Aging and Reward System Response to Inflammation and Anxiety Study

Open to people ages 60-80

• Participants will be required to be in good general health (as evaluated during the phone and in-person baseline session)
• Participants will be aged 60 to 80 years.
• 3/4 the participants (n=30) will be those with clinically significant anxiety as defined by a score of 5 or greater on the GAD-7;
• 1/4 the participants (n=10) will be those with low anxiety as defined by a GAD-7 score of <5.

• Presence of chronic mental or physical illness (except for anxiety)
• History of allergies, autoimmune, liver, or other severe chronic diseases
• Current and regular use of prescription medications such as steroids, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, aspirin, immune modifying drugs, opioid analgesics, statins, antihypertensive drugs, anti-arrhythmic drugs, and antidepressant medications (none in the last 6 months)
• Nightshift work or time zone shifts (> 3hrs) within the previous 6 weeks
• Previous history of fainting during blood draws.
• Claustrophobia
• Metal in the body
• Presence of co-morbid medical conditions not limited to but including cardiovascular (e.g., history of acute coronary event, stroke) and neurological diseases (e.g., Parkinson's disease), as well as pain disorders;
• Presence of comorbid inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune disorders;
• Presence of an uncontrolled medical condition that is deemed by the investigators to interfere with the proposed study procedures, or to put the study participant at undue risk;
• Presence of chronic infection, which may elevate pro-inflammatory cytokines;
• Presence of an acute infectious illness in the two weeks prior to an experimental session.
• Current Axis I psychiatric disorders other than anxiety as determined by the Research Version of the Structured Clinical Interview
• Lifetime history of suicide attempt or inpatient psychiatric admission.
• Sleep Disorders: Current history of sleep apnea or nocturnal myoclonus;
• Phase-shift disorder
• Current and/or past regular use of hormone-containing medications including steroids;
• Current and/or past regular use of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs;
• Current and/or past regular use of immune modifying drugs that target specific immune responses such as cytokine antagonists;
• Current and/or past regular use of analgesics such as opioids;
• Current and/or past regular use of cardiovascular medications, including antihypertensive, anti-arrhythmic, antianginal, and anticoagulant drugs;
• Current smoking
• Current excessive caffeine use (>600 mg/day) because of the known effects on pro-inflammatory cytokine levels;
• Evidence of recreational drug use from urine test.
• Body mass index > 35 because of the effects of obesity on proinflammatory cytokine activity
• Any clinically significant abnormality on screening laboratory tests
• Clinically significant abnormalities in electrocardiogram