European journal of pain : EJP
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Emerging evidence indicates that meanings attributed to pain contribute to tolerance and coping among affected individuals. However, links between pain appraisals and coping responses have received little attention within a broader interpersonal context. In this experiment, effects of appraisal on pain tolerance and coping were examined in adult dyads. ⋯ Pain language was also most prominent in transactions of threatened dyads. Finally, use of attention diversion by observers contributed to pain tolerance, independent of participant factors (reported pain, appraisal condition, reported coping) and pain language in conversations during immersions. The study highlights how appraisal contributes not only to pain tolerance and coping in the affected individual but also to care-giving efforts of others in their social environment.
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To source and critically evaluate the evidence on the effectiveness of Physiotherapy to manage adult CRPS-1. ⋯ Graded motor imagery should be used to reduce pain in adult CRPS-1 patients. Further, the results of this review should be used to update CRPS-1 clinical guidelines.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of dorsal root ganglion gene expression in rat models of traumatic and HIV-associated neuropathic pain.
To elucidate the mechanisms underlying peripheral neuropathic pain in the context of HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy, we measured gene expression in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of rats subjected to systemic treatment with the anti-retroviral agent, ddC (Zalcitabine) and concomitant delivery of HIV-gp120 to the rat sciatic nerve. L4 and L5 DRGs were collected at day 14 (time of peak behavioural change) and changes in gene expression were measured using Affymetrix whole genome rat arrays. Conventional analysis of this data set and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to discover biological processes altered in this model. ⋯ We identified 39 genes/expressed sequence tags that are differentially expressed in the same direction in both models. Most of these have not previously been implicated in mechanical hypersensitivity and may represent novel targets for therapeutic intervention. As an external control, the RNA expression of three genes was examined by RT-PCR, while the protein levels of two were studied using western blot analysis.
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In low back pain (LBP) treatment and research attention has shifted from a biomedical towards a biopsychosocial approach. Patients' LBP beliefs and attitudes were found to predict long-term outcome, and recently it has been suggested that the health care providers' ideas about LBP are also important predictors of treatment behaviour and outcome. ⋯ Associations were not found as expected. Still these findings are relevant and may feed a clinically important debate on widely accepted assumptions about the role and influence of health care providers in changing patients' pain behaviours.
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It is well known that patients with orofacial cancer suffer from cancer-induced pain which produces feeding difficulties. To understand the mechanisms of pain associated with orofacial cancer, we have recently created a model for rat orofacial cancer by inoculation with Walker carcinosarcoma 256B-cells into the vibrissal pads. The present study used both behavioral and immunohistochemical techniques to investigate changes in pain-related and ingestive behavior, along with c-Fos expression in the medullary dorsal horn which is a site for processing orofacial pain. ⋯ Although hyposensitivity to mechanical and thermal stimulation was observed in the inoculated region after day 10, hyperalgesia developed on the margin of the tumor, suggesting that the hypersensitive region spread with growth of tumor mass. In the medullary dorsal horn, the levels of c-Fos immunoreactivity of the ipsilateral side increased significantly on days 4, 7 and 10, supporting the behavioral observations. These results indicate that the rat model shows symptoms similar to those in patients with orofacial cancer, for example, induction of feeding disorder and neuropathic pain.