British journal of anaesthesia
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The characteristics and psychological impact of pain suffered by medical inpatients has been relatively under-investigated. The aim of this study was to compare the pain experience of medical, surgical inpatients, and patients attending a pain management centre. Some aspects of the quality of pain scoring and prescribing were also audited. ⋯ The characteristics of pain in the medical and surgical groups were similar, with high levels of anxiety and depression. The pain management group differed from the inpatient groups, with higher levels of psychopathology and poorer coping. These findings provide some insight into the complex nature of pain in hospital inpatients, and may inform where limited resources should be utilized to provide greatest patient benefit.
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Exposure of the fetal or neonatal non-human primate (NHP) brain to isoflurane or ketamine for 5 h causes widespread apoptotic degeneration of neurones, and exposure to isoflurane also causes apoptotic degeneration of oligodendrocytes (OLs). The present study explored the apoptogenic potential of propofol in the fetal and neonatal NHP brain. ⋯ Propofol anaesthesia for 5 h caused death of neurones and OLs in both the fetal and neonatal NHP brain. OLs become vulnerable to the apoptogenic action of propofol when they are beginning to achieve myelination competence.