Peripheral Nerve Stimulation for Chronic Pain and Migraine: A Review.

Interventional pain procedures offer treatments for chronic pain conditions refractory to conservative measures. Neuromodulation, including peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS), applies electrical stimuli to neural structures to treat pain. Here we review the literature on PNS for various chronic pain conditions including neuropathic pain, postamputation pain, musculoskeletal pain, migraine, and pelvic pain.

Tobacco and electronic cigarettes adversely impact ECG indexes of ventricular repolarization: implication for sudden death risk.

Tobacco cigarette smoking is associated with increased sudden death risk, perhaps through adverse effects on ventricular repolarization. The effect of electronic (e-)cigarettes on ventricular repolarization is unknown. The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis that tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes have similar adverse effects on electrocardiogram (ECG) indexes of ventricular repolarization and these effects are attributable to nicotine.

Management of an Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Neuropathic Pain in the Emergency Department: A Case to Support Ultrasound-Guided Forearm Nerve Blocks.

Background: Acute on chronic neuropathic pain is often refractory to analgesics and can be challenging to treat in the emergency department (ED). In addition, systemic medications such as opiates and nonsteroidal inflammatory drugs have risks, including hypotension and kidney injury, respectively. Difficulties in managing pain in patients with neuropathy can lead to prolonged ED stays, undesired admissions, and subsequent increased health care costs.

Sympathomimetic Effects of Acute E-Cigarette Use: Role of Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Constituents.

Background: Chronic electronic (e) cigarette users have increased resting cardiac sympathetic nerve activity and increased susceptibility to oxidative stress. The purpose of the present study is to determine the role of nicotine versus non-nicotine constituents in e-cigarette emissions in causing these pathologies in otherwise healthy humans.

Methods And Results: Thirty-three healthy volunteers who were not current e-cigarette or tobacco cigarette smokers were studied.

Activation of the "Splenocardiac Axis" by electronic and tobacco cigarettes in otherwise healthy young adults.

The "Splenocardiac Axis" describes an inflammatory signaling network underlying acute cardiac ischemia, characterized by sympathetic nerve stimulation of hematopoietic tissues, such as the bone marrow and spleen, which then release proinflammatory monocytes that populate atherosclerotic plaques, thereby promoting ischemic heart disease. Electronic (e) cigarettes, like tobacco cigarettes trigger sympathetic nerve activation, but virtually nothing is known about their influence on hematopoietic and vascular tissues and cardiovascular risks. The objective of this study was to determine if the Splenocardiac Axis is activated in young adults who habitually use either tobacco or e-cigarettes.

Increased Cardiac Sympathetic Activity and Oxidative Stress in Habitual Electronic Cigarette Users: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk.

Importance: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have gained unprecedented popularity, but virtually nothing is known about their cardiovascular risks.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that an imbalance of cardiac autonomic tone and increased systemic oxidative stress and inflammation are detectable in otherwise healthy humans who habitually use e-cigarettes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Cross-sectional case-control study of habitual e-cigarette users and nonuser control individuals from 2015 to 2016 at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Emergency Physicians' Perceptions and Decision-making Processes Regarding Patients Presenting with Palpitations.

Background: Palpitations are a common emergency department (ED) complaint, yet relatively little research exists on this topic from an emergency care perspective.

Objectives: We sought to describe the perceptions and clinical decision-making processes of emergency physicians (EP) surrounding patients with palpitations.

Methods: We conducted 21 semistructured interviews with a convenience sample of EPs.

Adverse effects of cigarette and noncigarette smoke exposure on the autonomic nervous system: mechanisms and implications for cardiovascular risk.

This review summarizes the detrimental effects of cigarette and noncigarette emission exposure on autonomic function, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms of acute and chronic modulation of the sympathetic nervous system. We propose that the nicotine and fine particulate matter in tobacco smoke lead to increased sympathetic nerve activity, which becomes persistent via a positive feedback loop between sympathetic nerve activity and reactive oxidative species. Furthermore, we propose that baroreflex suppression of sympathetic activation is attenuated in habitual smokers; that is, the baroreflex plays a permissive role, allowing sympathoexcitation to occur without restraint in the setting of increased pressor response.