Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

Combination chemotherapy shows small survival benefit in advanced stomach cancer

Patients with advanced stomach cancer have the best chance of prolonging their survival with a combination of chemotherapies instead of just one, according to a new review of previous studies.

19 Apr 2005

Prisoners executed by lethal injection in the US may have experienced awareness and unnecessary suffering because they were not properly sedated

Lethal injection is the most common way people are legally put to death in the USA. It has eclipsed all other methods of execution because of public perception that the process is relatively humane and does not violate the US Constitution’s Eight Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

19 Apr 2005

Drug that reduces the pain of fibromyalgia and improves sleep

A study of a drug that reduces the pain of fibromyalgia and improves sleep is published by a University of Kentucky physician in the peer-reviewed journal, Arthritis & Rheumatism.

12 Apr 2005

Getting coronary bypass patients back on their feet sooner

Often after coronary bypass graft surgery, patients suffer more pain in their leg than any other part of the body. The pain is due to the harvesting of a healthy blood vessel from the leg to construct the bypass graft. Traditionally, the vein was removed with a long incision that may stretch from ankle to groin. Many patients may not be aware there is an alternative.

12 Apr 2005

Faster, more accurate diagnostic test for Sjogren's syndrome

Researchers in Japan are developing a faster, more accurate diagnostic test for Sjögren’s (SHOW-grins) syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder characterized by chronically dry eyes and dry mouth.

11 Apr 2005

Study predicted cardiovascular risk of Cox-2 inhibitors

Amid the recent controversy and confusion over serious side effects from pain medications, a new UCLA and Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System study demonstrates that for arthritis sufferers at high risk for gastrointestinal problems who traditionally may have used a drug like Vioxx, the most cost-effective and safest treatment is actually a common painkiller combined with an acid-reducing drug.

11 Apr 2005

Bextra withdrawn from market, strong warnings on popular painkillers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings that most popular painkillers can hurt the heart, stomach and skin, and they have told pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to withdraw Bextra a top selling painkiller.

10 Apr 2005

Novel human kidney protein called renalase that regulates both heart contraction and blood pressure

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven identified a novel human kidney protein called renalase that regulates both heart contraction and blood pressure; it is a strong candidate for easily administered treatment of advanced kidney and cardiovascular disease.

10 Apr 2005

Three out of every four adults over age 50 use some kind of alternative medicine

This study found that 71 percent of older adults used some form of alternative medicine in 2000. A study done in 2002, found a lower rate -- about 62 percent – among all adults.

10 Apr 2005

Mothers' poor health revealed in new study

Sleep deprived new mothers are doing it tough, but getting help from early parenting centres improves their mental health, according to a new report.

7 Apr 2005

ARC Pharmaceuticals granted new U.S. patent

ARC Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARC) announced today that The University of British Columbia (UBC) has been granted a new US patent entitled "Pharmaceutical Compositions and Methods Relating to Fucans, No. 6,812,220.

7 Apr 2005

Pfizer separately agrees to suspend sales of Bextra due to FDA evaluation of risks of rare but serious skin reactions

Pfizer said today it will work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add expanded risk information in the Celebrex label following an FDA decision announced this morning to require boxed warnings of potential cardiovascular risk for all COX-2 pain relievers and all NSAIDs, including older non-specific drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen.

7 Apr 2005

Animi-3 may offer hope for rheumatoid arthritis

Animi-3, a prescription medication from PBM Pharmaceuticals, Inc., contains ingredients that may have a beneficial, protective effect in inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

7 Apr 2005

Belgian doctors treating critically ill infants favour legalising euthanasia

Most paediatricians in Flanders, Belgium, favour the legalisation of lethal drugs to end the life of some critically ill babies and infants, concludes a study in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

7 Apr 2005

The right to live gives us a right to die

Human beings' inalienable right to life means we also have the right to die, says an editorial in this week's BMJ.

7 Apr 2005

Depression overtakes back pain for incapacity benefit claims

Common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, now account for more incapacity benefit claims than musculoskeletal conditions like low back pain, say researchers in this week’s BMJ.

7 Apr 2005

Pfizer withdraws Bextra from market

Despite an expert panel stating last month that the three COX-2 drugs Vioxx, Bextra and Celebrex were safe enough to be marketed, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has this week told drug manufacturer Pfizer to remove the drug Bextra from the market and a statement by Pfizer confirms that the European Union regulators have done the same.

7 Apr 2005

Soft music at bedtime will help older adults sleep better and longer

Sleep, a vital ingredient in life, can sometimes become difficult as humans get older. But a recent study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and the Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital in Taiwan shows that listening to soft music at bedtime will help older adults sleep better and longer.

6 Apr 2005

Yeast discovery provides new insights into familial dysautonomia

A discovery in yeast that has important implications for finding a cure for a devastating disease of nerve cell failures -- called familial dysautonomia (FD) -- has been made by Cornell University researchers.

6 Apr 2005

Gene therapy shows effect in heart patients

The first double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial of VEGF gene injections into the heart muscle of patients with coronary artery disease with the intention of spurring growth of new blood vessels showed significant effects on heart wall motion, although blood flow was not significantly better in treated patients, according to a new study in the April 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

5 Apr 2005