Background: Since disulfiram’s discovery in the 1940s and its FDA approval for alcohol use disorder, other indications have been investigated. This review describes potential clinical applications, associated risks, and challenges. Methods: For this narrative review, a PubMed search was conducted for articles addressing in vivo studies of disulfiram with an emphasis on drug repurposing for the treatment of human diseases. The key search terms were “disulfiram” and “Antabuse”. Animal studies and in vitro studies highlighting important mechanisms and safety issues were also included. Results: In total, 196 sources addressing our research focus spanning 1948–2022 were selected for inclusion. In addition to alcohol use disorder, emerging data support a potential role for disulfiram in the treatment of other addictions (e.g., cocaine), infections (e.g., bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Borrelia burgdorferi, viruses, parasites), inflammatory conditions, neurological diseases, and cancers. The side effects range from minor to life-threatening, with lower doses conveying less risk. Caution in human use is needed due to the considerable inter-subject variability in disulfiram pharmacokinetics. Conclusions: While disulfiram has promise as a “repurposed” agent in human disease, its risk profile is of concern. Animal studies and well-controlled clinical trials are needed to assess its safety and efficacy for non-alcohol-related indications.
People hiss and swear when they make errors, frown and swear again when they encounter conflicting information. Such error- and conflict-related signs of negative affect are found even when there is no time pressure or external reward and the task itself is very simple. Previous studies, however, provide inconsistent evidence regarding the affective consequences of resolved conflicts, that is, conflicts that resulted in correct responses. We tested whether response accuracy in the Eriksen flanker task will moderate the effect of trial incongruence using affective priming to measure positive and negative affect. We found that responses to incongruent trials elicit positive affect irrespective of their accuracy. Errors, in turn, result in negative affect irrespective of trial congruence. The effects of conflicts and errors do not interact and affect different dimensions of affective priming. Conflicts change the speed of evaluative categorisation while errors are reflected in categorisation accuracy. We discuss the findings in light of the “reward value and prediction” model and the “affect as a feedback for predictions” framework and consider the possible mechanisms behind the divergent effects.
23 January 2018 in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
People often miss salient events that occur right in front of them. This phenomenon, known as change blindness, reveals the limits of visual awareness. Her
Introduction: Lyme disease (LD) affects ∼476,000 people each year in the United States. Symptoms are variable and include rash and flu-like symptoms. Reasons for the wide variation in disease outcomes are unknown. Powassan virus (POWV) is a tick-borne flavivirus that causes disease ranging from asymptomatic infection to encephalitis, neurologic damage, and death. POWV and LD geographic case distributions overlap, with Ixodes species ticks as the common vectors. Clinical ramifications of coinfection or sequential infection are unknown. Objectives: This study's primary objective was to determine the prevalence of POWV-reactive antibodies in sera samples collected from previously studied cohorts of individuals with self-reported LD history residing in the Northeastern United States. As a secondary objective, we studied clinical differences between people with self-reported LD history and low versus high POWV antibody levels. Methods: We used an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify IgG directed at the POWV envelope (E) protein domain III in 538 samples from individuals with self-reported LD history and 16 community controls. The samples were also tested with an ELISA assay to quantify IgG directed at the POWV NS1 protein. Results: The percentage of individuals with LD history and possible evidence of POWV exposure varied depending on the assay utilized. We found no significant difference in clinical symptoms between those with low or high POWV IgG levels in the in-house assay. Congruence of the EDIII and NS1 assays was low with only 12% of those positive in the in-house EDIII ELISA testing positive in the POWV NS1 ELISA. Conclusions: The results highlight the difficulty in flavivirus diagnostic testing, particularly in the retrospective detection of flavivirus exposure. The findings suggest that a prospective study with symptomatic patients using approved clinical testing is necessary to address the incidence and clinical implications of LD and POWV co-infection or sequential infection.
This study examined the adherence to and the potential benefit of Kundalini yoga (KY) for post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). Participants were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of a KY small-group intervention or a waitlist control (WLC). Adherence was measured as attendance at KY group sessions. Primary outcomes assessed pain, pain interference, fatigue, and global health. Secondary outcomes assessed multisystem symptom burden, mood, sleep, physical and social functioning, cognition, and mindfulness. Linear mixed models were used to test changes in outcomes over time as a function of group assignment; intercepts for participants were modeled as random effects. Although the target sample size was 40 participants, the study concluded with 29 participants due to recruitment challenges. No KY participants dropped out of the study, and participants attended 75% of group sessions on average, but WLC retention was poor (57%). Regarding primary outcomes, there was no significant interaction between group and time. Regarding secondary outcomes, there was a significant interaction between group and time for multisystem symptom burden (p < 0.05) and cognition (p < 0.01); KY participants reported improved multisystem symptom burden and cognition over the course of the study compared to WLC participants. To enhance recruitment and retention, future trials may consider expanding geographic access and including supportive procedures for WLC participants. This preliminary study supports the need for a larger study to determine if KY reduces multisystem symptom burden and enhances cognition among people with PTLDS.