Research Trials

Listed below are the research trials currently being conducted at the Psychiatric Research Institute. Unless otherwise noted, all of them are currently accepting participants. See the respective contacts for each trial for more information.

Brain Imaging Research Center

Research Opportunity for Teens

The Brain Imaging Research Center is conducting a study on how environment and drug use may change how adolescents think about their future and themselves.

Eligibility Criteria:

Boys and girls, ages 11-16
May have tried drugs, or may have never tried drugs
No internal metals or major medical conditions

If eligible, you will:

Complete confidential interviews with a trained researcher (2-3 hours)
Attend a second visit to let us take pictures of your brain with an MRI (less than 1 hour)

For more information, call (501) 420-2653.

Modeling sex-differences in trauma-related neural organization conferring resilience against addiction (RES)

The goal of this study is to understand why some people experience childhood trauma but do not develop an addiction. We are looking for adult men and women to participate in this study. Participants in this study will be asked to come to UAMS for two visits. On the first visit, we will ask questions about how the participant is currently feeling and his or her past childhood experiences. We will also give cognitive tests to the participant. This visit takes about 3 hours to complete. The participant will return for a second visit to complete the MRI scan, which will take about 1 ½ hours to complete. During the MRI scan, we will ask the participant to perform more cognitive tasks. Participants will be compensated for their time.

Eligibility Criteria:

Male or female
Ages 18-40
With or without a history of childhood trauma
No internal metals
No major medical conditions

This study is currently accepting participants. Please contact Natalie Morris at NMorris@uams.edu or call (501) 420-2653 for more information.

Center for Addiction Research

Improving Treatment Outcomes for Opioid Dependence

The goal of this study is to improve treatment outcomes with buprenorphine-assisted detoxification from prescription pain relievers like Dilaudid, hydrocodone, oxycodone and methadone. The study initially involves the use of the drug buprenorphine, which is used to taper participants off prescription pain relievers, and gabapentin, known clinically as Neurontin. After being tapered off buprenorphine, participants receive Vivitrol, an FDA-approved drug shown to help prevent relapse in individuals who stop heroin or prescription pain reliever use. Study participants will meet with a research therapist weekly for an hour-long session that will include education and support, medication management, techniques to enhance motivation for abstinence and review of problem areas. There is no cost to participate in this study, and research subjects who are found eligible will receive monetary compensation for their time.

Eligibility Criteria:

Male or female
Ages 18-65
Problem with prescription pain killers
Able to attend clinic six days per week for the first three weeks

This study is currently accepting participants. For more information, call 501-526-7969. All calls are confidential.

DITO-Quit

We are recruiting adult cigarette smokers (aged 18-55) for a study on how daily hassles affect quitting smoking. You will be asked to make a quit attempt using nicotine replacement therapy (skin patches or gum), use a smartphone app for two weeks, and undergo magnetic resonance imaging on one occasion.
This study lasts about 12 weeks and includes:
• a two-hour screening session
• a two-and-a-half-hour study visit
• five one-hour follow-up visits.

You will be compensated for the study visits.
IRB #239354

This study is currently accepting participants. Please contact Merideth Addicott at maddicott@uams.edu or Debbie Hodges at dhodges@uams.edu or call at (501)526-8462 or (501)231-0307 for more information.

Sedatives and Tobacco Use

We are recruiting adult cigarette smokers (aged 18-55) for a study on the effects of sedatives on smoking. You will be asked to not smoke two times for 10 hours each time and receive intravenous medication. This study does not provide treatment for smoking.
This study lasts about four weeks and includes:
• a three-hour screening session
• two two-and-a-half-hour study days
• one three-hour drug infusion day
• one half-hour follow-up visit

You will be compensated for the study visits.
IRB #229077

E-Cigarette Users (JUUL)

We are recruiting adult e-cigarette users (aged 21-35) for a study to measure nicotine levels in the body. You will be asked to vape a JUUL e-cigarette and provide two blood samples.
This study lasts 1 day and includes:
• a one-hour screening session and
• a two-hour study visit on the same day

You will be compensated for the study visit.
IRB #261689

Center for Health Services Research

Stress in Meth

The purpose of this study is to learn more about how people who use methamphetamine respond to stressful events, such as being in an emergency department (ED) setting. By doing this study, we also hope to find out whether certain tasks make a space at UAMS that looks like an ED seem more like an actual ED. Up to 20 methamphetamine-using participants between the ages of 21 and 55 years old will be part of this study. This is not a treatment study.

This study involves three 3-hour visits to UAMS, including an in-person screening session and two laboratory day sessions. At the first laboratory day session, participants will be asked to either respond to three different scenarios or to imagine the circumstances surrounding their most stressful visit to an emergency department. Participants will then be asked to complete a simple arithmetic task. At the second laboratory day session, participants will be asked to watch a nature video instead of completing a speaking task and an arithmetic task.

There is no cost to participate in this study and participants will be compensated for their time.

Eligibility Criteria:

Male or female
Ages 21-55
Have been previously inside an ED as either a patient or visitor
Recent history of methamphetamine use
Able to attend three 3-hour visits to UAMS

This study is currently accepting participants. For more information, contact the DEMBER Lab at (501) 570-6362. All calls are confidential.

Neurocognitive Dynamics Laboratory

Probing and Understanding the Brain: Micro and Macro Dynamics of Seizure and Memory Networks

The purpose of this research study is to help us better understand how the brain changes its activity before, during and after a seizure and how those changes affect the brain’s ability to create and recall memories. To accomplish that goal, we must obtain information both from individuals who suffer from epilepsy and individuals who have never had a seizure or brain injury. Forty (40) people 18 years or older who have epilepsy and 20 people 18 years or older who have never had a seizure or brain injury will take part in this study. Eligible individuals with epilepsy who provide consent to participate will be asked to perform several memory tasks while wearing a cap to measure the electrical activity of their brain using electroencephalography (EEG). These EEG assessments of memory will be conducted on at least 2 separate occasions during the study. For the healthy participants there will usually only be one study visit during which the memory tasks would be completed while wearing the cap to measure the electrical activity in the brain using EEG. All participants who complete EEG assessments will be reimbursed $50 for each visit.

Eligibility Criteria:

Male or female
Age 18 or older
Patients previously diagnosed with epilepsy or healthy control participants who have no history of seizures or brain injury and no major medical conditions.

This study is currently accepting participants. Please contact Aaron S. Kemp at ASKemp@uams.edu, or call (501) 526-8291 for more information.

A Multimodal Interrogation of Cognitive-Motor Network Integration in Parkinson’s Disease

The purpose of this study is to try to understand why some people who have Parkinson’s disease develop a problem called “freezing of gait”. We believe that this problem may be related to cognitive problems that are also common among individuals with Parkinson’s disease and we are trying to determine whether certain brain networks may underlie the occurrence of both of these types of problems. In this pilot study clinical, behavioral, and electroencephalographic (EEG) data will be obtained from approximately 120 human participants who either have or have not been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. All consenting participants will undergo a clinical evaluation by a neurologist, and be administered a set of behavioral tasks to assess motor functions in upper and lower limbs, and an optional EEG to measure electrical activity in the brain. The current study will provide pilot data that will then be used in a grant proposal that we plan to submit to the National Institutes of Health. Participants will be reimbursed for their time spent completing the study procedures, which could range from $20 to $70, depending on whether you participate in some optional procedures, such as the EEG.

Eligibility Criteria:

Male or female
Age range: 45-90
Patients previously diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) or healthy control (HC) participants who have no have no other neurological, psychiatric, or major medical conditions that may affect cognition or walking abilities.

Additional inclusion/exclusion criteria to be discussed with all interested in learning more.

This study is currently accepting participants. Please contact Aaron S. Kemp at ASKemp@uams.edu, or call (501) 526-8291 for more information.

Impact of buprenorphine-assisted treatment on sleep, mood and cognition among opioid use disorder patients

The purpose of this research study is to help us better understand the relations among sleep quality, mood disturbances, cognition function, and treatment outcomes in individuals with opioid use disorders who are participating in a buprenorphine maintenance therapy (BMT) program at UAMS. To accomplish that goal, we will obtain self-reported and quantitative measures of sleep, mood, and cognition from individuals who have recently started the BMT program and investigate how those measures change after 2 months and 4 months of participation in the BMT program, and whether any of these changes are predictive of treatment success. Participants will be reimbursed for their time spent completing the study procedures as follows: $45 for completing a series of questionnaires, cognitive tests, and an overnight sleep study; $25 for completing the same questionnaires and cognitive tests again after 2 months; and an additional $45 for completing the same questionnaires, cognitive tests, and another overnight sleep study after 4 months.

Eligibility Criteria:

Male or female
Age 18 or older
Patients who are enrolled in the buprenorphine maintenance therapy (BMT) program at the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute.

Additional inclusion/exclusion criteria to be discussed with all interested in learning more.

This study is currently accepting participants. Please contact Aaron S. Kemp at ASKemp@uams.edu, or call (501) 526-8291 for more information.