Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

Facts about rheumatoid arthritis and aging

For the better part of three decades, Sherrie Kossoudji has endeavored each day to manage the inflammation, chronic pain, tight joints and other types of physical strife caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

8 May 2007

Doctors say too many Brits addicted to OTC drugs

Doctors in Britain are warning about the dangers of becoming addicted to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines; they say more research is needed on how many misuse OTC drugs.

7 May 2007

Nitric oxide may be the key to why specific drugs for heart failure or asthma lose their effectiveness over time

A naturally occurring molecule in the body appears to control whether certain medications, such as beta adrenergic receptor agonists used in acute heart failure or in inhalers for asthma, lose their effectiveness over time.

4 May 2007

Pros and cons of tonsillectomy

Adults with recurrent sore throats may benefit from having a tonsillectomy in the short term, but the overall longer term benefit is still unclear, and any benefits have to be balanced against the side effects of the operation, according to this week's BMJ.

4 May 2007

Treating pelvic and back pain in pregnancy

Stretching exercises, special pillows and acupuncture could help relieve back and pelvic pain that often occur during pregnancy, according to an updated review.

4 May 2007

Migraines take a toll on employers as well!

Data presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Boston, Mass., reinforced the benefit for employers to acknowledge and assess the impact of migraine to potentially improve workplace productivity.

4 May 2007

Study of fatigue in cancer patients

Fatigue is one of the most common and distressing symptoms cancer patients experience during chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but it's difficult for health care professionals to accurately assess its severity.

4 May 2007

Steroidal hormones for contraception in women with sickle cell disease

Hormonal contraceptives are unlikely to predispose women to type 2 diabetes and appear to be safe for those with sickle cell anemia.

4 May 2007

Renewal of Echinacea and St John's Wort research

A five-year-old research center dedicated to understanding and improving Echinacea and Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort) has received $4.4 million in continuation funding from the National Institutes of Health. The renewal is for three years.

4 May 2007

Losing money may be intrinsically linked with fear and pain in the brain

In a Wellcome Trust study published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers have shown that during a gambling task, losing money activated an area of the brain involved in responding to fear and pain.

4 May 2007

Victory Pharma acquires marketing rights for Naprelan

Victory Pharma, Inc. has announced that it has acquired the exclusive US marketing rights to its leading marketed pain product, Naprelan.

4 May 2007

Botox decreases pain and intensity of spasticity following a stroke

Final results from a multi-center study shows that repeated treatments of botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA or Botox?) over one year is well tolerated and results in a significant decrease in spasticity, pain frequency and average pain intensity in upper limbs following stroke, according to research from a neurologist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

4 May 2007

Single gene is responsible for most cool temperature sensation

The discovery, reported in the May 3 issue of the journal Neuron, might one day lead to the development of drugs that induce cold sensation as an analgesic, or block it to prevent certain forms of chronic pain associated with cold sensation.

4 May 2007

$Treatment with zoledronic acid effective in reducing fractures in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis$

Treatment with zoledronic acid effective in reducing fractures in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis

A treatment for osteoporosis delivered once a year is as effective as current monthly or weekly osteoporosis regimens at reducing the incidence of bone fractures, according to a new study led by a UCSF research team.

4 May 2007

New prostate cancer treatment wins award for Sloan-Kettering

The unique application of operations research to the treatment of prostate cancer allowed Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to better Fortune 500 companies last night and win an international competition for best project by an organization.

4 May 2007

Negative pressure wound therapy for pediatric patients

Negative pressure wound therapy is a new innovation in treating severe and complex wounds in children that decreases the need for frequent and stressful dressing changes.

4 May 2007

Chiropractic spinal manipulation beneficial for neck pain

A new literature review finds evidence that patients with chronic neck pain enrolled in clinical trials reported significant improvement following chiropractic spinal manipulation, according to a March/April 2007 report in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT).

4 May 2007

Breastfeeding and the good fats in Omega-3 fatty acids help new moms fight depression

The review was authored by Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, a health psychologist and researcher at UNH's Crimes against Children Research Center. Kendall-Tackett presents her findings in the article "A New Paradigm for Depression in New Mothers: The Central Role of Inflammation and How Breastfeeding and Anti-Inflammatory Treatments Protect Maternal Mental Health."

4 May 2007

Reclast found to cause abnormal heart rhythms

An osteoporosis drug with the potential to cut the risk of spine fractures by 70 percent and the chance of hip fractures by 41 percent, has been found to have an adverse side effect on some women.

3 May 2007

Efforts to standardize heart care are working

People who suffer a heart attack or severe chest pain today are much less likely to die, or to experience long-lasting effects, than their counterparts even a few years ago, according to a new international study in the May 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2 May 2007