A neuroimaging approach to advance mechanistic understanding of tobacco use escalation risk among young adult African American vapers

项目总结/摘要 本研究的目的是确定青年人烟草使用风险的神经行为标志物 非裔美国人（AA）vapers，并研究这些神经激活模式如何受到社会影响 这一群体所经历的不利因素和慢性压力因素。预计调查结果将进一步 了解YA AA vapers中烟草使用轨迹的神经认知机制， 南部农村地区的教育和宣传工作，以减少烟草危害方面的种族差异。鉴于累积的 有证据表明，电子烟会使吸烟开始和其他烟草使用升级的风险增加5倍， 最近YA使用量的增加令人震惊，威胁到依赖性的死灰复燃，这可能会扭转数十年的局面 烟草控制的成功。Vape产品制造商从事非法的香烟，针对 低社会经济地位和少数群体，使这些弱势群体的烟草差距永久化， 人口。其中一种做法，添加风味，使vaping更可口的雅和扩大 通过频繁的配对关联对初级尼古丁强化的影响。再加上有针对性的 市场营销和对薄荷醇口味的偏好，不成比例的环境脆弱性， 与烟草有关的高死亡率和发病率突出表明，迫切需要确定各种机制， 关于逆境如何导致烟草使用的升级。功能磁共振成像 功能磁共振成像（fMRI）产生的信息补充传统的行为风险评估，直接 观察神经基质，这些神经基质是已知的使成瘾永久化的主观状态的基础。它还 能够前所未有地隔离与味道和药物效应相关的关键神经网络中的效应。的 拟议的项目旨在确定烟草使用升级风险的新神经标志物，确定是否 社会文化逆境与这些标记有关，并检查这些标记的机制， 因素可能相互作用。我们建议从格鲁吉亚农村招募60名YA AA非吸烟电子烟使用者。三种fMRI提示 反应性范例将用于探测具有高潜力的关键神经行为系统， 说明烟草使用升级风险的个体差异。线索将包括1）vaping和吸烟; 2） vape产品包装有和没有口味;和3）公共服务公告有和没有 关注风味危害。将检查所得神经标志物与传统标志物（例如， 渴望），这将表明有效性，并与环境逆境的措施的关系。发现是 预计将促进对使YA AA vapers倾向于升级烟草使用的机制的理解 并提出了具体的神经和背景因素，可以在预防策略中解决，以防止 烟草使用升级（例如，广告、公共服务公告、风味的调节）。结果 预计还将支持未来R 01在神经行为方面应用的概念验证 预防措施，以阻止脆弱的YA AA vapers之间的烟草使用升级。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The goal of this research is to identify neurobehavioral makers of tobacco use risk among young adult (YA) African American (AA) vapers and examine how these patterns of neural activation are impacted by social disadvantages and chronic stressors experienced in this population. Findings are expected to advance understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying tobacco use trajectories among YA AA vapers in the rural South and inform efforts to reduce racial disparities in tobacco harm. Given the accumulating evidence that vaping conveys 5-fold additional risk for smoking initiation and other tobacco use escalation, recent YA increases in use are alarming, threatening a resurgence of dependence that may reverse decades of tobacco control success. Vape product manufacturers engage in practices outlawed for cigarettes, targeting YA, low socioeconomic status, and minority groups, perpetuating tobacco disparities in these vulnerable populations. One of these practices, adding flavor, makes vaping more palatable to YA and broadens the impact of primary nicotine reinforcement through frequent paired associations. Coupled with targeted marketing and a YA AA preference for menthol flavor, the disproportionate environmental vulnerabilities and high rates of tobacco-related mortality and morbidity underscore the urgent need to identify mechanisms pertaining to how adversity contributes to tobacco use escalation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) generates information complementary to traditional behavioral risk assessments, with direct observations of the neural substrates that underlie the subjective states known to perpetuate addiction. It also enables unprecedented isolation of effects in key neural networks associated with flavor and drug effects. The proposed project aims to identify novel neuromarkers of tobacco use escalation risk, determine whether sociocultural adversity is associated with these markers, and to examine the mechanisms by which these factors may interact. We propose to recruit 60 YA AA non-smoking vapers from rural Georgia. Three fMRI cue reactivity paradigms will be administered to probe critical neurobehavioral systems with high potential to account for individual differences in tobacco use escalation risk. Cues will include 1) vaping and smoking; 2) vape product packaging with and without flavors; and 3) Public Service Announcements with and without a focus on flavor harms. Resulting neuromarkers will be examined for associations with traditional markers (e.g., craving) that would suggest validity, and relationships with measures of contextual adversity. Findings are expected to advance understanding of mechanisms that predispose YA AA vapers to escalated tobacco use and suggest specific neural and contextual factors that can be addressed in prevention strategies to forestall tobacco use escalation (e.g., advertising, public service announcements, regulation of flavors). Results are also expected to support proof of concept for a future R01 application on neurobehaviorally informed preventions to deter escalation in tobacco use among vulnerable YA AA vapers.