Deseret Morning News = | To your health

To your health

Compiled by = Lois M.=20 Collins

Published: Monday, Feb. 25, 2008 8:18 a.m. = MST

1 = comment

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Chronic pain may harm brain
A new study says chronic pain harms the brain, which may help explain = why so=20 many patients with chronic pain have common cognitive and behavioral = conditions,=20 too.
Researchers at Northwestern University used functional MRI to show = that=20 individuals with chronic back pain had alterations in the functional=20 connectivity of the cortical regions =97 brain areas related to pain =97 = compared to=20 healthy subjects.
"This is the first clue we have that conditions such as depression, = anxiety,=20 sleep disturbances and decision-making difficulties, which affect the = quality of=20 life of chronic pain patients as much as the pain itself, may be = directly=20 related to altered brain function as a result of chronic pain," = principal=20 investigator Dr. Dante Chialvo told Medscape Neurology & = Neurosurgery.
The study was recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Chialvo said research has shown the healthy brain rests in a state of = cooperative equilibrium, so when one part becomes active, others become = less so.=20 Regions engaged in this resting state are known as the default mode = network=20 (DMN) and usually "shut off" when an individual is paying attention or=20 undertaking a task. They found the regions of the DMN in chronic pain = patients=20 never "quiet down."

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"Our paper shows pain not only hurts = patients, but the=20 unrelenting perception of pain also harms the brain. Using technology = such as=20 fMRI, we can objectively quantify this effect," said Dr. Chialvo.

Monitor movement with kicks
Stillbirth results in the deaths of more than 70 babies in the United = States=20 each day.
Healthy babies typically make 10 movements within two hours, while = decreased=20 fetal movement is associated with stillbirth and other complications.
Kick counting is a simple, safe and effective method for monitoring = fetal=20 movement as recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and=20 Gynecologists. Moms can start counting the kicks, jabs, rolls, twists = and turns=20 at 28 weeks, once a day, at the same time when their baby is most = active. The=20 BabyKick Foundation, a nonprofit organization to educate families and=20 health-care providers about kick counting, offers moms-to-be free kick = counting=20 charts at http://www.babykickalliance.org/. Many health-care=20 organizations and providers have adapted these charts for their own use.

Test detects prostate cancer
An experimental biomarker test developed by University of Michigan=20 researchers more accurately detects prostate cancer than any other = screening=20 method in use, according to a study in Cancer Research, a journal of the = American Association for Cancer Research.
The researchers say a simple urine test that screens for four RNA = molecules=20 accurately identified 80 percent of patients in a study who were later = found to=20 have prostate cancer, and was 61 percent effective in ruling out disease = in=20 other study participants.
This is far more accurate than the PSA blood test currently in use = worldwide,=20 which can accurately detect prostate cancer in men with the disease but = which=20 also identifies many men with enlarged prostate glands who do not = develop=20 cancer, researchers say. Even a test that screens for a molecule = specific to=20 prostate cancer and which is now in use both in the United States and = Europe is=20 less precise, they say.
They developed the test based on the finding that gene fusions =97 = pieces of=20 chromosomes that trade places, causing two genes to stick together =97 = are common=20 in prostate cancer, and that by overriding molecular switches that turn = off=20 excess growth, they may cause some forms of the disease. Identified = fusions=20 related to the cancer are the test's foundation.
The lead researcher said that any tests that are developed and widely = tested=20 would first be used to supplement a PSA blood screen. =

1 = comment

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Doesn't death result in stillbirth rather than vice versa?

Alice=20 T | Feb. 25, 2008 at 4:15 = p.m.

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