Pain

Rush Physicians Using Gene Therapy For Heart Patients With Moderate To Severe Chest Pains Who Do Not Benefit From Other Treatments

Individuals with moderate to severe chest pains (angina) who have not found relief from medication may benefit from a new gene therapy approach being used by cardiologists at Rush University Medical Center to grow new blood vessels in the heart. The phase II clinical research study uses vascular endothelial growth factor-2 (VEGF-2) in the form of a solution containing a DNA plasmid that i...

FDA Clears the Way for Generic Versions of Transdermal Patches to Treat Chronic Pain

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval to Mylan Technologies, Inc., for the first generic version of Alza Corporation's Duragesic Patch (Fentanyl Transdermal System) used to treat patients suffering from severe chronic pain that cannot be managed with alternative analgesics. When applied to the skin, this patch technology delivers fentanyl, an opioid pain medication that is s...

Canada approves marijuana-based pain spray

Health Canada has approved Sativex® (Cannabis sativa L. extract) a new drug developed as adjunctive treatment for the symptomatic relief of neuropathic pain in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). Canada becomes the first country in the world to approve Sativex, a novel prescription pharmaceutical product derived from components of the cannabis plant shown to have therapeutic properties. Sativex...

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 clinical trial to confirm their analysis. Meanwhile, they advise cardiologists to begin treatment wi...

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, Irvine, may yield a target for new drug therapies that will completely bypass the current argume...

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, rises. Addicts are misusing a clear patch that transfers a controlled dose of fentanyl thro...

Virtual realities against pain

For over a decade, the technique of distraction has been researched and successfully applied in clinical practice in order to reduce pain associated with certain medical procedures. The use of distraction is based on the assumption that there is an important psychological element in the perception of pain, with the amount of attention given to the harmful stimulus affecting the perception of the...

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 The study provides the first direct evidence that the brain's own pain-fighting chemicals, called endo...

Ibruprofen and other commonly used painkillers for treating inflammation may increase the risk of heart attack

When it comes to the deadly skin cancer melanoma, studying functional tissue rather than cell lines may better provide insight into the disease's development, according to new research from a Howard Hughes Medical Institute predoctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine. Though multiple genetic alterations are associated with melanoma development, scientists have not been abl...

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 neuropathic pain associated with diabetes. From the University of Melbourne's Department of Biochem...

Shampoo detergent added to paint makes surfaces self-sterilizing

Adding a common ingredient in shampoo to paints and varnishes can create self-sanitizing coatings for frequently touched surfaces in public buildings that continue killing germs for months, according to research conducted by a multi-state consortium of high school students and retirees. Working through the website science-projects.com, 10 students from New York, Texas and Virginia joined t...

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 many diseases and medical conditions, especially diabetes. Drugs have little effect on this type...

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

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. It's called neuropathic pain, and it's a common complication of many diseases and medical conditions, especially diabetes. Drugs have little effect on this type of pain, which is...

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. There also seem to be differen...

'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 spheres of a ceramic material called hydroxyapatite could be a long term solution or cure for sensi...

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 Chicago, published early online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that...

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 allow the team, consisting of psychologists, gynecologists, physical therapists and statistician/ep...

Pain killer fights breast cancer by targeting key enzyme

A pain–killing medication appears to halt the production of an enzyme that is key to a common form of breast cancer, a new study using tissue cultures suggests. The drug is called nimesulide. In laboratory experiments on breast cancer cells, scientists found that derivatives of nimesulide stopped the production of aromatase, the enzyme implicated in estrogen-dependent breast cancer. This f...

Master genetic switch found for chronic pain

In experiments with mice, researchers have found that eliminating what appears to be a master genetic switch for the development of pain-sensing neurons knocks out the animals' response to "neuropathic pain." Such pain is abnormal pain that outlasts the injury and is associated with nerve and/or central nervous system changes. The animals rendered deficient in the gene, called Runx1, also showed...

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 finding, reported in the April 13 issue of the Journal of Comparative Neurology, is the first rep...

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 linked to our ability to sense pain, it is not surprising that the misregulation of temperature-act...

Obese people are more sensitive to pain, suggests study

Obese people may be more sensitive to pain than people who aren't obese, a new study suggests. Participants were given a mild electrical stimulation on their left ankle to measure their pain reflex. The stimulus was given before and after...

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 drugs for aches, pains, and fever," says Colin Funk, a professor of Biochemistry and Physiology...

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 disease expert "as the most important discovery in inflammation in more than a decade," may also reduce...

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. The study, led by the Ohio State University Medical C...

Study supports 'urgent' need for worldwide ban on lead-based paint

Environmental and occupational health experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that major countries--including India, China and Malaysia -- still produce and sell consumer paints with dangerously high lead levels. The researchers say that this l...

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 muscular pain and cramps in athletes and healthy, normal individuals. "With the millions of...

Solvent exposure linked to birth defects in babies of male painters

Men who paint for a living may be placing their unborn children at increased risk of birth defects and low birth weight. The study,...

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 ?an action that may lie at the heart of drug addiction. Now, a new study from the University...

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 of new targets for pharmaceutical therapies shown in this research, together present an opportunity...

A new target for painkillers

A brand new approach to treating severe nerve pain ?by aiming drugs at a previously unrecognized molecular target ?has been discovered by University of Utah scientists who study the venoms of deadly, sea-dwelling cone snails. "We found a new way to treat a chronic and debilitating form of pain suffered by hundreds of millions of people on Earth," says J. Michael McIntosh, a University of...

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 said emphasizes the role of such channel disorders in inflammatory pain. Such findings of abnormal func...

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 molecular strategy to deter predators -- triggering pain by activating a specific receptor on sensory...

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 scanners, which allow scientists to examine how the brain operates, the research, led by Dr Katj...

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, released today, are from a 2006 national survey conducted by Harris Interactive® on "Pain in the Workplac...

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 acids of this protein," said Ardem Patapoutian, a Scripps Research scientist whose laboratory conducted...

FDA causes unnecessary scare about common painkillers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has caused an unnecessary scare about some pain relievers by adding a warning to drugs that are safe, says Curt Furberg, M.D., Ph.D., from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. At the same time, he says the agency has failed to recognize the harm of a pain reliever that should be taken off the market. "The FDA is adding 'black box' warnings...

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 cases. "Patients with chronic back pain commonly request pain medication, and opioid medicat...

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 Sciences have developed tiny gel particles that swell and stiffen when injected into a damaged a...

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 cause. The research was published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienc...