Exploring the impact of virtual gastronomic tourism on eating experience.

Background: Loss of appetite is a prevalent issue in palliative care, often diminishing people's quality of life and emotional wellbeing. Virtual reality (VR) presents new avenues for delivering emotionally meaningful and multisensory experiences that may help address this challenge.

Aim: This pilot study examined the feasibility and emotional effects of a VR-based gastronomic tourism intervention, with a focus on appetite stimulation, food enjoyment and perceived sensory enhancement.

Efficacy of Intravenous Lidocaine and Magnesium in the Management of Herpes Zoster Neuritis and Postherpetic Neuralgia: A Case Series.

Objectives: Herpes zoster is a common disease encountered in clinical practice. The neuropathic pain caused by herpes zoster can be severe enough to interfere with daily life in challenging cases. Although it is said that intervening as early as possible after the onset of the disease improves outcomes, there are some cases that are difficult to treat as immediate interventional therapy is not possible.

Differences in Gut Microbiota Composition Depending on the Site of Pain in Patients with Chronic Pain.

Background: There are many factors associated with chronic pain, including changes in the nervous and musculoskeletal systems and so on. Recently, it has become clear that the gut microbiota (GM) influences these factors, and there are many reports of GM dysbiosis in patients with chronic pain. However, the relationship between pain and GM remains unclear.

The effects of lowering barometric pressure on pain behavior and the stress hormone in mice with neuropathic pain.

Background: Lowering barometric pressure (LP) can exacerbate neuropathic pain. However, animal studies in this field are limited to a few conditions. Furthermore, although sympathetic involvement has been reported as a possible mechanism, whether the sympathetic nervous system is involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis remains unknown.

Classifying chronic pain using ICD-11 and questionnaires-reported characteristics in Japanese patients with chronic pain.

Introduction: The new ICD-11 code for chronic pain indicates a direction to divide chronic pain into two categories: chronic secondary pain, which has a clear underlying disease, and chronic primary pain, which is associated with significant emotional distress or functional disability and cannot be explained by another chronic condition. Until now, epidemiological studies have been hampered by the lack of a clear classification, but we believe that this new code system will provide a new perspective on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain, and we have begun work on this code system.

Methods: We studied 2,360 patients at Aichi Medical University, the largest pain center in Japan, and asked them to answer questionnaires on pain severity (NRS), pain-related functional impairment (PDAS, Locomo25), quality of life (EQ-5D), and psychological state and pain cognition (HADS, PCS, PSEQ, AIS) while their attending physicians were giving diagnoses according to ICD-11 and the results of the study were used to determine the coding of pain severity.

Safety and efficacy of long-term use of a buprenorphine transdermal patch system in patients with osteoarthritis and low back pain refractory to non-opioid analgesics: Post-marketing surveillance of 3000 cases.

Objectives: A post-marketing surveillance was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the buprenorphine transdermal patch under actual clinical practice.

Results: Of the 3017 patients included in the safety analysis, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were observed in 1524 (50.5%), the most common being nausea, skin symptoms at the site of application, constipation, and vomiting.

Symptoms, Course, and Factors Related to Long-Term Morbidity, Including Differences between Infection Strains, in Patients with Long COVID in a Primary Care Clinic in Japan: An Observational Study.

The objectives were to investigate the clinical characteristics and course of long COVID, defined as the persistence of symptoms at least one month after the onset of COVID-19, in outpatients and to clarify differences in symptoms between SARS CoV-2 mutant strains. Our observational study in a primary care institution in Japan included 1053 patients with long COVID who visited our outpatient clinic between April 2021 and March 2023. Symptom distribution, performance status, and patient background at the time of the first outpatient visit were compared between infectious strains (Delta and before group and Omicron group).

Usefulness of Mirogabalin in Central Neuropathic Pain After Stroke: Post Hoc Analysis of a Phase 3 Study by Stroke Type and Location.

Introduction: Central post-stroke pain (CPSP) is a common type of central neuropathic pain (CNeP) that can occur following the onset of stroke. The oral gabapentinoid mirogabalin besylate (mirogabalin) is a selective αδ ligand that is effective for the treatment of CNeP, including CPSP. However, it is unknown whether the analgesic effect of mirogabalin on CPSP varies in patients with different background factors.

Neurotropin ameliorates chronic pain associated with scar formation in a mouse model: A gene expression analysis of the inflammatory response.

: Scar formation after trauma and surgery involves an inflammatory response and can lead to the development of chronic pain. Neurotropin (NTP) is a nonprotein extract of inflamed skin of rabbits inoculated with vaccinia virus. It has been widely used for the treatment of chronic pain.

Predictors of high-cost patients with acute whiplash-associated disorder in Japan.

Introduction: The proportion of neck injuries due to traffic accidents is increasing. Little is known about high-cost patients with acute whiplash-associated disorder (WAD). The present study aimed to investigate whether time to first visit for conventional medicine, multiple doctor visits, or alternative medicine could predict high-cost patients with acute WAD in Japan.

[Neuropathic Pain].

Many diseases are associated with "neuropathic pain", which is not usually manageable with common analgesics, such as NSAIDs and acetaminophen. Calcium ion channel α2δ ligands, serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors, and tricyclic antidepressants have been used as first-line drugs. If there are no improvements after using these drugs for a while, vaccinia virus inoculation of rabbit inflammatory skin extract, tramadol, and eventually opioid analgesics, may be considered.

Perioperative Analgesics and Anesthesia as Risk Factors for Postoperative Chronic Opioid Use in Patients Undergoing Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using Japanese Hospital Claims Data.

Background: Patients with chronic postsurgical pain are commonly prescribed opioids chronically because of refractory pain although chronic opioid use can cause various severe problems.

Objective: We aimed to investigate postoperative chronic opioid use and its association with perioperative pain management in patients who underwent a total knee arthroplasty in a Japanese real-world clinical setting.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using an administrative claims database.

[Chronic Pain: Definition/Conception/Classification of Pain].

Understanding what pain is necessary to understand the pathomechanisms of chronic pain. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as "An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage" and its further states that pain is a personal experience, influenced to varying degrees by biological, psychological, and social factors. It also mentions that person learn the concept of the pain through life experiences, and that it does not always play an adaptive role and has a negative impact on our physical, social, and psychological health.

The Relationship between Numbness and Quality of Life.

Background: Numbness is a term commonly used in clinical practice to describe an abnormal sensory experience that is produced by a stimulus or is present even without a stimulus. However, there is still much that remains obscure in this field, and also, few reports have focused on its symptoms. In addition, while pain itself is known to have a significant impact on quality of life (QOL), the relationship between numbness and QOL is often unclear.

Mirogabalin for Central Neuropathic Pain After Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Phase 3 Study in Asia.

Background And Objectives: Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) commonly experience central neuropathic pain (CNeP), which is challenging to treat. Mirogabalin is effective for peripheral neuropathic pain, but evidence for CNeP is lacking.

Methods: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 study investigated mirogabalin efficacy and safety for the treatment of CNeP in patients with traumatic SCI.

Efficacy of Combination Therapy with Pregabalin in Neuropathic Pain: A Preclinical Study in the Rat L5 Spinal Nerve Ligation Model.

Purpose: Neuropathic pain is sometimes difficult to manage because of limited efficacy of analgesic monotherapy even at high doses. Combination therapy may help address this issue, but there is little evidence for its effectiveness. Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of combination therapy with pregabalin, an anchor drug for treating neuropathic pain, using the rat L5 spinal nerve ligation model.

Evaluating the Relationship Between Acute Pain Perception and Gut Microbiota Among Female University Students in Japan: A Prospective Cohort Study.

The gut microbiota (GM) plays an important role in gut-brain communication, and the 'gut-brain axis' has attracted much attention as a factor influencing human host health. We previously reported that pain perception may be associated with GM composition in males. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between GM composition and pain perception among 42 healthy female university students in Japan.

Features and methods to discriminate between mechanism-based categories of pain experienced in the musculoskeletal system: a Delphi expert consensus study.

Classification of musculoskeletal pain based on underlying pain mechanisms (nociceptive, neuropathic, and nociplastic pain) is challenging. In the absence of a gold standard, verification of features that could aid in discrimination between these mechanisms in clinical practice and research depends on expert consensus. This Delphi expert consensus study aimed to: (1) identify features and assessment findings that are unique to a pain mechanism category or shared between no more than 2 categories and (2) develop a ranked list of candidate features that could potentially discriminate between pain mechanisms.

A large-scale database study for the prescription status of a new voltage-gated Ca channel αδ ligand, mirogabalin, in Japan.

Background: A new voltage-gated Ca channel αδ ligand, mirogabalin, was first approved for treating peripheral neuropathic pain in Japan in 2019. This is the first report on the prescription status of mirogabalin using a large-scale prescription database.

Research Design And Methods: The authors analyzed the prescription data of 12,924 patients prescribed mirogabalin between 1 June and 31 August 2020.

"But it feels swollen!": the frequency and clinical characteristics of people with knee osteoarthritis who report subjective knee swelling in the absence of objective swelling.

Introduction: There are complex interactions between pain and perceptions of the painful body part in musculoskeletal disorders, and disruption of various body representations in people with chronic pain.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate how frequently people with knee osteoarthritis (OA) complain of swelling without objective evidence of swelling, and describe the clinical characteristics of this population.

Methods: Forty-six people with knee OA (68.

A novel mice model of acute flares in osteoarthritis elicited by intra-articular injection of cultured mast cells.

Purpose: Mast cells are multifunctional in osteoarthritis (OA), and infiltration of activated mast cells likely contributes to disease severity and progression. However, the detailed mechanisms of action are unclear. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of mast cell infiltration in OA at histological level using a new mice model and to investigate pharmacological inhibitory effects of existing mast cell stabilizers in this model.

Efficacy and safety of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound treatment for refractory chronic pain of medial knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: To elucidate the efficacy and safety of MRgFUS in the treatment for refractory pain derived from medial knee OA.

Methods: Twenty patients with medial knee OA eligible for total knee arthroplasty were included in this prospective, non-controlled study (UMIN000010193). MRgFUS treatment was provided at the site of most severe tenderness around the medial femorotibial joint of each patient under real-time monitoring of temperature.