pain, neurosciences

Background: Chronic non-specific low back pain is a non-harmous condition often found in the general population. It is one of the most significant disabilities and needs different treatment modalities. This study investigates the effects of pain neuroscience education and physiotherapy on pain intensity, fear of movement and functional status in a Lithuanian cohort with non-specific low back pain. Methods: The study was performed at the primary health care unit in Kaunas, Lithuania. The key inclusion criterion was persistent non-specific low back pain longer than three months and which affects daily life functions...

Central sensitization (CS) involves an amplification of neural processing within the central nervous system that can result in widespread pain patterns and hypersensitivity to stimuli. The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) and various quantitative sensory testing (QST) methods purport to assess clinical markers of CS. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize and quantify the associations between total CSI scores and QST measures from previous studies. A systematic search identified 39 unique studies that were deemed eligible for the systematic review and 33 studies for meta-analyses (with 3314 subjects and 154 effect sizes), including five QST modalities: conditioned pain modulation, temporal summation, pressure pain threshold, heat pain threshold, and cold pain threshold...

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the application of Dezocine combined with psychological care in the postoperative pain management. METHODS: This is a retrospective study. A total of 186 HFS patients who underwent Microvascular Decompression (MVD) at First People's Hospital of Zunyi between January 2020 and January 2022 were selected as the study subjects. Patients were divided into two groups based on different treatment interventions. The control group (n = 93) received routine perioperative care without preemptive analgesia, while the observation group (n = 93) received preemptive analgesia and combined psychological care on the basis of the control group's intervention...

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze the clinical effects of combining carbamazepine and amitriptyline in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy with concurrent diabetic foot. METHODS: A total of 120 diabetic neuropathy patients treated at our hospital from June 2022 to November 2023 were included in the study. Patients meeting the inclusion criteria were registered, and their basic data were collected. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: the control group treated with amitriptyline and the study group treated with a combination of carbamazepine and amitriptyline...

Radicular pain, a common and complex form of neuropathic pain, presents significant challenges in treatment. Acupuncture, a therapy originating from ancient traditional Chinese medicine and widely utilized for various pain types, including radicular pain, has shown promising outcomes in the management of lumbar radicular pain, cervical radicular pain, and radicular pain due to spinal stenosis. Despite its efficacy, the exact mechanisms through which acupuncture achieves analgesia are not fully elucidated and are the subject of ongoing research...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

PURPOSE: To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the association between dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) with migraine-related clinical symptoms. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 266 women with episodic migraine. The migraine disability assessment (MIDAS) was used to evaluate migraine-related disability in the recent three months. Visual analogue scales (VAS) were also employed to examine migraine-related pains. Glycemic index and glycemic load indices were calculated using the nutritional information obtained from the food frequency questionnaire...

BACKGROUND: While acupuncture treatment has gained extensive usage in addressing headaches, there remains a notable gap in the literature analysis for this field. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a literature review using Citespace, VOSviewer, and Bibliometrix, aiming to examine the current status, strengths, and potential future directions in the utilization of acupuncture for headache treatment. METHODS: Relevant literature on acupuncture treatment for headaches between 2003 and 2023 was retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) core database...

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord stimulation is a common treatment option for neuropathic pain conditions. Despite its extensive use and multiple technological evolutions, long term efficacy of spinal cord stimulation is debated. Most studies on spinal cord stimulation include a rather limited number of patients and/or follow-ups over a limited period. Therefore, there is an urgent need for real-world, long-term data. METHODS: In 2018, the Belgian government initiated a nationwide secure platform for the follow-up of all new and existing spinal cord stimulation therapies...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

This commentary discusses the issues related to the current pharmacotherapy using super long-acting opioids (for the potential convenience for both patients and medical providers) for opioid addiction and argues for the potential to use a non-scheduled short-acting opioid to taper off opioids to reduce total number of patients on opioids and ultimately reduce opioid-related death. This article also proposes to develop short-acting opioids for addiction management instead of the current long-acting regimen. The authors further suggest that dezocine, a previously FDA approved medication for perioperative pain management and a non-scheduled opioid, be brought back to clinical practice in the US as a potential alternative addiction management medication, especially for those who are highly motivated to quit opioids completely using a taper off strategy...

Pain that persists beyond the time required for tissue healing and pain that arises in the absence of tissue injury, collectively referred to as nociplastic pain, are poorly understood phenomena mediated by plasticity within the central nervous system. The parabrachial nucleus (PBN) is a hub that relays aversive sensory information and appears to play a role in nociplasticity. Here, by preventing PBN Calca neurons from releasing neurotransmitters, we demonstrate that activation of Calca neurons is necessary for the manifestation and maintenance of chronic pain...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess abnormalities in the insular cortex of individuals suffering from migraines and examine their associations with pain duration, medication usage, and clinical symptoms. METHODS: We analyzed radiological data from 38 migraine patients who had undergone 3D iso T1-weighted brain MRI at our university hospital between 2019 and 2023. Structured questionnaires were used to collect information on participants' age, migraine type, disease duration, clinical symptoms, and medication use...

Immersive virtual reality (iVR) employs head-mounted displays or cave-like environments to create a sensory-rich virtual experience that simulates the physical presence of a user in a digital space. The technology holds immense promise in neuroscience research and therapy. In particular, virtual reality (VR) technologies facilitate the development of diverse tasks and scenarios closely mirroring real-life situations to stimulate the brain within a controlled and secure setting. It also offers a cost-effective solution in providing a similar sense of interaction to users when conventional stimulation methods are limited or unfeasible...

BACKGROUND: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a chronic neuropathic pain disorder that not only causes intense pain but also affects the psychological health of patients. Since TN pain intensity and negative emotion may be grounded in our own pain experiences, they exhibit huge inter-individual differences. This study investigates the effect of inter-individual differences in pain intensity and negative emotion on brain structure in patients with TN and the possible pathophysiology mechanism underlying this disease...

The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1 ) is famous as the target of Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the active ingredient of marijuana. Suppression of CB1 is frequently suggested as a drug target or gene therapy for many conditions (e.g., obesity, Parkinson's disease). However, brain networks affected by CB1 remain elusive, and unanticipated psychological effects in a clinical trial had dire consequences. To better understand the whole brain effects of CB1 suppression we performed in vivo imaging on mice under complete knockout of the gene for CB1 ( cnr1 -/- ) and also under the CB1 inverse agonist rimonabant...

Though perioperative pain neuroscience education (PPNE) positively influences patients' surgical outcomes, little is known about the mechanisms behind this treatment's success. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the potential mediating role of pain cognitions and pain sensitivity in the treatment effect of PPNE on postoperative quality of life in people undergoing surgery for lumbar radiculopathy. This secondary analysis uses data from 120 participants of a randomized controlled trial who were randomized to receive either PPNE or perioperative biomedical education before undergoing surgery for lumbar radiculopathy...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

INTRODUCTION: Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is a common complication of diabetes. Previous studies have implicated that mitochondrial dysfunction plays a role in the development of PDN, but its pathogenesis and mechanism have not been fully investigated. METHODS: In this study, we used high-fat diet/low-dose streptozotocin-induced rats as a model of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Behavioral testing, whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, and complex sensory nerve conduction velocity studies were used to assess peripheral neuropathy...

AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the potential therapeutic applications of stigmasterol for treating neuropathic pain. METHODS: Related mechanisms were investigated by DRG single-cell sequencing analysis and the use of specific inhibitors in cellular experiments. In animal experiments, 32 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the sham operation group, CCI group, ibuprofen group, and stigmasterol group. We performed behavioral tests, ELISA, H&E staining and immunohistochemistry, and western blotting...