Active clinical trials for "Alcoholism"

Method: This study is designed as an accompaniment to an already funded study - a 12-week treatment trial with prazosin for patients with PTSD and AD. The study design will consist of III phases. In phase I, all subjects will participate in three laboratory sessions to determine their reactivity to stress. Stress reactivity will be measured using: traumatic experiences, stressful non-trauma experiences and neutral experiences, presented randomly. Laboratory sessions will be conducted in an outpatient setting. Phase II is a randomized clinical trial evaluating prazosin versus placebo for 12 weeks in a double-blind, controlled fashion in an outpatient setting. The treatment will last for 12 weeks and outcomes will include symptoms of PTSD and alcohol use. In phase III, subjects will again participate in a laboratory session. This phase of the study will be conducted after at least 6 weeks of treatment while patients are on medication (prazosin or placebo). Hypotheses: Primary: The investigators hypothesize that prazosin will be more effective than placebo in reducing trauma-related stress reactivity in a laboratory paradigm, particularly anxiety, craving for alcohol, and hormonal response, in individuals with PTSD and AD. Secondary: The investigators hypothesize that stress reactivity will have a moderating effect on treatment with prazosin, such that individuals with high levels of stress reactivity will have fewer heavy drinking days, a significant reduction in PTSD symptoms, and shorter time to relapse than individuals with low levels of stress reactivity.

Previous studies have shown that alcohol significantly impairs driving performance. Acute alcohol administration also has a detrimental effect on secondary task performance during dual-tasks. The present study will investigate the effects of five different dosages of ethanol (0,0.2, 0,5, 0,8 and 1,0 % BAC) on performance in a driving simulator. Steering performance and brain activity will be recorded in both single- and dual-task conditions.

This is a pilot study in which our intent is to establish an alcohol administration laboratory in which we will be able to test the effect of the anticonvulsant medication zonisamide as compared to placebo on alcohol self administration and on cognitive functioning in non treatment seeking heavy users of alcohol. Our first goal is to establish the safety of zonisamide when used together with alcohol. Our second goal is to test the effect of an acute dose of zonisamide on alcohol consumption and show that it may reduce the consumption of alcohol. To achieve this goal we seek subjects with a history of heavy drinking to be tested on the self-administration procedures described below in two sessions with either zonisamide or placebo. These procedures will involve first, the administration of a challenge dose of ethanol to evaluate the effect of alcohol on performance on neuropsychological tests. This initial challenge will be followed by a period of alcohol self-administration in which the research subject can choose to select either ethanol or another reinforcer, money.

The goal of the study is to test the efficacy of brief clinician advice in reducing the frequency of high-risk drinking and alcohol-related harm in a population of college students seeking care at five university health care clinics. High-risk drinking is defined as 1) 8 or more episodes of heavy drinking (5 or more drinks in a row) in the past 28 days for male and female students, and/or 2) 50 drinks for male and 40 drinks for female students in the past 28 days, and/or 3) 15 drinks for male and 12 drinks for female students in the past 7 days, and/or 4) One or more episode(s) of heavy drinking which includes 15 or more drinks in a row.

The study proposes to test the efficacy of a primary care-based brief intervention with women who resumed heavy drinking during the post-partum period and who used alcohol during a previous pregnancy. The trial will also examine the effects of tobacco use, illicit drug use, depression and domestic violence on alcohol use.

The goal of this study is to determine whether intravenous infusion of allopregnanolone (ALLO) attenuates stress-induced craving and stress-induced anxiety in a clinical laboratory setting. The secondary objective of this project is to characterize the behavioral effects of ALLO in heavy drinkers.

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is prevalent, devastating, and difficult to treat. The intransigence of AUD is readily apparent in the Trauma Unit of Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital, wherein 23% of trauma related admissions are associated with alcohol - higher than the national average of 16%. Of these trauma related admissions, over 70% are estimated to have AUD and 41% will be likely be admitted to the trauma unit again within 5 years. While Dr. Veach (Co-Investigator) and her team in the Department of Surgery have demonstrated that a brief counseling intervention on the inpatient trauma unit can decrease morbidity and recidivism, the rates of AUD and relapse to drinking among these individuals remains very high. With a growing knowledge of the neural circuits that contribute to relapse in AUD, there is an emerging interest in developing a novel, neural-circuit specific therapeutic tool to enhance AUD treatment outcomes. This will be achieved through a double-blind, sham-controlled cohort study in heavy alcohol drinkers with a history of alcohol-related injury. The brain reactivity to alcohol cues (Incentive Salience) and cognitive performance in the presence of an alcoholic beverage cue (Cognitive Control) will be measured immediately before and after participants receive real or sham intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS- a potentiating form of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)) to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC iTBS). The goals of this pilot study are to quantify the acute effect of a single session of real or sham dlPFC iTBS on brain response to alcohol cues (Aim 1) and cognitive flexibility in the presence of an alcohol cue (Aim 2) among risky drinkers (target engagement ).

This study proposes to examine both the peripheral and central nervous system responses when light social drinkers and binge/heavy social drinkers are exposed to visual ethanol cues, followed by oral ethanol. The findings will provide a greater understanding of the brain mechanisms (cerebral blood flow and functional connectivity) underlying the association between stress, cortisol release, alcohol craving, and alcohol stimulant and sedative effects. This knowledge could be significant in developing new therapies for the treatment of alcoholism.

This study will establish the acceptability and feasibility of enrolling and retaining heavy drinking Veterans with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in an 8-week, randomized cross-over design trial of active VR working memory retraining (WMR). This study will also seek to establish the efficacy of active VR-WMR to increase performance in executive function.

The high need population are patients who have three or more chronic diseases and have a functional limitation in their ability to take care for themselves. Investigators aim to understand the effects of a support group intervention, with the use of group medical visits and understand longitudinal effects in emotional wellbeing and loneliness.