Treatment access gap during the COVID-19 Pandemic: impact on problematic alcohol use and the moderating roles of perceived stress and resilience.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic may have interfered with individuals' access to alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment, but limited research has documented the impact of treatment interference on drinking behavior. This study's purpose was to examine the associations of AUD treatment interference with problematic alcohol use, and the moderating roles of perceived stress and resilience.

Method: A cross-sectional survey design was employed.

Liver Cancer Neuroscience: Regulating Liver Tumors via Selective Hepatic Vagotomy.

Both the prevalence and mortality of liver cancers continue to rise. Early surgical interventions, including liver transplantation or resection, remain the only curative treatment. Nerves in the periphery influence tumor growth within visceral organs.

Corrigendum: α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor density underlies intraregional and interregional functional centrality.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2024.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a GHSR blocker in people with alcohol use disorder.

BACKGROUNDStudies have demonstrated the role of ghrelin in alcohol-related behaviors and consumption. Blockade of the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), which is the ghrelin receptor, has been shown to decrease alcohol drinking and reward-related behaviors across several animal models. We previously conducted a human study testing a GHSR inverse agonist/competitive antagonist, PF-5190457, in individuals who are heavy drinkers and showed its safety when coadministered with alcohol.

Growth hormone secretagogue receptor and cannabinoid receptor type 1 intersection in the mouse brain.

The growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) and the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R) are G-protein coupled receptors highly expressed in the brain and involved in critical regulatory processes, such as energy homeostasis, appetite control, reward, and stress responses. GHSR mediates the effects of both ghrelin and liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2, while CB1R is targeted by cannabinoids. Strikingly, both receptors mediate their effects by acting on common brain areas and their individual roles have been well characterized.

Increased mortality from alcohol use disorder, alcohol-associated liver disease, and liver cancer from alcohol among older adults in the United States: 2000 to 2021.

Background: To investigate the trends in alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD), liver cancer from alcohol, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) burden among older adults in the United States (US).

Methods: We gathered the ALD, liver cancer from alcohol, and AUD prevalence, mortality, and age-standardized rates (ASRs) from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021 between 2010 and 2021. We estimated the annual percent change (APC) with confidence intervals (CIs) for the burden of ALD, liver cancer from alcohol, and AUD in older adults (>70 years) in the United States.

Evidence of cortical vascular impairments in early stage of Alzheimer's transgenic mice: Optical imaging.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder with progressive cognitive decline, remains clinically challenging with limited understanding of etiology and interventions. Clinical studies have reported vascular defects prior to other pathological manifestations of AD, leading to the "Vascular Hypothesis" for the disorder. However, assessments of cerebral vasculature in AD rodent models have been constrained by limited spatiotemporal resolution or field of view of conventional imaging.

Structural mechanism of CBR binding to peripheral and biased inverse agonists.

The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CBR) regulates synaptic transmission in the central nervous system, but also has important roles in the peripheral organs controlling cellular metabolism. While earlier generations of brain penetrant CBR antagonists advanced to the clinic for their effective treatment of obesity, such molecules were ultimately shown to exhibit negative effects on central reward pathways that thwarted their further therapeutic development. The peripherally restricted CBR inverse agonists MRI-1867 and MRI-1891 represent a new generation of compounds that retain the metabolic benefits of CBR inhibitors while sparing the negative psychiatric effects.

Reduced brain network segregation in alcohol use disorder: Associations with neurocognition.

The human brain consists of functionally segregated networks, characterized by strong connections among regions belonging to the same network and weak connections between those of different networks. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with premature brain aging and neurocognitive impairments. Given the link between decreased brain network segregation and age-related cognitive decline, we hypothesized lower brain segregation in patients with AUD than healthy controls (HCs).

Amygdala intercalated cells form an evolutionarily conserved system orchestrating brain networks.

The amygdala attributes valence and emotional salience to environmental stimuli and regulates how these stimuli affect behavior. Within the amygdala, a distinct class of evolutionarily conserved neurons form the intercalated cell (ITC) clusters, mainly located around the boundaries of the lateral and basal nuclei. Here, we review the anatomical, physiological and molecular characteristics of ITCs, and detail the organization of ITC clusters and their connectivity with one another and other brain regions.

Effects of a novel GABA-B positive allosteric modulator, ASP8062, on alcohol cue-elicited craving and naturalistic alcohol consumption in a multisite randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: The γ-aminobutyric acid-B (GABA) receptor is a promising target for the development of new medications to treat alcohol use disorder (AUD). The GABA agonist baclofen has been reported to reduce alcohol consumption but is associated with some undesirable side effects, including sedation. ASP8062 is a novel compound that acts as a positive allosteric modulator at the GABA receptor and may be more tolerable than baclofen.

Reduced Bitter Taste and Enhanced Appetitive Odor Identification in Individuals at Risk for Alcohol Use Disorder: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-2014.

Objective: An inability to correctly perceive chemosensory stimuli can lead to a poor quality of life. Such defects can be concomitant with excess alcohol consumption, but a large-scale cohort study linking these effects is lacking. This study aimed to investigate the impact of chronic alcohol consumption on chemosensory function by analyzing data from the NHANES 2013-2014, involving 395 participants categorized by alcohol intake behavior: 219 no-intake, 136 light-intake, and 40 risky-intake groups.

-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor density underlies intraregional and interregional functional centrality.

Local and global functional connectivity densities (lFCD and gFCD, respectively), derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, represent the degree of functional centrality within local and global brain networks. While these methods are well-established for mapping brain connectivity, the molecular and synaptic foundations of these connectivity patterns remain unclear. Glutamate, the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, plays a key role in these processes.

Blink-induced changes in pupil dynamics are consistent and heritable.

Pupil size and blink rates are heritable but the extent to which they interact with one another has not been properly investigated. Though changes in pupil size due to eye blinks have been reported, they are considered a pupillary artifact. In this study we used the HCP 7T fMRI dataset with resting state eye-tracking data obtained in monozygotic and dizygotic twins to assess their heritability and their interactions.