Child and adolescent predictors of smoking involvement in emerging adulthood.

Objective: This study examined the differential relationship of externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, social context, and their interactions to three developmental indicators of smoking involvement: onset (age), amount of smoking, and dependence symptomatology.

Method: Participants (n = 504, 73% male) from a high-risk community-based longitudinal study were followed from age 12-14 to young adulthood (18-20). Smoking involvement was conceptualized as a process involving differences in (a) age of onset of smoking, (b) amount of smoking at age 18-20, and (c) level of nicotine dependence symptomatology at age 18-20.

Relationship between emotional processing, drinking severity and relapse in adults treated for alcohol dependence in Poland.

Aims: Growing data reveals deficits in perception, understanding and regulation of emotions in alcohol dependence (AD). The study objective was to explore the relationships between emotional processing, drinking history and relapse in a clinical sample of alcohol-dependent patients.

Methods: A group of 80 inpatients entering an alcohol treatment program in Warsaw, Poland was recruited and assessed at baseline and follow-up after 12 months.

Theory of mind among young adult children from alcoholic families.

Objective: Given the evidence that several cognitive and emotional functions are impaired in adult alcohol-dependent patients and the possibility that some of these deficits are transmitted to their children, the objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis that the perception of complex mental states would be reduced in young adults from families with a positive family history of alcohol dependence. It was also anticipated that social-perceptual deficits would confer unique predictive ability beyond that shared with other cognitive risk factors for alcohol dependence and/or substance use risk.

Method: Data from 301 youth ages 18-21 years, recruited from an ongoing community longitudinal study of alcoholic and matched control families, were analyzed.

Effects of sleep restriction and exercise deprivation on somatic symptoms and mood in healthy adults.

Objectives: Exposure to acute 'stressors' (e.g. infections, pain, trauma) often results in altered sleep habits and reductions in routine activity.

Executive function in chronic pain patients and healthy controls: different cortical activation during response inhibition in fibromyalgia.

Unlabelled: The primary symptom of fibromyalgia (FM) is chronic, widespread pain; however, patients report additional symptoms including decreased concentration and memory. Performance-based deficits are seen mainly in tests of working memory and executive function. Neural correlates of executive function were investigated in 18 FM patients and 14 age-matched healthy controls during a simple Go/No-Go task (response inhibition) while they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Content and criterion validity of the preliminary core dataset for clinical trials in fibromyalgia syndrome.

Objective: Increasing research interest and emerging new therapies for treatment of fibromyalgia (FM) have led to a need to develop a consensus on a core set of outcome measures that should be assessed and reported in all clinical trials, to facilitate interpretation of the data and understanding of the disease. This aligns with the key objective of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) initiative to improve outcome measurement through a data driven, interactive consensus process.

Methods: Through patient focus groups and Delphi processes, working groups at previous OMERACT meetings identified potential domains to be included in the core data set.

Fibromyalgia syndrome module at OMERACT 9: domain construct.

The objective of the module was to (1) establish a core domain set for fibromyalgia (FM) assessment in clinical trials and practice, (2) review outcome measure performance characteristics, (3) discuss development of a responder index for assessment of FM in clinical trials, (4) review objective markers, (5) review the domain of cognitive dysfunction, and (6) establish a research agenda for outcomes research. Presentations at the module included: (1) Results of univariate and multivariate analysis of 10 FM clinical trials of 4 drugs, mapping key domains identified in previous patient focus group: Delphi exercises and a clinician/researcher Delphi exercise, and breakout discussions to vote on possible essential domains and reliable measures; (2) Updates regarding outcome measure status; (3) Update on objective markers to measure FM disease state; and (4) Review of the issue of cognitive dysfunction (dyscognition) in FM. Consensus was reached as follows: (1) Greater than 70% of OMERACT participants agreed that pain, tenderness, fatigue, patient global, multidimensional function and sleep disturbance domains should be measured in all FM clinical trials; dyscognition and depression should be measured in some trials; and stiffness, anxiety, functional imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers were identified as domains of research interest.

Review of cognitive dysfunction in fibromyalgia: a convergence on working memory and attentional control impairments.

Clinical and laboratory evidence confirm that dyscognition is a real and troubling symptom in fibromyalgia (FM), and that the cognitive mechanisms most affected in FM are working memory, episodic memory, and semantic memory. Recent evidence provides further convergence on specific difficulty with attentional control. Dyscognition in FM cannot be attributed solely to concomitant psychiatric conditions such as depression and poor sleep, but does seem to be related to the level of pain.

Multidisciplinary care and stepwise treatment for fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a common musculoskeletal pain condition associated with chronic widespread pain, tenderness at various points on the body, fatigue, sleep abnormalities, and common comorbidity with psychiatric and medical disorders. Research into pharmacologic remedies for fibromyalgia has demonstrated efficacy for a variety of agents, but pharmacology is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to successful management of fibromyalgia. Sensitive and appropriate methods of diagnosis and an integrated treatment plan including proper patient education, aerobic exercise, and cognitive-behavioral therapy have been shown effective in alleviating fibromyalgic symptoms.

Evaluating and diagnosing fibromyalgia and comorbid psychiatric disorders.

Fibromyalgia is a common and disabling chronic pain syndrome that is often accompanied by other chronic pain and/or psychiatric comorbidities, which impact fibromyalgia course and outcome. Although a primary care provider will likely take the lead in caring for patients with fibromyalgia, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals may play a role in the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of fibromyalgia. Psychiatrists' familiarity with many of the pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments that are currently being used for fibromyalgia make them valuable partners in the multidisciplinary team of clinicians addressing fibromyalgia and its comorbidities.

Effects of alcoholism severity and smoking on executive neurocognitive function.

Aims: Neurocognitive deficits in chronic alcoholic men are well documented. Impairments include memory, visual-spatial processing, problem solving and executive function. The cause of impairment could include direct effects of alcohol toxicity, pre-existing cognitive deficits that predispose towards substance abuse, comorbid psychiatric disorders and abuse of substances other than alcohol.

Trajectories of childhood aggression and inattention/hyperactivity: differential effects on substance abuse in adolescence.

Objective: Aggression and hyperactivity/inattention each are linked to risk of alcohol use disorder (AUD), but their unique contributions remain ambiguous. The present study disaggregated these two domains developmentally and examined the relation between childhood behavior trajectories and adolescent substance use.

Method: A total of 335 children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic fathers were studied prospectively.

Fibromyalgia and cognition.

Patients with fibromyalgia frequently complain of cognitive problems or "fibrofog." The existence of these symptoms has been confirmed by studies of the incidence of cognitive problems in fibromyalgia patients and by the results of objective tests of metamemory, working memory, semantic memory, everyday attention, task switching, and selective attention. The results of these tests show that fibromyalgia patients have impairments in working, episodic, and semantic memory that mimic about 20 years of aging.

A psychophysical study of auditory and pressure sensitivity in patients with fibromyalgia and healthy controls.

Unlabelled: Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by widespread tenderness. Studies have also reported that persons with FM are sensitive to other stimuli, such as auditory tones. We hypothesized that subjects with FM would display greater sensitivity to both pressure and auditory tones and report greater sensitivity to sounds encountered in daily activities.

Visual function and cognitive aging: differential role of contrast sensitivity in verbal versus spatial tasks.

Cognitive and sensory function are correlated in older adults. Sensory function may provide an index of neurological integrity (common-cause hypothesis). Declining sensory input may also directly impair cognition (direct-cause hypothesis).

Childhood and adolescent resiliency, regulation, and executive functioning in relation to adolescent problems and competence in a high-risk sample.

This study first examined the respective relations of resiliency and reactive control with executive functioning. It then examined the relationship of these different domains to the development of academic and social outcomes, and to the emergence of internalizing and externalizing problem behavior in adolescence. Resiliency and reactive control were assessed from preschool to adolescence in a high-risk sample of boys and girls (n = 498) and then linked to component operations of neuropsychological executive functioning (i.

Cognitive dysfunction in fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: new trends and future directions.

Fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients often have memory and cognitive complaints. Objective cognitive testing demonstrates long-term and working memory impairments. In addition, CFS patients have slow information-processing, and FM patients have impaired control of attention, perhaps due to chronic pain.

Behavioral control and resiliency in the onset of alcohol and illicit drug use: a prospective study from preschool to adolescence.

The developmental trajectories of behavioral control and resiliency from early childhood to adolescence and their effects on early onset of substance use were examined. Behavioral control is the tendency to express or contain one's impulses and behaviors. Resiliency is the ability to adapt flexibly one's characteristic level of control in response to the environment.

Poor response inhibition as a predictor of problem drinking and illicit drug use in adolescents at risk for alcoholism and other substance use disorders.

Objective: To evaluate the predictive power of executive functions, in particular, response inhibition, in relation to alcohol-related problems and illicit drug use in adolescence.

Method: A total of 498 children from 275 families from a longitudinal high-risk study completed executive function measures in early and late adolescence and lifetime drinking and drug-related ratings at multiple time points including late adolescence (ages 15-17). Multi-informant measures of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder were obtained in early childhood (ages 3-5), middle childhood, and adolescence.

Smoking comorbidity in alcoholism: neurobiological and neurocognitive consequences.

Considerable research attests to the adverse effects of chronic smoking on cardiac, pulmonary, and vascular function as well as on increased risk for various cancers. However, comparatively little is known about the effects of chronic smoking on brain function. Although smoking rates have decreased in the developed world (they have increased in the developing world), smoking rates have been at a persistently high level in individuals with alcohol use disorders.

Possible association between response inhibition and a variant in the brain-expressed tryptophan hydroxylase-2 gene.

Unlabelled: The ability to inhibit a response is an important component of normal behavioral control and is an aspect of psychopathology when diminished. Converging evidence implicates the serotonergic neurotransmitter system in response inhibition circuitry.

Objectives: The present study examined potential associations between serotonergic genetic markers and response inhibition as indexed by Stop Task performance.

Smoking is associated with neurocognitive deficits in alcoholism.

Background: Impaired problem solving, visual-spatial processing, memory, and cognitive proficiency are consequences of severe alcoholism. Smoking is much more prevalent among alcoholics than the general population, yet the possible neurocognitive effects of cigarette smoking in alcoholism have not been studied, despite evidence that long-term smoking is associated with neurocognitive deficits.

Objective: Determine whether smoking contributes to neurocognitive deficits associated with alcoholism.

Memory beliefs and function in fibromyalgia patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate memory beliefs and their relationship to actual memory function in fibromyalgia (FM) patients.

Methods: Twenty-three FM patients, 23 age- and education-matched controls, and 22 older controls completed the Metamemory in Adulthood (MIA) questionnaire, which assessed beliefs about seven aspects of memory function. Group differences on the seven scales were assessed, and scores on the capacity scale were correlated with objective memory performance.

The effect of brief exercise cessation on pain, fatigue, and mood symptom development in healthy, fit individuals.

Objective: Abnormalities of the biological stress response (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomic nervous system) have been identified in both fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Although these changes have been considered to be partly responsible for symptom expression, we examine an alternative hypothesis that these HPA and autonomic changes can be found in subsets of healthy individuals in the general population who may be at risk of developing these conditions. Exposure to "stressors" (e.