Attention-enhancing effects of propranolol and synergistic effects with nicotine.

Nicotine increases the output of every major neurotransmitter. In previous studies designed to identify the secondary neurotransmitter systems mediating nicotine's attention-enhancing effects in a rat model, the β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol blocked these effects. The present study was designed to test whether this mechanism held true in humans, thus guiding development of novel nicotinic agonists for cognitive enhancement.

Evidence for positive allosteric modulation of cognitive-enhancing effects of nicotine in healthy human subjects.

Rationale: Cognitive benefits of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonists are well established but have generally been of small magnitude and uncertain clinical significance. A way of raising the effect size may be to facilitate agonist-induced responses by co-administering a nAChR positive allosteric modulator (PAM).

Objective: The aim was to test whether galantamine, a PAM at several nAChR subtypes, can potentiate the cognitive-enhancing effects of nicotine.

Nicotine effects on cognitive remediation training outcome in people with schizophrenia: A pilot study.

Cognitive remediation training can alleviate cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia, but the impact is limited by small effect sizes. The present study aimed at augmenting training effects by administering nicotine prior to training sessions. Twenty-five people with schizophrenia were enrolled in a 10-week, 5 days/week, computerized cognitive training regimen.

Review of non-clinical risk models to aid prevention of breast cancer.

A disease risk model is a statistical method which assesses the probability that an individual will develop one or more diseases within a stated period of time. Such models take into account the presence or absence of specific epidemiological risk factors associated with the disease and thereby potentially identify individuals at higher risk. Such models are currently used clinically to identify people at higher risk, including identifying women who are at increased risk of developing breast cancer.