Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

Scientists unravel immune cascade that drives tissue damage, complications in chlamydia infections

Closing a critical gap in knowledge, Harvard Medical School scientists have unraveled the immune cascade that fuels tissue damage and disease development in chlamydia infection - the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States.

13 Feb 2018

Trial shows safety, feasibility of adding immunotherapy during chemoradiation for head and neck cancer

Analysis of a clinical trial, RTOG Foundation 3504, finds that nivolumab immunotherapy can be administered safely in conjunction with radiation therapy and chemotherapy for patients with newly diagnosed local-regionally advanced head and neck cancers.

13 Feb 2018

Study finds decline in number of clinical trials funded by NIH

The number of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health has declined since 2005, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. During the same period, average trial sizes were observed to be smaller with only 10 percent of trials enrolling more than 500 participants.

13 Feb 2018

New review examines effectiveness of cupping therapy in athletes

Swimmer Michael Phelps's continued dominance at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics was accompanied by worldwide awareness of cupping. Cupping therapy has re-emerged as a potential approach to boost post-exercise metabolic recovery, reduce pain, and improve range of motion by increasing local microcirculation.

13 Feb 2018

Postoperative pain control following extensive pelvic exenteration

In the March issue of Diseases of the Colon & Rectum, surgeons from Australia discuss postoperative pain control following one of the most extensive operations performed for pelvic cancer.

13 Feb 2018

California joins states that would evict veterans who seek aid-in-dying option

California voters passed a law two years ago that allows terminally ill people to take lethal drugs to end their lives, but controversy is growing over a newer rule that effectively bans that option in the state's eight veterans' homes.

13 Feb 2018

Opioid users have increased risk of invasive pneumococcal diseases

Opioid users have a significantly increased risk of infections severe enough to require treatment at the hospital, such as pneumonia and meningitis, as compared to people who don't use opioids.

13 Feb 2018

Cannabis use triggers schizophrenia and other psychiatric issues

Schizophrenia and other psychiatric issues may be triggered by marijuana use, according to a research analysis in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

12 Feb 2018

Experimental molecular therapy restores insulation on peripheral nerves in mice

When the body attacks its own healthy tissues in an autoimmune disease, peripheral nerve damage handicaps people and causes persistent neuropathic pain when insulation on healing nerves doesn't fully regenerate.

12 Feb 2018

Testing for alpha fetoprotein may improve early liver cancer detection, finds study

A new study found that ultrasound imaging in combination with a blood test for alpha fetoprotein improved the detection of early-stage liver cancer by 40%.

12 Feb 2018

Researchers refine two innovative surgery techniques for effective treatment of lymphedema

Lymphoedema is fluid retention in the tissue caused by damage to the lymphatic system and is one of the most serious side-effects of cancer operations.

12 Feb 2018

Combining ultrasound with blood test improves detection of liver cancer by 40%

Combining ultrasound imaging with a blood test for high alpha fetoprotein levels improves detection of early-stage liver cancer by as much as 40 percent, researchers at UT Southwestern's Simmons Cancer Center found.

11 Feb 2018

Study provides valuable insights to prevalence of burnout in neurosurgery residents

When it comes to workplace stress, even doctors aren't immune to its effects. For doctors training to become neurosurgeons, burnout is common, and certain workplace stressors -- like unrewarding mentor relationships, difficult coworkers and not getting enough exposure to the operating room -- can lead to it, according to a new study from the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

9 Feb 2018

Japanese study seeks to establish link between insomnia and depression

Lay people tend to think that insomnia is usually a symptom of something else, like stress, a bad diet or a sedentary lifestyle, but this may not be true at all.

9 Feb 2018

Elderly women take longest time to arrive at the hospital after myocardial infarction, study reveals

It takes women aged over 65 the longest to arrive at the emergency department after the onset of myocardial infarction symptoms. As a consequence, valuable time is lost to reopen the occluded blood vessels and limit the damage to the myocardium.

9 Feb 2018

Researchers describe human blood-nerve barrier transcriptome for the first time

Human peripheral nerves -- all the nerves outside of the central nervous system -- are protected by the blood-nerve barrier. This is a tight covering of endothelial cells that maintains the microenvironment within the nerves by restricting the amounts or types of water, ions, solutes and nutrients that can reach the axons, or electric cables within the nerves, from the blood circulation system.

8 Feb 2018