The DCI is a useful, practicable instrument in the clinic or research practice allowing an assessment of lifetime likelihood of TS. Further work is needed to test the DCI's psychometric properties, such as its validity and reliability in populations of interest.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an etiologically heterogeneous disorder. Recent factor analyses have consistently identified several symptom dimensions, two of which are associated with increased familial risk for OCD; aggressive, sexual, and religious obsessions and checking compulsions (FACTOR 1) and symmetry and ordering obsessions and compulsions (FACTOR 2). Both of these symptom dimensions are also frequently seen in association with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS). The purpose of this study was to determine whether these obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptom dimensions are correlated within families (between sibs and between parent-child pairs). Using data collected by the Tourette Syndrome Association International Consortium for Genetics Affected Sibling Pair Study, the authors selected all available GTS sib pairs and their parents for which these OC symptom dimensions (factor scores) could be generated. This group included 128 full sibs and their mothers (54) and fathers (54). Four OC symptom dimension scores were computed for each family member using an algorithm derived from item endorsements from the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) symptom checklist. In addition to a series of univariate analyses, complex segregation analyses were also completed using these quantitative OC symptom dimension scores. FACTOR 1 and FACTOR 2 scores were significantly correlated in sib pairs concordant for GTS. The mother-child correlations, but not father-child correlations, were also significant for these two factors. Segregation analyses were consistent with dominant major gene effects for both FACTOR 1 and FACTOR 2. We conclude that familial factors contribute significantly to OC symptom dimension phenotypes in GTS families. This familial contribution could be genetic or environmental.

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Objective Relapse is a major problem in drug addiction treatment. Both drug craving and drug-related cognitions (e.g., attentional bias and implicit attitudes to drugs) may contribute to relapse. Using ecological momentary assessments (EMA), we examined whether craving and cognitions assessed during drug detoxification treatment were associated with relapse. Method Participants were 68 heroin-dependent inpatients undergoing clinical detoxification at an addiction treatment center. Participants carried around a personal digital assistant (PDA) for 1-week. Participants completed up to 4 random assessments (RAs) per day. They also completed an assessment when they experienced a temptation to use drugs (TA). At each assessment, participants reported their craving and attitudes to drugs. Implicit cognitions were assessed with a drug Stroop task (attentional bias) and an Implicit Association Test (implicit attitudes). Results Individuals who relapsed during the study week exhibited a larger attentional bias and more positive implicit attitudes to drugs than non-relapsers at TAs (but not RAs). In addition, compared to non-relapsers, relapsers reported higher levels of craving and more positive explicit attitudes to drugs at TAs compared to RAs. Additional within-subject analyses revealed that attentional bias for drugs at TAs increased before relapse. Conclusions Drug-related cognitive processes assessed using EMA were associated with relapse during drug detoxification. Real-time assessment of craving and cognitions may help to identify individuals at risk of relapse, and when they are at risk of relapse.

Drug-dependent patients often relapse into drug use after treatment. Behavioral studies show that enhanced attentional bias to drug cues is a precursor of relapse. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examined whether brain regions involved in attentional bias are predictive of cocaine use after treatment. Attentional bias-related brain activity was measured-with a cocaine Stroop task-in cocaine-dependent patients during their first week in detoxification treatment and was used to predict cocaine use at 3-month follow-up. The predictive value of attentional bias-related brain activity in a priori defined regions of interest, in addition to other measures such as self-reports of substance severity, craving, and behavioral attentional bias were examined. The results show that craving in the week before treatment and individual variability in attentional bias-related activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) were significant predictors of days of cocaine use at 3-month follow-up and accounted for 45% in explained variance. Brain activity in the dACC uniquely contributed 22% of explained variance to the prediction model. These findings suggest that hyperactive attentional biasrelated brain activity in the dACC might be a biomarker of relapse vulnerability as early as in the first week of detoxification treatment. Ultimately, this may help to develop individually tailored treatment interventions to reduce relapse risk.