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Background: Prospective studies consistently find that smoking is a risk factor for the development of panic disorder (PD). A possible explanation is that nicotine deprivation promotes heightened sensitivity to bodily sensations and/or arterial carbon dioxide (CO2 ). Abrams et al. (2011) previously found that, in response to a CO2 rebreathing challenge, smokers experiencing more (vs. less) intense nicotine withdrawal had more severe panic symptoms and a stronger urge to escape. However, participants were aware of the last time they smoked, leaving unclear the extent to which fear reactivity was influenced by the pharmacologic effects of nicotine deprivation versus beliefs regarding when nicotine was most recently used. The present study aimed to ascertain whether nicotine deprivation, independent of beliefs regarding recent nicotine use, promotes fear reactivity among smokers.Methods: Moderate to heavy smokers without PD (N = 25) participated in a placebo-controlled, double-blind study consisting of two sessions spaced 1 week apart. Participants abstained from nicotine for 2 hr prior to sessions. During one session participants were given a 21 mg nicotine replacement patch and, during the other, a placebo patch, with the order counterbalanced. For both sessions, after a 3-hr absorption period, participants underwent a 10-min CO2 rebreathing challenge.Results: Wearing a nicotine (vs. placebo) patch increased self-reported panic reactivity among participants, but did not significantly affect physiological and behavioral measures of reactivity.Conclusions: In smokers without a history of PD, nicotine deprivation attenuates subjective panic reactivity. Possible explanations for the contrast between theory and laboratory findings as well as clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We tested whether mindfulness de-couples the expected anxiogenic effects of distress intolerance on psychological and physiological reactivity to and recovery from an anxiogenic stressor among participants experimentally sensitized to experience distress. Method N = 104 daily smokers underwent 18-hours of biochemically-verified smoking deprivation. Participants were then randomized to a 7-min analogue mindfulness intervention (present moment attention and awareness training; PMAA) or a cope-as-usual control condition; and subsequently exposed to a 2.5-min paced over breathing (hyperventilation) stressor designed to elicit acute anxious arousal. Psychological and physiological indices of anxious arousal (Skin Conductance Levels; SCL) as well as emotion (dys)regulation (Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia; RSA) were measured before, during and following the stressor. Results We found that PMAA reduced psycho-physiological dysregulation in response to an anxiogenic stressor, as well as moderated the anxiogenic effect of distress intolerance on psychological but not physiological responding to the stressor among smokers pre-disposed to experience distress via deprivation. Conclusions The present study findings have a number of theoretical and clinical implications for work on mindfulness mechanisms, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and smoking cessation interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy drinking smokers represent a sizeable subgroup of smokers for whom nicotine deprivation and alcohol use increases the urge to smoke in the laboratory and predicts lapses during smoking cessation. The manner in which individuals smoke a cigarette (i.e. smoking topography) provides a reliable index of smoking intensity and reinforcement, yet the effects of affect on smoking topography have not been thoroughly examined in heavy drinking smokers. The current study examined how affect and nicotine deprivation predict smoking behavior as participants (N=27) smoked one cigarette using a smoking topography device after 12-h of nicotine abstinence and after a priming dose of alcohol (target BrAC=0.06g/dl). Primary smoking topography measures were puff volume, velocity, duration, and inter-puff interval (IPI). The effect of nicotine deprivation was measured by the Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale (MNWS) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Measures were obtained at baseline (i.e. 12-h of nicotine abstinence and pre-alcohol) and 30-minutes after alcohol administration (i.e. peak BrAC). Results revealed post-priming negative affect significantly moderated the trajectories of puff volume, puff duration and IPI (p's<0.05) over the course of the cigarette, such that those with greater negative affect had flatter slopes for volume and duration and increasingly infrequent puffs. Our results suggest that baseline and post-priming negative affect following nicotine deprivation alters smoking patterns and increases nicotine exposure throughout a single cigarette. Future studies need to examine differential amounts of nicotine deprivation on response to alcohol and smoking in heavy drinking smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although smoking deprivation is often used in laboratory studies to induce urges to smoke cigarettes, the optimal length of deprivation has not been established. Previous research showed that overnight abstinence from cigarettes led to high baseline urge to smoke that potentially masked alcohol's acute effects on urge to smoke (Kahler et al., 2012). The current study examined whether alcohol's effects on smoking urge were more pronounced when a shorter length of smoking deprivation was used (i.e., 3h instead of overnight abstinence). Using a balanced placebo design for alcohol administration, we found that participants experienced a significant increase in self-reported urge to smoke when administered alcohol after a 3-h smoking deprivation (n=32), whereas this effect was smaller and nonsignificant when smokers were required to be abstinent overnight (n=96). Research on factors that heighten smoking urges may find stronger effects if a 3-h deprivation is used compared to using overnight abstinence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We conduct an experiment on nicotine and time discounting. [•] We compare non-smokers, nicotine-deprived smokers, and non-deprived smokers. [•] Incentives include tobacco that is actually smoked during the experiment. [•] Smokers are more impatient, but deprived smokers are even more impatient. [•] Nicotine has different short-run and long-run effects on time discounting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Rationale: It is well established that nicotine improves, and deprivation impairs, cognitive performance and mood in smokers. Prospective memory (PM), remembering to execute a delayed intention at a given time point, is under-explored in smokers. Whilst a handful of studies have shown improved PM with nicotine, the effects of nicotine delivered via the electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) have not been investigated. Objective: This study explores whether, by comparison with placebo, nicotine delivered via the e-cigarette can improve PM, tobacco withdrawal symptoms and desire to smoke in abstinent smokers. Methods: Twenty smokers, abstinent for 8-10 h, each completed two experimental sessions under nicotine (18 mg) and placebo (0 mg) e-cigarette conditions. Participants completed a single-item desire-to-smoke scale and the Mood and Physical Symptoms Scale. PM was measured using the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test. Results: Compared with placebo, the nicotine e-cigarette reduced the desire to smoke and tobacco withdrawal symptoms, and improved time-based but not event-based PM. There was a moderate, marginally significant negative correlation between PM performance during abstinence and nicotine dependence. Conclusions: This is the first study to show that nicotine derived via e-cigarette can improve PM in abstinent smokers, suggesting efficient nicotine delivery. The finding that the effect of nicotine was restricted to time-based rather than event-based PM is consistent with the view that nicotine acts to improve performance on strategic (effortful) rather than automatic processing. These findings add to the growing body of evidence that the e-cigarette can replace some of the effects of nicotine derived from tobacco smoking, thus highlighting its potential for smoking cessation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Recruiting smokers to smoking cessation trials is challenging and participation rates are often low. Consequently, the interventions evaluated may fail to reach a broad spectrum of the target population, thus compromising the generalizability of the findings. Brief interventions, using proactive recruitment, are likely to attract a broader and more representative proportion of the population.Objective. We explored the factors that influenced recruitment into a trial evaluating computer-tailored feedback reports that aimed to help smokers to quit [the ESCAPE (Effectiveness of computer-tailored Smoking Cessation Advice in Primary Care) study] in order to investigate the possibilities for increasing recruitment into smoking cessation trials.Methods. Current cigarette smokers, identified from GP records, were invited to participate in the study. The main outcome measure was the recruitment rate, i.e. the proportion of participants who responded and were randomized to one of the intervention groups. Predictor variables included geographical region, level of deprivation, practice characteristics and the number and timing of mailings of questionnaires.Results. The recruitment rate varied by practice (2.5–19.8%) and differed significantly between regions (from 16.3% in Scotland to 8.4% in London, P < 0.001). Recruitment decreased significantly by 1.1% between the lowest and highest quintiles of deprivation (P = 0.012), measured by Index of Multiple Deprivation scores, and decreased by 1.33% for every extra 10% smokers identified within a practice population (P = 0.010). Sending reminders increased recruitment by 7.5% (P < 0.001). Multivariable analysis showed region and length of time between mailings were the main predictors of recruitment.Conclusions. Proactive recruitment methods can increase participation in smoking cessation trials and weighting the target sample in favour of more deprived areas will recruit a more representative sample. The number and timing of mailings to potential participants can also increase recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher rates of delay discounting, or impulsive choice, may be related to relapse during abstinence reinforcement interventions for cigarette smoking, and a transdermal nicotine patch may attenuate delay discounting. The objectives of this study are to assess the relation between delay discounting and smoking after nicotine deprivation in a laboratory model of abstinence reinforcement and the effects of a transdermal nicotine patch on discounting and smoking. Smokers with no self-reported intention to quit were randomly assigned to an active (14 mg) or placebo patch group ( n = 15 per group). In each of three sessions, after a 3-h deprivation period, participants completed a delay discounting task, mood, and craving measures and finally engaged in a laboratory model of abstinence reinforcement. Three abstinence reinforcement conditions were presented in counterbalanced order across the three sessions. During the control session, monetary consequences were delivered every 30 s regardless of smoking. During the low ($5.00 available) and high ($20.00 available) sessions, participants could earn a progressively increasing amount of money for each 30 s period of abstinence. The low and high conditions significantly increased the latency to smoke relative to control and significantly decreased the amount of smoking. The nicotine patch decreased negative affect, but it did not significantly affect delay discounting or smoking. Individuals who smoked during the low and high conditions showed higher rates of discounting. The patch did not attenuate delay discounting or smoking after a period of deprivation, but contingencies for abstinence significantly decreased smoking. Higher rates of delay discounting were related to smoking in a model of abstinence reinforcement treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In smokers, nicotine deprivation may increase impulsive decision-making and the demand for cigarettes. Objectives: To investigate the effects of acute nicotine deprivation on (a) the delay discounting of monetary and cigarette rewards, and (b) the behavioural economics of hypothetical cigarette purchases. Materials and methods: A repeated measures design was employed, with participants (daily cigarette smokers, N=30) repeating experimental tasks in two different sessions, once after at least 13 h of abstinence from smoking and once after ad lib smoking. Participants completed measures of cigarette craving, impulsivity, delay discounting and a behavioural economic simulation in which participants made hypothetical purchases of cigarettes and other commodities as the price of cigarettes was systematically varied. Results: Participants showed more pronounced delay discounting of both cigarette and monetary rewards after abstinence compared to after ad lib smoking. In the behavioural economic simulation, nicotine deprivation had no influence on hypothetical cigarette purchases. However, spending on some commodities (alcohol, clothing, household goods, leisure activities and long-distance travel) was reduced as the price of cigarettes increased in order to fund increased spending on cigarettes, although the number of packs of cigarettes purchased actually decreased. Conclusions: Nicotine deprivation increases impulsive choices for both cigarette and monetary rewards in a delay-discounting task. Results from a behavioural economic simulation suggest that increases in the price of cigarettes may increase smokers' spending on cigarettes, while also reducing the number of cigarettes purchased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although converging lines of evidence suggest that nicotine and mood are related at a fundamental biological level, this link has not been reliably demonstrated in laboratory studies. In this study, startle probe methodology was used to examine the effects of nicotine administration and deprivation on emotional processes associated with motivation. Smokers ( N = 115) completed four laboratory sessions crossing deprivation (12‐hr deprived vs. nondeprived) with nicotine spray (active vs. placebo). Participants viewed affective pictures (positive, negative, neutral) and pictures involving cigarette cues, while startle probes were administered. Deprivation decreased startle responding to cigarette cues, suggesting an activation of appetitive processes. Nicotine administration suppressed overall startle responding during deprivation. In addition, during deprivation, random exposure to negative stimuli over two blocks of trials resulted in decreased adaptation of the startle response, suggesting that some sensitization to negative emotional cues may take place during nicotine withdrawal. These effects are consistent with formulations of addiction, stressing that withdrawal may both increase the reinforcement salience of smoking stimuli and decrease habituation to negative emotional stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental evidence suggests that when opioid-dependent drug users are deprived of heroin, they become more likely to behave impulsively on a computer task. The current study examined whether nicotine deprivation has similar effects in cigarette smokers, causing an increase in impulsive decision-making. Simultaneously, the impact of deprivation on several other related decision-making tasks was assessed. Eleven smokers (> or = 15 cigarettes/day) participated in two experimental sessions. For one session, they smoked as usual until the session began. For the other, participants did not smoke for 24 hr. Abstinence was verified using levels of breath carbon monoxide and urinary cotinine. During each session, they completed computer tasks that assessed impulsivity by measuring the tendency to choose small, immediate rewards (cigarettes or money) over US dollar 10 available following a delay, as well as tasks in which smokers chose between small, certain, easily obtained rewards and US dollar 10 whose availability was uncertain or required high levels of effort to obtain. Deprivation increased preference for immediate cigarettes over delayed money, but did not alter preference for immediate money over delayed money. These findings indicate that short-term nicotine abstinence does increase impulsive decision-making, but only when the impulsive choice is drug-related. Increases were not related to a general increase in the value of immediate rewards per se or a general increase in aversion to delayed rewards. Decision-making in the other tasks followed a similar pattern: Deprivation increased preference for the cigarette alternative but did not alter the decision-making processes for nondrug rewards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five psychologically addicted smokers with smoking rates of between 30-50 cigarettes per day, underwent a procedur consisting of 24 hours of sensor, deprivation with periodic taped messages. Two of the subjects were given "booster" sessions two months later. All five subjects reported that their craving for cigarettes disappeared during and for some days after the treatment, and all showed significant reductions in smoking rate (75-100 per cent) fir at least two weeks afterwards. Three subjects have quit smoking and have each gone at least one month without any cigarettes or craving fir cigarettes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]