Pharmaceutically-Enhanced Reinforcement for Reduced Alcohol and Smoking
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)Nicotine Use DisorderUsing a randomized controlled trial (RCT), the goal of this study is to evaluate the ability of evidence based behavioral treatment (contingency management: CM) to significantly decrease alcohol use and cigarette smoking among treatment-seeking smokers with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) who have initiated pharmacotherapy (varenicline; VC) for smoking cessation.
Adjunctive Transcranial Stimulation to Reduce Impulsivity in Opiate Use Disorder
Opioid-use DisorderTobacco Use DisorderThe goal of this study is to examine the effect of four sessions of theta burst stimulation (TBS) versus sham TMS on attentional bias for smoking and opioid cues versus neutral stimuli in a population of patients with tobacco use disorder (TUD) with comorbid opioid use disorder (OUD) that is stable and on treatment with buprenorphine. The investigators will also examine the effect of TBS on craving for cigarettes as well as opioids. Participants will perform a stress induction procedure that mirrors an optimum combination of cues that trigger tonic craving in their environment while exposed to stress. All four sessions of TBS/sham TMS will be performed on the same day, with each session lasting for approximately 10 minutes and separated by 50 minute intervals.
A Trial of Directly Observed and Long-term Varenicline
Tobacco Use DisorderOpioid-use DisorderThis 2 x 2 factorial, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will test two interventions: directly observed medication therapy, and long-term therapy with varenicline among 450 smokers with opioid use disorder recruited from community-based, outpatient opioid treatment programs. The analytic strategy will evaluate the milestones in smoking cessation-achieving initial abstinence, preventing lapse and preventing relapse--necessary for long-term cessation, and evaluate theoretically-guided psychological and social factors and pharmacogenetic factors that influence these cessation processes.
Isradipine Enhancement of Virtual Reality Cue Exposure for Smoking Cessation
Nicotine DependenceSmoking5 moreThe proposed study represents a crucial and important stage in translating basic research to strategies for treating nicotine dependence. The investigation addresses an important public health issue by testing an intervention - informed by basic research - that may lead to a more effective and efficient treatment for smokers. The expected findings should provide initial effect size data for the addition of isradipine to an integrated psychosocial/behavioral and pharmacological smoking cessation intervention for smokers, and thus provide the necessary data for a large-scale follow-up trial.
Optimizing Tobacco Use Treatment for PLWHA
HIV/AIDSNicotine DependenceThe advent of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) substantially improved life expectancy but has also led to the critical need to address modifiable risk factors associated with cancer and cardiovascular disease, such as tobacco smoking. HIV-infected smokers lose more life-years due to tobacco use than they do to their HIV infection. There have been relatively few studies of tobacco use treatments for PLWHA and systematic reviews show that there are insufficient data to conclude that tobacco dependence interventions that are efficacious in the general population are efficacious for PLWHA. Further, many studies in this area have lacked randomization and a control group, infrequently used an intent-to-treat (ITT) approach and biological verification of tobacco abstinence, and lacked post-treatment follow-up.10 What investigators do know thus far is that behavioral interventions and the nicotine patch yield moderate effects on cessation; and 2 recent placebo-controlled trials - one in France and one by this lab - found that varenicline is safe and effective for treating tobacco use among PLWHA, but yield quit rates that are substantially lower than those reported in the general population. Thus, there is a critical need to rigorously test novel ways to optimize tobacco cessation treatment for smokers with HIV.
Effectiveness of a Smoking Cessation Intervention in a Mental Health Day Hospital
Tobacco Use DisorderSmoking Cessation1 moreBackground: Nicotine contained in tobacco is highly addictive and tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Every year, more than 8 million people die from tobacco use. Smoking-related mortality is significantly higher in people with serious mental illness. Is estimated that half of all deaths among individuals with mental illnesses are attributable to tobacco use. People with serious mental illness have greater daily tobacco consumption, nicotine dependence, and smoking relapse. While significant progress has been made in reducing tobacco use within the general population, rates of tobacco use remain high among individuals with mental illness. Smoking cessation often requires numerous attempts by these people. Thus, smokers with mental health illnesses may find it more difficult to quit, although highly motivated to quit. Smoking cessation during hospitalization (total or partial) is cost-effective, as it reduces hospital readmissions, and mortality, and improves smokers' quality of life. Available quitting aids are both safe and effective in supporting cessation in tobacco users with mental illness and stopping smoking is associated with an improvement in mental health. The investigators aimed to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of adding an intensive smoking intervention to the usual treatment for patients with psychiatric disorders attending a day hospital of a tertiary hospital.
N-Acetylcysteine for Smoking Cessation in Tobacco and Cannabis Co-Use
Cannabis UseTobacco Use Disorder1 moreTobacco and cannabis co-use is a common and growing public health problem, especially in states that have legalized cannabis. There are no pharmacologic treatments for co-occurring tobacco and cannabis use. Co-use may make quitting either substance more difficult, given the synergistic effects of cannabis and nicotine on neurobiological systems that mediate reward and shared cues reinforcing co-use. N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an FDA-approved medication and over-the-counter supplement, has shown promise in animal studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in reducing tobacco and cannabis craving and use.
Identify the Optimal TMS Target to Modulate Reward Activity
Nicotine Use DisorderOur primary goal will be to identify the optimal prefrontal-cingulate target by systematically measuring the efficacy of various image-based targeting techniques to increase the reward positivity using the 10-Hz TMS protocol in dependent smokers. Our secondary objective will be to measure the targets' effectiveness to increase decision-making capacity using the probabilistic selection task (PST). Our third objective will be to specifically assess whether the TMS targets has a differential impact on state levels of craving relative to baseline (Tobacco Craving Questionnaire [TCQ]. We plan to accomplish these three objectives using a randomized, controlled experiment involving 3 sessions.
A Mechanistic Test of Treatment Strategies to Foster Practice Quitting
Tobacco UseSmoking Cessation3 moreTobacco use disorder is a chronic, relapsing health condition that necessitates a chronic care approach. However, traditional smoking cessation treatment programs allocate nearly all their resources only to those smokers who are willing to set a quit date. This is problematic because few smokers are ready to set a quit date at any given time, and a smoker's stated intention to quit can change rapidly. One novel potential treatment strategy is to foster practice quitting (PQ), defined as attempting to not smoke for a few hours or days, without pressure or expectation to permanently quit. Although a growing body of evidence supports the role of practice quitting in fostering permanent quit attempts and cessation, there is a significant knowledge gap regarding which treatment strategies should be used to engage smokers in practice quitting. The proposed study will test the role of PQ counseling vs. Motivational Interviewing (MI) counseling, and NRT sampling (four-week supply of nicotine lozenges and patches) vs. none.
Effects of Mindfulness Meditation in Virtual Reality on Craving and Smoking Cessation
Tobacco Use DisorderInvestigators seek to propose a non-drug therapeutic alternative, namely a mindfulness meditation protocol based on virtual reality training in order to induce progressive modifications of various indicators of craving. The study hypothesis is that the practice of mindfulness meditation in a virtual reality environment reduces the craving induced by cues and stress and therefore ultimately smoking relapse. The main objective of the protocol will be to demonstrate that mindfulness meditation can reduce long-term relapse (continuous cessation (> 30 days) of smoking cessation). The participants will be randomized into two groups: the experimental group will perform six virtual reality sessions in a multisensory cabin at the rate of one session per week; the control group will be prescribed the gold standard treatment (nicotine patches and chewing gum). Participants will be seen again at three and six months to assess whether or not there has been a smoking relapse.