European journal of pain : EJP
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Migraine is a common headache disorder that can vary menstrually in women and has been linked to an impairment of endogenous pain inhibitory systems. One of these endogenous pain inhibitory systems, namely conditioned pain modulation (CPM; formerly diffuse noxious inhibitory controls-like), has been shown to be affected by the menstrual cycle. The aim of this study was to examine CPM over the menstrual cycle in migraineurs and healthy controls. ⋯ Our findings suggest that CPM inhibition is not altered in female migraineurs; thus, it is questionable whether CPM really plays a role in the development of migraine or whether migraine leads to a dysfunctional CPM inhibition.
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Review
Treatment of acute abdominal pain in the emergency room: A systematic review of the literature.
Appropriate pain therapy prior to diagnosis in patients with acute abdominal pain remains controversial. Several recent studies have demonstrated that pain therapy does not negatively influence either the diagnosis or subsequent treatment of these patients; however, current practice patterns continue to favour withholding pain medication prior to diagnosis and surgical treatment decision. A systematic review of PubMed, Web-of-Science and The-Cochrane-Library from 1929 to 2011 was carried out using the key words of 'acute', 'abdomen', 'pain', 'emergency' as well as different pain drugs in use, revealed 84 papers. ⋯ A comprehensive algorithm for analgesia for acute abdominal pain in the general adult population was developed. A review of the literature of common aetiologies and management of acute abdominal pain in the general adult population and special patient populations seen in the emergency room revealed that intravenous administration of paracetamol, dipyrone or piritramide are currently the analgesics of choice in this clinical setting. Combinations of non-opioids and opioids should be administered in patients with moderate, severe or extreme pain, adjusting the treatment on the basis of repeated pain assessment, which improves overall pain management.
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Appropriate sensorimotor correlations can result in the illusion of ownership of exogenous body parts. Nevertheless, whether and how the illusion of owning a new body part affects human perception, and in particular pain detection, is still poorly investigated. Recent findings have shown that seeing one's own body is analgesic, but it is not known whether this effect is transferable to newly embodied, but exogenous, body parts. In recent years, results from our laboratory have demonstrated that a virtual body can be felt as one's own, provided realistic multisensory correlations. ⋯ This finding may be relevant for the development and improvement of digital solutions for rehabilitation and pain treatment.
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Norisoboldine (NOR) is a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid isolated from Radix Linderae, a traditional Chinese medicine. Our previous studies have demonstrated that it produces anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatoid arthritis effects. ⋯ Our data demonstrate that NOR produces the analgesic effect in inflammatory pain by a mechanism related to the adenosine system.