European journal of pain : EJP
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Motor neuron diseases (MND) represent a group of disorders that evolve with inexorable muscle weakness and medical management is based on symptom control. However, deeper characterization of non-motor symptoms in these patients have been rarely reported. ⋯ We report a comprehensive evaluation of pain and sensory abnormalities in motor neuron disease (MND) patients. We assessed the different pain syndromes present in MND with validated tools, and described the QST and conditioned pain modulation profiles in a controlled design.
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Offset Analgesia (OA) can be evoked by a three-heat-stimulus train (T1-T2-T3), with T1 (5 s) and T3 (20 s) having the same temperature (e.g. 48 °C) and T2 (5 s) being slightly higher (1-3 °C). OA is defined as a disproportional pain reduction caused by the slight temperature decrease from T2 to T3. As the pain modulatory mechanisms behind OA are still poorly understood, the current study aimed to investigate the role of peripheral and central mechanisms by applying heat stimuli to the same location and to different unilateral and bilateral locations. ⋯ This study investigated offset analgesia by applying thermal painful stimuli to the ipsi- and bilateral forearms in healthy subjects and found that both peripheral and central mechanisms seem to mediate offset analgesia.
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Histamine H3 receptors are mainly expressed on CNS neurons, particularly along the nociceptive pathways. The potential involvement of these receptors in pain processing has been suggested using H3 receptor inverse agonists. ⋯ S 38093, a new H3 antagonist/inverse agonist, displays antiallodynic and antihyperalgesic effect in neuropathic pain, especially in oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy after chronic administration. This effect of S 38093 in neuropathic pain could be partly mediated by α2 receptors desensitization in the locus coeruleus.
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Neuroimmune interactions play a vital role in many of the most common pain conditions, such as arthritis. There have been many attempts to derive clinically predictive information from an individual's inflammatory response in order to gauge subsequent pain perception. ⋯ A simple model of UVB inflammation in the skin might predict the degree of a patient's neuro-immune response and the extent of their postoperative pain after total knee arthroplasty.
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The objective of this study was to estimate the association between sleep quality (SQ) and improvements in low back pain (LBP) and disability, among patients treated for LBP in routine practice. ⋯ In clinical practice, sleep quality, low back pain and disability are associated. However, sleep quality at baseline does not predict improvement in pain and disability.