PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Distinct brain mechanisms related to dental pain relief

2015-03-12
(Press-News.org) Boston, Mass., USA - Today at the 93rd General Session and Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research, researcher Michael L. Meier, Center for Dental Medicine, University of Zürich, Switzerland, will present a study titled "Distinct Brain Mechanisms Related to Dental Pain Relief." The IADR General Session is being held in conjunction with the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research and the 39th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

Local anesthesia has made life more comfortable for dental patients since 1884. However, little is known about brain mechanisms related to dental pain relief. In this study, the researchers aimed to investigate task related brain activity and functional connectivity patterns following onset of a regional anesthetic nerve block during continuous noxious dental stimulation.

For this placebo-controlled and age-matched functional magnetic resonance imaging study a total of 28 subjects were included (only males, mean age = 27.09, SD ±7.06). Repetitive electric stimuli evoking an intensity perception of five on an 11-point numeric intensity rating scale were applied to the left mandibular canine. The experiment was divided into two phases: Phase 1 (30 stimuli; duration 5 min) was followed by a submucosal injection of the anaesthetic articaine 4% (group A) or 0.9% NaCl as placebo (group P) at the left mental foramen. Electric tooth stimulation continued for 16 min (phase 2) during which subjects indicated pain offset by pressing an alarm ball. Task-related activation and connectivity analysis was performed using SPM8 and context-dependent psychophysical interactions (PPI). In group A, pain relief was reported 4.5 minutes after the injection whereas in group P, no subject reported pain relief. Between-group analysis of phase 2 demonstrated a significant activation cluster in the ipsilateral posterior insula (pIns) in group P. Using the pIns as a seed region the PPI analysis yielded a significant enhanced coupling to the midbrain (periaqueductal grey/ventral tegmental area) after analgesia onset in group A only.

The novel paradigm applied in this study demonstrated that dental pain relief was accompanied by a significant activity reduction in the posterior insula and an enhanced connectivity to the midbrain. This data suggest a distinct role of these brain regions in dental pain and its relief.

This is a summary of abstract #0537 titled "Distinct Brain Mechanisms Related to Dental Pain Relief," to be presented by Michael L. Meier on Thursday, March 12, 2015, from 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. as part of the session titled "Sleep Disorders and Imaging in Pain States" in Hall B of the Hynes Convention Center.

INFORMATION:

About the International Association for Dental Research The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) is a nonprofit organization with nearly 11,000 individual members worldwide, dedicated to: (1) advancing research and increasing knowledge for the improvement of oral health worldwide, (2) supporting and representing the oral health research community, and (3) facilitating the communication and application of research findings. To learn more, visit http://www.iadr.org. The American Association for Dental Research (AADR) is the largest Division of IADR, with nearly 3,400 members in the United States. To learn more, visit http://www.aadr.org.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study shows why exercise magnifies exhaustion for chronic fatigue syndrome patients

2015-03-12
The mechanism that causes high-performance athletes to "feel the burn" turns out to be the culprit in what makes people with chronic fatigue syndrome feel exhausted by the most common daily activities, new University of Florida Health research shows. Published in the February issue of the journal Pain, the study shows that the neural pathways that transmit feelings of fatigue to the brain might be to blame. In those with chronic fatigue syndrome, the pathways do their job too well. The findings also provide evidence for the first time that peripheral tissues such as ...

In vitro effects of topical neuromodulatory medication on orofacial tissue

2015-03-12
Boston, Mass., USA - Today at the 93rd General Session and Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research, researcher M.J. Al-Musawi, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, will present a study titled "In Vitro Effects of Topical Neuromodulatory Medication on Orofacial Tissue." The IADR General Session is being held in conjunction with the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research and the 39th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research. Systemic neuromodulatory medication (NM) such as Amitriptyline, ...

Boosting a natural protection against Alzheimer's disease

2015-03-12
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a gene variant that may be used to predict people most likely to respond to an investigational therapy under development for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study, published March 12 in Cell Stem Cell, is based on experiments with cultured neurons derived from adult stem cells. "Our results suggest that certain gene variants allow us to reduce the amount of beta amyloid produced by neurons," said senior author Lawrence Goldstein, PhD, director of UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Clinical ...

High cholesterol, triglycerides can keep vitamin E from reaching body tissues

2015-03-12
CORVALLIS, Ore. - In the continuing debate over how much vitamin E is enough, a new study has found that high levels of blood lipids such as cholesterol and triglycerides can keep this essential micronutrient tied up in the blood stream, and prevent vitamin E from reaching the tissues that need it. The research, just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also suggested that measuring only blood levels may offer a distorted picture of whether or not a person has adequate amounts of this vitamin, and that past methods of estimating tissue levels are flawed. The ...

Hospital ratings on social media appear to reflect quality of care

Hospital ratings on social media appear to reflect quality of care
2015-03-12
Social media has become an important way for institutions to communicate - both sending messages and receiving feedback - with clients and with the general public. Hospitals and other health care organizations use social media for a variety of purposes, but there has been little investigation of whether hospitals ratings that patients and other consumers submit via social media accurately reflect patient satisfaction or the quality of care delivered. A new study published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine finds a correlation between how hospitals are rated ...

SwRI-led researchers study methane-rich plumes from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus

2015-03-12
San Antonio -- March 12, 2015 -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has measured a curious abundance of methane spewing into the atmosphere of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. A team of American and French scientists published findings in Geophysical Research Letters suggesting two scenarios that could explain the methane abundance observed in the plumes. In 2005 Cassini's magnetometer and imaging data revealed the surprising existence of geysers in the south polar region ejecting water vapor into space. Scientists now believe that Enceladus harbors an internal liquid-water ocean ...

New work schedule could cure your 'social jetlag'

2015-03-12
Many of us are walking around all the time in a fog caused by "social jetlag." That's what happens when we lose sleep because our daily schedules don't match our bodies' natural rhythms. The condition can be a particular problem for shift workers, who work into the night or on a shifting schedule. Now, researchers report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on March 12 that sleep and workers' general wellbeing could be improved if work schedules took workers' biological clocks into account. "A 'simple' re-organization of shifts according to chronotype allowed workers ...

Mind reading: Spatial patterns of brain activity decode what people taste

2015-03-12
This news release is available in German. Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Germany (March 12th 2015) -- A team of researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam and the Charité University Hospital in Berlin have revealed how taste is encoded in patterns of neural activity in the human brain. Kathrin Ohla, the lead researcher on the team, said: "The ability to taste is crucial for food choice and the formation of food preferences. Impairments in taste perception or hedonic experience of taste can cause deviant eating behavior, and may lead to mal- or supernutrition. ...

Optogenetics without the genetics

2015-03-12
Light can be used to activate normal, non-genetically modified neurons through the use of targeted gold nanoparticles, report scientists from the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The new technique, described in the journal Neuron on March 12, represents a significant technological advance with potential advantages over current optogenetic methods, including possible use in the development of therapeutics toward diseases such as macular degeneration. "This is effectively optogenetics without genetics," said study senior author Francisco ...

Some genes 'foreign' in origin and not from our ancestors

2015-03-12
Many animals, including humans, acquired essential 'foreign' genes from microorganisms co-habiting their environment in ancient times, according to research published in the open access journal Genome Biology. The study challenges conventional views that animal evolution relies solely on genes passed down through ancestral lines, suggesting that, at least in some lineages, the process is still ongoing. The transfer of genes between organisms living in the same environment is known as horizontal gene transfer (HGT). It is well known in single-celled organisms and thought ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

[Press-News.org] Distinct brain mechanisms related to dental pain relief