Active clinical trials for "Substance-Related Disorders"

Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States and is responsible for significant public health complications, including HIV infection. As a result effective treatments for MA dependence are urgently needed. There are currently no efficacious medications for MA dependence, although results from preliminary randomized trials of bupropion for MA dependence found bupropion to be more effective than placebo, but only among subgroups of participants, including those with lower frequency of MA use at baseline. A growing body of preclinical and clinical studies suggest that cholinergic mechanisms play an important role in the neurobiology of MA and other stimulant dependence, such as nicotine dependence. Mechanistically, cholinergic medications may alleviate MA-associated cognitive dysfunction, thereby improving outcomes of treatment for MA dependence. Varenicline is a partial agonist at α4β2 nicotinic receptors and a full agonist at α7 nicotinic receptors that has been approved as an anti-cigarette smoking medication. In order to assess the potential efficacy of varenicline for methamphetamine dependence, we will perform a clinical trial to assess if varenicline compared to placebo results in greater: reductions in methamphetamine use; treatment retention;

Addiction to illicit and prescribed drugs, alcohol and tobacco is associated with a panoply of brain changes that contribute to structural and micro-structural deficits, altered metabolism and neurotransmission, and related cognitive deficits affecting executive function, decision-making, reward salience and motivation. Many of these deficits may act as barriers to recovery, compromising the same spectrum of cognitive processes that established interventions (motivational enhancement, cognitive behavioral therapy, therapeutic communities, etc.) depend on for successful outcomes. Even where there are medications that target a specific addiction (e.g., methadone for opiates), meaningful, sustained recovery relies on the acquisition of adaptive skills and strategies. As such, there is a need to develop interventions for substance use disorders that have the potential to improve health and cognitive and psychosocial functioning, and to be embraced by the treatment community. A growing body of basic and clinical research suggests that physical exercise may reduce drug use and improve cognitive-executive function, mood, and motivation. There is also a growing literature on the effectiveness of positive affirmation as a cognitive-behavioral intervention for depression and PTSD both of which frequently co-occur with addiction. Building on this, we hypothesize that a combined exercise and affirmation intervention (IntenSati) will lead to improved cognitive and psychosocial function. To test this, we propose to conduct a two-arm randomized clinical trial - in adult volunteers with a history of longstanding substance use and who are in treatment in a residential therapeutic community setting (Odyssey House) - to examine cognitive and psychosocial function before, during, and after randomization to either a twelve-week IntenSati intervention condition or to a twelve-week no-exercise/no-affirmations control condition. This is a pilot study intended to collect data on feasibility and effect size. The population and sample size were selected on the basis of likelihood to benefit from the intervention, likelihood for good adherence, and the realities of completing a low-cost pilot study within a one-year timeframe. Overall there were no substantial differences between IntenSati and TAU on measures of cognition, mood, and psychosocial functioning. Limitations include the small sample size, limited exercise intensity and capacity, missed exercise classes, dropout because of placement, work schedules and non-study-related medical conditions.

This study will evaluate the efficacy of an exercise-based contingency management (CM) intervention. A total of 120 substance abusing patients in intensive outpatient treatment will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (a) standard care plus CM for completing goal-related activities not related to exercising (e.g., improving work, family, or transportation issues), or (b) standard care plus CM for completing exercise-related activities. Compared to those receiving goal-related CM activity contracting, it is expected that those in the exercise CM condition will participate in more physical activities and develop greater strength and flexibility, decrease drug use, reduce HIV risk behaviors, lessen depressive symptoms, and improve health indices.

This research is being done to learn if computer tasks that challenge the brain (cognitively stimulating tasks) can improve memory and other types of thinking. The study will compare the effects of different versions of the computer tasks. It also will compare the task performance of different groups of people.

Specific Aim: To conduct a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of extended release-naltrexone (XR-NTX) among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infected prisoners meeting Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) criteria for opioid dependence who are transitioning from the structure of a correctional setting to the community. Hypotheses: i. XR-NTX will result in improved HIV clinical outcomes, including lower changes in HIV-1 RNA levels, higher CD4 counts and higher rates of retention in care. ii. XR-NTX will result in improved opioid treatment outcomes, including longer time to opioid relapse, lower addiction severity and lower craving for opioid. iii. XR-NTX will result in reduced drug- and sex-related HIV risk behaviors compared to the control group. iv. XR-NTX will result in decreased rates of reincarceration after 12 months of release to the community.

The purpose of this pilot study is to estimate the effect size of a contingency management procedure that reinforces walking at rates consistent with the American College of Sports Medicine recommendations of 10,000 or more steps per day in older adults. We expect that participants randomized to the contingency management intervention will increase walking to a greater degree than those assigned to a standard care condition.

Poor adherence to antihypertensive medications is associated with morbidity, and data suggest that substance abuse may contribute to poor adherence. Contingency management (CM), an intervention highly efficacious for improving outcomes of substance abusers, shows promise in improving medication adherence in a handful of small trials. CM involves providing tangible reinforcement each time the behavior (medication ingestion) is exhibited. Thus far, studies evaluating CM for increasing medication adherence have utilized MEMS caps, but reinforcement of adherence via MEMS caps is done relatively infrequently and with delay, hindering its efficacy. A widely utilized technology that may be more appropriate for reinforcing medication adherence is cell phones, which can record the process of pill ingestion through video functions. As regular monitoring and feedback is important in the efficacy of CM, patients can be provided with daily messages regarding adherence and CM earnings. In this pilot study, we propose to randomize 40 hypertensive substance abusing patients with suboptimal adherence to antihypertensive medications to one of two 12-week treatment conditions: (1) usual care, or (2) usual care with cell phone monitoring and CM. In the CM condition, patients will carry a cell phone and record and send in time- and date-stamped self videos of medication ingestion. These patients will receive congratulatory messages or reminders about adherence, and they will earn vouchers each time medication ingestion occurs at the appropriate time, along with bonuses for sustained adherence. We hypothesize that the CM condition will improve self report and pill count measurements of medication adherence and that it will result in decreased blood pressure. Results from this study may have widespread implications for the use of cell phones as a novel technology to improve medication adherence.

The purpose of this study is to determine if cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in treating ADHD symptoms in patients with substance use disorders and comorbid ADHD.

In this behavioral trial 80 substance abusing individuals will be randomly assigned to either treatment as usual in the substance abuse clinic of the Newington, CT VA hospital OR treatment as usual plus 8 hours of access to the 'CBT for CBT' computer program over a period of 8 weeks. Primary outcomes will be retention in treatment and reduction in substance use (percent days abstinent, confirmed by urine toxicology screens). The patients' ability to demonstrate coping skills through a computerized role-play evaluation will be a secondary outcome. A six-month follow-up will assess durability and/or delayed emergence of effects.

Although screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) approaches are effective in reducing alcohol misuse and its associated risk-taking behaviors and negative consequences, there is little research demonstrating the effectiveness of SBIRT for illicit and/or prescription drug misuse. Misusers of illicit and/or prescription drugs frequently seek medical care in emergency departments (EDs), particularly for reasons related to their misuse. As a result, the ED is well suited as a site to conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of SBIRT for this population. The Brief Intervention for Drug Misuse for the Emergency Department (BIDMED) study is a randomized, controlled, trial that will include adult ED patients at a large, academic, trauma center (Rhode Island Hospital) and a community hospital (The Miriam Hospital) who have a subcritical illness or injury and whose screening indicates illicit and/or prescription drug misuse. BIDMED participants will be randomized to receive screening only (SO) or brief intervention (BI) with appropriate referral to treatment. Participants will complete a battery of blinded baseline assessments using standardized instruments as well as adapted instruments specific to the aims of this study. All participants will undergo blinded follow-up assessments at three, six, and twelve months post-randomization. The primary hypotheses addressed in the BIDMED study are that, compared to participants in the SO arm, participants in the BI arm will show a significantly greater reduction in: (1) drug misuse within the prior 30 days at three months post-randomization, (2) behaviors associated with drug misuse at six months post-randomization; and (3) negative physical health, psychosocial health, and socioeconomic consequences at twelve months post-randomization. As a secondary aim, the impact of BI compared to SO will be assessed on participants contacting, enrolling in, and completing a drug treatment program. In addition, the impact of BI compared to SO on increasing uptake of HIV and hepatitis B/C screening will be measured. A mechanisms of change model that addresses the expected mediators and moderators of change to explain the effects of SBIRT in this setting will also be developed and tested. Further, the epidemiology of illicit and/or prescription drug misuse will be assessed in a random sample of ED patients.