Pain science

PURPOSE: Work-related low back pain (WRLBP) is a highly prevalent health problem worldwide leading to work disability and increased healthcare utilisation. General practitioners (GPs) play an important role in the management of WRLBP. Despite this, understanding of GP service use for WRLBP is limited. This systematic review aimed to determine the prevalence, patterns and determinants of GP service use for WRLBP. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase via Ovid, Scopus and Web of Science were searched for relevant peer-reviewed articles published in English without any restriction on time of publications...

Cachexia is a systemic wasting condition associated to advanced phases of many cancers, which contributes to significant morbidity and mortality. It is mainly characterized by involuntary weight loss due to muscle wasting often associated with loss of adipose tissue, possibly leading to inanition and death, without treatment to date. Symptomatology covers a complex array of disorders (fatigue, inflammation, pain, anorexia, depression) related to multisystemic impairments progressively affecting numerous organs and tissues (muscle, adipose tissue, brain, immune system, gastrointestinal tract)...

The efficacy of the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols in neurosurgery has not yet been established. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to compare the effects of ERAS protocols and conventional perioperative care on postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing craniotomy. The primary outcome was postoperative length of hospital stay. Secondary outcomes included postoperative pain visual analog pain scores, incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), postoperative complications, all-cause reoperation, readmission after discharge, and mortality...

OBJECTIVE: his study aimed to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of gabapentin and pregabalin in the treatment of acute herpes zoster neuralgia, including pain control and the occurrence of adverse effects. METHOD: A systematic computerized search was conducted in October 2023 in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, VIP, CNKI, and Wanfang databases. Data from randomized controlled trials comparing gabapentin analogs for the treatment of acute herpes zoster neuralgia were searched...

INTRODUCTION: Acute thoracolumbar intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH) constitutes an emergency because associated neurological clinical signs can be progressive, with prognosis dependent on preoperative presence of deep pain perception. Pre-anesthetic thoracic radiographs are routinely performed to evaluate for potential pathology that could result in increased risk or change in overall prognosis. However, due to the emergent nature of this disease, the weight of thoracic radiographic findings on treatment plans for these dogs in unknown...

Background Oncological surgeries pose an elevated risk of surgical site infections (SSIs) due to their complexity and various associated treatments, impacting patient outcomes and healthcare costs. This has prompted a focus on advanced wound dressings that provide microbial protection, exudate absorption, and improved product performance, enhancing patient satisfaction. Our study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of Theruptor NXT with the current standard of care (SOC) practice involving cotton/povidone/micropore dressings in the postoperative wound management of oncological surgeries...

Pain management is a critical aspect of cancer treatment and palliative care, where pain can significantly impact quality of life. Chronic pain, which affects a significant number of people worldwide, remains a prevalent and challenging symptom for patients. While medications and psychosocial support systems play a role in pain management, surgical and radiological interventions, including cingulotomy, may be necessary for refractory cases. Cingulotomy, a neurosurgical procedure targeting the cingulate gyrus, aims to disrupt neural pathways associated with emotional processing and pain sensation, thereby reducing the affective component of pain...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common debilitating diseases among the aging population. Nigella sativa is one potential treatment for OA. Here, we sought to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Nigella sativa for treating patients with OA. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science were searched up to October 20, 2022. The primary outcome was changes in the pain score after receiving Nigella sativa or control agents based on the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs)...

OBJECTIVES: To explore the efficacy and safety of tetrandrine in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: Randomized controlled studies of tetrandrine in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis were searched in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), World Wide Web Database, SinoMed, PubMed, Springer, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trails database. A meta-analysis was conducted using R software version 3...

While ample research has shown that sport injuries are associated with poor psychological status, scant attention has been given to changes in injured athletes' psychological status over the full course of recovery and return to sport. The aim of the present study was to prospectively investigate potential changes in injured athletes' psychological status across four phases of recovery and return to sport. A total of 38 severely injured adult competitive athletes (58% female; mean age 24.1 ± 7...

BACKGROUND: Substantial work has been done to update or create evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the changing health care landscape. However, the success of these EBPs is limited by low levels of clinician implementation. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to describe the use of standardized/simulated patient/person (SP) methodology as a framework to develop implementation bundles to increase the effectiveness, sustainability, and reproducibility of EBPs across health care clinicians...

Back pain is one of the major global challenges and is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal disorders occurring in 80% of people at least once in their lifetime. Therefore, the need to find appropriate treatment methods for this issue is very important. The objective is to examine the short-term and acute effects of a treatment session with dry needling, massage therapy, stretching exercises and Kinesio tape on pain, functional disability, position sense and range of motion in elite bodybuilders with non-specific chronic low back pain...

Periodic quantification of blood glucose levels is performed using painful, invasive methods. The proposed work presents the development of a noninvasive glucose-monitoring device with two sensors, i.e., finger and wrist bands. The sensor system was designed with a near-infrared (NIR) wavelength of 940 nm emitter and a 900-1700 nm detector. This study included 101 diabetic and non-diabetic volunteers. The obtained dataset was subjected to pre-processing, exploratory data analysis (EDA), data visualization, and integration methods...

Magnetic resonance-diffusion tensor imaging (MR-DTI) has been used in the microvascular decompression and gamma knife radiosurgery in trigeminal neuralgia (TN) patients; however, use of percutaneous stereotactic radiofrequency rhizotomy (PSR) to target an abnormal trigeminal ganglion (ab-TG) is unreported. Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean and radial diffusivity (MD and RD, respectively), and axial diffusivity (AD) of the trigeminal nerve (CNV) were measured in 20 TN patients and 40 healthy control participants immediately post PSR, at 6-months, and at 1 year...

The Cannabis sativa plant has been used for centuries as a recreational drug and more recently in the treatment of patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders. In many instances, treatment goals include relief from posttraumatic disorders, anxiety, or to support treatment of chronic pain. Ligands acting on cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) are also potential targets for the treatment of other health conditions. Using an evidence-based approach, pharmacological investigation of CB1R agonists is timely, with the aim to provide chronically ill patients relief using well-defined and characterized compounds from cannabis...

The sample comprised 44 volunteers who had undergone some surgical procedure and were equally divided into four groups. G1 started the therapy 24 h after the surgical procedure with the device off. G2 followed the same time pattern, 24 h, but with the device turned on. G3 and G4 started therapy three days after the surgical procedure; in G3, the device was turned off, and in G4, the device remained on during therapy; each session lasted 30 min, using 660 nm (red), energy 180 J. For all groups, the therapy started with daily use for seven days and followed the interval use of three times a week until completed 21 days...

The increasing incidence of psychological pains, burnout, and anxiety among gamblers in Nigeria is high. This is because pathological gambling (PG) is on the rise and it is linked to many social vices such as stealing, drug abuse, and sexual abuse. It is important to investigate the trajectories of PG in Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was employed in our study with 197 participants sampled from 28 gambling venues in Nigeria made up the study's sample size. Of the 197, 131 (66.5%) were males and 66 (33...

Salivary stones, known as sialoliths, form within the salivary ducts due to abnormal salivary composition and cause painful symptoms, for which surgical removal is the primary treatment. This study explored the role of the salivary microbial communities in the formation of sialoliths. We conducted a comparative analysis of microbial communities present in the saliva and salivary stones, and sequenced the 16S rRNA gene in samples obtained from patients with sialoliths and from healthy individuals. Although the diversity in the saliva was high, the essential features of the microbial environment in sialoliths were low diversity and evenness...

Post-stroke depression is commonly experienced by stroke survivors and has a significant negative impact on the physical, cognitive, and social functioning of those affected. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and their associated factors in Chinese stroke patients. Research samples were selected from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2018 survey. Depression was evaluated using the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, with a score ≥ 10 defined as depression...

Diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) are challenging and often intractable complex medical conditions, with a substantial impact on the quality of life. Mirogabalin, a novel voltage-gated Ca2+ channel α2δ ligand, was approved for the indication of DPNP and PHN. However, the time course of effects has not yet been clarified.We aimed to establish pharmacodynamic and placebo effect models of mirogabalin and pregabalin in DPNP and PHN, and to quantitatively compare the efficacy characteristics (maximum efficacy, onset time, and other pharmacodynamic parameters) and safety of mirogabalin and pregabalin...