Featured Paper of the Month – October 2019
Published in The Journal of Neuroscience by Hsu, Li-Ming; Keeley, Robin J; Liang, Xia; Brynildsen, Julia K; Lu, Hanbing; Yang, Yihong; Stein, Elliot A
Smoking remains a major public health burden, with approximately 20% of the world’s population engaging in regular smoking. Given the high relapse rate among smokers who enter treatments programs, early identification of vulnerable individuals, before the conversion from casual experimentation to regular smoking and addiction, is an important milestone to understand, prevent and potentially minimize nicotine dependence. Using a rodent model of nicotine dependence, we developed a quantitative predictor of subsequent nicotine dependence severity using graph theory-based analyses of fMRI BOLD resting state data collected at baseline, prior to any drug experience…