Response to cold pressor pain and to acupuncture analgesia in Oriental and Occidental subjects

On a no treatment trial, a group of 24 oriental subjects rated cold pressor pain as significantly more painful and distressing than did a group of 24 occidental subjects. For half of the Orientals and half of the Occidentals, a second trial was conducted after acupuncture analgesia had been induced. The remaining 12 Orientals and 12 Occidentals served as no treatment controls on trial 2. Regardless of racial group, there was no difference between the pain of those experimental subjects who received acupuncture and the pain of those controls who did not. As they had on trial 1, Orientals reported significantly more pain and distress in response to ice water on trial 2. It is concluded that: (1) if acupuncture does work better for the Chinese than for other racial groups, the likely cause is a more refined patient selection procedure rather than an inherent difference in response to acupuncture; (2) evidence does not support the stereotyped view of Orientals as stoical in the face of physical pain.     

Analgesia for experimentally induced pain: Multiple sessions of acupuncture compared to hypnosis in high- and low-susceptible subjects.

Repeated trials with cold-pressor pain were used to (a) determine whether the modest relation between hypnotic susceptibility and response to acupuncture analgesia obtained in previous experiments is enhanced over a series of treatments; (b) compare acupuncture and hypnotic analgesias; and (c) assess whether acupuncture analgesia increases with repeated treatments. 20 high and 20 low hypnotically susceptible undergraduates participated on 5 days. For half of each susceptibility group, Sessions 1–3 consisted of a baseline trial followed by an acupuncture analgesia trial. The remaining Ss had 2 no-treatment trials on each of these sessions. For all Ss Session 4 was a baseline followed by a hypnotic analgesia trial, and Session 5 was a repetition of the procedures followed in Sessions 1–3. Repeated exposures to acupuncture did not alter its analgesic effect in either susceptibility group; there were no instances of significant postacupuncture pain reduction. High, but not low, susceptibles reported marked pain reduction after hypnotic analgesia. The effect of acupuncture on experimentally induced pain is at best small and fragile. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention, distraction, and cold-pressor pain.

Compared the effects of distracting oneself from, vs attending to, the sensations produced by cold-pressor stimulation. Exp I (35 undergraduates) revealed that distraction was a better coping strategy than attention to sensations when Ss were asked to report pain threshold and tolerance. Exps II and III (75 Ss) examined the hypothesis that distraction is effective because persons hold a commonsense belief in the benefits of distraction as a coping device. Neither experiment supported the commonsense hypothesis as an explanation for Exp I's results. In Exp IV, 39 male Ss were assigned to either distraction, attention, or no-instruction conditions and asked to report their distress during a 4-min cold-pressor trial. Distraction reduced distress early in the trial, but attention to sensations was a superior strategy for the last 2 min. It is proposed that distraction and attention to sensations may be differentially effective depending on the duration of the painful stimulus. Possible mediating processes underlying the 2 strategies are discussed. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rating pain or rating serenity: Effects on cold-pressor pain tolerance.

Investigated the effects of 2 self-report procedures on tolerance for pain. 58 female undergraduates, prescreened using a scale of absorption, or heightened attention, received 2 trials of a cold-pressor task. Ss gave ratings of either pain or calmness or no rating. Both self-report procedures resulted in significantly greater tolerance times than the no-rating condition. Tolerance was similar in each self-report condition. It is concluded that self-reports foster the use of coping strategies and thus divert attention away from noxious sensations. No differences in tolerance were found for high and low absorption scores, suggesting that absorption does not mediate the effects of self-report procedures. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of belief on acupuncture analgesia.

24 undergraduates who had indicated either a high or low level of belief in acupuncture-induced analgesia received either acupuncture or a pseudo-acupuncture treatment prior to a 60-sec cold-pressor test. Ss also completed the State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory at the beginning of the experiment and provided ratings of pain intensity during the cold-pressor test. Ss who held positive beliefs about the effectiveness of acupuncture and who received actual acupuncture treatment reported lower pain than did Ss with negative beliefs and those who received pseudo-acupuncture. Anxiety ratings did not differ between groups. The ratings of belief in acupuncture shown by the 2 groups tended to converge after treatment. Results suggest that differences in the analgesic effects of acupuncture are influenced by expectancy effects and the degree to which expectations are confirmed during the treatment procedure. (French abstract) (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggression and blood pressure responses of high- and low-guilt subjects following frustration.

After completion of the Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory, a total of 64 females were randomly assigned to frustration or neutral conditions. Frustrated Ss were told by E that their performance on a counting task was unsatisfactory and were not given an expected reward. Frustrated Ss showed (a) a significant increase in diastolic blood pressure during the task; (b) more aggression toward E on a postexperimental Research Evaluation Questionnaire (REQ); and (c) a significant decrease in diastolic pressure after the REQ, especially in low-guilt Ss. No differences were found between groups in systolic pressure, and not all high-guilt Ss inhibited their aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Injection pain with propofol. Reduction with aspiration of blood

A randomised, controlled, single-blind study was performed on 100 patients to investigate a new method of reducing pain on propofol injection. Aspiration of 2 ml of the patient's blood into a syringe of propofol immediately before injection was compared with the addition of lignocaine 20 mg or normal saline 2 ml to the propofol before injection. The addition of blood was significantly more effective in reducing pain on injection than the addition of saline (p < 0.001), but was not significantly more effective than the addition of lignocaine.     

Control of postoperative pain with intrapleural analgesia

INTRODUCTION: Personal experience in the treatment of postoperative pain using intrapleural analgesia applied on 50 patients chosen at random in a group of 90 after thoracotomy is reported. METHODS: At the end of operation a peridural catheter for continuative infusion was applied in the paravertebral socket by direct transfixion of chest wall. A local anaesthetic has been given (75 mg of bupivacaine 0.50%) through the catheter at 8 hours interval for three times at the most. The degree of analgesia has been valued immediately before and after medicine administration and during the 8 hours interval by recording the cardiocirculatory and haemogasanalytical parameters. The measurement of pain intensity has been achieved by visual analogous just an hour after operation and subsequently every 4 hours during the first post operative day and every 8 hours during the following days. RESULTS: Most of the examined patients (90%), reported a remarkable attenuation of pain, valued by achromatic grey test after 4 hours since the first giving. The catheter has always been removed during the 8th postoperative day and it did not cause intrapleural complications. The method used warrants a good level of analgesia, improving the respiratory per-formance and giving a rapid mobilization, essential items in the reduction of immediate post operative complications. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the validity of this treatment in the pain control of thoracothomized patients with a positive answer in 45 out of 50 examined patients without remarkable complications.     

Hypnotic analgesia and stress inoculation in the reduction of pain.

Investigated the influence of hypnotic ability on 3 methods of reducing cold-pressor pain. Following a baseline immersion, 30 high- and 30 low-hypnotizable undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups: stress inoculation training, stress inoculation training defined as hypnosis, or hypnotic analgesia. Analysis of pain reports indicated a significant hypnotic ability?×?treatment interaction. Among Ss receiving hypnotic analgesia, high-hypnotizables reported significantly less intense pain than lows. There was no differential response for high- and low-hypnotizable Ss receiving stress inoculation training, whether or not it was defined as hypnotic. Moreover, Ss in the stress inoculation condition (whether or not defined as hypnosis) reported using cognitive strategies to reduce pain, whereas this was not the case for Ss in the hypnotic analgesia condition. The present findings seem inconsistent with the social psychological account of hypnosis and are discussed from a dissociation perspective, which views hypnosis as involving changes in the way information is processed. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of approval or disapproval on reading behavior of high- and low-guilt subjects.

Hypothesized that censure would enhance viewing of an erotic magazine for low- but not for high-guilt Ss. In contrast to the prediction, mean viewing time for high-guilt Ss was significantly higher in the positive and negative comment conditions than in the neutral conditions, while the viewing time of low-guilt Ss in the positive and negative conditions did not significantly differ from the neutral condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic analgesia, placebo analgesia, and ischemic pain: The effects of contextual variables.

In two experiments we examined the relation between hypnotic and placebo analgesia using ischemic pain. The first experiment examined an artifact in a previously used ischemic pain stimulus. Experiment 2 investigated the relation between hypnotic and placebo analgesia using a submaximum effort tourniquet technique to produce ischemic pain. High- and low-susceptible subjects received hypnotic and placebo analgesia in counterbalanced order. High-susceptible subjects received placebo analgesia followed on a subsequent trial by hypnotic analgesia showed significant increases in tolerance from placebo to hypnotic analgesia. When presented in the reverse order, however, placebo analgesia and hypnotic analgesia led to equivalent levels of tolerance in both high- and low-susceptible subjects. A similar pattern of findings emerged for subjects' magnitude estimates of pain, but it was not related to hypnotic susceptibility. These findings indicate that both hypnotic and placebo analgesia may be contextually dependent phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical study on painless labor under drugs combined with acupuncture analgesia

To study the analgesia efficacy of drugs combined with acupuncture analgesia for painless labor, 462 normal pregnancy women were observed. During the latent phase in labor, several analgesia methods: acupuncture analgesia, analgesics, magnetotherapy and auricular acupressure, TENS combined with dihydroetorphine were used respectively. While the intrauterine pressure and the peripheral content of beta-EP were measured during labor, the experiments of SEPS were also performed on healthy adults to demonstrate the analgesia efficacy of those analgesia methods. The combination of drugs with acupuncture is an excellent method for painless labor without any complications and all the mothers and babies are safety. The effectiveness is 97.5%. The results demonstrate that the mechanism of analgesia efficacy should be regulated the incoordinate uterine action and improve the hypertonic status of uterus, but also can decrease the pain threshold and elevate the tolerance of uterine contractions during labor.     

Cognitive activity and suggestions for analgesia in the reduction of reported pain.

Assessed 38 undergraduates' pain magnitude and pain tolerance for arm immersion in ice water during a baseline and posttest session. Before the posttest, half the Ss received an analgesia suggestion. On the basis of their written testimony, Ss were classified as having either predominately coped (e.g., imagined event inconsistent with pain or made positive self-statements) or predominantly exaggerated (e.g., worried about and exaggerated the noxious aspects of the situation) during each immersion. On both immersions, copers reported less pain and exhibited higher pain tolerance than exaggerators. Moreover, the suggestion was associated with reductions in reported pain only when it transformed baseline exaggerators into posttest copers. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive performance, mood and experimental pain before and during morphine-induced analgesia in patients with chronic non-malignant pain

OBJECTIVE: To determine the ability of simple, rapid tests to identify HIV-1 antibody-positive specimens in field settings using the World Health Organization's (WHO) alternative testing strategies. DESIGN: Three-phase evaluation of simple, rapid assays using banked specimens and prospectively collected serum specimens at regional hospitals and rural clinics. METHODS: Seven test (Retrocell, Genie, HIVCHEK, SUDS HIV-1, Testpack, Serodia HIV-1, and HIV-1/2 RTD) were evaluated and results compared with standard enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and Western blot results (phase 1). Further evaluation consisted of prospective testing of routine specimens at regional (phase 2; n = 900) and rural, peripheral laboratories (phase 3; n = 1266) throughout Honduras with selected assays. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for each assay and combination of assays for each phase to evaluate the effectiveness of the WHO alternative testing strategies. All tests in all phases were > 99% sensitive after correcting for technical errors, with two exceptions (SUDS, phase 1; HIVCHEK, phase 3). In phase 3, where the testing algorithm was diagnostic, several combinations of assays were 100% sensitive and specific using WHO strategy II or III. For the Honduras Ministry of Health, the combination of Retrocell and Genie was found to be equally sensitive, more specific (no indeterminate results), and less expensive than EIA/Western blot. CONCLUSION: Combinations of rapid, simple HIV antibody assays provide sensitivity and specificity performance comparable to EIA/Western blot. Application of these combinations in the WHO alternative testing strategies provides an inexpensive and effective method of determining HIV status. Assay combinations using these strategies can be easily performed in small, rural laboratories and have been implemented in routine HIV screening in Honduras.     

Instructional demands and ratings of overt and hidden pain during hypnotic analgesia.

16 highly hypnotizable (Carlton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale) undergraduates rated the intensity of cold pressor pain during a baseline trial and again during 3 hypnotic analgesia trials. During each analgesia trial, Ss were instructed to give overt reports that reflected consciously experienced pain and covert reports that reflected the intensity of "hidden" pain. Treatment instructions administered before the 1st analgesia trial did not specify the relationship between overt and covert pain. Instructions given before the remaining 2 analgesia trials indicated that hidden pain would be either more or less intense than overt pain. Until they were given explicit information about the relative intensities of the pain, Ss reported no differences in the magnitude of overt and covert pain, contrary to the dissociation hypothesis of hypnotic analgesia. Consistent with social psychological formulations of the hidden observer phenomenon, Ss reported both higher covert than overt pain and lower covert than overt pain, depending on the instructions they were administered. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exercise-induced analgesia and the role of reactivity in pain sensitivity

The present study was designed to evaluate whether pain perception and pain tolerance are altered by submaximal aerobic exercise. Sixty male volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two control or experimental groups in the first of two sessions. In session 1, baseline measures of pain tolerance and pain perception were obtained for half of the subjects in each of the experimental and control groups, respectively. In addition, all subjects completed the Reactivity Scale, followed by estimation of their maximum aerobic power (VO2 max) using the Canadian Home Fitness Test. In session 2, the subjects in the two experimental groups exercised for 12 min by climbing a double step to pre-recorded musical cadences, working on average at 63% VO2 max, whereas the subjects in the two control groups spent approximately 12 min completing two short unrelated questionnaires. Measures of pain tolerance and pain perception were obtained from all subjects after exercising or completing questionnaires. Pain tolerance was assessed by the amount of time (up to 10 min) that subjects could voluntarily endure a 2300 g pressure to the index finger of their dominant hand. Pain perception was defined by participants' intensity ratings on an 11-point scale, made at 30 and 60 s. The results showed that reactivity and exercise were significant predictors of pain tolerance, together accounting for approximately 22% of the variance. The finding that submaximal workloads produce analgesia supports the potential usefulness of exercise in therapeutic intervention.     

Reduction of stress-induced analgesia following ethanol exposure in mice

In the present study, we examined the effects of ethanol treatment on the subsequent expression of opioid and nonopioid forms of swim stress-induced analgesia (SSIA). In Experiment 1, mice were injected with ethanol (2.5 g/kg, i.p.) or an equal volume of saline once a day for two days. Animals received no treatment on day 3. On day 4, the animals were tested for opioid (3-min swim in water maintained at 32 degrees C) or nonopioid (3-min swim in water maintained at 20 degrees C) SSIA in the hotplate test (52 degrees C). Mice pretreated with ethanol injections showed a decrease in nonopioid SSIA, but not in opioid SSIA. In Experiment 2, mice were given an ethanol solution (10%) or tap water to drink for 15 days. On day 16, all animals were given tap water to drink. On day 17, the animals were tested for opioid or nonopioid SSIA. Neither form of SSIA was modified in mice that drank the ethanol solution. These results show that ethanol pretreatment can modify nonopioid endogenous analgesic responses in mice. Further, the route of administration influences the effects of ethanol pretreatment on SSIA.