http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Chronic pain is experienced by as many as two out of three older adults. Now, a new study finds that pain may be more hazardous than previously thought, contributing to an increased risk of falls in adults over age 70. The findings appear in the November 25 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). http://www.physorg.com/news178306314.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:50:06 EST news178306314 At the moment a newborn switches from amniotic fluid to breathing air, another profound shift occurs: nerve cells in the brain convert from hyperexcitability to a calm frame against which outside signals can be detected. http://www.physorg.com/news177701546.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:34:29 EST news177701546 Chronic pain patients with a history of depression are three times more likely to receive long-term prescriptions for opioid medications like Vicodin compared to pain patients who do not suffer from depression, according to new research. http://www.physorg.com/news177614375.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:50:02 EST news177614375 Ten of thousands of patients suffer chronic pain as a result of operations, and this continues even after the wounds caused by the operation have healed. Researchers from the MIRA research institute - the University of Twente`s Research Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine - have now developed a portable system that can be used to measure patients` sensitivity to pain. The readings show which patients are likely to suffer chronic post-operative pain. http://www.physorg.com/news176661909.html Medicine & Health Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:45:41 EST news176661909 Obesity, not the amount of radiation given, is the greatest factor in whether early-stage lung cancer patients develop chest wall pain after receiving stereotactic body radiation therapy to the chest wall, with obese patients being more than twice as likely to develop chronic pain compared to those who have less body weight, according to a first-of-its-kind study presented Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). http://www.physorg.com/news176396973.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:40:01 EST news176396973 An f1000 evaluation examines how pain relief improves greatly when the sufferer can actually see the area where the pain is occurring. http://www.physorg.com/news176047794.html Medicine & Health Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:40:03 EST news176047794 The biological safety of nanotechnology, in other words, how the body reacts to nanoparticles, is a hot topic. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have managed for the first time to carry out successful experiments involving the injection of so-called 'nanowires.' http://www.physorg.com/news175425344.html Nanotechnology Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:30:01 EST news175425344 (PhysOrg.com) -- The inflammatory response following a spinal cord injury appears to be set up to cause extra tissue damage instead of promoting healing, new research suggests. http://www.physorg.com/news175353183.html Medicine & Health Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:13:29 EST news175353183 The Placebo effect has long been recognized as a factor in determining the efficacy of various medical intervention therapies. A newly published study, "Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia"*, by Eippert, Finsterbusch, Bingel and Buchel of the Departments of Systems Neuroscience and Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendof in Germany finds quantitative-observable physical evidence of the effects of suggestion. http://www.physorg.com/news175154908.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:09:02 EST news175154908 Abatacept, a member of a new class of drug that targets immune cells to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is effective against RA, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The review examines recent trials to assess safety and efficacy of the drug. http://www.physorg.com/news174077828.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:30:02 EST news174077828 The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in a growing number of soldiers evacuated to the United States for comprehensive care for physical and psychological trauma. Given the number of physical injuries often experienced by soldiers, it is not surprising that chronic pain is a frequent problem among returning soldiers from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF). http://www.physorg.com/news173512790.html Medicine & Health Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:00:25 EST news173512790 Whether from heaving, twisting, bending or bad lifting postures, it's well known that caring for the sick or elderly can lead to back pain. This often results in time off work or dropping out of caring professions altogether. Now Danish research published in the online open access journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders suggests that the fear of getting back pain from care work is predictive of actually developing it. http://www.physorg.com/news172992684.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:50:01 EST news172992684 (AP) -- Federal health officials say a new version of the painkiller OxyContin that is designed to be harder to abuse offers some improvements over the original pill. http://www.physorg.com/news172847086.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:05:46 EST news172847086 (PhysOrg.com) -- Successfully treating chronic pain with opioids such as morphine -- minus the side effects -- may soon become a reality, bringing relief to millions of people who suffer from debilitating pain, according to Distinguished Professor Linda Watkins of the University of Colorado at Boulder. http://www.physorg.com/news172153868.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:00:02 EST news172153868 Acupuncture has been used in East-Asian medicine for thousands of years to treat pain, possibly by activating the body's natural painkillers. But how it works at the cellular level is largely unknown. http://www.physorg.com/news169120620.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:20:02 EST news169120620 It is well known that chronic pain and clinical depression go together, but a study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, shows that the connection between pain and depression is strongest in middle-age women and African Americans. http://www.physorg.com/news164438759.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:10:02 EST news164438759 Morphine patches are supposed to reduce use of painkillers, and provide more control over their use in chronic pain conditions. But researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim have found otherwise. http://www.physorg.com/news161788928.html Medicine & Health Sun, 17 May 2009 14:24:12 EST news161788928 Talk turned serious -- painfully so, at times -- during the two hours of group discussion. http://www.physorg.com/news161615033.html Medicine & Health Fri, 15 May 2009 14:06:22 EST news161615033 Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found a way to maintain the pain-killing qualities of morphine over an extended period of time, thus providing a solution for the problem of having to administer increasing dosages of the drug in order to retain its effectiveness. http://www.physorg.com/news160047933.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:46:10 EST news160047933 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Behaviour Therapy (BT) show some effect in helping the disability associated with chronic pain, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review. The researchers assessed the use of CBT and BT on chronic pain, mood, and disability. http://www.physorg.com/news158992508.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:35:34 EST news158992508 (PhysOrg.com) -- Harvard researchers at Children`s Hospital Boston have developed a slow-release anesthetic drug-delivery system that could potentially revolutionize treatment of pain during and after surgery, and may also have a large impact on chronic pain management. http://www.physorg.com/news158940677.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:12:04 EST news158940677 (AP) -- Scratch an itch and you get ... aaaaaah. Now scientists have watched spinal nerves transmit that relief signal to the brain in monkeys, a possible step toward finding new treatments for persistent itching in people. http://www.physorg.com/news158236044.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:28:00 EST news158236044 Patients with chronic pain who took part in a collaborative care intervention that included patient and clinician education and symptom monitoring and feedback to the primary care physician had improvements in pain-related disability and intensity, compared to usual care, according to a study in the March 25 issue of JAMA. http://www.physorg.com/news157134444.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:28:32 EST news157134444 Mayo Clinic research shows a correlation between inadequate vitamin D levels and the amount of narcotic medication taken by patients who have chronic pain. This correlation is an important finding as researchers discover new ways to treat chronic pain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the United States. These patients often end up taking narcotic-type pain medication such as morphine, fentanyl or oxycodone. http://www.physorg.com/news156780926.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:16:23 EST news156780926 (PhysOrg.com) -- Gamers caught a very early glimpse of the future of serious games aimed at the health sector during the PlayMancer project`s demos at the latest Vienna Science Fair. http://www.physorg.com/news155568373.html Technology Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:26:58 EST news155568373 High levels of a protein linked to the way pain signals are sent to the brain led to a decrease in abdominal pain in a recent study in mice. http://www.physorg.com/news155227893.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:51:54 EST news155227893 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists peered at the brains of people with a baffling chronic pain condition and discovered something surprising. Their brains looked like an inept cable guy had changed the hookups, rewiring the areas related to emotion, pain perception and the temperature of their skin. http://www.physorg.com/news146922947.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:55:47 EST news146922947 The brains of individuals with major depressive disorder appear to react more strongly when anticipating pain and also display altered functioning of the neural network that modifies pain sensitivity, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. http://www.physorg.com/news144950901.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:08:21 EST news144950901 (PhysOrg.com) -- Better chronic pain relief could be possible in the future, according to research announced today by scientists at UQ's Queensland Brain Institute. http://www.physorg.com/news143988927.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:55:27 EST news143988927 At the intersection of two U.S. health epidemics - obesity and chronic pain - researchers from the University of Michigan Health System found black patients with chronic pain were less likely to have their weight or body mass index (BMI) recorded, even though they are at higher risk for having obesity when compared with their white counterparts. http://www.physorg.com/news143210383.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:39:43 EST news143210383