Attentional bias to alcohol stimuli predicts elevated cue-induced craving in young adult social drinkers.

Considerable evidence has identified biased cognitive processing of alcohol-related stimuli as an important factor in the maintenance of alcohol-seeking and relapse among individuals suffering from alcohol use-disorders (AUDs). In addition, a large body of research has demonstrated that exposure to alcohol cues can elicit powerful alcohol cravings. Little is known, however, about the possible relationship between attentional bias and cue-induced cravings, and even less is known about these processes in social drinkers without a personal history of AUDs.

Favorable associations with alcohol and impaired self-regulation: A behavioral economic analysis.

Background: Recent research has demonstrated that both poor self-regulation and favorable implicit associations toward alcohol can play important roles in predicting drinking. Less well studied, however, is how the interplay between implicit associations and self-regulation may impact decisions about alcohol consumption. Behavioral economics is one important tool that may provide insight into the cognitive processes that impact demand for alcohol and drinking decisions.

Gender and Impulsivity: Effects on Cue-Induced Alcohol Craving.

Background: Numerous studies have demonstrated that trait impulsivity is linked to increased risk of developing alcohol-use disorders and other substance abuse. Impulsivity has also been shown in some studies to potentiate cue-induced drug cravings. Despite considerable evidence of gender differences in impulsivity and drug craving among individuals suffering from alcohol dependence and other drug use, little research has focused on these processes in healthy young men and women who may be at risk for developing alcohol-use disorders.

Isolation rearing significantly perturbs brain metabolism in the thalamus and hippocampus.

Psychosocial neglect during childhood severely impairs both behavioral and physical health. The isolation rearing model in rodents has been employed by our group and others to study this clinical problem at a basic level. We previously showed that immediate early gene (IEG) expression in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is decreased in isolation-reared (IR) compared to group-reared (GR) rats.

Dissimilar hepatic protein expression profiles during the acute and flow phases following experimental thermal injury.

The liver plays a major role in the early hypometabolic and later hypermetabolic phases after severe burn injury. Proteomic analysis was used to identify altered proteins in liver during these two phases. Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a full-thickness dorsal burn injury covering 40% of the total body surface area.