Aberrant Disgust Responses and Immune Reactivity in Cocaine-Dependent Men

Aberrant Disgust Responses and Immune Reactivity in Cocaine-Dependent Men

BACKGROUND Infectious diseases are the most common and cost-intensive health complications associated with drug addiction. There is wide belief that drug-dependent individuals expose themselves more regularly to disease-related pathogens through risky behaviors such as sharing pipes and needles, thereby increasing their risk for contracting an infectious disease. However, evidence is emerging i...

Aberrant disgust response and immune reactivity in cocaine-dependent men might uncover deranged serotoninergic activity

In a recent issue of Biological Psychiatry, Ersche et al. (2014) published an interesting study on disgust sensitivity in Cocaine-dependent men. The authors of this research have explored the immunomodulatory effects of cocaine in disgust sensitivity, which is considered an important psychological mechanism of protection against the exposure to pathogens. Therefore, these researchers used neutr...

Emotion Insular Atrophy and Diminished Disgust Reactivity

The skinny on cocaine: Insights into eating behavior and body weight in cocaine-dependent men☆☆☆☆

There is a general assumption that weight loss associated with cocaine use reflects its appetite suppressing properties. We sought to determine whether this was justified by characterizing, in detail, alterations in dietary food intake and body composition in actively using cocaine-dependent individuals. We conducted a cross-sectional case-control comparison of 65 male volunteers from the local...

Aberrant Immune Responses in a Mouse with Behavioral Disorders

BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR) mice have recently been reported to have behaviors that resemble those of autistic individuals, in that this strain has impairments in social interactions and a restricted repetitive and stereotyped pattern of behaviors. Since immune responses, including autoimmune responses, are known to affect behavior, and individuals with autism have aberrant immune activities, we evaluat...