Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Understanding The Patient Experience With Carcinoid Syndrome: Exit Interviews From A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study Of Telotristat Ethyl, Lowell B. Anthony, Claire Ervin, Pablo Lapuerta, Matthew H. Kulke, Pamela Kunz, Emily Bergsland, Dieter Hörsch, David C. Metz, Janice Pasieka, Nick Pavlakis, Marianne Pavel, Martyn Caplin, Kjell Öberg, John Ramage, Emily Evans, Qi Melissa Yang, Shanna Jackson, Karie Arnold, Linda Law, Dana B. Dibenedetti

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Purpose: Telotristat ethyl, an oral tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor, is intended to treat carcinoid syndrome by reducing serotonin production. Telotristat ethyl was evaluated in TELESTAR, a Phase III study for patients who had carcinoid syndrome with at least 4 bowel movements (BMs) per day and who were receiving somatostatin analogue therapy. This interview substudy was conducted to provide insight into the patient experience in TELESTAR and to help understand whether reductions in BM frequency (the primary end point) and other symptoms were clinically meaningful.

Methods: Participating sites were asked to invite (before randomization) all eligible patients to telephone interviews scheduled at …

A Phase Iii, Randomized, Multi-Center, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Study Of Safety And Efficacy Of Lofexidine For Relief Of Symptoms In Individuals Undergoing Inpatient Opioid Withdrawal, Charles W. Gorodetzky, Sharon L. Walsh, Peter R. Martin, Andrew J. Saxon, Kristen L. Gullo, Kousick Biswas

Center on Drug and Alcohol Research Faculty Publications

Background: Lofexidine is an alpha-2-adrenergic receptor agonist approved in the United Kingdom (UK) for the treatment of opioid withdrawal symptoms. Lofexidine has demonstrated better efficacy than placebo for reducing opioid withdrawal symptoms in patients undergoing opioid withdrawal with less reported hypotension than clonidine.

Methods: Designed as an FDA registration trial, this 8-day, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study in 264 patients dependent on short-acting opioids evaluated the efficacy of lofexidine hydrochloride in reducing withdrawal symptoms in patients undergoing opioid withdrawal. The primary efficacy measures were SOWS-Gossop on Day 3 and time-to-dropout. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of participants who were completers; …

Sex Differences In The Drinking Response To Angiotensin Ii (Angii): Effect Of Body Weight, Jessica Santollo, Ann-Marie Torregrossa, Derek Daniels

Biology Faculty Publications

Sex differences in fluid intake stimulated by angiotensin II (AngII) have been reported, but the direction of the differences is inconsistent. To resolve these discrepancies, we measured water intake by male and female rats given AngII. Males drank more than females, but when intake was normalized to body weight, the sex difference was reversed. Weight-matched males and females, however, had no difference in intake. Using a linear mixed model analysis, we found that intake was influenced by weight, sex, and AngII dose. We used linear regression to disentangle these effects further. Comparison of regression coefficients revealed sex and weight differences …

A Pilot Investigation Of Acute Inhibitory Control Training In Cocaine Users, Joseph L. Alcorn, Erika Pike, William W. Stoops, Joshua A. Lile, Craig R. Rush

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Background—Disrupted response inhibition and presence of drug-cue attentional bias in cocaine-using individuals have predicted poor treatment outcomes. Inhibitory control training could help improve treatment outcomes by strengthening cognitive control. This pilot study assessed the effects of acute inhibitory control training to drug- and non-drug-related cues on response inhibition performance and cocaine-cue attentional bias in cocaine-using individuals.

Methods—Participants who met criteria for a cocaine-use disorder underwent five sessions of inhibitory control training to either non-drug-related cues (i.e., rectangles) or cocaine cues (n=10/condition) in a single day. Response inhibition and attentional bias were assessed prior to and following training using …

Oral Cannabidiol Does Not Produce A Signal For Abuse Liability In Frequent Marijuana Smokers, Shanna Babalonis, Margaret Haney, Robert J. Malcolm, Michelle R. Lofwall, Victoria R. Votaw, Steven Sparenborg, Sharon L. Walsh

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Background—Cannabidiol (CBD) is a naturally occurring constituent of the marijuana plant. In the past few years, there has been great interest in the therapeutic effects of isolated CBD and it is currently being explored for numerous disease conditions (e.g., pain, epilepsy, cancer, various drug dependencies). However, CBD remains a Schedule I drug on the U.S. Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Despite its status, there are no well-controlled data available regarding its abuse liability.

Methods—Healthy, frequent marijuana users (n=31) were enrolled in this within subject, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multisite study that administered oral cannabidiol (0, 200, 400, 800 …

The Effect Of Sazetidine-A And Other Nicotinic Ligands On Nicotine Controlled Goal-Tracking In Female And Male Rats, S. Charntikov, A. M. Falco, K. Fink, Linda P. Dwoskin, R. A. Bevins

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Nicotine is the primary addictive component of tobacco products and its complex stimulus effects are readily discriminated by humans and non-human animals. Previous preclinical research investigating directly the nature of the nicotine stimulus has been limited to male rodents. The current study began to address this significant gap in the literature by training female and male rats to discriminate 0.4 mg/kg nicotine from saline in the discriminated goal-tracking task. In this task, access to sucrose was intermittently available on nicotine session. On saline session, intermixed with nicotine sessions on separate days, sucrose was not available. Both sexes acquired the discrimination …