Words hurt: common and distinct neural substrates underlying nociceptive and semantic pain.

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that processing semantic pain, such as words associated with physical pain, modulates pain perception and enhances activity in regions of the pain matrix. A direct comparison between activations due to noxious stimulation and processing of words conveying physical pain may clarify whether and to what extent the neural substrates of nociceptive pain are shared by semantic pain. Pain is triggered also by experiences of social exclusion, rejection or loss of significant others (the so-called social pain), therefore words expressing social pain may modulate pain perception similarly to what happens with words associated with physical pain.

Perceptions of Death Among Patients with Advanced Cancer Receiving Early Palliative Care and Their Caregivers: Results from a Mixed-Method Analysis.

Background: Oncologists are often concerned that talking about death with patients may hinder their relationship. However, the views of death held by patients have not been thoroughly investigated. This study aimed to describe the perception of death among patients with advanced cancer receiving early palliative care (EPC) and their caregivers.

Investigating the impact of offer frame manipulations on responders playing the ultimatum game.

The present study was designed to test the impact of frame manipulations on the decision-making of responders playing the ultimatum game. Experiment 1 investigated responders' event-related potentials (ERPs) measured in response to the offers as a function of the frame (i.e.

Perceptions of Hope Among Bereaved Caregivers of Cancer Patients Who Received Early Palliative Care: A Content and Lexicographic Analysis.

Background: Oncologists' fear of taking away hope from patients when proposing early palliative care (EPC) is a barrier to the implementation of this model. This study explores hope perceptions among bereaved caregivers of onco-hematologic patients who received EPC.

Materials And Methods: Open-ended questionnaires were administered to 36 primary caregivers of patients who received EPC (26 solid and 10 hematologic cancer patients; mean age: 51.

Changes in Cancer Patients' and Caregivers' Disease Perceptions While Receiving Early Palliative Care: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis.

Background: Little is known about the underlying mechanisms through which early palliative care (EPC) improves multiple outcomes in patients with cancer and their caregivers. The aim of this study was to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze patients' and caregivers' thoughts and emotional and cognitive perceptions about the disease prior to and during the EPC intervention, and in the end of life, following the exposure to EPC.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-seven patients with advanced cancer and 48 caregivers from two cancer centers participated in semistructured interviews.