Zapping the brain to fight cigarette cravings in HIV patients

This small pilot study tested whether a non-invasive brain stimulation technique could help people living with HIV who smoke. Researchers compared four sessions of real magnetic stimulation to fake (sham) stimulation to see if it reduced participants' cravings for cigarettes and their automatic attention to smoking-related images. The goal was to gather initial data on whether this approach could eventually support smoking cessation efforts in this high-risk group.