European journal of pain : EJP
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Synthetic heat is a perception of strong, but not painful, heat arising when skin is stimulated by an alternating pattern of adjacent cold and warmth. This study examines the contribution of different classes of nerve fibres to this perception. In 40 subjects changes in synthetic heat and thermal perceptions were studied during a 30-min ischaemic nerve block in one reaction time, and one threshold determination task. ⋯ It is concluded that the perception of synthetic heat most likely arises from the fusion of signals dependent on unmyelinated low threshold cold and warm receptors. It is not dependent on A-delta cold fibres, and a contribution of nociceptors is quite unlikely. The possibility of a psychological contribution at the perceptual level is discussed.
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In this paper, it is investigated whether an implicit evaluative-negative attitude towards back-stressing activities exists in pain-free subjects and in chronic low back pain patients. Using an affective priming task, it was investigated whether pictures of threatening back-stressing movements (primes) facilitate (respectively, slow down) the categorisation of subsequent evaluative-negative (evaluative-positive) words (targets). ⋯ In line with previous research, it is argued that this reverse priming effect is owing to the evaluative extremity of the primes: patients recognize the possibility that extreme primes will interfere with the categorisation of the targets and overcompensate for this possible effect. The implications for the prevention of negative attitudes towards back-stressing activities in non-clinical and clinical samples are discussed.
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Editorial Comment
Appropriate and responsible use of opioids in chronic non-cancer pain.
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The aim of this research was to explore the impact that diagnostic status has on information processing biases among chronic pain (CP) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. AS patients, CP patients, and healthy hospital staff controls, completed a questionnaire and short computer task. During the computer task participants endorsed sensory, depression, illness, and neutral adjectives, following a cue question (which facilitated encoding of the adjectives in relation to the self). ⋯ The diagnosed AS group showed a bias towards sensory stimuli, perhaps reflecting the presence of an enduring and over-riding pain schema. The non-pain control group also displayed a sensory bias, which was attributed to a frequency effect as a result of working in an environment where they were regularly exposed to sensory language. The results are discussed in relation to existing literature in this area and implications for clinical practice are provided.