Biomedical subjects

Alicia Bonahoom

Publications and source records attributed to Alicia Bonahoom.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Ethanol and sleep loss: a "dose" comparison of impairing effects.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Studies to assess the risks associated with sleep loss relative to the well-documented risks of alcohol are limited in number and design. This study compared the "dose"-related sedative, performance-impairing, and amnestic effects of sleep loss to those of ethanol ingestion. DESIGN: Mixed-design experiment with random assignment to a sleep loss (n=12) or ethanol (n=20) group, with each participant assessed under 4 conditions. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two healthy normal adult volunteers, aged 21 to 35 years. INTERVENTIONS: In sleep loss, participants had 8, 6, 4, and 0 hours time in bed, producing 0, 2, 4, and 8 hours of sleep loss. For ethanol, participants ingested 0.0 g/kg, 0.3 g/kg, 0.6 g/kg, and 0.9 g/kg ethanol from 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM after 8 hours of time in bed the previous night. Each participant received his or her 4 doses of ethanol or sleep loss in a Latin square design with 3 to 7 days between doses. MEASUREMENTS: All subjects completed the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) at 9:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 1:30 PM, 3:30 PM, and 5:30 PM and a performance battery at 10:00 AM, 12:00 NOON, 2:00 PM, and 4:00 PM consisting of memory, psychomotor vigilance, and divided attention tests. RESULTS: Ethanol and sleep loss reduced the average daily sleep latency on the MSLT, both as a linear function of dose, with sleep loss in hours being 2.7 times more potent than ethanol in grams per kilogram. Ethanol and sleep loss also slowed reaction time on the psychomotor vigilance test in a linear dose-related function with the 2 being equipotent in their impairing effect. On the divided attention test, tracking deviations were increased by both ethanol and sleep loss in an equipotent and linear dose-related function. Memory recall was reduced in a linear dose-related function by both ethanol and sleep loss with ethanol being slightly more potent. Finally, sleep loss doses produced a linear decrease in self-rated quality of performance, while only at the highest ethanol dose was performance rated as poorer. CONCLUSIONS: At the studied doses, sleep loss was more potent than ethanol in its sedative effects but comparable in effects on psychomotor performance. Ethanol produced greater memory deficits, and subjects were less aware of their overall performance impairment.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Nighttime versus daytime hypnotic self-administration.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have shown that insomniacs self-administer hypnotics at high nightly rates. This study assessed whether insomniacs' self-administration of hypnotics extended to the daytime. METHODS: Forty-four healthy men and women, 21-55 years old, with ( n=22) and without ( n=22) insomnia volunteered. They were randomized to one of two triazolam dose groups (0.125 or 0.25 mg) and their preference for placebo versus triazolam was assessed at night (2300 hours) and day (0900 hours) over 7 consecutive days in each phase. In both night and day phases of the study, subjects received triazolam or placebo in color-coded capsules on two sampling days or nights and then were forced to choose their preferred capsule on 5 subsequent days or nights. The order of day and night study phases and the placebo and triazolam sampling days was counterbalanced. In the night phase subjects went to bed from 2330 to 0730 hours and in the day phase they were tested for level of sleepiness-alertness at 1000, 1200, 1400, and 1600 hours by the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) and mood and performance at 1100 and 1500 hours. RESULTS: More triazolam was chosen at night than during the day. No dose differences in preferences at night versus day or between insomniacs and normals were found. Insomniacs did not differ in their triazolam preferences between night and day, while the normals chose triazolam less frequently during the day. Among insomniacs, 40% chose triazolam on >3 of the 5 days. On both screening and placebo sampling days, those with a high (>60%) daytime triazolam preference had greater average daily sleep latencies on the MSLT than those with a low (<50%) daytime triazolam preference (i.e. with a placebo preference). In the triazolam preference group, triazolam reduced daily MSLT latencies to the level of the placebo preference group. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the minority of insomniacs who self-administer hypnotics during the day are physiologically aroused and the drug reduces their arousal suggesting that their daytime self-administration, like their night-time self-administration, is more consistent with therapy-seeking than drug-seeking behavior, at least for the short-term.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Disturbed sleep predicts hypnotic self-administration.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluative whether polysomnographically determined sleep variables in a large group of subjects reflecting a wide range of sleep disturbance would be predictive of the self-administration of capsules before sleep. METHODS: Sixty-four healthy men and women with and without insomnia (aged 21-55 years) were given an opportunity to self-administer placebo or triazolam (0.25 mg) capsules (single-choice method - available capsule or no capsule) before sleep in three separate studies. All qualified using the identical criteria based on a standard nocturnal polysomnogram. Screening sleep measures then were used to predict subsequent placebo and triazolam self-administration. RESULTS: The percent of placebo and triazolam choices did not differ between or within the three studies. Persons with persistent psychophysiologic insomnia self-administered more capsules than persons with sleep state misperception or normals, with the subject groups not differing in placebo vs. active drug preference. Screening polysomnographic measures predicted percent of capsule choices. The single best predictor was the ratio of minutes of stage 3-4 sleep to minutes of wake plus stage 1 sleep with R=0.44. The addition of % stage 3-4 sleep, wake before sleep and total sleep time increased R to 0.49. On morning mood ratings less ability to concentrate and greater fatigue (Profile of Mood States) predicted percent of capsule choices with R=0.36. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the extent of sleep disturbance predicts the likelihood of self-administering a capsule before sleep regardless of whether it is placebo or active drug.

Journal Article↗