Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

Meditation decreases depression, anxiety and stress in school teachers

Schoolteachers who underwent a short but intensive program of meditation were less depressed, anxious or stressed - and more compassionate and aware of others' feelings, according to a UCSF-led study that blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions.

29 Mar 2012

EpiCept to receive $0.97M in public offering

EpiCept Corporation announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with a single life science focused institutional investor for the purchase of 1,065 shares of its new Series B 0% Convertible Preferred Stock at $1,000 per share, which are convertible into an aggregate of approximately 6.3 million shares of its common stock, and five-year warrants to purchase up to approximately 3.1 million shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $0.17 per share that are immediately exercisable.

29 Mar 2012

Single-port laparoscopic appendectomy performed at Valley Presbyterian Hospital

Surgeons at Valley Presbyterian Hospital (VPH) recently performed the hospital's first-ever single-port laparoscopic appendectomy, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for removing an infected appendix, which reduces scarring and healing time because it requires only one incision, Gustavo Valdespino, VPH president and CEO, announced today.

29 Mar 2012

Relievant Medsystems secures $30M in Series D equity financing

Relievant Medsystems, Inc., a privately held medical device company pioneering the therapeutic use of basivertebral nerve ablation for the treatment of chronic axial low back pain, announced today that it has secured $30 million in a Series D equity financing to advance and expand the Company's worldwide clinical development programs.

29 Mar 2012

Positive results from Allergan's BOTOX Phase III trials on idiopathic overactive bladder

Allergan, Inc. today announced that two Phase III clinical trials of BOTOX (onabotulinumtoxinA) as a potential treatment option for patients with idiopathic overactive bladder met their pre-specified primary endpoints.

29 Mar 2012

FDA approves Omontys - new anemia drug for chronic kidney disease patients

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday approved a new drug called Omontys (peginesatide). This is expected to oust Amgen Inc.’s from its near monopoly in the roughly $6 billion U.S. anemia treatment market.

28 Mar 2012

New biography on intuitive genius of CT

This new biography sheds light on a Nobel Laureate who changed the world as a result of his breakthrough in medical imaging CT scans in 1972. Godfrey Hounsfield: Intuitive Genius of CT explores his life through stories and recollections of his colleagues, family and friends.

28 Mar 2012

Out-of-hospital use of GIK as therapy for ACS patients needs to be assessed

Patients experiencing symptoms such as chest pain who received from paramedics an intravenous solution consisting of glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) had no reduction in the rate of progression to heart attack and no improvement in 30-day survival, although GIK was associated with a lower rate of the composite outcome of cardiac arrest or in-hospital death, according to a study appearing in JAMA.

28 Mar 2012

Cardiac CT more effective in evaluating ER patients with chest pain

Cardiac computed tomography angiography scans (CT scans that look at the heart) can provide a virtually instant verdict on whether chest pain is from blockage of the coronary arteries.

28 Mar 2012

Dr. Reddy’s introduces Quetiapine fumarate tablets in the U.S.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories announced today that it has launched Quetiapine fumarate tablets (25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, 300 mg and 400 mg), a bioequivalent generic version of SEROQUEL tablets in the US market on March 27, 2012 following the approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) of Dr. Reddy's ANDA for Quetiapine fumarate tablets.

28 Mar 2012

Placentophagia may offer benefits to human mothers

A paper by neuroscientists at the University at Buffalo and Buffalo State College suggests that ingestion of components of afterbirth or placenta -- placentophagia -- may offer benefits to human mothers and perhaps to non-mothers and males.

28 Mar 2012

Specific precautions must be taken for individuals on longer-term oral glucocorticoid therapy

Millions of people around the world are prescribed glucocorticoids for a wide variety of inflammatory conditions, including, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and inflammatory bowel diseases. Although they are effective and widely used, one of the potentially serious side effects of these medications is glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.

28 Mar 2012

CABG offers higher survival rates for older adults with CHD than PCI

A new comparative effectiveness study found older adults with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) who underwent bypass surgery had better long-term survival rates than those who underwent a non-surgical procedure to improve blood flow to the heart muscle, also called revascularization.

28 Mar 2012

Boston Scientific pledges $100,000 to SIR Foundation's Discovery Campaign

The Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation's Discovery Campaign, which seeks to further the growth of minimally invasive medicine into new areas of discovery, announced a major corporate pledge to that initiative. Boston Scientific, a global leader in medical devices for cardiovascular and peripheral interventions, pledged $100,000 and is a "Pioneer" level supporter.

28 Mar 2012

Possible link between sleep apnea and post-surgical delirium

An anecdotal observation of a possible link between sleep apnea and post-surgical delirium has been measured and confirmed by a team of researchers at the Duke University Medical Center.

28 Mar 2012

Boniva generics receive FDA approval for treatment, prevention of osteoporosis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first generic versions of Boniva (ibandronate) tablets, a once-monthly product to treat or prevent osteoporosis in women after menopause.

27 Mar 2012

Detailed CT scan can safely and quickly rule out possibility of heart attack

A highly detailed CT scan of the heart can safely and quickly rule out the possibility of a heart attack among many patients who come to hospital emergency rooms with chest pain, according to the results of a study that will be presented by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania today at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session and published concurrently in the New England Journal of Medicine.

27 Mar 2012

Study shows safe and effective protocol for chest pain patients

Rhode Island Hospital physicians report that managing chest pain patients within an emergency department chest pain unit by both emergency medicine staff and cardiologists is safe and effective and may lower the use of stress testing.

27 Mar 2012

Minimally invasive treatments re-establish blood flow in people with chronic DVT

Interventional radiology treatments re-establish blood flow in people with chronic deep vein thrombosis (DVT), reducing disabling symptoms and improving the quality of life for those afflicted with post-thrombotic syndrome—an under-recognized but frequent long-term complication of DVT.

27 Mar 2012

CCTA can safely and rapidly identify candidates for discharge from EDs

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) -- a non-invasive way to look inside arteries that supply blood to the heart -- can quickly and reliably determine which patients complaining of chest pain at an emergency department can safely be sent home, according to research presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session.

27 Mar 2012