News

Patients who develop autoimmunity to contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2), a neuronal adhesion protein, share a number of clinical features, with neuropathic pain being one of them. But the underlying…

The following is the second of a two-part report on research presented at the 2017 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, which took place November 11-15 in Washington, DC. See…

Neuropathic pain typically features three hallmark symptoms: spontaneous pain, cold allodynia, and tactile allodynia. New research examining gene expression changes in mice now shows that the last two symptoms…

Pain sensitivity after an injury, such as damage to a nerve or an inflammatory insult, involves the synthesis of new proteins in pain neurons. This process is thought to…

Imagine suffering from agonizing pain due to advanced cancer, or recovering from surgery without receiving any pain medication. That might seem unthinkable in the US and other high-income countries.…

The 11th Annual Pain and Migraine Therapeutics Summit, chaired by William Schmidt, NorthStar Consulting, Davis, US, and organized by Arrowhead Publishers and Conferences was held September 27-28, 2017, in…

Positive (placebo) or negative (nocebo) responses to inert or sham treatments are common occurrences in medicine. Both are complex neurobiological phenomena that can be triggered or modulated by a…

This meeting report is co-authored by Dayna Loyd Averitt and Shivani Ruparel (Media Committee Co-Chairs).

Relief of acute postoperative pain and other forms of acute pain remains a significant challenge. Up to 41 percent of patients experience moderate to severe pain after surgery—a worrying…

On April 26, 2017, PRF hosted its 25th webinar, which explored the science behind placebo and nocebo effects. Luana Colloca, University of Maryland, Baltimore, US, presented her talk, "From…

Troves of preclinical data initially supported a key role for substance P, a neurotransmitter released in response to painful stimuli, in chronic pain. In clinical trials, however, highly selective…

Sleep. Everyone needs it, but not everyone gets it—at least not enough of it. Now, new animal research builds the case that a lack of sleep has significant and…

Over half of all chronic pain patients also develop depression. Researchers know that short-term pain affects brain areas implicated in depression, but few studies have scrutinized the effects of…