Pain in Biological News

Fish may actually feel pain and react to it much like humans

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Fish don't make noises or contort their faces to show that it hurts when hooks are pulled from their mouths, but a Purdue University researcher believes they feel that pain all the same. Joseph Garner, an assistant professor of animal sciences, helped develop a test that...

Long-lasting nerve block could change pain management

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have developed a slow-release anesthetic drug-delivery system that could potentially revolutionize treatment of pain during and after surgery, and may also have a large impact on chronic pain management. In NIH-funded work, they used specially designed fat...

Crabs' memory of pain confirmed by Queen's academic

New research published by a Queen's University Belfast academic has shown that crabs not only suffer pain but that they retain a memory of it. The study, which looked at the reactions of hermit crabs to small electric shocks, was carried out by Professor Bob Elwood and Mirjam Appel from the Sch...

Unexplained chest pain can be due to stress

Each year, many people seek emergency treatment for unexplained chest pains. A thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, indicates several common factors among those affected, including stress at work, anxiety, depression and a sedentary lifestyle. Chest pain is a c...

Fruit fly avoidance mechanism could lead to new ways to control pain in humans

At first, fruit flies eat like horses. Hatching inside over-ripe fruit where they were laid, they feed wildly in the sugar-rich environment until nature sends them an offer they cant refuse. To survive, they must leave the fruit, wander off and burrow into the earth where they avoid food as if it ...

Concentrating on different aspects of pain leads to breakthrough in migraine genetics

Migraine is the most common cause of episodic headache, and by far the most common neurological cause of a doctors visit. It affects some 15% of the population, including some 41 million people in Europe, and places a considerable burden on healthcare in both the developed and the developing world...

U. Iowa study finds biological link between pain and fatigue

A recent University of Iowa study reveals a biological link between pain and fatigue and may help explain why more women than men are diagnosed with chronic pain and fatigue conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Working with mice, the researchers, led by Kathleen Sluka, Ph....

Helping back pain sufferers to stay in work

New research to be carried out at The University of Nottingham could have a major impact on the way that people struggling with low back pain are helped to stay in work. Back pain is one of the main causes of absence from work in the UK. In 2004-5 approximately 34,000 people in the East Midland...

Doctors learn to control their own brains' pain responses to better treat patients

Physicians apparently learn to shut off the portion of their brain that helps them appreciate the pain their patients experience while treating them and instead activate a portion of the brain connected with controlling emotions, according to new research using brain scans at the University of Chi...

How to text message and avoid pain

While it is well known that excessive text messaging can result in sore thumbs, less is known about its possible effects on the neck, arms and hands. Young adults with symptoms in these parts of the body use a different technique when texting, according to a study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Unive...

Chemical in blood may explain susceptibility to bladder pain

COLUMBUS, Ohio A marker in the blood of both cats and humans that was identified in a recent study might signal both species' susceptibility for a painful bladder disorder called interstitial cystitis, a condition that is often difficult to diagnose. Follow-up studies of the chemicals that app...

Research uncovers promising target to treat chronic abdominal pain

COLUMBUS, Ohio High levels of a protein linked to the way pain signals are sent to the brain led to a decrease in abdominal pain in a recent study in mice. Researchers say the finding suggests the protein might someday serve as the basis of new treatments for chronic pain associated with a nu...

Coating improves electrical stimulation therapy used for Parkinson's, depression, chronic pain

DALLAS Sept. 16, 2008 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have designed a way to improve electrical stimulation of nerves by outfitting electrodes with the latest in chemically engineered fashion: a coating of basic black, formed from carbon nanotubes. The nanotube sheathing improve...

Experimental gene therapy 'abolishes' arthritis pain and lessens joint damage

Early-stage research has found that a new gene therapy can nearly eliminate arthritis pain, and significantly reduce long-term damage to the affected joints, according to a study published today in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. While the study was done in mice, they are the first genetical...

Researchers design pulsed mircrojet system to deliver protein drugs without pain or bruising

A team of UCSB researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from UC Berkeley and StrataGent Life Sciences, of Los Gatos, California, has designed a novel pulsed microjet system engineered to deliver protein drugs into the skin without the pain or bruising that deeper penetration injection systems...

Swell gel could bring relief to back pain sufferers

Scientists at The University of Manchester believe injections of tiny sponge-like particles could provide an alternative to major surgery in the treatment of chronic lower back pain. Dr Brian Saunders from The School of Materials and Professor Tony Freemont from The Faculty of Medical and Human S...

Long-term narcotics use for back pain may be ineffective and lead to abuse

Narcotic drugs (opioids) are commonly prescribed for short-term relief of chronic back pain, but their effectiveness long-term has been questioned in a review article by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, who also found that behaviors consistent with opioid abuse was reported in 24 percent of ...

Scripps Research study reveals new activation mechanism for pain sensing channel

The researchers found that TRPA1, a protein that helps transmit pain signals, is a direct sensor of reactive chemicals. "While many noxious and pungent compounds were known to activate this pain receptor, we discovered that they do so by directly and irreversibly binding to the cysteine amino acid...

Chronic pain up almost 40 percent among US workers in past decade

Persistent, chronic pain has risen dramatically among full-time U.S. workers in the past 10 years, but workers today opt to go to their jobs rather than call in sick, leading to a growing trend of presenteeism ?a negative impact on work despite being physically present at the job. These data, relea...

Trying to control pain can be a double-edged sword, say scientists

Scientists have shown for the first time why a feeling of control helps us reduce pain. The research, carried out at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL, London, has implications for how patients with persistent pain can cope with what is often a debilitating condition. Using fMRI s...

Tarantula venom and chili peppers target same pain sensor

Venom from a West Indian tarantula has been shown to cause pain by exciting the same nerve cells in mice that sense high temperatures and the hot, spicy ingredient in chili peppers, UCSF scientists have discovered. The findings demonstrate that some plants and animals have evolved the same molecu...

Origin of inherited pain disorder pinpointed

The genetic basis for a rare inherited disorder that causes severe burning pain with no warning has been pinpointed by researchers. They found that paroxysmal extreme pain disorder (PEPD) is caused by specific mutations in porelike sodium channels in peripheral nerve cells—a discovery that they sai...

New mechanism underlying pain found

Researchers at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development (J&JPRD) today announced that they have discovered a new molecular mechanism that may underlie neuropathic pain. The clearer understanding of the root-cause of chronic neuropathic pain, and the preclinical validation...

Pleasure and pain: Study shows brain's 'pleasure chemical' is involved in response to pain too

For years, the brain chemical dopamine has been thought of as the brain's "pleasure chemical," sending signals between brain cells in a way that rewards a person or animal for one activity or another. More recently, research has shown that certain drugs like cocaine and heroin amplify this effect ?...

Natural pine bark extract relieves muscle cramp and pain in athletes and diabetics

A study published in this month's issue of Angiology shows that supplementation with the pine bark extract Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all) improves blood flow to the muscles which speeds recovery after physical exercise. The study of 113 participants demonstrated that Pycnogenol significantly reduces ...

Device effective in zapping the pain out of migraines

An electronic device designed to "zap" away migraine pain before it starts may be the next form of relief for millions of people who suffer from the debilitating disease. Results of a study found that the experimental device appears to be effective in eliminating the headache when administered d...

Pest control research leads to pain control discovery

A newly discovered enzyme inhibitor, identified by researchers originally looking for biological pest controls, may lead to pain relief for sufferers of arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, say researchers at the University of California, Davis. The finding, hailed by a noted inflammatory dis...

New understanding of COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes could revise classification of pain meds

COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes may be blocked by pain medications such as Advil and Vioxx in a more complex manner than was previously understood, a Queen's University study has found. "The results of the study have potential implications for how we classify the commonly used anti-inflammatory and pain ...

Novel method reveals how menthol discovery could point towards new or improved pain therapies

This new understanding could lead to potential advances in pain therapy, the researchers said. Moreover, the scientists envision that their method may be potentially useful in studying the activation mechanism of other drugs and proteins. "Because our ability to sense temperature is closely link...

Brain differences could explain why males and females experience pain relief differently

A study conducted by investigators at Georgia State University and the Atlanta-based Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) reports that anatomical and functional differences in the brain may explain sex differences in the experience of pain and in the effects of certain drugs on pain. The fi...

MUHC investigators search for the root of sexual pain in women

A multidisciplinary team consisting of researchers from McGill/MUHC and the CHUM have been awarded a grant of nearly $700,000 by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to continue their groundbreaking research on pain suffered by some women during sexual intercourse. The new funding will...

Brainstem blocks pain to protect key behaviors

Certain behaviors, such as eating, drinking and urinating, are so crucial to survival that the brains of all vertebrates contain clusters of nerve cells that can suppress pain long enough to allow the animal to eat, drink -- or pee -- in peace. A report from researchers at the University of Chi...

'Nanospheres' that block pain of sensitive teeth

Nanospheres could help dentists fill the tiny holes in our teeth that make them incredibly sensitive, and that cause severe pain for millions of adults and children worldwide. Preliminary research presented today at the Institute of Physics conference EMAG-NANO 2005 shows that creating tiny sphe...

Prescription pain patch abuse blamed for increase in deaths

Drug abusers are increasingly turning to a slow-release form of a powerful painkiller for a quick and dangerous high, University of Florida researchers warn. The trend is raising alarm as the number of people dying from an overdose of the drug fentanyl, an opioid 100 times more potent than morphine...

Women feel more pain than men, research shows

Women feel pain more than men despite the popular notion that the opposite is true, according to research. Scientists investigating gender differences in pain have found that not only do women report more pain throughout the course of their lifetime, they also experience it in more bodily areas,...

Scientists use gene transfer technology and common virus to block neuropathic pain in animals

Remember how it felt the last time you burned your finger on a hot stove? Imagine what it's like to have that burning pain in your hands or feet all the time and know there's virtually nothing you can do about it. David Fink, M.D.It's called neuropathic pain, and it's a common complication of ma...

Molecular miners find pain relief drugs from the sea

Melbourne based company Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Limited recently announced successful results in preclinical trials of the toxin. The company will begin clinical trials in humans this month to firstly test the safety of the toxin in normal males, and later its effectiveness in treating the neurop...

Thinking the pain away? Study shows the brain's painkillers may cause 'placebo effect'

Sham painkiller prompts brain to release endorphins, bringing real relief to those in pain Just thinking that a medicine will relieve pain is enough to prompt the brain to release its own natural painkillers, and soothe painful sensations, a new University of Michigan study finds. The study pr...

Scientists discover the body's marijuana-like compounds are crucial for stress-induced pain relief

new study shows, for the first time, that the release of the body's own marijuana-like compounds is crucial to stress-induced analgesia ?the body's way of initially shielding pain after a serious injury. The work, led by scientists at the University of Georgia and the University of California, I...

Morphine for Chest Pain Increases Death Risk

While patients hospitalized for a heart attack have long been treated with morphine to relieve chest pain, an analysis by researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute has shown that these patients have almost a 50 percent higher risk of dying. The researchers call for a randomized clini...