Specialized multimodal outpatient treatment for children with chronic pain: treatment pathways and long-term outcome.

Objective: Despite the increased recognition of paediatric chronic pain, centres for providing appropriate treatment are scarce, and much remains unknown about optimal treatment approaches. The purpose of this study was to investigate effectiveness of multimodal outpatient treatment (MOT) through the examination of treatment pathways and long-term outcomes.

Methods: Within an observational longitudinal study, 275 children (4-18years) formed the study group and received MOT.

Changes in pain-related coping strategies and their importance for treatment outcome following multimodal inpatient treatment: does sex matter?

Unlabelled: While sex differences in pain-related coping have been widely reported, little is known on sex differences in changes in coping following multimodal pain treatment and how these changes relate to treatment outcome. The present prospective study therefore aimed to investigate sex differences in coping strategies between boys and girls with chronic pain prior to multimodal inpatient treatment and at 3-month follow-up. Sixty-four boys and 103 girls with various pain disorders were evaluated.

Repetitive intranasal administration of cholecystokinin potentiates its central nervous effects.

Functional evidence exists for a nose-brain pathway for the neuropeptide cholecystokinin-8 (CCK-8S). The transport mechanism, however, remains still unclear. Previous studies indicate a saturable dose-response curve on the magnitude of the late positive complex of the auditory event-related potential (AERP) with increasing doses of intranasally administered CCK-8S.

Habituation deficit in auditory event-related potentials in tinnitus complainers.

According to Hallam's habituation theory of tinnitus, most of the suffering caused by tinnitus is due to difficulties in habituation to the perceived tinnitus sound. Thus tinnitus complainers are assumed to display a less pronounced habituation as compared to tinnitus non-complainers. In the present study, an experimental test of this theory was undertaken using event-related potentials (ERPs) as indicators of habituation to exogenously administered tone pips.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy of pediatric headache: are there differences in efficacy between a therapist-administered group training and a self-help format?

Objective: The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral training in a therapist-administered group format (TG) and a self-help format (SH) for children with recurrent headache was compared.

Methods: A total of 77 children (10-14 years) were randomly assigned to TG (n=29), SH (n=27) and a waiting-list control group (WC; n=19). TG consisted of eight 90-min sessions with groups of five children.

Dose-response relationships of intranasal cholecystokinin and the P300 event-related brain potential.

The gut and brain peptide cholecystokinin (CCK) has been found to improve controlled stimulus processing and attention as indicated by the late positive complex (LPC) of the event-related brain potentials (ERPs). A direct nose-brain pathway for cortical effects of intranasally administered CCK-8S has been described, although the precise transmission within this pathway is still unknown. The present study compared the effects of two doses of CCK-8S (10 and 20 microg) and placebo after intranasal administration on the LPC of the ERP in healthy male and female subjects to further elucidate mechanisms of this nose-brain pathway.