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Purpose

The 5-year K01 Mentored Research Scientist proposal will employ brain, neurocognitive, and computational tools (e.g., machine learning) to understand the impact of opioid-use disorder (OUD) and common co-occurring issues on executive function and clinical outcomes. There have been record numbers of fatal and non-fatal overdoses (ODs) associated with opioids (and other drugs) in the past 12-months. Improving classification and predictive capabilities to enhance treatment and prevent relapse is of the upmost importance. Deficits in neurocognition often are associated with poor treatment outcomes (e.g., more drug use, medication non-adherence), yet co-occurring issues associated with OUD (e.g., depression, anxiety, physical/sexual abuse, neglect) make it difficult to parse which contributing factors lead to worse executive function (EF) and poorer treatment outcomes. Novel brain, neurocognitive, and computational tools are needed to help determine these differences, in order to lay the foundation for better treatments. This need has shaped both the training plan and the associated research project in a 5-year K01 Mentored Research Scientist proposal, building on Dr. Regier's prior preclinical and clinical addiction neuroscience experience (focused mostly on cocaine-use disorders, cue-reactivity, subcortical networks, prior adversity, and univariate imaging techniques).

Condition

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 18 Years and 60 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • men and women with moderate to severe opioid use disorder by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, version 5, (DSM-V) criteria on a stable (at least one week without change) dose of oral buprenorphine-naloxone or methadone. (for OUD group) - Eligible participants will be between 18-60 years of age; - able to read at an eighth-grade level; - able to speak English.

Exclusion Criteria

  • unable to understand or complete the tasks. - Certain mental health conditions, including (but not limited to) bipolar I with current manic episode, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder, determined by the Principal Investigator (PI) to interfere with study participation. - moderate or severe substance-use disorder (for Healthy Controls)

Study Design

Phase
Study Type
Observational
Observational Model
Other
Time Perspective
Prospective

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Healthy controls Healthy controls, people not living with opioid use disorder or on medication assisted therapy for such.
  • Diagnostic Test: Neurocognitive battery
    The Penn Computerized Neurobehavioral Battery (CNB) consists of a series of cognitive tasks, measuring accuracy and speed of performance in major cognitive domains, including executive functions (i.e., abstraction, sustained attention, working memory), episodic memory (i.e., verbal, facial, and spatial memory), complex cognitive processing (i.e., language reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, spatial processing), social cognition (i.e., emotion identification, emotion intensity differentiation, age differentiation) and processing speed (i.e., sensorimotor and motor).
  • Diagnostic Test: fNIRS
    Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive optical imaging technique that measures changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations within the brain by means of their characteristic absorption spectra of the wavelengths range of 700-1000 nm [35,36].
Patients living with Opioid Use Disorder Individuals with opioid use disorder who have been on a stable dose of medication assisted therapy for at least a week.
  • Diagnostic Test: Neurocognitive battery
    The Penn Computerized Neurobehavioral Battery (CNB) consists of a series of cognitive tasks, measuring accuracy and speed of performance in major cognitive domains, including executive functions (i.e., abstraction, sustained attention, working memory), episodic memory (i.e., verbal, facial, and spatial memory), complex cognitive processing (i.e., language reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, spatial processing), social cognition (i.e., emotion identification, emotion intensity differentiation, age differentiation) and processing speed (i.e., sensorimotor and motor).
  • Diagnostic Test: fNIRS
    Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive optical imaging technique that measures changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations within the brain by means of their characteristic absorption spectra of the wavelengths range of 700-1000 nm [35,36].

Recruiting Locations

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia 4560349, Pennsylvania 6254927 19104
Contact:
Megan Ivey, MS
215-746-7712
megan.ivey@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
University of Pennsylvania

Study Contact

Paul Regier, PhD
215-746-3706
paul.regier@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.