Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP), with a high prevalence and rising epidemic of opioids crisis, is typically derived from acute postoperative pain. Our knowledge on the forming of chronic pain mostly derives from mechanistic studies of pain processing in the brain and spinal cord circuits, yet most pharmacological interventions targeting CNS came to be unhelpful in preventing CPSP. Revealing the peripheral mechanisms behind the transition from acute to chronic pain after surgery could shine a light on the novel analgesic regimens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Previous studies have focused on the role of perioperative nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in improving the success rate of long-term smoking cessation in tobacco smokers. This study aimed to measure the effectiveness of high-dose NRT in alleviating postoperative pain for male abstinent smokers receiving abdominal surgery.
Design: This was a parallel-group, randomized, double-blind and controlled pilot trial.
Background: Cholestatic diseases are often accompanied by elevated plasma levels of endogenous opioid peptides, but it is still unclear whether central or peripheral mechanisms are involved in this process, and little is known about the change of pain threshold in these patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the preoperative pain threshold, postoperative morphine consumption, and central and peripheral β-endorphin levels in patients with obstructive jaundice. This study also tests the hypothesis that activation of the cannabinoid receptor-2 (CB2R) in skin keratinocytes by endocannabinoids is the mechanism underlying circulating β-endorphin elevation in patients with obstructive jaundice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The International Standards for a Safe Practice of Anesthesia (ISSPA) were developed on behalf of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists and the World Health Organization. It has been recommend as an assessment tool that allows anesthetic providers in developing countries to assess their compliance and needs. This study was performed to describe the anesthesia service in one main public hospital during an 8-month medical mission in Cambodia and evaluate its anesthetic safety issues according to the ISSPA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic impairment disorder that occurs after exposure to traumatic events. This disorder can result in a disturbance to individual and family functioning, causing significant medical, financial, and social problems. This study is a selective review of literature aiming to provide a general outlook of the current understanding of PTSD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObstructive jaundice disease is often accompanied by an increase in plasma endogenous opioids levels. Theses elevated endogenous opioids bring complications like pruritus, cardiac and vascular abnormalities in patients with cholestasis. However, little is known about the mechanism of increased endogenous opioids synthesis in cholestatic liver diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPain treatment is a critical aspect of pancreatic cancer patient clinical care. This study investigated the role of trypsin-protease activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) in pancreatic cancer pain. Pancreatic tissue samples were collected from pancreatic cancer (n=22) and control patients (n=22).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Glutamine is a non-essential amino acid which is abundant in the healthy human body. There are studies reporting that plasma glutamine levels are reduced in patients with critical illness or following major surgery, suggesting that glutamine may be a conditionally essential amino acid in situations of extreme stress. In the past decade, several clinical trials examining the effects of glutamine supplementation in patients with critical illness or receiving surgery have been done, and the systematic review of this clinical evidence has suggested that glutamine supplementation may reduce infection and mortality rates in patients with critical illness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Skin synthesis of endogenous opioids such as enkephalin is considered to be increased in cholestatic rodents, which may induce antinociception in cholestatic liver disease. No studies have reported yet the expression of skin enkephalin in patients with cholestasis.
Methods: Electrical pain threshold, postoperative morphine consumption, and skin enkephalin expression were measured in patients with jaundice (n = 18) and control patients (n = 16).
Background: The nuclear protein high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a key trigger for the inflammatory reaction during liver ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI). Hydrogen treatment was recently associated with down-regulation of the expression of HMGB1 and pro-inflammatory cytokines during sepsis and myocardial IRI, but it is not known whether hydrogen has an effect on HMGB1 in liver IRI.
Methods: A rat model of 60 minutes 70% partial liver ischemia reperfusion injury was used.
OBJECTIVES. The need for trial registration as well as the benefits it has brought for the transparency of medical research has been recognized for years. Trial registration has turned from an exception to a mandatory guideline in recent years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The CONSORT Statement is a reporting guideline for authors when reporting randomized controlled trials (RCTs). It offers a standard way for authors to prepare RCT reports. It has been endorsed by many high-impact medical journals and by international editorial groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Responsiveness of the "jaundiced heart" to propofol is not completely understood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of propofol on myocardial performance in rats with obstructive jaundice.
Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 40) were randomly allocated into two groups, twenty underwent bile duct ligation (BDL), and 20 underwent a sham operation.
Background: The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) Statement was published to help authors improve how they report systematic reviews. It is unknown how many journals mention PRISMA in their instructions to authors, or whether stronger journal language regarding use of PRISMA improves author compliance.
Methodology/principal Findings: An Internet-based investigation examined the extent to which 146 leading medical journals have incorporated the PRISMA Statement into their instructions to authors.
We investigated the mechanism underlying inhibition of spinal dorsal horn GABAergic neurotransmission to elucidate the role of protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR2). Initially, we confirmed that PAR2 agonist SL-NH(2) applied intrathecally produced mechanical hyperalgesia. Then we performed patch-clamp experiments in substantia gelatinosa neurons of spinal cord slice, and found that spontaneous inhibitory post-synaptic currents (sIPSCs) were significantly decreased in both frequency and amplitude when neurons were incubated with PAR2 agonist SL-NH(2) for a brief time period (2 min).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPractitioners and researchers from China, the largest user of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), have been publishing an increasing number of scientific articles in world-famous CAM journals in recent years. However, the status of CAM research in the three major regions of China, the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong has, until now, not been reported. In this study, we compared articles from these three regions published in international CAM journals from 2000 to 2009 using PubMed database and the Journal Citation Reports.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Activation of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been proved to reduce damages to the liver in ischemia reperfusion injury. The objective of present study was to determine whether clinic relevant doses of isoflurane treatment could be sufficient to activate HO-1 inducing, which confers protective effect against hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Methods: The hepatic artery and portal vein to the left and the median liver lobes of forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were occluded for 60 minutes.