European journal of pain : EJP
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Activation of noradrenergic α2 receptor in spinal dorsal horn effectively alleviates the pathological pain. However, the precise mechanisms underlying noradrenergic pain suppression are not fully understood. Convincing evidence has indicated that extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) play a key role in spinal sensitization. The present study investigated the potential influence of noradrenergic α2 receptor agonist clonidine on ERK1/2 activity. ⋯ The analgesic action produced by noradrenergic α2 receptor agonist clonidine involved the reversal of ERK1/2 hyperactivity in spinal dorsal horn of inflamed mice.
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To facilitate efficient screening and reduce the length of comprehensive self-report batteries, a four-item short form of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and a two-item short form of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) have been developed and evaluated in samples of patients with arm and upper extremity pain. ⋯ The strongest short forms of the PCS and PSEQ could facilitate the assessment of pain catastrophizing and self-efficacy in situations in which the use of the longer original measures is not feasible.
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Review Comparative Study
Overview review: Comparative efficacy of oral ibuprofen and paracetamol (acetaminophen) across acute and chronic pain conditions.
Ibuprofen and paracetamol have long been used as analgesics in a range of acute, intermittent and chronic pain conditions. Paracetamol is often the first line analgesic recommended, without consensus about which is the better analgesic. ⋯ At standard doses in different painful conditions, ibuprofen was usually superior producing more patients with the degree of pain relief that patients feel worthwhile. Neither of the drugs will be effective for everyone, and both are needed. This overview questions the practice of routinely using paracetamol as a first line analgesic because there is no good evidence for efficacy of paracetamol in many pain conditions.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Interventions to address deficits of pharmacological pain management in nursing home residents - A cluster-randomized trial.
To evaluate the effect of interventions for general practitioners and nursing home staff to improve pain severity and appropriateness of pain medication in nursing home residents (NHR). ⋯ NHR exhibited a high prevalence of pain with overall low severity, while a high proportion of individuals received inappropriate pain medications. Both findings were not significantly improved by the intervention, although some aspects of drug treatment were meaningful improved.
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The ability to accurately recognize facial expressions of pain is known to affect clinical decision making and delivery of care. Although recognition accuracy for facial expressions of pain is well above chance level, substantial shortcomings have also been reported which stress the need to look for methods to improve recognition accuracy. Based on findings that pain is encoded in different facial activity patterns, we wanted to investigate whether training observers to recognize these various faces of pain might improve their ability to accurately recognize pain. ⋯ Raising awareness in observers that different combinations of facial movements (different faces of pain) are equivalent signals of pain through a brief training procedure can improve recognition accuracy for pain substantially.