "Alcoholism"

This study will assess whether the presence of a particular form of a gene, GABRA2, affects the functional responses of the human brain to alcohol administration and will evaluate that relationship in the context of factors known to increase the risk for future alcoholism.

The purpose of this study is to look at the stress hormone response to medication-induced stress and a placebo (an inactive compound) in non-drinking, recovering male and female alcoholics, with a specific emphasis on the differences between men and women in the two recovering alcoholic groups.

The purpose of the study is to reveal the most promising procedure for implementing alcohol screening and intervention in general hospitals and to find out, if and to which extent non-specialist health professionals can be qualified to carry out motivational intervention on their own or if there is a need for a specialized counseling services. In a randomized controlled trial, patients recruited in general hospitals and fulfilling criteria for alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, at-risk drinking or heavy episodic drinking will be allocated to three conditions: (1) Intervention by a liaison service (LC): Counselling based on the Transtheoretical Model of behaviour change (TTM) which will be provided by staff of the study (psychologists/ social worker) trained in Motivational Interviewing (MI), (2) Intervention by hospital physicians (PC): Counselling will be provided by hospital physicians trained in MI, and (3) Control group (CC): Treatment as usual, assessment only. Outcome assessment will be conducted after 12 months and includes abstinent point prevalence rates, drinks per day, help-seeking, stage progress and cost-effectiveness analysis.

A 30 alcohol dependent patients were divided into A: Treatment group and B: Placebo group using simple randomization technique. (Liver function tests) GGT, ALT and AST levels and MCV (Mean corpuscular volume) at admission and 2 weeks later were estimated. Daily withdrawal symptoms were assessed using the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment scale (CIWA-Ar) and DTs by Delirium Observation Screening (DOS) Scale (version 0 - 1). The data collected from the two groups were compared.

This study is aimed at examining whether GET73 modulates the indices of central glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in recently abstinent subjects that meet Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) criteria, as measured by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS), in order to provide a human translation of the findings demonstrated in different preclinical models, both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, the study will examine the effects of GET73 on alcohol cue induced brain activation by using a well-established blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) paradigm in the same individuals. In summary, the study should provide important information on (i) the potential mechanism of action of GET73, (ii) on the brain mechanisms that would support its potential use for reduction in craving and drinking in AUD patients, and (iii) expand data on its safe use as a medication in heavy drinking individuals.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of treatment with carisbamate compared to treatment with placebo, on alcohol-induced stimulant and subjective effects in non-treatment seeking alcohol-dependent human volunteers.

Only a few medications are approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence and there exists a substantial need for discovering ways to provide more effective treatments. Accordingly, identifying new potential neuropharmacological targets in the treatment of alcohol dependence represents a high priority in public health. Ghrelin is a 28-amino acid peptide acting as the endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R). Ghrelin was first isolated from the stomach, but a central hypothalamic production of ghrelin has also been demonstrated. Ghrelin plays a key role in the regulation of appetite. Consistent with the common neurobiological substrates for control of food and alcohol consumption, preclinical investigations suggest that ghrelin plays a role in the neurobiology of alcohol dependence, thus representing a new potential neuropharmacology target. In keeping with the preclinical studies, human investigations showed that alcohol consumption affects blood ghrelin levels and that blood ghrelin levels significantly and positively correlate with craving measurements in alcohol-dependent individuals. The effects of exogenous ghrelin injected intravenous (i.v.) in alcohol-dependent individuals, however, have never been investigated. The current project proposes a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled 3-group between-subject laboratory study aimed at investigating the effects of exogenous ghrelin i.v. on non-treatment seeking alcohol-dependent subjects in terms of urges to drink, attention to cues and related psychophysiological measures. This project has the goals to: i) conduct an alcohol laboratory study testing the role of ghrelin i.v., therefore demonstrating the feasibility of such a study and the safety of ghrelin i.v. when administered to alcohol-dependent individuals; and ii) explore the effects of ghrelin i.v. on alcohol craving assessed under controlled conditions, such as a cue-reactivity (CR) experiment. This study will address whether alcohol craving is affected when ghrelin levels are modified acutely via a ghrelin i.v. injection. Given the crucial need to expand our understanding of the underlying neurobiology of alcoholism, this study potentially will lead to identify new targets for the development of pharmacological treatments that may improve interventions for alcohol dependent individuals.

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 monitor the inhibition of 5a-reductase (5AR) enzyme activity at 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 42 days following administration of a single dose of dutasteride (2, 3, or 4 mg) by measuring the change in blood levels of 3a-androstanediol glucuronide (3a-diolG) and the ratio of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to testosterone. To accomplish this aim, an open-label, between-subjects dose comparison study design will be employed with subjects receiving a 2, 3, or 4 mg dosage. Subjects (up to n=40 enrolled to allow a minimum of 24 completers) will be randomly assigned to one of the 3 dose levels. Results of this study will inform the dose selection for a subsequent placebo-controlled, within-subject, crossover study of dutasteride on the effects of alcohol. A secondary aim of this study is to examine the correlation of a genetic variation in the type I 5AR gene and baseline DHT/T ratio and effect of dutasteride at day 3. A variation in this gene which is one of the targets of dutasteride has been reported to be associated with higher baseline levels of DHT.

Using theTEMA (test system for development of medications for alcoholism) it can be shown, that naltrexone administration reduces the willingness to perform work for alcohol infusion in a laboratory experiment.