http://www.painonline.com A Source For Central Pain Fri, 09 May 2008 19:48:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Scientists are finally beginning to find ways to grow new neurons. Following chemotherapy and other incidents, nerve injury pain in the peripheral nervous system is rather common. Peripheral nerve injury pain has generally improved or ended over time if the severed neuron was able to grow back down the axon sheath ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/05/growing-new-neurons/ MAP kinase is a well known pain chemical and is discussed in multiple articles here. Ret links to MAPK. High energy phosphate bonds are the batteries on which the body runs. These high energy phosphates transfer electrons to other chemicals in the body and change them from inert to active. Reiterating, a ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/03/receptor-tyrosine-kinase-links-to-mapkinase/ No wonder pain patients have trouble communicating. So many terms around. There is an ebb and flow as various clinicians and scientists gain consensus or disagree about which neurologic syndromes or symptoms belong in which category. This is not new in neurology, which is notorious for having many terms, defined differently ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/03/pain-term-soup-static-mechanical-allodynia/ Everyone at this site has heard of MRI, and even functional MRI. fMRI measures 3D activity (typically oxygen consumption). A new technique, PNMS looks interesting. While fMRI looks at 3D spatial imaging, PNMS looks at activity at the cellular level. It has been a traditional tool for chemists. Now it is ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/03/proton-nuclear-magnetic-spectroscopy/ One by one scientists set up the pain cascade of chemicals and attempt to knock them off. Bredeloux et al in J Med Chem. 2008 Mar 6 report that an analogue of neurotensin; namely c(Lys-Lys-Pro-Tyr-Ile-Leu-Lys-Lys-Pro-Tyr-Ile-Leu) (JMV2012) penetrates the blood brain barrier and causes profound analgesia. This drug can be administered ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/03/competitive-neurotensin-compound-conflicting-results/ If we identify painless people, it should help us identify the hidden paths of pain. Tuysuz, et al have reported in Neurogenetics. 2008 Mar 6, that congenital insensitivity to pain can be seen in those who lack the gene for neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor type I. This receptor is activated by ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/03/painless-people/ Things have been a little slow lately in pain research, but two areas deserve mention. Whether it is real or imagined, there seems to have been a lull in pain articles that shake things up. Not to despair, the pauses usually indicate someone is working out something new and important. One area ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/02/update-channelopathies-and-paradoxical-response-to-opioids/ What determines frame of reference in thought processing? Note: Because this article addresses one of the questions spinal cord injured people ask about gender identity, it is not for the squeamish, and somewhat graphic medically, so it is not recommended reading for children. Painonline contains many articles regarding the loss of identity ... http://www.painonline.com/2008/01/heuristics-in-pain/ PET scan results raise many questions about pain. The Golden Rule: Administer analgesia unto others as you would have it administered unto yourself. This article can be read without a knowledge of brain anatomy, but reference to a diagram helps pull it together. A simplified chart of brain anatomy can be viewed at http://farm1.static.flickr.com/59/157243309_b4cf481918.jpg Save image ... http://www.painonline.com/2007/12/pain-and-regional-cerebral-blood-flow/ Admittedly, botanopharmacology reflects desperation to find a pain cure, but given the natural origin of most effective drugs, it is nevertheless a respectable approach. Certain Brazilian natives have used extract of a plant related to Junipers, known scientifically as Humirianthera ampla Miers, for the treatment of the pain and swelling of ... http://www.painonline.com/2007/11/brazilian-plant-humirianthera-ampla-as-well-as-new-drugs-block-chemical-paintrpv1/