European journal of pain : EJP
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Observational Study
Diagnostic accuracy of two questionnaires for the detection of neuropathic pain in the Spanish population.
Several questionnaires have been developed for the detection of neuropathic pain. ⋯ These results show that although both questionnaires are good screening tools, the DN4 questionnaire is particularly recommended for identifying patients with neuropathic pain in clinical practice and research studies.
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Long-term avoidance of painful activities has shown to be dysfunctional in chronic pain. Pain may elicit escape or avoidance responses automatically, particularly when pain-related fear is high. A conflict may arise between opposing short-term escape/avoidance goals to reduce pain and long-term approach goals to receive a reward. An inhibitory control system may resolve this conflict. It was hypothesized that reduced response inhibition would be associated with greater escape/avoidance during pain, particularly among subjects with higher pain-related fear. ⋯ The findings suggest that individuals with a stronger ability to inhibit responses in a stop-signal task are better able to inhibit escape/avoidance responses elicited by pain, in the service of a conflicting approach goal.
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Autonomic neuropathy, a relatively common complication of several chemotherapy agents, can affect the vagus nerve and its pain inhibitory capacity, thus increasing sensitivity to pain. This study aimed to evaluate the relationships between autonomic parasympathetic function and the perception of (1) spontaneous pain; (2) experimental non-painful sensations; and (3) experimental painful sensations in chemotherapy-induced neuropathy patients. ⋯ Diminished vagal function due to neuropathy is associated with, and may possibly underlie, pain disinhibition expressed as greater levels of experimental pain.
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The prevalence of musculoskeletal (MS) pain has been increasing among adolescents in the last decades. This may be related to either adverse changes in lifestyle and/or the psychosocial environment. Our study analysed the psychosocial and lifestyle correlates of musculoskeletal pain progression in adolescence. ⋯ The strong overlap of emotional and behavioural problems and MS pains in adolescence requires awareness in both research and clinical work.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Negative expectations facilitate mechanical hyperalgesia after high-frequency electrical stimulation of human skin.
High-frequency electrical stimulation (HFS) of human skin induces not only an increased pain sensitivity in the conditioning area but also an increased pain sensitivity to mechanical punctate stimuli in the non-conditioned surrounding skin area. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this heterotopically increased mechanical pain sensitivity can be facilitated through the induction of negative expectations. ⋯ This study shows for the first time that brain mechanisms, via the induction of negative expectations, can facilitate heterotopic mechanical hyperalgesia after HFS of human skin.