Effects of Drug Use on Prefrontal Cortex Function in HIV+ Women

描述(由申请者提供)：该申请提出了一个博士前培训计划，旨在调查人类免疫缺陷病毒(HIV)和最近非法药物使用对女性认知功能的影响。该培训计划包括三个主要领域的指导性、教学性和体验式研究培训：1)药物滥用；2)艾滋病毒；3)神经成像；4)统计方法。该培训计划是实现申请者成为一名专注于女性认知和成瘾行为的独立调查员的职业目标的重要一步。在这一更广泛的目标范围内，拟议的研究培训计划的总体目标是更好地了解艾滋病毒和最近使用强效可卡因对认知功能的交互影响。这项培训计划将利用妇女机构间艾滋病毒研究中收集的数据，这是一项关于艾滋病毒自然和治疗历史的前瞻性研究。第一个项目是一项行为学研究，考察艾滋病毒和强效可卡因的使用对情景记忆测试中执行策略(即语义聚类)测量的交互影响。据预测，与非吸毒女性相比，强效可卡因吸毒者的战略执行功能将下降，这些影响在艾滋病毒女性中将更加明显。第二个项目是一项神经成像研究，考察艾滋病毒和强效可卡因对女性延迟情节记忆和记忆系统的交互影响。研究这些主题的动机来自：a)试点数据表明，最近使用强效可卡因对艾滋病毒女性的记忆产生了负面影响；以及b)WIHS最近的出版物显示，艾滋病毒血清状态影响延迟情节记忆和从属于延迟情节记忆的记忆系统。由此预测，最近的非法药物使用将与延迟的情节记忆受损、在情节记忆任务中的执行策略受损以及在执行延迟的情节记忆任务时前额叶皮质的激活改变有关。关键的是，据预测，这些影响将在艾滋病毒妇女中比在艾滋病毒高危妇女中更加明显。这一培训计划将增加对艾滋病毒感染女性的认知和成瘾行为的了解，并将为未来独立的学术生涯奠定坚实的基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application proposes a predoctoral training program aimed at investigating the effects of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and recent illicit drug use on cognitive function in women. The training program involves mentored, didactic, and experiential research training in three primary areas: 1) substance abuse; 2) HIV; 3) neuroimaging; and 4) statistical methods. The training program is an important step in achieving the applicant's career goal of becoming an independent investigator focusing on cognition and addictive behaviors in women. Within this broader goal, the general aim of the proposed research training program is to better understand the interactive effects of HIV and recent crack cocaine use on cognitive function. This training program would draw on data collected in the Women's Interagency HIV Study, a prospective study of the natural and treated history of HIV. The first project is a behavioral study examining the interactive effects of HIV and crack cocaine use on measures of executive strategies (i.e. semantic clustering) on tests of episodic memory. It is predicted that crack cocaine users will show decreased strategic executive function compared to non-drug abusing women and these effects will be more pronounced among HIV + women. The second project is a neuroimaging study examining the interactive effects of HIV and crack cocaine use on delayed episodic memory and memory systems in women. The motivation for examining these topics comes from: a) pilot data suggesting that recent crack cocaine use negatively impacts memory in HIV+ but not HIV- women; and b) recent publications in WIHS showing that HIV serostatus impacts delayed episodic memory and memory systems subserving delayed episodic memory. From this, it is predicted that recent illicit drug use will be associated with impaired delayed episodic memory, impaired executive strategies on episodic memory tasks, and altered prefrontal cortex activation during performance of a delayed episodic memory task. Critically, it is predicted that these effects will be more pronounced in HIV+ women versus at-risk, HIV-women. This training program would add to the understanding of cognition and addictive behaviors in women with HIV and would serve as a solid foundation for a future independent academic career.