Skip to main content
Artificial Intelligence

Dronabinol for nightmares in post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial.

| Source: Nature medicine

Nightmares are a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet pharmacological treatments remain limited. Here we conducted a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dronabinol (BX-1; Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) for PTSD-related nightmares. Adults with PTSD and recurrent nightmares were randomly assigned to receive dronabinol (2.5-15 mg) or placebo, once daily before bedtime, for 10 weeks. The primary endpoin

Nightmares are a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet pharmacological treatments remain limited. Here we conducted a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dronabinol (BX-1; Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) for PTSD-related nightmares. Adults with PTSD and recurrent nightmares were randomly assigned to receive dronabinol (2.5-15 mg) or placebo, once daily before bedtime, for 10 weeks. The primary endpoint was change from baseline to week 10 in the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS-IV) B2 item assessing nightmare frequency and intensity. A total of 171 patients underwent randomization (mean age, 37.9 ± 12.8 years; 79.3% female), with 87 assigned to dronabinol and 84 to placebo. At week 10, reduction in CAPS-IV B2 scores was significantly greater with dronabinol than with placebo (between-group difference -1.50; 95% confidence interval -2.28 to -0.71; Cohen's d = 0.65; P < 0.001). Adverse events occurred in 78 patients (89.7%) receiving dronabinol and 64 (77.1%) receiving placebo. Treatment discontinuation due to adverse events occurred in five (5.7%) and six (7.2%) patients, respectively. Serious adverse events occurred in seven patients (8.0%) receiving dronabinol and in none receiving placebo. This trial provides evidence that dronabinol reduces the frequency and intensity of PTSD-related nightmares, although long-term efficacy and safety require further evaluation. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04448808 .

Read the original source →

Related Stories

Artificial Intelligence

Integrating cooperative breeding with reciprocity and culture extends Hamilton's rule to humans.

We study how kinship and reciprocity shape giving and child care support in societies with limited access to markets. Extending Hamilton's rule to incorporate reciprocity, we test it using behavioral data from dictator games and surveys in remote matrilocal and patrilocal villages of northeast India (N = 406 parents of young children). We replicate with data from urban Manila neighborhoods (N = 301) and the Solomon Islands (N = 624). Consistent with predictions, transfers to recipients increase

Continue reading
Artificial Intelligence

A microexon regulatory code reveals autism-linked genetic variation.

Neuronal microexons are a highly conserved class of alternative splicing events enriched in genes with critical functions in nervous system biology 1,2 . Microexon splicing is often disrupted in the brains of autistic individuals, and mice with microexon deficiencies display autism-like phenotypes 1,3,4 . However, the full landscape of microexons is not known, and the impact of genetic variation on these exons has not been systematically investigated. Here, through extensive transcriptome profil

Continue reading
Artificial Intelligence

Deep learning of fossil pollen morphology reveals 25,000 y of ecological change in eastern African grasslands.

Grass (Poaceae) pollen is largely overlooked in investigations of grassland evolution because the pollen of most species cannot be differentiated using traditional optical microscopy. However, the combination of superresolution microscopy and deep learning enables the capture and quantification of distinct morphological variation across the pollen of grass species. Using a semisupervised deep-learning strategy, we trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on superresolution images of known mo

Continue reading
Artificial Intelligence

Tyrosine phosphorylation unfolds nucleophosmin and disrupts its integration into the nucleolus.

Nucleophosmin (NPM1) is a multifunctional nucleolar protein essential for ribosome biogenesis, genome stability, and stress responses. Its integration into the nucleolus depends on its oligomerization and multivalent interactions that enable liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). Here, we investigate how tyrosine phosphorylation at Tyr17, Tyr29, and Tyr67 located within the interface between monomers at the N-terminal oligomerization domain regulates NPM1 structure and function. Replacing tyrosi

Continue reading
Artificial Intelligence

Human-artificial intelligence collaboration for comanaging epilepsy in real time.

One-third of the world's 70 million people with epilepsy have seizures uncontrolled by medication, and implantable devices are a promising treatment. These devices can detect impending seizures, missed medication and impaired cognition, but, like most medical devices, they cannot share this information with patients in real time. This is a missed opportunity for devices to learn from clinical events and teach patients how their behaviors affect their health. Here we present a device platform tha

Continue reading