Do pain management websites foster self-management support for people with persistent pain? A scoping review.

Objectives: To evaluate if the contents of pain management websites include the current best practice self-management support strategies for people with persistent pain, are cultural tailored and to determine the website quality.

Methods: Websites were searched from three major search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo). Websites providing information on self-management strategies and websites that were freely available to the public were included.

Complex regional pain syndrome.

Practice development enables the practitioner to develop their knowledge and allow the application of evidence based care for patients. It happens within the practitioner's own clinical practice area and enhances personal and professional growth whilst focusing on patients' specific needs. This is important with a condition such as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), with patients seekingaccurate and timely diagnosis and coping strategies to support them in everyday activities.

Distribution of omega-Conotoxin GVIA binding sites in teleost cerebellar and electrosensory neurons.

The distribution of omega-Conotoxin GVIA (CgTx) binding sites was used to localize putative N-type Ca2+ channels in an electrosensory cerebellar lobule, the eminentia granularis pars posterior, and in the electrosensory lateral line lobe of a gymnotiform teleost (Apteronotus leptorhynchus). The binding sites for CgTx revealed by an anti-CgTx antibody had a consistent distribution on somatic and dendritic membranes of specific cell types in both structures. The distribution of CgTx binding was unaffected by co-incubation with nifedipine or AgaToxin IVA, blocking agents for L- and P-type Ca2+ channels, respectively.

Nitric oxide synthase in tiger salamander retina.

Previous studies have indicated that nitric oxide, a labile freely diffusible biological messenger synthesized by nitric oxide synthase, may modulate light transduction and signal transmission in the retina. In the present work, the large size of retinal cells in tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) allowed the utilization of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-diaphorase histochemistry and nitric oxide synthase immunocytochemistry to delineate the cell-specific intracellular localization of nitric oxide synthase. NADPH-diaphorase activity was highly concentrated in the outer retina, in rod and cone inner segment ellipsoids, and between and adjacent to the photoreceptor cell bodies in the outer nuclear layer.

ON and OFF activity gradients in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat: a combined 14C 2-deoxyglucose and D,L-2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid study.

Experiments on the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the cat based on 14C 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) autoradiography and intraocular injections of 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (APB) provided evidence for gradients of metabolic activity in the ON and OFF pathways in layer A, but only very weakly, if at all, in layer A1. Alert and freely moving cats were exposed to square-wave gratings over a 45-min period after injection of the 2-DG. When one eye had been treated previously with APB, contralateral layer A showed a clear gradient of 2-DG label indicating that the remaining OFF pathway was most active ventrally in the layer and, by implication, that the ON pathway is normally most active dorsally.

Effects of flashing-diffuse light on [2-14C]deoxyglucose uptake in the visual system of the black-hooded rat.

What components of the visual system process diffuse light information? A [2-14C]deoxyglucose (2-DG) autoradiographic analysis revealed that exposure of freely moving rats (wearing light-diffusing masks) to flashing-diffuse light consistently elevated 2-DG uptake in the lateral geniculate nucleus and superior colliculus to levels rivalling those occurring in rats exposed to flashing-gratings. Uptake in visual cortex (area 17) in response to flashing-diffuse light, however, varied as a function of early contour experience, i.e.

[2- 14C]deoxyglucose uptake in rat visual system during flashing-diffuse and flashing-pattern stimulation over a 6 log range of luminance.

The 2-deoxyglucose autoradiographic technique was used to assess the metabolic activity of cortical area 17, the dorsal and ventral lateral geniculate nuclei, the lateral posterior nucleus, and the superior colliculus, during 5-Hz flashing-pattern (montage of black and white square-wave gratings) and flashing-diffuse (eye covered with white mask) stimulation at three intensities over a 6 log range. In area 17 flashing-pattern was found to be equally effective at elevating uptake of the functional label over the photopic-scotopic range of luminance levels tested, whereas flashing-diffuse was ineffective. In subcortical nuclei, however, flashing-diffuse was no less effective than flashing-pattern and uptake of the label correlated positively with intensity level.

Activity-dependent changes in eye influence during monocular blockade: increases in the effects of visual stimulation on 2-DG uptake in the adult rat geniculostriate system.

We examined the effects of loss of monocular retinal activity on 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) uptake in the adult rat geniculostriate system. Of particular interest was whether the influence of the normally functioning eye changed during long-term contralateral retinal silence. Group 1 rats were subjected to short-term (24 hours) and group 2 rats to long-term (21-90 days) monocular tetrodotoxin (TTX) blockade, and metabolic activity was assessed during exposure to square-wave gratings.

Effects of prolonged retinal ganglion cell inactivity on superior colliculus glucose metabolism in the mature hooded rat.

Previous work utilizing the 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) technique demonstrated that denervation, both direct (enucleation) or indirect (retinal receptor destruction, leaving ganglion cells intact), resulted in a depression followed by an increase in glucose metabolism in the superior colliculus (SC) of the mature hooded rat. Both enucleation and receptor loss result in (1) cessation of ganglion cell activity and (2) disruption of connections between visual system neurons. To examine the relative importance of these two factors to the metabolic depression-"recovery" sequence, retinal ganglion cells were silenced without denervation for periods ranging from 24 h to 2 months by means of repeated intraocular tetrodotoxin (TTX) injections.

Metabolic activity in striate and extrastriate cortex in the hooded rat: contralateral and ipsilateral eye input.

The extent of changes in glucose metabolism resulting from ipsilateral and contralateral eye activity in the posterior cortex of the hooded rat was demonstrated by means of the C-14 2-deoxyglucose autoradiographic technique. By stimulating one eye with square wave gratings and eliminating efferent activation from the other by means of enucleation or intraocular TTX injection, differences between ipsilaterally and contralaterally based visual activity in the two hemispheres were maximized. Carbon-14 levels in layer IV of autoradiographs of coronal sections were measured and combined across sections to form right and left matrices of posterior cortex metabolic activity.

Modality specificity of neuronal responses within the cat's insula.

1. Electrophysiological recordings of single-unit responses, multiunit responses, and electrically evoked field potentials have been made using carbon fiber-containing micropipettes in cats anesthetized with barbiturate and immobilized with gallamine triethiodide. Recording sites sampled cortical regions throughout the insula, including zones more ventrally situated and more rostral and caudal than those described in the preceding, companion paper.

Organization and properties of neurons in a visual area within the insular cortex of the cat.

1. Extracellular recordings from 304 neurons were obtained with carbon fiber-containing multibarrel micropipettes. The cells were isolated in the insula in cats anesthetized with barbiturate and immobilized with gallamine triethiodide.

Metabolic changes in the superior colliculus after retinal receptor loss--neurotrophic interactions in the inactive visual system.

In the mature rat, direct denervation by means of eye enucleation resulted in a temporary metabolic depression followed by "recovery" in primary visual centers as determined by the 2-deoxyglucose technique (4). After unilateral destruction of the retinal receptor layer by means of intense light, the superior colliculus (SC) demonstrated this same depression-recovery process. Because receptor destruction is believed to silence ongoing ganglion cell activity, and because the SC changes occurred whether or not ganglion cells sustained damage, it appeared that direct denervation of colliculus neurons was not necessary to initiate the depression-recovery sequence and that lack of activity or "disuse" was the critical factor.

Reversal of 2-deoxyglucose uptake pattern across rat superior colliculus layers during recovery from visual cortex ablation.

The 2-deoxy-D-[14C]glucose autoradiographic technique was used to assess metabolic activity across stratum griseum superficiale, stratum opticum, and stratum griseum mediale of the superior colliculus, at intervals of 1 to 90 days after a unilateral visual cortex lesion. Initially, glucose metabolism ipsilateral to the lesion was more depressed in stratum griseum mediale than in superficiale, but beginning at about 14 days postlesion this layer pattern reversed. The rise in mediale metabolic activity correlated in time with a decline in generalized cortical depression.

Increased dependence of superior colliculus metabolic activity on visual cortex after eye enucleation.

Metabolic activity, as previously shown by the 2-deoxy-D-[14C]glucose technique, is depressed in the superior colliculus after eye enucleation and recovers substantially by 30 days. To determine whether or not this recovery involves an increase in visual cortex control over superior colliculus metabolic activity, rats that had undergone either monocular or binocular enucleation 30 days earlier received visual cortex ablations. In the monocularly enucleated group, a bilateral visual cortex lesion produced greater depression in the recovered superior colliculus than in the opposite control colliculus, and increased the metabolic differences between the two colliculi compared with those of rats recovered from monocular enucleation but cortically intact.

Depression and recovery of metabolic activity in rat visual system after eye removal.

To examine the anterograde metabolic effects of visual system damage, unilateral eye enucleation was carried out in 19 black-hooded rats, and the animals were injected with 2-deoxy[14C]glucose at postoperative survival times ranging from 1 h to 91 days. Metabolic depression followed by recovery to near-normal resting levels of activity was seen contralateral to the enucleation in the superior colliculus and the dorsal and ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (primary effects), and in the lateral posterior nucleus, in layer IV, and the infragranular layers of visual cortex (secondary effects). Diaschisis, defined as a temporary depression in neural activity after denervation, appears to be a characteristic response of the damaged visual system.

2-Deoxyglucose uptake in the thalamus of awake rats after neocortical ablations.

Local, temporary or permanent depressions and elevations in 2-deoxy[14C]glucose (2-DG) uptake were observed in the brains of unanesthetized, freely moving rats that 3 days to 1 year earlier had sustained large unilateral posterior neocortical ablations. Some of the differences in metabolic activity between the normal and damaged hemispheres, in both cortical and subcortical regions, were attributed to cell death and gliosis, and surgical trauma. In addition, it appeared that certain metabolic changes provided a physiologic correlate of diaschisis, a temporary impairment in function which von Monakow hypothesized to occur in neurons denervated by a lesion.

2-Deoxyglucose uptake and histologic changes in rat thalamus after neocortical ablations.

2-Deoxy[14C]glucose (2-DG) uptake was examined in pentobarbital-anesthetized rats that 3 days to 2 years earlier had sustained large posterior neocortical ablations. At 2 weeks postoperatively 2-DG uptake was pronounced in those thalamic nuclei with cortical projection zones included in the ablated region. At shorter postoperative intervals (3 to 4 days) there appeared to be no increases in 2-DG uptake in these thalamic nuclei and at longer postoperative intervals (greater than 1 month) increases were only discernible in calcified sites.