The effects of simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use on subjective drug effects: A narrative review across methodologies.

Over 75% of young adults who use cannabis also report drinking alcohol, leading to increased risks that include impaired cognition, substance use disorders, and more heavy and frequent substance use. Studies suggest that subjective responses to either alcohol or cannabis can serve as a valuable indicator for identifying individuals at risk of prolonged substance use and use disorder. While laboratory studies show additive effects when alcohol and cannabis are used together, the impact of co-using these substances, specifically with respect to cannabidiol, on an individual's subjective experience remains unclear.

Substance use patterns, quantities, and associated risk factors in women with polysubstance misuse.

Polysubstance use (PSU), the use of two or more substances proximally, is highly prevalent and has amplified the risk for morbidity and mortality. However, PSU patterns and associated risk factors are not well characterized. This may be especially relevant to women who are known to be vulnerable to stress/trauma, craving, pain, and anxious and depressive symptoms as associated risk factors for PSU.

Patients with AUD exhibit dampened heart rate variability during sleep as compared to social drinkers.

Chronic heavy alcohol use profoundly affects the cardiovascular system, contributing to several life-threatening cardiovascular diseases. Heart rate variability (HRV), or the fluctuations in heart rate, reflects dynamic autonomic nervous system processes that change to meet biological demands and environmental challenges. In the current study, we examined whether HRV metrics are altered in alcohol use disorder (AUD) during waking and sleeping with passive biomonitoring as participants went about their daily lives.

Subjective stress and alcohol use among young adult and adult drinkers: Systematic review of studies using Intensive Longitudinal Designs.

Understanding how stress dynamically associates with alcohol use could provide a finer-grain resolution of drinking behavior, facilitating development of more effective and personalized interventions. The primary aim of this systematic review was to examine research using Intensive Longitudinal Designs (ILDs) to determine if greater naturalistic reports of subjective stress (e.g.

Daily stress predicts later drinking initiation via craving in heavier social drinkers: A prospective in-field daily diary study.

Stress has been linked to increased alcohol use but how stress may increase drinking in social drinkers is not well understood. Negative reinforcement processes may explain this link but the role of specific motivational processes, such as craving, and how these motivational processes are altered by drinking have not been studied. The current study assessed social drinkers ( = 81) for recent quantity and frequency of alcohol intake (quantity and frequency index, QFI) upon study enrollment, who then completed 30 days of electronic daily records of stress, craving, and alcohol intake.

Alcohol craving and withdrawal at treatment entry prospectively predict alcohol use outcomes during outpatient treatment.

Objective: Chronic alcohol use increases risk of alcohol craving and withdrawal symptoms (AW) as well as abstinence-related distress symptoms, in those entering alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment. Here, we examined whether AW and alcohol craving in AUD patients entering outpatient treatment prospectively predicts future heavy drinking days/week (HDD) and additional alcohol use outcomes during 8-weeks of outpatient treatment, and their relationship to abstinence symptoms of depression, anxiety and sleep difficulties.

Methods: Participants were 80 treatment-seeking adults with current DSM-5 AUD (39% female; 43% White; 20-60 years) who completed assessments of AW and alcohol craving and also alcohol abstinence symptoms of depression, anxiety, and sleep quality at treatment intake.

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms predict corticostriatal dysfunction that is reversed by prazosin treatment in alcohol use disorder.

Chronic alcohol use increases risk of alcohol withdrawal symptoms (AW) and disrupts stress biology and resilient coping, thereby promoting excessive alcohol intake. Chronic alcohol intake and multiple alcohol detoxifications are known to impair brain medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and striatal functioning, regions involved in regulating stress, craving and alcohol intake. In two related studies, we examined whether AW predicts this functional brain pathology and whether Prazosin versus Placebo treatment may reverse these effects.

Noninvasive detection of human dehydroepiandrosterone, progesterone and testosterone using LC-MS/MS revealed effects of birth control pills/devices and body weight on ovulatory prediction.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been increasingly used to measure steroids in human saliva. We studied the performance of a conventional LC-MS/MS for measuring dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), testosterone and progesterone in human saliva. These three steroids were co-extracted by liquid-liquid extraction and derivatized.

Moderation of Prazosin's Efficacy by Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms.

Objective: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a leading cause of global disease burden. Chronic, heavy use increases the likelihood of alcohol withdrawal symptoms and associated secondary outcomes of alcohol craving and mood, anxiety, and sleep disturbances, which are predictive of poor treatment outcomes. The authors examined whether alcohol withdrawal symptoms moderate the efficacy of prazosin in reducing alcohol intake and associated secondary outcomes.

Association of Prefrontal-Striatal Functional Pathology With Alcohol Abstinence Days at Treatment Initiation and Heavy Drinking After Treatment Initiation.

Objective: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with neuroadaptations in brain stress and reward circuits. It is not known whether such neuroadaptations are affected by number of days of alcohol abstinence and whether they influence heavy drinking during the early treatment phase. The authors used a novel functional MRI (fMRI) approach to assess brain responses during sustained exposure to standardized visual stimuli of stressful, alcohol cue, and neutral control images combined with prospective assessment of drinking outcomes during early outpatient treatment, in two related studies.

Weaker Memory Performance Exacerbates Stress-Induced Cannabis Craving in Youths' Daily Lives.

Theories of addiction posit that stimuli associated with drug use, including both exteroceptive (e.g., paraphernalia) and interoceptive (e.

Fluctuations in progesterone moderate the relationship between daily mood and alcohol use in young adult women.

Background: Research has demonstrated associations between hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle and women's alcohol use. This association has been explained by mood changes that, for some women, accompany decreasing levels of progesterone during the menstrual cycle, particularly during the late luteal/premenstrual phase. The current study examined whether participants' daily ratings of mood interact with changing levels of progesterone to predict alcohol use.

A day-by-day prospective analysis of stress, craving and risk of next day alcohol intake during alcohol use disorder treatment.

Background: Stress has been known to increase craving in individuals with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) and predict future alcohol relapse risk, but whether stress on a particular day affects craving on that day to impact prospective alcohol intake in the real world, particularly during early treatment and recovery, has not been studied thus far.

Method: The first study included 85 AUD individuals who reported their daily stress, craving, and alcohol intake in the first two weeks of early treatment. A second validation study included 28 AUD patients monitored daily during eight weeks of outpatient 12-Step based behavioral counseling treatment for AUD.

Drug-induced stress responses and addiction risk and relapse.

A number of studies have assessed the effects of psychoactive drugs on stress biology, the neuroadaptations resulting from chronic drug use on stress biology, and their effects on addiction risk and relapse. This review mainly covers human research on the acute effects of different drugs of abuse (i.e.

Noninvasive determination of human cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for measurements of steroids in human saliva has garnered increased interest in the area of clinical psychoneuroendocrinological research. However, performance characteristics of LC-MS/MS methods for the analysis of steroids in saliva are limited. Human saliva samples were collected via passive drool.

Stress responding and stress-related changes in cue reactivity in heavy smokers, problem gamblers, and healthy controls.

Addictions, both substance and behavioral, have been conceptualized as involving similar biopsychosocial processes with different opportunistic expressions. A maladaptive stress response in combination with craving or urges to engage in the addictive behavior may be among the underlying factors common to behavioral and substance addictions. The current study compared the neuroendocrine (cortisol) and subjective responses to stress of gamblers and smokers to healthy controls.

Correction to: Appetitive startle modulation in the human laboratory predicts Cannabis craving in the natural environment.

The name of Hayley Treloar Padovano was incorrectly tagged in the original version of this article. Instead of Padovano as family name and Hayley Treloar as given name, it should be Hayley as given name and Treloar Padovano as family name. Correct presentation of author name when online should be Treloar Padovano H.

Appetitive startle modulation in the human laboratory predicts Cannabis craving in the natural environment.

Rationale: Drug-related cues evoke craving and stimulate motivational systems in the brain. The acoustic startle reflex captures activation of these motivational processes and affords a unique measure of reactivity to drug cues.

Objectives: This study examined the effects of cannabis-related cues on subjective and eye blink startle reactivity in the human laboratory and tested whether these effects predicted youth's cue-elicited cannabis craving in the natural environment.

Predictors of Topiramate Tolerability in Heavy Cannabis-Using Adolescents and Young Adults: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Purpose/background: Cannabis is the most commonly abused illicit drug and accounts for the greatest number of adolescent substance abuse treatment admissions. Despite urgent need for effective interventions, the best available psychosocial treatment options yield only modest effects. Topiramate showed promise as an adjunctive pharmacotherapy to a psychosocial intervention for cannabis misuse among adolescents and young adults in a recent clinical trial, but it was not well tolerated.

Real-time assessment of alcohol craving and naltrexone treatment responsiveness in a randomized clinical trial.

Introduction: This secondary data analysis examined whether and how the dopamine receptor D gene (DRD4) influenced naltrexone treatment responsiveness in a randomized clinical trial. We leveraged intensive experience sampling methods to test the hypothesis that craving recorded at drinking and non-drinking moments would mediate naltrexone effects on the likelihood of heavy drinking, but only among carriers of the DRD4 long (DRD4-L) allele.

Methods: Participants (M=29.

Internalizing Risk Factors for College Students' Alcohol use: A Combined Person- and Variable-Centered Approach.

Background: Most studies that investigate internalizing problems (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms) and alcohol use disorders use variable-centered approaches, losing important information about differences among individuals.

Distress tolerance and physiological reactivity to stress predict women's problematic alcohol use.

Research has shown that measures of reactivity to distress-including distress tolerance and physiological reactivity to stress-are dysregulated in women who misuse alcohol. These variables may interact and create a risk profile for young adult women, reflecting patterns of stress reactivity that confer a risk for alcohol misuse. The current study tested this hypothesis by examining the independent and interactive associations of subjective distress tolerance, behavioral distress tolerance, and physiological stress reactivity with women's alcohol misuse.

Effects of Acute Stress on Decision Making.

The study examined the effects of a social stressor (Trier Social Stress Test) on 24 male and 32 female college students' affective and physiological reactivity and their subsequent performance on a decision-making task (Iowa Gambling Task). The 56 participants were randomly assigned to a social stressor or a control condition. Compared to controls, participants in the stress condition responded with higher heart rates and skin conductance responses, reported more negative affect, and on the decision-making task made less advantageous choices.

Problematic drinking and physiological responses among female college students.

Problematic drinking is a widespread problem among college students, and can contribute to alcohol dependence during later adulthood, particularly among females. The current study assessed vulnerability for alcohol-related consequences by comparing self-reported drinking with coping styles and physiological and behavioral stress responses during a challenging task. Cardiovascular measurements and saliva samples were taken from 88 female students at the beginning of the experiment and after the task.