Pain From a Distance: Can Third-Person Self-Talk Mitigate Pain Sensitivity and Pain Related Distress During Experimentally Induced Pain?

Pain is self-immersive, leading to a narrow, egocentric focus on the self in the here and now. Preliminary evidence suggests that distancing oneself from the pain can reduce experimentally induced pain. The primary aim of this experimental study was to examine whether a hitherto unexplored, simple self-distancing strategy - "third-person self-talk" - has an analgesic effect on physiological and psychological pain variables.

A gene-centric approach to biomarker discovery identifies transglutaminase 1 as an epidermal autoantigen.

Autoantigen discovery is a critical challenge for the understanding and diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. While autoantibody markers in current clinical use have been identified through studies focused on individual disorders, we postulated that a reverse approach starting with a putative autoantigen to explore multiple disorders might hold promise. We here targeted the epidermal protein transglutaminase 1 (TGM1) as a member of a protein family prone to autoimmune attack.

Different pain variables could independently predict anxiety and depression in subjects with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Objectives: Chronic, clinical pain states are often accompanied by distress such as anxiety and depression. The aim of this study was to determine if certain clinical pain variables could predict the level of anxiety and depression in subjects with musculoskeletal pain.

Methods: Two multiple linear regression analyses were conducted on a sample consisting of 189 subjects with clinical pain with the independent pain variables of pain intensity, the influence of pain on daily activities, pain persistence, pain duration, and the number of pain locations.

Is clinical, musculoskeletal pain associated with poorer logical reasoning?

Introduction: It has been hypothesized that pain disrupts system 2 processes (eg, working memory) presumed to underlie logical reasoning. A recent study examining the impact of experimentally induced pain on logical reasoning found no evidence of an effect.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine whether clinical pain, which is qualitatively different from experimental pain, would lower the ability to reason logically.

Pain and social cognition: does pain lead to more stereotyped judgments based on ethnicity and age?

Background and aims Previous research on pain and cognition has largely focused on non-social cognitive outcomes (e.g. attention, problem solving).

Clinical pain, abstraction, and self-control: being in pain makes it harder to see the forest for the trees and is associated with lower self-control.

Objectives: Although abstract thinking is a fundamental dimension of human cognition, it has received scant attention in research on pain and cognition. We hypothesized that physical pain impairs abstraction, because when people experience pain at high intensity levels, attention becomes concretely focused on the self in the here and now, where little else matters than finding relief for the pain they are currently experiencing. We also examined the relationship between pain and self-control, predicting that pain would debilitate self-control.

Impaired psychomotor ability and attention in patients with persistent pain: a cross-sectional comparative study.

Background And Aims: Patients with pain have shown cognitive impairment across various domains. Although the pain qualities vary among patients, research has overlooked how cognitive performance is affected by the duration and persistence of pain. The current study sought to fill this gap by examining how qualitatively different pain states relate to the following cognitive functions: sustained attention, cognitive control, and psychomotor ability.

Glucocorticoid dexamethasone down-regulates basal and vitamin D3 induced cathelicidin expression in human monocytes and bronchial epithelial cell line.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) have been extensively used as the mainstream treatment for chronic inflammatory disorders. The persistent use of steroids in the past decades and the association with secondary infections warrants for detailed investigation into their effects on the innate immune system and the therapeutic outcome. In this study, we analyse the effect of GCs on antimicrobial polypeptide (AMP) expression.

Lineage-Specific Viral Hijacking of Non-canonical E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Cofactors in the Evolution of Vif Anti-APOBEC3 Activity.

HIV-1 encodes the accessory protein Vif, which hijacks a host Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL) complex as well as the non-canonical cofactor CBFβ, to antagonize APOBEC3 antiviral proteins. Non-canonical cofactor recruitment to CRL complexes by viral factors, to date, has only been attributed to HIV-1 Vif. To further study this phenomenon, we employed a comparative approach combining proteomic, biochemical, structural, and virological techniques to investigate Vif complexes across the lentivirus genus, including primate (HIV-1 and simian immunodeficiency virus macaque [SIVmac]) and non-primate (FIV, BIV, and MVV) viruses.

Heterogeneity of colon cancer patients reported as emergencies.

Background: Up to one-fourth of all colon cancer patients are reported as emergencies, and the aim of the present study was to scrutinize mode of presentation in this group.

Materials And Methods: All reported cases of emergency (n = 263) and randomly selected elective controls (1:2) of colon cancer in four Swedish counties 2006-2008 were eligible (n = 854). Symptoms and aspects of management were retrieved from surgery and primary care records.

High expression of ZNF703 independent of amplification indicates worse prognosis in patients with luminal B breast cancer.

Amplification of 8p12-p11 is relatively common in breast cancer and several genes within the region have been suggested to affect breast tumor progression. The aim of the study was to map the amplified 8p12-p11 region in a large set of breast tumors in an effort to identify the genetic driver and to explore its impact on tumor progression and prognosis. Copy number alterations (CNAs) were mapped in 359 tumors, and gene expression data from 577 tumors (359 tumors included) were correlated with CNA, clinical-pathological factors, and protein expression (39 tumors).

Emergency presentation and socioeconomic status in colon cancer.

Background: Emergency presentation affects up to every fourth patient with colon cancer, and is associated with worse outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate any association between socioeconomic status (SES) and mode of presentation in colon cancer.

Materials And Methods: Individually attained data on civil status, education and income were linked to quality registries for colon cancer in two large Swedish regions 1997-2006 (n = 12 293) and analyzed by logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, stage, region and socioeconomic variables.

The risk allele of SNP rs3803662 and the mRNA level of its closest genes TOX3 and LOC643714 predict adverse outcome for breast cancer patients.

Background: The minor allele of SNP rs3803662 has been shown to correlate with increased breast cancer risk and with lower expression of TOX3. The SNP is closely located to TOX3 residing within an uncharacterised gene LOC643714. The aim of the study was to examine the association of the risk allele with expression of TOX3 and LOC643714, and of mRNA levels and genotype with clinical and pathological characteristics.

Characterisation of amplification patterns and target genes at chromosome 11q13 in CCND1-amplified sporadic and familial breast tumours.

Amplification of chromosomal region 11q13, containing the cell cycle regulatory gene CCND1, is frequently found in breast cancer and other malignancies. It is associated with the favourable oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast tumour phenotype, but also with poor prognosis and treatment failure. 11q13 spans almost 14 Mb and contains more than 200 genes and is affected by various patterns of copy number gains, suggesting complex mechanisms and selective pressure during tumour progression.

Genome-wide search for breast cancer linkage in large Icelandic non-BRCA1/2 families.

Introduction: A significant proportion of high-risk breast cancer families are not explained by mutations in known genes. Recent genome-wide searches (GWS) have not revealed any single major locus reminiscent of BRCA1 and BRCA2, indicating that still unidentified genes may explain relatively few families each or interact in a way obscure to linkage analyses. This has drawn attention to possible benefits of studying populations where genetic heterogeneity might be reduced.

Genomic subtypes of breast cancer identified by array-comparative genomic hybridization display distinct molecular and clinical characteristics.

Introduction: Breast cancer is a profoundly heterogeneous disease with respect to biologic and clinical behavior. Gene-expression profiling has been used to dissect this complexity and to stratify tumors into intrinsic gene-expression subtypes, associated with distinct biology, patient outcome, and genomic alterations. Additionally, breast tumors occurring in individuals with germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations typically fall into distinct subtypes.

High-resolution genomic and expression analyses of copy number alterations in HER2-amplified breast cancer.

Introduction: HER2 gene amplification and protein overexpression (HER2+) define a clinically challenging subgroup of breast cancer with variable prognosis and response to therapy. Although gene expression profiling has identified an ERBB2 molecular subtype of breast cancer, it is clear that HER2+ tumors reside in all molecular subtypes and represent a genomically and biologically heterogeneous group, needed to be further characterized in large sample sets.

Methods: Genome-wide DNA copy number profiling, using bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), and global gene expression profiling were performed on 200 and 87 HER2+ tumors, respectively.

Emergency presentation of colon cancer is most frequent during summer.

Aim: The frequency of emergency colon cancer (ECC) was determined using a reproducible definition of 'emergency' to analyse the impact of mode of presentation on long-term prognosis and to search for risk factors for an emergency presentation.

Method: All patients with colon cancer treated at one Swedish GDH between 1996 and 2005 (N = 604) were eligible. Patients admitted through the emergency room, operated on within three days and with an emergency condition confirmed at surgery were classified as ECC.

Identification of subtypes in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2--positive breast cancer reveals a gene signature prognostic of outcome.

PURPOSE Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene amplification or protein overexpression (HER2 positivity) defines a clinically challenging subgroup of patients with breast cancer (BC) with variable prognosis and response to therapy. We aimed to investigate the heterogeneous biologic appearance and clinical behavior of HER2-positive tumors using molecular profiling. PATIENTS AND METHODS Hierarchical clustering of gene expression data from 58 HER2-amplified tumors of various stage, histologic grade, and estrogen receptor (ER) status was used to construct a HER2-derived prognostic predictor that was further evaluated in several large independent BC data sets.

Evidence against PALB2 involvement in Icelandic breast cancer susceptibility.

Several mutations in the PALB2 gene (partner and localizer of BRCA2) have been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, including a founder mutation, 1592delT, reported in Finnish breast cancer families. Although most often the risk is moderate, it doesn't exclude families with high-risk mutations to exist and such observations have been reported. To see if high-risk PALB2-mutations may be present in the geographically confined population of Iceland, linkage analysis was done on 111 individuals, thereof 61 breast cancer cases, from 9 high-risk non-BRCA1/BRCA2 breast cancer families, targeting the PALB2 region.

Disturbing post-operative symptoms are not reduced by prophylactic antiemetic treatment in patients at high risk of post-operative nausea and vomiting.

Background: To give prophylactics or timely treatment for post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is the question. We compared the intensity and number of disturbing post-operative symptoms (i.e.

The usefulness of Diffusion-In-Gel-ELISA in clinical practice as illustrated by a Campylobacter jejuni outbreak.

In this study, the DIG-ELISA (Diffusion-In-Gel Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) is presented as a tool for the determination of antibodies with improved quantitation over other solid phase assays. The method combines the diffusion of antibodies in agar with the EIA concept in Petri dishes. Diffusion of native, undiluted sera results in (1) a concentration gradient in the effort to reach equilibrium, i.

Diffusion-in-gel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for routine detection of IgG and IgM antibodies to Campylobacter jejuni.

A diagnostic serologic test for antibodies to Campylobacter jejuni is presented. A diffusion-in-gel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with a surface antigen pool from two C jejuni strains was used. In testing serum samples for antibodies to C jejuni this system possessed high specificity, reliability, sensitivity, and capacity.