European journal of pain : EJP
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Half of female migraineurs in childbearing age use combined oral contraceptives (COCs), but the influence of COCs on perimenstrual migraine is still unclear. We therefore aimed to analyze the risk of occurrence and persistence (i.e. presence for more than 1 day) of headache and migraine before and during menstruation in women with migraine, comparing users of COCs to non-users. We included 184 women with at least 1 day of menstruation recorded in a 90-day diary. ⋯ In both groups, risk of any headache as well as that of migraine was highest during the first 3 days of menstruation with a hazard ratio of 1.9 and 2.1 for non-users and 2.1 and 2.2 for users. Although use of COCs showed no statistically significant overall effect, users were at higher risk for any headache premenstrually and non-users at higher risk for migraine on days 4+ of menstruation. In conclusion, use of COCs exerts only subtle differences on the course of perimenstrual migraine in menstruating women with migraine.
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Activation of the prefrontal cortex occurs during acute and chronic pain and models of experimental hyperalgesia. The present study was carried out to determine possible miRNA changes in the prefrontal cortex, after inflammatory pain induced by facial carrageenan injection in mice. miRNA microarray analyses showed significantly increased levels of miR-155 and miR-223 in the prefrontal cortex of carrageenan-injected mice. The changes were verified by real-time RT-PCR, and shown to occur bilaterally. ⋯ Significantly downregulated c/ebp Beta but upregulated GCSF, accompanied by increased immunolabeling with an antibody to myeloperoxidase were found in the prefrontal cortex of facial carrageenan treated mice. It is postulated that this could lead to increased inflammation and activation of the prefrontal cortex. Further studies are necessary to determine if specific miRNAs could be useful as therapeutic molecules for pain.
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The aim of the present study was to describe the occurrence of signs and symptoms in CRPS I patients meeting the IASP (Orlando) criteria, assess the occurrence of signs and symptoms in relation to disease duration and compare these to historical data based on a different diagnostic criteria set. Six hundred and ninety-two ambulatory patients meeting the IASP criteria for CRPS I referred to the outpatient clinics of five participating centers were included in this cross-sectional study. Characteristics were recorded in a standardized fashion and categorized according to the factor structure proposed by Bruehl/Harden. ⋯ Occurrence of signs was significantly lower (<0.001) than those reported by Veldman et al., except for hyperesthesia and dystonia. Occurrence rates may vary at different time points after onset of CRPS, which may be of influence for diagnosing patients with novel derived diagnostic criteria. We argue for a mechanism based description of CRPS I based on one set of uniform generally accepted diagnostic criteria in future studies.
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The daily patient flow at dental emergency departments is subject to fluctuations. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether meteorological parameters were associated with the number of patients reporting acute pain in the oral cavity. ⋯ These findings suggest that changes in barometric pressure were the reason for the observed initiation and/or exacerbation of the various oral pains observed in the emergency room setting. This association has been considered to be rare, with most reports suggesting this phenomenon primarily affects divers and aircraft personnel. Our data suggests otherwise, by providing clear evidence that atmospheric pressure changes commonly influences painful oral conditions.
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Pain and the conscious mind (or the self) are experienced in our body. Both are intimately linked to the subjective quality of conscious experience. Here, we used virtual reality technology and visuo-tactile conflicts in healthy subjects to test whether experimentally induced changes of bodily self-consciousness (self-location; self-identification) lead to changes in pain perception. ⋯ This increase was not modulated by the synchrony of stroking as predicted based on earlier work. This differed for self-identification where we found as predicted that synchrony of stroking increased self-identification with the virtual body (but not a control object), and positively correlated with an increase in pain thresholds. We discuss the functional mechanisms of self-identification, self-location, and the visual perception of human bodies with respect to pain perception.