Announcements  January 29, 2021 Director's Message, Helene Langevin, M.D. With all the challenges 2020 brought, our recent Advisory Council meeting offered a thoughtful beginning to the new year, with robust discussion on a range of important issues. During the open session of Council, I usually highlight several interesting studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). This month, I was pleased to share two recent articles on pain, one published in the journal NeuroImage that explored functional brain connectivity in patients with fibromyalgia, and another published in the Clinical Journal of Pain on the relationship between chronic pain and cognitive impairment. These publications and other NCCIH-funded research results on pain may contribute to managing the epidemic of chronic pain—an effort that will continue under the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-wide Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM (HEAL) Initiative. In his recent blog post, Dr. Alberto Rivera-Rentas touches upon the topic of recent studies that have found a substantial number of basic and preclinical published research results that cannot be reproduced by other laboratories under the conditions described in the publications. |  February 1, 2021 Five new research networks totaling $3.13 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health will allow investigators to refine and test key concepts that advance the study of emotional well-being. Emotional well-being has been defined as an overall positive state of one's emotions, life satisfaction, sense of meaning and purpose, and ability to pursue self-defined goals. The opportunity to research emotional well-being and its core components—a sense of balance in emotion, thoughts, social relationships, and pursuits—aligns with NIH's broader objectives of fostering health promotion and disease prevention. For example, having a sense of purpose in life has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. | February 1, 2021 Emmeline Edwards, Ph.D. Merav Sabri, Ph.D. While the world faces a multitude of challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, many experts are seeing a concurrent increase in mental health concerns. We are pleased to tell you that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding five new research networks at major academic institutions around the country to further research on emotional well-being. Emotional well-being has been defined as an overall positive state of one's emotions, life satisfaction, sense of meaning and purpose, and ability to pursue self-defined goals.  January 29, 2021 Emmeline Edwards, Ph.D. As a longtime member of the trans-National Institutes of Health (NIH) working group that oversees the High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) program, I enthusiastically encourage creative and bold investigators to explore this NIH Common Fund program, which supports exceptionally creative scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences within the NIH mission. The HRHR program catalyzes scientific discovery by supporting research proposals that, due to their inherent risk, may struggle in the traditional peer-review process despite their transformative potential. |  January 22, 2021 Wen Chen, Ph.D. In recent decades, neuroscience has made enormous progress in understanding how we sense and respond to the external world. Less is known about the interoceptive system—the ways in which we sense and respond to signals from within ourselves. Dysfunctions in interoception may play important roles in many neurological, psychiatric, and behavioral disorders. Gaining a better understanding of how interoception works may help us develop better ways to treat these conditions. |  January 2021 Issue There has been emerging interest in the use of complementary therapies such as hypnotherapy, yoga, or mindfulness meditation to aid in smoking cessation. To date, several of these interventions have shown some promise in preliminary, non-randomized studies, but there is not enough evidence to establish if mind and body practices are as efficacious as other evidence-based smoking cessation treatments. The natural product cytisine, primarily used in Central and Eastern European countries for smoking cessation, is not currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but has been shown to be effective in helping smokers quit. Complementary therapies can be part of a comprehensive tobacco cessation treatment plan that includes behavioral modifications, and may include pharmaceuticals to decrease cravings, group therapy, or counseling. |  Nerve cells in the brain's central amygdala that play opposite roles in modulating pain show striking differences in structure and electrophysiological function, according to a new study from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health's intramural research program. The study was recently published in the journal eNeuro. |  Findings from a new study reveal a critical role for Aβ sensory neurons in pressure sensation and also suggest the involvement of an unknown molecular pathway. Recently published in Nature Communications, the study was conducted by researchers from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the University of California, San Diego, and universities in Sweden and the United Kingdom. | Resources for Researchers To better understand the current pain and opioid public heath crises, the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health's Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, invites articles that focus on the multifactorial social and behavioral components that contribute to these two related crises. Responses to the interrelated crises of opioids and chronic pain in the United States require a comprehensive approach that brings together expertise and input from multiple disciplines and experiences that include for example: primary care providers; people who are in pain as well as those with substance use, misuse, addiction disorders; significant others; emergency departments; dentistry; law and the justice system; public health workers; and researchers in both substance abuse and pain. Potential authors should visit the AJPH website to review the Instructions for Authors and specific guidelines for the various types of manuscripts. Submissions are due on February 24, 2021, and can be submitted at https://www.editorialmanager.com/ajph. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) will host the next Health Disparities Research Institute (HDRI) virtually from August 9-13, 2021. Sign up  for NIMHD updates to receive notices about the course, application cycle and other announcements. The HDRI aims to support the research career development of promising early-career minority health/health disparities research scientists, and stimulate research in the disciplines supported by health disparities science. Applications will only be accepted from individuals who meet NIH's early-stage investigator (ESI) eligibility criteria. Applications are due by March 8, 2021. Upcoming Events February 11, 2021 at 11 a.m. ET National Institutes of Health (NIH) staff will host a preapplication webinar to discuss the overall structure and goals of the Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH) program and specific funding opportunity announcements, and answer questions from prospective applicants. Pre-registration for the webinar is required and participants are asked to submit their questions ahead of the webinar to the mailbox below. Participation in the webinar is optional. February 22-23, 2021; Videocast This capstone research conference will celebrate 10 years of the NIH Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) Common Fund Program. The goal of the SOBC program is to advance behavior change research through a focus on mechanisms of change and the integration of basic research with applied/interventional research. The capstone conference will highlight innovative examples of behavior change research consistent with SOBC principles, from use-inspired basic research to mechanisms-focused intervention science. Renowned national and international experts will share their research findings and visions for the future of the science of behavior change. The capstone conference will be virtual, open to the public, recorded, archived, and proceedings summarized in a publicly accessible report. View the agenda, speaker information, and a link to registration. |
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