Narrow Results

Cystic fibrosis is the most commonly occurring genetic disorder among Caucasians. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of acupuncture for pain management in patients with cystic fibrosis; clinical data was obtained regarding the integration of acupuncture into the management of pain in patients with cystic fibrosis. Visual analog scales were used for pain measurement. Acupuncture was found to be effective in decreasing pain complaints in patients with cystic fibrosis. No side effects or complications were reported in relation to the acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture is effective for managing symptoms and illnesses associated with cystic fibrosis. Further randomized controlled trials will be necessary to evaluate additional efficacy in pain management and the improvement of the quality of life of patients with cystic fibrosis.

As current pain management methods cannot effectively control pain among cancer patients, acupuncture has developed as an adjuvant therapy for cancer pain relief. However, the efficacy of acupuncture in treating cancer pain remains controversial. Here, we briefly introduced the development of pain management, analgesic mechanisms, and acupuncture methods. Meanwhile, a comprehensive overview of acupuncture programs was provided in terms of different cancer types, sources, and degrees. Interestingly, acupuncture can treat both tumor-induced pain and therapy-induced pain well among cancer patients. We preliminarily summarized frequently-used acupoints for different types of cancer pain and found that needle retention time was mostly 30 min, and treatment cycle was two weeks. Additionally, clinicians consistently selected Ashi acupoint or bilateral Zusanli acupoint and combined multiple acupuncture methods for different degrees of cancer pain.

Linalool, a major odorous constituent in essential oils extracted from lavender, is known to have a wide range of physiological effects on humans including pain management. The substantia gelatinosa (SG) of the trigeminal subnucleus caudalis (Vc) is involved in transmission of orofacial nociceptive responses through thin myelinated A$\delta$ and unmyelinated C primary afferent fibers. Up to date, the orofacial antinociceptive mechanism of linalool concerning SG neurons of the Vc has not been completely clarified yet. To fill this knowledge gap, whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used in this study to examine how linalool acted on SG neurons of the Vc in mice. Under a high chloride pipette solution, non-desensitizing and repeatable linalool-induced inward currents were preserved in the presence of tetrodotoxin (a voltage-gated Na${}^{+}$channel blocker), CNQX (a non-NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist), and DL-AP5 (an NMDA receptor antagonist). However, linalool-induced inward currents were partially suppressed by picrotoxin (a GABA${}_A$ receptor antagonist) or strychnine (a glycine receptor antagonist). These responses were almost blocked in the presence of picrotoxin and strychnine. It was also found that linalool exhibited potentiation with GABA- and glycine-induced responses. Taken together, these data show that linalool has GABA- and glycine-mimetic effects, suggesting that it can be a promising target molecule for orofacial pain management by activating inhibitory neurotransmission in the SG area of the Vc.

Context: Shoulder Impingement Syndrome (SIS) is a common clinical condition in general practice and overhead athletes. Alterations in the scapular position can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome. The effect of exercises on shoulder impingement syndrome is studied but the effect of Kinesiotape is not well explored.

Methods: A total of 42 participants were included in the study. The subjects were assessed for SPADI, pain, proprioception, lateral scapula slide test, and pectoral minor length test at the baseline and the subjects were randomly divided into two groups. The intervention group ($n$ = 18) received scapular taping and scapular exercises and the control group ($n$ = 17) received scapular exercises only. Post-outcome measures were taken at 4 weeks and 12 weeks during the intervention. Repeated measures ANOVA was used for the outcome measures and Bonferroni’s test was used to determine the pairwise comparisons at different measurement levels amongst experimental and control groups.

Results: The study consisted of 17 males and 18 females. There was statistical significance in both groups ($p$ < 0.01) over the 4th and 12th weeks. Pain ($p$ < 0.01) and proprioception ($p$ = 0.017) was also statistically significant between both the groups at 4 weeks.

Conclusion: This study concludes that scapular taping can be used as an adjunct with scapular involvement.

UNITED STATES – Smoking While Pregnant May Compromise Children’s Kidney Function.

UNITED STATES – You Are What You Exhale.

UNITED STATES – A Diet of Fruits, Vegetables May Help Kidney Disease Patients.

TAIWAN – TLC to Proceed with TLC599 Phase 2 Trial in Taiwan.

TAIWAN – TLC Reports Results of Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial of TLC599 for Sustained Pain Relief in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee.

JAPAN – Chugai to Join Global Initiative for Addressing Rise of Non-Communicable Diseases in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries.

AUSTRALIA & MALAYSIA – Holista CollTech Collaborates with Nobel Prize Nominee to File Patent for World’s First Low-GI Sugar with All-Natural Ingredients.

Post-surgical pain is commonly experienced by patients, and traditional pain medication has limitations and side effects. Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated technology that simulates realistic environments, which distracts the patient’s attention and emotions, reduces pain, and improves rehabilitation by creating an immersive experience. The increasing affordability and quality of portable VR headsets, as well as the increasing utility of pain management, bode well for the exciting future of using VR for analgesia. VR was found to be effective as a complementary adjunct or alternative nonpharmacological analgesic to a range of acute and chronic pain treatments. The application of VR to post-surgical pain management can significantly reduce patients’ dependence on medications, as well as decrease the intensity and duration of pain. In this paper, a thorough literature review was conducted to systematically evaluate the use of VR in post-surgical pain management.

Pain, depending on its severity, is an uncomfortable and individual sensation for sending a signal being sensed by brain about body harms. The spinal cord and nerves provide the pathway for these messages to travel to and from the brain and other parts of the body. Although most of the patients such as cancerous patients may have pain for a variety of reasons, there is still no common way of controlling the pain. Pain identification mechanisms in the nerve system and modeling its artificial neural network (i.e. ANN) system is required to access the best way of clinical cure. Up to now, no practical model has been presented that is capable of identifying the dorsal horn of spinal cord response modes, memory role and regulating other senses' effects on these modes. In this paper, by using the bifurcation methodology and nonlinear dynamic behavior feature extraction of the pain data transmission system along with its supporting clinical database, an ANN model is presented which is able to identify the dorsal horn of spinal cord neuron responses, memory role, other senses' input effect and descending input effects from the high level of the nervous system. The results showed that the ANN model can accurately follow the clinical data based on electrical and thermal stimulations. Moreover, the ANN model simulates pain management while using both electrical and thermal stimulations. In conclusion, it is deduced that the proposed ANN model is efficient in pain management of severe painful patients.