fMRI of Stress & Self-Control in Smoking & Obesity (7 of 14)

肥胖和吸烟是世界上发病率和死亡率的两个最重要的原因。 美国的压力和自我控制能力下降是与肥胖、吸烟有关的两个重要因素。 吸烟和其他可能上瘾的行为。然而，没有研究系统地检查 肥胖者自我控制、压力、食物相关和吸烟相关反应的神经相关性， 吸烟的人。在这里，我们建议检查肥胖吸烟者，肥胖非吸烟者，正常体重 吸烟者和正常体重的非吸烟者在一个引导的图像范式，我们已经适应了功能 磁共振成像（fMRI）结合自我控制和相关的行为措施， 构建体（例如，冲动和决策）。我们之前的功能磁共振成像工作使用的是引导意象范式 已经研究了大脑激活模式对压力，药物提示，或中性放松条件的不同， 可卡因或酒精成瘾的人与没有这些成瘾的人。我们的研究结果表明 可卡因或酒精依赖的受试者在边缘区域表现出相对更大的激活， 并且与对照比较受试者相比，前额叶皮层内的激活减少。在多大程度 吸烟者或肥胖者是否存在类似的模式具有重要的临床意义。 影响也就是说，识别吸烟的共同和独特的神经基质， 肥胖不仅对我们如何概念化这些疾病有重要的影响， 制定针对这些目前影响健康的疾病的更好的预防和治疗策略， 在美国有数百万人。自我控制及相关因素影响的检验 在吸烟和肥胖人群中，与fMRI测量相关的结构应该提供 与制定有针对性的预防和治疗战略有关的其他信息。

Obesity and tobacco smoking represent two of the most substantial causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Stress and diminished self-control are two important factors associated with obesity, tobacco smoking, and other behaviors with addictive potential. However, no studies have systematically examined the neural correlates of self-control, stress, food-related, and smoking-related responses in obese and tobacco smoking subjects. Here we propose examining obese smokers, obese non-smokers, normal weight smokers, and normal weight non-smokers in a guided imagery paradigm that we have adapted for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conjunction with behavioral measures of self-control and related constructs (e.g., impulsivity and decision-making). Our prior fMRI work using the guided imagery paradigm has examined how brain activation patterns to stress, drug cue, or neutral-relaxing conditions differ in individuals with addictions to cocaine or alcohol from those without these addictions. Our findings indicate that subjects with cocaine or alcohol dependence show relatively greater activations within limbic regions and diminished activation within prefrontal cortex as compared to control comparison subjects. The extent to which similar patterns extend or do not to tobacco smokers or obese people has important clinical implications. That is, the identification of common and unique neural substrates to tobacco smoking and obesity has important implications not only for how we conceptualize the disorders, but also for the development of improved prevention and treatment strategies for these conditions that currently impact millions of people in the United States. The examination of the influence of self-control and related constructs in relation to the fMRI measures in the tobacco smoking and obese groups should provide additional information with relevance to the development of targeted prevention and treatment strategies.