A qualitative exploration of the experiences of individuals with spinal cord injury participating in a community-based online intervention to support posttraumatic growth.

Purpose: To date, no evidence-based, community-based online group intervention has been designed specifically to enhance posttraumatic growth (PTG), quality of life (QoL), sense of meaning and purpose, and satisfaction with life following a spinal cord injury (SCI). This qualitative study aims to describe participants' experiences of participating in such a program.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 people with SCI and analysed using a thematic analysis approach.

Co-design of an intervention exploring meaning and purpose after spinal cord injury.

Purpose: Rebuilding a strong sense of meaning and purpose following trauma is a vital contributor to post-traumatic growth and adapting well to a spinal cord injury. This project aimed to develop an intervention that used the concept of post-traumatic growth to foster a stronger sense of meaning and purpose in people with a spinal cord injury.

Methods: Using participatory action research methodology, the intervention was designed in an iterative process with health professionals and people with lived experience of spinal cord injury.

Posttraumatic growth in palliative care settings: A scoping review of prevalence, characteristics and interventions.

Background: Posttraumatic growth refers to positive psychological change following trauma. However, there is a need to better understand the experience of posttraumatic growth in the palliative care setting as well as the availability and efficacy of interventions that target this phenomenon.

Aims: To provide a review of the prevalence, characteristics and interventions involving posttraumatic growth in adults receiving palliative care and to collate recommendations for future development and utilisation of interventions promoting posttraumatic growth.

Serum dihydroceramides correlate with insulin sensitivity in humans and decrease insulin sensitivity in vitro.

Serum ceramides, especially C16:0 and C18:0 species, are linked to CVD risk and insulin resistance, but details of this association are not well understood. We performed this study to quantify a broad range of serum sphingolipids in individuals spanning the physiologic range of insulin sensitivity and to determine if dihydroceramides cause insulin resistance in vitro. As expected, we found that serum triglycerides were significantly greater in individuals with obesity and T2D compared with athletes and lean individuals.

An Exploratory EEG Analysis on the Effects of Virtual Reality in People with Neuropathic Pain Following Spinal Cord Injury.

Neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury is thought to be due to altered central neuronal activity. A novel therapeutic intervention using virtual reality (VR) head-mounted devices was investigated in this study for pain relief. Given the potential links to neuronal activity, the aim of the current study was to determine whether use of VR was associated with corresponding changes in electroencephalography (EEG) patterns linked to the presence of neuropathic pain.

Feasibility and acceptability of virtual reality for cancer pain in people receiving palliative care: a randomised cross-over study.

Context: Pain management in palliative care remains inadequate; the development of innovative therapeutic options is needed.

Objectives: To determine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness for larger randomised controlled trials of 3D head-mounted (HMD) virtual reality (VR) for managing cancer pain (CP) in adults.

Methods: Thirteen people receiving palliative care participated in a single-session randomised cross-over trial, after which they completed a qualitative semi-structured interview.

Spiritual Well-Being in People Living with Persistent Non-Cancer and Cancer-Related Pain.

Context: Existential and spiritual factors are known to play an important role in how people cope with disability and life-threatening illnesses such as cancer. However, comparatively little is known about the impact of pain on factors such as meaning and purpose in one's life and their potential roles in coping with pain.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine spiritual well-being scores in people with persistent pain and to compare these with people with cancer and healthy controls.

The short-term effects of head-mounted virtual-reality on neuropathic pain intensity in people with spinal cord injury pain: a randomised cross-over pilot study.

Study Design: Within-subject, randomised cross-over trial.

Objectives: To determine whether a commercially available 3D head-mounted (HMD) virtual reality (VR) device results in significant reductions in neuropathic pain compared to using a 2D screen device in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: Greenwich Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

The development of a novel questionnaire assessing alterations in central pain processing in people with and without chronic pain.

Background and aims The purpose of this study was to (a) develop and (b) conduct exploratory factor analysis on a novel self-report instrument for symptoms associated with altered central pain processing. Methods We first developed a 25-item questionnaire based on previous literature identifying symptoms and behaviours that may reflect altered spinal and supraspinal pain processing. We then administered this questionnaire to 183 people with chronic pain (n = 99) and healthy individuals (n = 84).

An Exploration of Pain Documentation for People Living with Dementia in Aged Care Services.

Background: Pain in people with dementia is a common occurrence. Providing evidence-based pain management for people with dementia in residential aged care services is imperative to providing quality care. However, it remains unclear from current research how various aged care staff (Registered Nurses (RNs), Enrolled Nurses (ENs), Personal Care Assistants (PCAs)) engage at specific points of the pain management pathway.

Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) is Reduced in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of CPM and the Role of Psychological Factors.

This systematic review summarises evidence assessing endogenous pain inhibition in people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) compared with healthy controls using conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and offset analgesia (OA). Evidence regarding the role of psychological variables is also examined. The review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement.

Virtual reality for the treatment of neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injuries: A scoping review.

Virtual and augmented imagery are emerging technologies with potential to reduce the severity and impact of neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). We aimed to identify and discuss studies using virtual and augmented reality applications for the management of neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury. (data sources, data extraction): A systematic literature search was conducted using PRISMA scoping review guidelines.

The Pain Course: exploring the feasibility of an internet-delivered pain management programme for adults with spinal cord injury.

Study Design: Single-group feasibility clinical trial.

Objectives: This study examined the feasibility and outcomes of a modified version of a validated internet-delivered pain management programme, the Pain Course, for adults with SCI.

Setting: Nationwide in Australia.

New evidence for preserved somatosensory pathways in complete spinal cord injury: A fMRI study.

Trauma to the spinal cord rarely results in complete division of the cord with surviving nerves sometimes remaining silent or failing to function normally. The term motor or sensory discomplete has been used to describe this important but unclassified subgroup of complete SCI. Importantly, silent motor or sensory pathways may contribute to aversive symptoms (spasticity, pain) or improved treatment success.

Intramuscular triglyceride synthesis: importance in muscle lipid partitioning in humans.

Intramuscular triglyceride (IMTG) concentration is elevated in insulin-resistant individuals and was once thought to promote insulin resistance. However, endurance-trained athletes have equivalent concentration of IMTG compared with individuals with type 2 diabetes, and have very low risk of diabetes, termed the "athlete's paradox." We now know that IMTG synthesis is positively related to insulin sensitivity, but the exact mechanisms for this are unclear.

The International Spinal Cord Injury Pain Extended Data Set (Version 1.0).

Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop the International Spinal Cord Injury Pain Extended Data Set (ISCIPEDS) with the purpose of guiding the assessment and treatment of pain after spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: International.

Methods: The ISCIPEDS was reviewed by members of the International SCI Data Sets Committee, the International Spinal Cord Society Executive and Scientific Committees, American Spinal Injury Association and American Pain Society Boards, and the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain, individual reviewers and societies.

The CanPain SCI Clinical Practice Guidelines for Rehabilitation Management of Neuropathic Pain after Spinal Cord: screening and diagnosis recommendations.

Study Design: Clinical practice guidelines.

Objectives: To develop the first Canadian clinical practice guidelines for screening and diagnosis of neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: The guidelines are relevant for inpatient and outpatient SCI rehabilitation settings in Canada.

The CanPain SCI Clinical Practice Guideline for Rehabilitation Management of Neuropathic Pain after Spinal Cord: recommendations for model systems of care.

Study Design: Clinical practice guidelines.

Objectives: The project objectives were to develop the first Canadian recommendations on a model of care for the management of at- and below-level neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: The guidelines are relevant for inpatient and outpatient SCI rehabilitation settings in Canada.

The CanPain SCI Clinical Practice Guidelines for Rehabilitation Management of Neuropathic Pain after Spinal Cord: Recommendations for treatment.

Study Design: Clinical practice guidelines.

Objectives: To develop the first Canadian clinical practice guidelines for treatment of neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: The guidelines are relevant for inpatient and outpatient SCI rehabilitation settings in Canada.

The CanPain SCI Clinical Practice Guidelines for Rehabilitation Management of Neuropathic Pain after Spinal Cord: introduction, methodology and recommendation overview.

Study Design: Clinical practice guidelines.

Objectives: The objective was to develop the first Canadian clinical practice guidelines for the management of neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: The guidelines are relevant for inpatient and outpatient SCI rehabilitation settings in Canada.

The impact of pain on spiritual well-being in people with a spinal cord injury.

Study Design: The study uses a cross-sectional, group comparison, questionnaire-based design.

Objectives: To determine whether spinal cord injury and pain have an impact on spiritual well-being and whether there is an association between spiritual well-being and measures of pain and psychological function.

Setting: University teaching hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Skeletal muscle phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine are related to insulin sensitivity and respond to acute exercise in humans.

Several recent reports indicate that the balance of skeletal muscle phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is a key determinant of muscle contractile function and metabolism. The purpose of this study was to determine relationships between skeletal muscle PC, PE and insulin sensitivity, and whether PC and PE are dynamically regulated in response to acute exercise in humans. Insulin sensitivity was measured via intravenous glucose tolerance in sedentary obese adults (OB; n = 14), individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D; n = 15), and endurance-trained athletes (ATH; n = 15).

Muscle sphingolipids during rest and exercise: a C18:0 signature for insulin resistance in humans.

Aims/hypotheses: Ceramides and other sphingolipids comprise a family of lipid molecules that accumulate in skeletal muscle and promote insulin resistance. Chronic endurance exercise training decreases muscle ceramides and other sphingolipids, but less is known about the effects of a single bout of exercise.

Methods: We measured basal relationships and the effect of acute exercise (1.

Descending pain modulation in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder. While abdominal pain is a dominant symptom of IBS, many sufferers also report widespread hypersensitivity and present with other chronic pain conditions. The presence of widespread hypersensitivity and extra-intestinal pain conditions suggests central nervous dysfunction.