Browse by Audience
Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) has a significant impact on quality of life, but the etiopathogenesis remains largely unknown. The bladder microenvironment of patients with IC/BPS to obtain biological evidence supporting diagnosis and novel therapy is systematically characterized. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and image mass cytometry (IMC) are applied to bladder biopsies of the IC/BPS cohort. A total of 42 distinct cell clusters are identified from different groups. The increased hyperactivated Th1-biased response, but not Th2-biased response, and decreased immunosuppressive Treg are elucidated in the bladder microenvironment of non-Hunner-type IC (NHIC)/Hunner-type IC (HIC). M2/M2-like macrophage extends in the HIC and M1-like macrophage extends in NHIC, all of which secrete a range of chemokines with different pattern. The pro-inflammatory mediators, TNF-α, produced by tissue-resident macrophages and IL6, by the inflammatory fibroblasts are identified as key mediators of IC/BPS pathogenesis. Additionally, a regulatory network between different cell types is observed as a shift from structural cell communication in unaffected normal bladder to a Macrophage-Endothelial-dominated interactome in NHIC/HIC. The results demonstrate the high heterogeneity in NHIC/HIC, and provide an essential resource for diagnosis, and treatment of IC/BPS in the future by highlighting the importance of the microenvironment of bladder mucosa.
Learn More >This case-control study examines if measures of subjective and objective (actigraphic) sleep difficulties mediate alterations in amygdalar connectivity in adolescents with migraine compared to healthy adolescents.
Learn More >Evidence-based medicine is replete with studies assessing quality and bias, but few evaluating research integrity or trustworthiness. A recent Cochrane review of psychological interventions for chronic pain identified trials with a shared lead author with highly divergent results. We sought to systematically identify all similar trials from this author to explore their risk of bias, governance procedures, and trustworthiness.We searched OVID MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL and PEDro to 22/12/2021 for trials. We contacted the authors requesting details of trial registration, ethical approval, protocol, and access to the trial data for verification. We used the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth group's Trustworthiness Screening Tool to guide systematic exploration of trustworthiness.Ten trials were included: nine compared cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and physical exercise to usual care, exercise alone, or physiotherapy, and one compared two brief CBT programmes. Eight trials reported results divergent from the evidence base. Assessment of risk of bias and participant characteristics identified no substantial concerns. Responses from the lead author did not satisfactorily explain this divergence. Trustworthiness screening identified concerns about research governance, data plausibility at baseline, the results, and apparent data duplication.We discuss the findings within the context of methods for establishing the trustworthiness of research findings generally. Important concerns regarding the trustworthiness of these trials reduce our confidence in them. They should probably not be used to inform the results and conclusions of systematic reviews, in clinical training, policy documents, or any relevant instruction regarding adult chronic pain management.
Learn More >The objective of this study is to characterize the effects of the sleep-wake cycle on neurovascular and behavioral characteristics of cortical spreading depression (CSD).
Learn More >As part of the STAR Programme, a comprehensive study exploring long-term pain after surgery, we investigated how pain and function, health-related quality of life (HRQL), and healthcare resource use evolved over 5 years after total knee replacement (TKR) for those with and without chronic pain 1 year after their primary surgery.
Learn More >To examine the association between deployment-related Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) severity, frequency, and other injury characteristics on headache outcomes in veterans evaluated at a Veterans Administration (VA) polytrauma support clinic.
Learn More >To assess the utility of the novel patient-identified (PI) most bothersome symptom (MBS) measure from PROMISE-2, a phase 3 trial of eptinezumab for the preventive treatment of chronic migraine.
Learn More >Headache is a common presentation of postural tachycardia syndrome, yet robust prevalence data is lacking.
Learn More >