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Objective: The present study aimed to compare prospective and retrospective memory impairment and attention deficit in people suffering from chronic low back pain with those cognitive functions in healthy subjects. Furthermore, this study examines the relation between severity and duration of pain and prospective and retrospective memory impairment and attention deficit
Methods: The research was a causality-comparative study. Using convenience sampling method, 53 male patients and 53 healthy male individuals were selected. The participants were asked to fill out prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire and pain numeric rating scale [NRS]. In addition, a continuous performance test was performed. The study hypotheses were tested using two independent group T-test and the Pearson correlation analysis by SPSS 22 with the significant level of 0.05
Results: The results showed that there was significant difference between the 2 groups of participants regarding prospective memory, but no significant difference regarding retrospective memory. With respect to hypotheses, significant difference was found between the two groups regarding attention. And finally results of the study did not show any relation between duration and intensity of pain with impairment in prospective and retrospective memory and attention
Conclusion: The prospective memory impairment and attention deficits are associated with chronic low back pain. In general, chronic pain is associated with cognitive impairment
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Introduction: Drug craving could be described as a motivational state which drives drug dependents towards drug seeking and use. Different types of self-reports such as craving feeling, desire and intention, wanting and need, imagery of use, and negative affect have been attributed to this motivational state. By using subjective self-reports for different correlates of drug craving along with functional neuroimaging with cue exposure paradigm, we investigated the brain regions that could correspond to different dimensions of subjective reports for heroin craving
Methods: A total of 25 crystalline-heroin smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], while viewing heroin-related and neutral cues presented in a block-design task. During trial intervals, subjects verbally reported their subjective feeling of cue induced craving [CIC]. After fMRI procedure, participants reported the intensity of their [need for drug use] and [drug use imagination] on a 0-100 visual analog scale [VAS]. Afterwards, they completed positive and negative affect scale [PANAS] and desire for drug questionnaire [DDQ] with 3 components of [desire and intention to drug use], [negative reinforcement,] and [loss of control]
Results: The study showed significant correlation between [subjective feeling of craving] and activation of the left and right anterior cingulate cortex, as well as right medial frontal gyrus. Furthermore, the [desire and intention to drug use] was correlated with activation of the left precentral gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus. Subjects also exhibited significant correlation between the [need for drug use] and activation of the right inferior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, and right parahippocampal gyrus. Correlation between subjective report of [heroin use imagination] and activation of the cerebellar vermis was also observed. Another significant correlation was between the [negative affect] and activation of the left precuneus, right putamen, and right middle temporal gyrus
Discussion: This preliminary study proposes different neural correlates for various dimensions of subjective craving self-reports. It could reflect multidimensionality of cognitive functions corresponding with drug craving. These cognitive functions could represent their motivational and affective outcomes in a single item [subjective craving feeling] or in self-reports with multiple dissociable items, such as intention, need, imagination, or negative feeling. The new psychological models of drug craving for covering various dimensions of subjective craving self-reports based on their neurocognitive correspondence could potentially modify craving assessments in addiction medicine
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Introduction: X chromosome inactivation [XCI] is a process during which one of the two X chromosomes in female human is silenced leading to equal gene expression with males who have only one X chromosome. Here we have investigated XCI ratio in females with opioid addiction to see whether XCI skewness in women could be a risk factor for opioid addiction
Methods: 30 adult females meeting DSM IV criteria for opioid addiction and 30 control females with no known history of addiction were included in the study. Digested and undigested DNA samples which were extracted from blood were analyzed after amplification of the polymorphic androgen receptor [AR] gene located on the X chromosome. XCI skewness was studied in 3 ranges: 50: 50-64: 36 [random inactivation], 65: 35-80: 20 [moderately skewed] and >80: 20 [highly skewed]
Results: XCI from informative females in control group was 63% [N=19] random, 27% [N=8] moderately skewed and 10% [N=3] highly skewed. Addicted women showed 57%, 23% and 20%, respectively. The distribution and frequency of XCI status in women with opioid addiction was not significantly different from control group [P=0.55]
Discussion: Our data did not approve our hypothesis of increased XCI skewness among women with opioid addiction or unbalanced [non-random] expression of genes associated with X chromosome in female opioid addicted subjects