Rejected

As an ancient analgesia therapy, acupuncture has been practiced worldwide nowadays. A good understanding of its mechanisms will offer a promise for its rational and wider application. As the first station of pain sensation, peripheral sensory ganglia express pain-related P2X receptors that are involved in the acupuncture analgesia mechanisms transduction pathway. While the role of their endogenous ligand, extracellular ATP (eATP), remains less studied. This work attempted to clarify whether acupuncture modulated eATP levels in the peripheral sensory nerve system during its analgesia process. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent acute inflammatory pain by injecting Complete Freund's Adjuvant in the unilateral ankle joint for 2 days. A twenty-minute acupuncture was applied to ipsilateral Zusanli acupoint. Thermal hyperalgesia and tactile allodynia were assessed on bilateral hind paws to evaluate the analgesic effect. eATP of bilateral isolated lumbar 4-5 dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) and sciatic nerves were determined by luminescence assay. Nucleotidases NTPDase-2 and -3 in bilateral ganglia and sciatic nerves were measured by real-time PCR to explore eATP hydrolysis process. Our results revealed that acute inflammation induced bilateral thermal hyperalgesia and ipsilateral tactile allodynia, which were accompanied by increased eATP levels and higher mechano-sensitivity of bilateral DRGs and decreased eATP levels of bilateral sciatic nerves. Acupuncture exerted anti-nociception on bilateral hind paws, reversed the increased eATP and mechanosensitivity of bilateral DRGs, and restored the decreased eATP of bilateral sciatic nerves. NTPDase-2 and -3 in bilateral ganglia and sciatic nerves were inconsistently modulated during this period. These observations indicate that eATP metabolism of peripheral sensory nerve system was simultaneously regulated during acupuncture analgesia, which might open a new frontier for acupuncture research.

The underlying mechanism of myeloid malignancies like myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) with bone marrow (BM) fibrosis (hereafter referred to as MDS-F and AML-F) is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the role of the E3 protein ubiquitin ligase Itch in the pathogenesis of these diseases preliminarily.

The role of thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) for postoperative analgesia after video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is still controversial. Some studies have reported the efficacy of ultrasound-guided retrolaminar block (RLB) for the postoperative management of pain after chest wall surgery. The purpose of this study was to compare the postoperative analgesic efficacy and adverse effects of ultrasound-guided RLB with those of TEA in patients undergoing minor VATS procedures.

It is clear that the risks of opioids in chronic pain outweigh the benefits, creating a drive for clinicians to support patients taper and stop long-term opioids. However, it is not known how patients who have been taking these medicines for months or years feel about reducing them. Using quantitative and qualitative data, this study describes the psychological complexity of these patients and examines their hopes and fears before opioid reduction.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenous gasotransmitter produced by the degradation of heme in the presence of heme oxygenase (HO) in mammals. It has been demonstrated that CO participates in a variety of physiological activities and pathological processes, and is closely related to cell protection and homeostasis maintenance in organ tissues. It has been shown by a growing number of studies that CO may play a regulatory and interventional role in the process of the occurrence and development of pain through a variety of mechanisms of action. However, its mechanism of action is still not fully understood and the uncontrollable factors concerning CO administration also placed considerable limitation to its application. This paper reviews the potential targets and pathways of CO in pain regulation and discusses the challenges and opportunities in the clinical application of CO in order to provide suggestions for further exploration and development of CO analgesics.

The etiological diagnosis of painful primary total hip arthroplasty and its management is a complex clinical challenge for pain physicians. Extrinsic sources of pain in the hip joint might be efficiently treated by clinical pain units, although the topic remains controversial.

Acute pelvic pain is a common presenting complaint in both the emergency room and outpatient settings. Pelvic pain of gynecologic origin in postmenopausal women occurs less frequently than in premenopausal women; however, it has important differences in etiology. The most common causes of postmenopausal pelvic pain from gynecologic origin are ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease, and ovarian neoplasm. Other etiologies of pelvic pain are attributable to urinary, gastrointestinal, and vascular systems. As the optimal imaging modality varies for these etiologies, it is important to narrow the differential diagnosis before choosing the initial diagnostic imaging examination. Transabdominal and transvaginal ultrasound are the best initial imaging techniques when the differential is primarily of gynecologic origin. CT with intravenous (IV) contrast is more useful if the differential diagnosis remains broad. MRI without IV contrast or MRI without and with IV contrast, as well as CT without IV contrast may also be used for certain differential considerations. The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed annually by a multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and revision include an extensive analysis of current medical literature from peer reviewed journals and the application of well-established methodologies (RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation or GRADE) to rate the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures for specific clinical scenarios. In those instances where evidence is lacking or equivocal, expert opinion may supplement the available evidence to recommend imaging or treatment.

There are no approved treatments for vaso-occlusive crises in sickle cell disease. Sevuparin is a novel non-anticoagulant low molecular weight heparinoid, with anti-adhesive properties. In this study, we tested whether sevuparin could shorten vaso-occlusive crisis duration in hospitalised patients with sickle cell disease.

To investigate the changes in the topological properties of the global and local nodal efficiencies of the brain white matter network in patients with type III B prostatitis, and to analyze the correlation between the information transmission efficiency of different brain regions and pelvic pain.

In recent times due to the advancement of haemodialysis techniques, there is increase in the life span of the patients with end-stage renal disease, which tends to increase the risk of complications of bacteraemia due to skin penetration for blood access and leading to propensity for more skeletal and spinal complications. Hence, early diagnosis of spine infection and early initiation of appropriate therapy are important in ensuring successful treatment and preventing further morbidity.