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Sub-Topics
Back Pain
ListsNews
- Pain Management (ABC News)
Provides links to pain management news. 5-05
Papers
- -07-01-09 FDA Panel Votes to Curtail Acetaminophen-Related Deaths (MSNBC News)
"The FDA has assembled a group of experts to vote on ways to reduce liver damage associated with acetaminophen, one of the most widely used drugs in the U.S."
"Despite years of educational campaigns and other federal actions, acetaminophen remains the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S., according to the FDA."
"Panelists cited FDA data indicating 60 percent of acetaminophen-related deaths are related to prescription products. Acetaminophen is also found in popular over-the-counter medications like Tylenol and Excedrin." 07-09
Research
- Better Pain Killer Found (Scientific American)
"Morphine and other opioids work wonders for pain. Unfortunately, their effectiveness declines over time while their addictiveness grows, meaning patients need the drug even as it affords them less and less relief. But new research into the cellular workings of opioids offers a promising new pathway to improved pain relief--without the addiction--by triggering one receptor and blocking another."
"Medicinal chemist Philip Portoghese of the University of Minnesota and his colleagues began by studying two of the four major opioid receptors in the cells of the central nervous system. Each bears the name of a Greek letter and the chemists focused on the Mu and Delta receptors. Previous research had shown that drugs that linked up with Mu receptors lasted longer with less addiction when combined with drugs that blocked Delta receptors. But it was not known whether the two channels worked separately or in concert to improve the overall effect." 12-05
- Chest Pain (Health World)
Lists causes of chest pain. 6-03
- Gene to Block Pain (Guardian Unlimited)
Scientists "hope drugs that block the same biological pathway affected by the mutation [of gene SCN9A] will yield new and potentially safer pain medications." 12-06
- Pain Control and Burns (University of Washington)
Provides some of the latest methods used to control pain.
- Pain Reduced with Brain Electrons (San Francisco Chronicle - Hall)
Describes a new therapy for intractable pain. 5-02
- Pain Relief Should Be Offered for Invasive Procedures (Scientific American)
"The least forgivable excuse for not alleviating pain would be for medical culture (and maybe society at large) simply to believe that pain ought to be part of medicine and must be endured. Weighing the risks and benefits of pain control should ultimately be the province of the patient. If doctors say there is no pain control for a given procedure, patients should ask why not. People undergoing invasive tests should at least be offered options for pain relief—even if they decide after all to bite the bullet." 6-03
- Pain Sensitivity Measurable (Scientific American)
"When it comes to pain, some people are tougher than others. New findings suggest that these differences are all in the head. Research published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show for the first time that variation in how people perceive pain results from differences in brain activity." 6-03
- Pain Sensitivity Measured (Scientific American)
"By monitoring healthy humans experiencing sustained pain, scientists at the University of Michigan got to watch the brain's painkiller system in action and determined that not all brains handle pain equally well."
"They controlled the experimental conditions so that the subjects experienced similar levels of pain, but found that individuals showed different patterns of mu-opioid activity. There were differences in both the amount of chemicals released and the timing of the release. As it turned out, subjects who experienced the largest change in the mu-opioid system between the placebo injection and the painful one tended to report the least pain." 6-03
- Pain Treatment for Nerve Injuries (Scientific American)
Provides results of a study that may provide significant relief from pain for persons with nerve injuries--without other side effects--by using gene therapy. 6-03
- Proteins May Be Key in Pain Differences of Men and Women (Scientific American)
"When it comes to pain, guys may be tougher than gals because they have more of a particular type of protein, new research suggests."
"The findings could help researchers develop new gender-specific treatments for discomfort. Previous research had shown that males tend to have a higher threshold for pain than females do and that medications affect the sexes differently, although the precise mechanism remained unclear." 6-03
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