European journal of pain : EJP
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Pain among children is common, yet far less studied compared to that among adults. Little has been reported regarding various types of pain in a national community sample of German children. ⋯ The rather high pain prevalence suggests pain among children may be a potential public health issue. Further studies are required to investigate the characteristics and correlational attributes of children suffering most frequently from pain and children from families with low socioeconomic status.
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Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are administered fewer analgesics and report less clinical pain compared with their cognitively-intact peers, prompting much speculation about the likely impact of neurodegeneration on pain perception and processing. This study used functional connectivity analysis to examine the impact of AD on the integrated functioning of brain regions mediating the sensory, emotional, and cognitive aspects of pain. Fourteen patients with AD and 15 controls attended two experimental sessions. ⋯ Between-group comparisons revealed enhanced functional connectivity between the DLPFC and the anterior mid cingulate cortex, periaqueductal grey, thalamus, hypothalamus, and several motor areas in patients with AD compared with control group. Likewise, inter-regional functional connectivity across most regions of the predefined pain network was shown to be greater in the patient group, with the enhanced functional connectivity centred on three nodes: the DLPFC-R, hypothalamus, and PAG. The results of this study support previous research suggesting an interplay between pain and cognitive processes in patients with AD.
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Somatostatin (SST) in spinal cord has been linked with the inhibition of nociceptive neurotransmission in several experimental paradigms. The SST2 receptor (SSTR2) is the main SST receptor subtype in the superficial dorsal horn (DH) and is activated, besides to the naïve peptide, by the SST synthetic analogue octreotide (OCT). In the present work, we have studied the central effects of SSTR2 activation on capsaicin (CAP)-induced glutamate release in mouse DH. ⋯ A subset of them was also found to express the CAP receptor TRPV1. These data show that the SST analogue OCT inhibits CAP-mediated activation of non-peptidergic nociceptive PAFs in lamina II. Our data indicate that SSTR2a plays an important role in the pre-synaptic modulation of central excitatory nociceptive transmission in mouse.
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The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of acute trapezius pain, induced by delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS), on habitual trapezius activity. Long-term (5 h) surface electromyographic (sEMG) activity was recorded bilaterally from the clavicular, descending, transverse, and ascending trapezius on two consecutive weekdays in eleven female subjects (mean age 22 years, range 20-24 years). Body and arm posture were recorded by inclinometers. ⋯ In contrast, trapezius sEMG activity remained unchanged for all other trapezius parts and postures. This study indicates that acute trapezius pain induces elevated habitual trapezius activity during periods with low biomechanical loading of the shoulder/neck muscles with the elevated sEMG activity being restricted to the painful part of the muscle. In contrast to the pain-adaption model, the current study indicates a relation between acute muscle pain and elevated low-level muscle activity; however, it remains unknown if development of chronic muscle pain can be preceded by an initial stage with elevated muscle activity.
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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major healthcare burden with increasing incidence, and is characterised by the degeneration of articular cartilage. OA is associated with chronic pain and sleep disturbance. ⋯ Our results suggest that the chronic model of OA influenced the sleep patterns in both sexes. However, males appeared to be more affected.