20 Nov 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Healing molecule discovery could reduce limb amputations

Chronic Pain News, Nerve Pain, ,
Scientists have discovered new insights into a molecule which is part of the body's tissue repair system, in a finding which could help treat non-healing wounds and injuries, such as diabetic foot body's tissue repair system, in a finding which could help treat non-healing wounds and injuries, such as diabetic foot. The number of limbs amputated because of diabetes is at an all-time high of 20 each day in England alone. Intense research around the world is being carried out to discover new treatments that could help avoid such life-changing operations and reduce medical costs for society. A study led…
Read More
06 Nov 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Nerve cell therapy restores motor function

Chronic Pain News, Nerve Pain, Therapies & Treatments, ,
Regenerative therapy using millions of nerve cells, derived from human embryonic stem cells, restored two or more motor levels on at least one side, in four out of six patients with paralyzing spinal cord injuries, according to researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. In a press release, the medical center reported the 67% recovery rate is “more than double” the rates previously reported in matched historical controls and in published data in a similar population — patients who had lost all motor function below the location of their spinal injury. “Having worked on this research for more…
Read More
30 Oct 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Multivitamins May Reduce CIPN

Chronic Pain Conditions, Chronic Pain News, Nerve Pain, ,
Women who take multivitamin supplements before their breast cancer diagnosis and during chemotherapy appear to be less likely to develop the debilitating, often long-lasting symptoms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), according to a new study.   In a large study of breast cancer patients undergoing paclitaxel chemotherapy, those who used multivitamins were about 40% less likely to suffer sensory loss. The researchers published their results online ahead of print in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “Our study showed that use of multivitamin supplements, but not specific vitamins, was associated with less neurotoxicity. This was true for use before diagnosis and, to…
Read More
23 Oct 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Shingles Pain Cause Discovered

Chronic Pain Conditions, Chronic Pain News, Nerve Pain, ,
It is very likely that when you were a child, you had chickenpox, a mostly benign condition that despite making you extremely itchy, required you to miss a week or two of school. While most parents would think their children are safe from the infection after its resolved, what they don’t realize is that it may show up later in life in a painful form called shingles. A constant feature of shingles is neuralgia—intense pain affecting mainly the nerves of the chest and neck, the trigeminal nerve in the fact, and the lower back. New research out of the University of…
Read More
16 Oct 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Neuromodulation and Regenerative Medicine Advances

Chronic Pain News, ,
Highlights from the American Society of Interventional Physicians annual meeting, including neuromodulation, humanistic care, vertebral augmentation, regenerative medicine, controlled substance prescribing, and more. There are numerous medical conferences that Practical Pain Management (PPM) tries to attend and cover. We are fortunate that when the PPM staff can’t attend a conference, we usually can call upon one of our expert editorial board members to act as our “roving reporter.” We were fortunate to have Elmer G. Pinzon, MD, MPH, physiatrist at the University Spine and Sports Specialists in Knoxville, Tennessee, attend this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), held…
Read More
09 Oct 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Algae molecule might put the brakes on arthritis

Chronic Pain News, Exercises to Help Pain, , , ,
Arthritis is a degenerative disease that eats away at the joints and is rather difficult to treat, with a cure so far remaining out of reach. But research has now uncovered a new glimmer of hope, in the form of molecule taken from algae that, when modified, might just stop the degenerative effects in their tracks. According to Swiss research institute Empa, to varying extents, arthritis affects around 90 percent of people over the age of 65, making it the most widespread of joint diseases. The condition is characterized by the degradation of the cartilage in the joint, most typically…
Read More
02 Oct 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Neuroscientists Focus on Cell Mechanism That Promotes Chronic Pain

Chronic Pain Conditions, Chronic Pain News, Nerve Pain, Therapies & Treatments, ,
Researchers have discovered a new pain-signaling pathway in nerve cells that eventually could make a good target for new drugs to fight chronic pain. The findings, published in the journal PLoS Biology by a UT Dallas neuroscientist and his colleagues, suggest that inhibiting a process called phosphorylation occurring outside of nerve cells might disrupt pain signals, and provide an alternative to opioid drugs for alleviating chronic pain. Dr. Ted Price, the study’s co-author and associate professor of neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at UT Dallas, said the finding is significant. “We found a key new signaling pathway that can be managed,” Price…
Read More
25 Sep 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Preventing Shingles in RA Patients

Chronic Pain News, Nerve Pain, Therapies & Treatments, ,
The live varicella-zoster vaccine can effectively prevent shingles in rheumatoid arthritis patients starting treatment with the drug tofacitinib, according to results of 2 recently-published studies in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Shingles causes a painful rash that may appear as a stripe of blisters on the trunk of the body. Pain can persist even after the rash is gone (this is called postherpetic neuralgia). Treatments include pain relief and antiviral medications such as acyclovir or valacyclovir. A chickenpox vaccine in childhood or a shingles vaccine as an adult can minimize the risk of developing shingles. Patients who received the shingles vaccine several weeks prior…
Read More
18 Sep 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Integrating Stem Cells into Functional Neural Networks

Chronic Pain News, Nerve Pain, ,
The inherent potential of stem cells to engender any cellular form and function drives the field of regenerative medicine. In recent years, stem cell research has witnessed prolific growth particularly in disease-modeling, drug discovery and patient-specific cell therapy. A major challenge in stem cell-mediated therapy is to understand and promote integration of transplanted stem cells into the host tissue. Fundamental to success of such therapies is development of robust methods to engraft stem cells and monitor their integration into the host network. Central to this theme, David Forsberg, Eric Herlenius and co-workers at Karolinska Institute (Stockholm) and Mahidol University (Bangkok) have recently published…
Read More
04 Sep 2017
By webadmin@macmdaz.com

Pain Points

Chronic Pain Conditions, Nerve Pain, , ,
Neurobiologist Clifford Woolf discusses the importance of pain points and the surprising twists of his latest research Pain—feared, misunderstood and even poeticized in works of art and literature—has long captivated the scientific imagination of Clifford Woolf since his days as a medical student in South Africa. Woolf, a Harvard Medical School professor of neurobiology and neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital, has been on a quest to understand the basic mechanisms of pain and to help spark the development of more effective therapies to alleviate pain points, especially ones that don’t have the abuse potential of opioids. Woolf is the senior author of…
Read More