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New research on mouse models may provide a greater understanding of the connection between pain intensity and sleep loss, a topic that has been explored in the past by various members of the PAINWeek faculty. Sleep psychologist Chloe Alexandre, PhD, and pain psychologist Alban Latremoliere, PhD, led...
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A research team led by Eóin McNamee, PhD, at University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus, has identified a microRNA produced by white blood cells that can modulate the inflammasome responsible for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The study in...
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Researchers from Texas A&M University are seeking to develop new drugs that alter the function of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain which, if successful, may result in new treatment options for conditions that include nicotine addiction, Alzheimer’s, and other memory disorders, as well...
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A number of factors came together to facilitate increased prescribing of opioids and prescribing to more people using higher doses. There was a perceived under treatment of chronic pain. Laws and regulations were passed in many states to permit the use of opioids for that purpose, for which they...
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As professionals, we’re always thinking about the patients we’re helping and we rarely think about ourselves. Sometimes we feel even a little guilty when we do. And yet, I like to remind everyone when you’re listening to the safety instructions from the flight attendant, she or he says ‘put on your...
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Echoing a consensus view expressed by many PAINWeek faculty participants, the West Virginia House of Delegates took legislative action last week acknowledging the limitations of opioid prescribing restrictions on the crisis of opioid abuse, and on the well-being of patients with chronic pain. The...
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An article in the April 2 edition of The Washington Post offers confirmation of a problem that has been extensively discussed by members of PAINWeek faculty: the persistent and prevalent under diagnosis of women’s chronic pain conditions. Journalist Hillary Gulley relates her personal experience of...
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A study reported in the American Journal of Orthopedics concludes that music therapy is effective in reducing postoperative pain in patients who underwent spine surgery. The research was conducted by a team from the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine and the Mount Sinai Department of...
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Transformative care is a strategy to really improve the care for patients with pain. It basically means integrating training of patients with treatment of patients. Evidence-based treatments work very well, slightly above placebo, and work fairly well short term, but most patients don’t want to be...
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I think it’s important for primary care providers or anyone taking care of chronic pain patients to realize that the central nervous system plays a very prominent role in pain processing. In many individuals, in whom we see that the central nervous system is amplifying their pain, the brain is also...