Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

'Cross-talk' between two major biological pathways may hold a clue for chronic pain treatment

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have discovered a "cross-talk" between two major biological pathways that involve pain-research that may pave the way to new approaches to understanding and controlling chronic pain.

9 Mar 2011

Senate 'Gang of six' launches public campaign for deficit reduction

Their effort focuses on educating the public about the importance of overhauling Medicare and other entitlement programs if the national debt is to be tamed.

9 Mar 2011

Study: Mass. health law has not staunched medical bankruptcies

The 2006 Massachusetts law that required nearly everyone to buy health insurance has not significantly staunched residents' pain from medical bankruptcies, according to a new study.

9 Mar 2011

Brain implant surgery can improve life for people with cervical dystonia

Implanting electrodes into a pea-sized part of the brain can dramatically improve life for people with severe cervical dystonia - a rare but extremely debilitating condition that causes painful, twisting neck muscle spasms - according to the results of a pilot study led by Jill Ostrem, MD and Philip Starr, MD PhD at the University of California, San Francisco.

9 Mar 2011

Several states weigh new rules on abortion

Legislatures in several states, including Georgia, Texas and Minnesota, are considering new measures on abortion.

9 Mar 2011

Viewpoints: Romney's record, calling GOP's 'bluff', abortion/birth control funding

The center of the Obama health care reform — the part that has excited the ire of conservatives — is the individual mandate that says everyone must buy health insurance. Romney now says that given the chance, "I would repeal Obamacare." Yet Romney advocated, signed and bragged about a similar requirement in the Massachusetts reform passed while he was governor.

8 Mar 2011

Treatment with sildenafil significantly reduces RP in patients with scleroderma

Researchers in Europe reported that treatment with modified-release sildenafil significantly reduced the frequency of attacks of Raynaud's phenomenon in patients with limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma.

8 Mar 2011

Plexxikon commences PLX3397 Phase 2 trial in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma

Plexxikon today announced that it has treated the first patient in a Phase 2 clinical trial in Hodgkin lymphoma with PLX3397. This novel agent is an oral, selective inhibitor that down-modulates two key cell types that are thought to mediate the progression of Hodgkin lymphoma tumors — macrophages and mast cells.

8 Mar 2011

Conflicts in medical management of hemophilia

Hemophilia is a medical disorder that is part of our genetic load as humans. It will never disappear. Therefore, the only way to live with it is to receive adequate medical management. Its effects on those males who have inherited the disorder that affects their blood clotting without treatment includes recurrent hemorrhages (bleeds) into joints as well as internal bleeding. The bleeds are painful, resulting in disuse, disability and crippling. The first signs usually appear in early childhood. A child who suffers a mouth bleed can slowly lose enough blood to result in death.

8 Mar 2011

First Edition: March 8, 2011

In today's headlines, news about ongoing budget discussions and how issues like Medicare spending and the health law fit into them as well as reports about the growing interest in replacing the current chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

8 Mar 2011

Vertos reports long-term safety and efficacy of mild in patients with LSS

Medical device company Vertos Medical Inc. has announced the release of clinical study data demonstrating the long-term safety and efficacy of mild as well as its superior durability over epidural steroid injections for treating lumbar spinal stenosis.

8 Mar 2011

University of California, Irvine purchase SpineAssist to conduct minimal invasive surgeries

Mazor Robotics Ltd., a developer of innovative surgical robots and complementary products, announced today that the University of California, Irvine Medical Center has purchased SpineAssist, Mazor Robotics' surgical robotic system that enables surgeons to conduct minimally invasive and complex spine surgeries in a safe and accurate manner.

8 Mar 2011

Quick dose of empathy may help close racial gaps in pain treatment

Years of research show black patients getting less treatment in the American health care system than their white counterparts, but a new study suggests that a quick dose of empathy helps close racial gaps in pain treatment.

8 Mar 2011

New advance in tissue engineering

Researchers at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues reported today on a new advance in tissue engineering.

8 Mar 2011

URMC research confirms possible use of mifepristone for painful fibroids

Research continues to show that the controversial abortion drug mifepristone might have another use, as a therapeutic option besides hysterectomy for women who suffer from severe symptoms associated with uterine fibroids.

8 Mar 2011

First POSE procedure using USGI's Incisionless Operating Platform performed at Ospedale All'Angelo

USGI Medical, Inc. announced that a prominent surgeon in Italy performed the first POSE procedure on patients for weight loss.

8 Mar 2011

Alliqua completes transdermal pain patch initial in vitro study for treatment of PHN

Alliqua, Inc., an advanced biomedical products company focused on the development and manufacturing of proprietary drug delivery and liver health technologies, announced today the successful completion of its initial in vitro permeation study for its transdermal pain patch project.

8 Mar 2011

New Lupus drug marching towards approval

A new drug for lupus from the Human Genome Sciences Inc is all set to get clearance in the US this week. If all goes through, this drug will offer patients the first approved treatment option in a half-century, setting the manufacturer up for huge sales.

7 Mar 2011

Mother and baby report card for NSW

The Government statistics on births in New South Wales Mothers and Babies 2008, which was released on Saturday. It showed that 96,343 babies were born in NSW that year - 12 per cent more than the 85,262 born in 2004.

7 Mar 2011

New concerns over prescription narcotics use

Over fifty Australian general practitioners have come under the scanner as part of a national crackdown on inappropriate prescribing of narcotics. The three-month campaign is being carried out by the Medicare following high levels of prescriptions for drugs such as OxyContin and OxyNorm. One GP has been found to be writing over 90 per cent of their prescriptions for narcotics. There are further concerns that the painkillers are being resold on the black market.

7 Mar 2011