Human Studies

Limb loss occurs for various reasons (trauma, infection, vascular diseases, tumors, congenital absence). Limb loss is known to result in several types of pain. Little is known about pain in residents with missing limbs admitted to complex chronic care (CCC) facilities. This study examined the presence of pain and its intensity in CCC residents with and without missing limbs.

Chronic pain is a complex clinical condition, often devastating for patients and unmanageable with pharmacological treatments. Converging evidence suggests that transcutaneous spinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS) might represent a complementary therapy in managing chronic pain. In this randomized, double-blind and sham-controlled crossover study, we assessed tsDCS effects in chronic pain patients. Sixteen patients (aged 65.06 ± 16.16 years, eight women) with chronic pain of different etiology underwent sham and anodal tsDCS (anode over the tenth thoracic vertebra, cathode over the somatosensory cortical area: 2.5 mA, 20 min, 5 days for 1 week). As outcomes, we considered the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory (NPSI), and the components of the lower limb flexion reflex (LLFR), i.e., RIII threshold, RII latency and area, RIII latency and area, and flexion reflex (FR) total area. Assessments were conducted before (T0), immediately at the end of the treatment (T1), after 1 week (T2) and 1 month (T3). Compared to sham, anodal tsDCS reduced RIII area at T2 ( = 0.0043) and T3 ( = 0.0012); similarly, FR total area was reduced at T3 ( = 0.03). Clinically, anodal tsDCS dampened VAS at T3 ( = 0.015), and NPSI scores at T1 ( = 0.0012), and T3 ( = 0.0015), whereas sham condition left them unchanged. Changes in VAS and NPSI scores linearly correlated with the reduction in LLFR areas ( = 0.0004). Our findings suggest that tsDCS could modulate nociceptive processing and pain perception in chronic pain syndromes.

Neuropathic pain (NP) associated with depression or anxiety is highly prevalent in clinical practice. Publications about NP associated with depression or anxiety increased exponentially from 2000 to 2020. However, studies that applied the bibliometric method in analyzing global scientific research about NP associated with depression or anxiety are rare. This work used the bibliometric method to analyze the publications on NP associated with depression or anxiety between 2000 and 2020. Publications from 2000 and 2020 were identified from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS) database. We employed CiteSpace V to conduct the bibliometric study. A total of 915 articles or reviews were obtained from the WoS database. The number of publications has increased over the last two decades. The USA was the most productive among countries or regions in the field. According to the burst key words, neuroinflammation, hippocampus, safety, and modulation were the hot global research issues in the domain. Publications about NP associated with depression or anxiety have remarkably increased from 2000 to 2020. These historical opinions about NP associated with depression or anxiety could be an important practical basis for further research into potential development trends.

Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is rare genetic disorder mainly characterized by the development of central nervous system lesions, but peripheral nerve pathology may also cause high morbidity including pain, motor, and sensory loss.

Emotional distress can lead to suicidal ideation and potentially suicide completion, yet there is very little literature on suicidal ideation in individuals with a diagnosis of neurofibromatosis (NF; NF1, NF2, and schwannomatosis).

No international data are available on the night working conditions and workload of anaesthesiologists and their opinions about associated risks.

Twenty-one U.S. states have passed recreational cannabis laws as of November 2022. Cannabis may be a substitute for prescription opioids in the treatment of chronic pain. Previous studies have assessed recreational cannabis laws' effects on opioid prescriptions financed by specific private or public payers or dispensed to a unique endpoint. Our study adds to the literature in three important ways: by (1) examining these laws' impacts on prescription opioid dispensing across all payers and endpoints, (2) adjusting for important opioid-related policies such as opioid prescribing limits, and (3) modeling opioids separately by type. We implement two-way fixed-effects regressions and leverage variation from eleven U.S. states that adopted a recreational cannabis law (RCL) between 2010 and 2019. We find that RCLs lead to a reduction in codeine dispensed at retail pharmacies. Among prescription opioids, codeine is particularly likely to be used non-medically. Thus, the finding that RCLs appear to reduce codeine dispensing is potentially promising from a public health perspective.

This project seeks to identify the top 30 drugs most commonly associated with headaches in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), as well as their respective reporting odds ratios (RORs).

To map the socioeconomic and geographic inequalities in headache disability in Brazil.

To evaluate the association of short-term exposure to overall fine particulate matter of <2.5 μm (PM ) and wildfire-specific PM with emergency department (ED) visits for headache.