Preliminary data from human embryonic stem cell trials for two degenerative eye disorders are promising, but challenges remain for more complex tissues.

Three dozen researchers have signed a letter promising to halt dangerous bird flu research for 2 months to initiate safety discussions.
By Sabrina Richards .

Science and Nature jointly published a letter on Friday (January 20) declaring a voluntary 2-month suspension of research into transmission of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza. The letter, signed by 39 influenza researchers around the world, acknowledges that before research continues, there should be informed, global discussions regarding its regulation and publication.

Genomics research increasingly depends on access to large pools of individuals’ genetic and health data, but there is mounting dissatisfaction with governance approaches that erect barriers between donors and the biomedical research in which they are participating. Typically, participants have little or no opportunity to track how their data are being used, what discoveries result, and what the new knowledge might mean for them, even when findings are of life and death significance for the participant.

read more : http://the-scientist.com/2012/01/24/opinion-occupy-science/

The body’s own mechanism for dispersing the inflammatory reaction might lead to new treatments for chronic pain.

Untargeted metabolic profiling implicates a new suite of metabolites that may be involved in nerve damage-induced pain.

BY BRUCE GOLDMAN

Women report more-intense pain than men in virtually every disease category, according to Stanford University School of Medicine investigators who mined a huge collection of electronic medical records to establish the broad gender difference to a high level of statistical significance.

Their study, published online Jan. 23 in the Journal of Pain, suggests that stronger efforts should be made to recruit women subjects in population and clinical studies in order to find out why this gender difference exists.

New research from the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol, which has been charting the health of 14,500 children since their birth in the early 1990s, shows that the link between low levels of vitamin D and depression is established in childhood and that ensuring children have a good intake of vitamin D could help reduce depression in adolescence and adulthood.

Hearing Loss & Cord Blood Stem Cells
Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Cord Blood Registry® (CBR) are launching the first FDA-approved, Phase I safety study on the use of cord blood stem cells to treat children with sensorineural hearing loss.

watch video : http://en.sevenload.com/videos/yaaH07Y-Hearing-Loss-Cord-Blood-Stem-Cell...

watch video : http://video.foxnews.com/v/1399011957001/medical-marijuana-equals-safer-...

At the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, held November 12-16 in Washington, DC, sex differences, long a concern of pain researchers, were a hot topic, featured in a roundtable discussion and on the minds of many attendees. There were a handful of posters on sex differences in pain, in animals and people, some of which we highlight here. The selection is by no means exhaustive, so if you saw an interesting study that is not mentioned, please leave a comment at the end of the story.

read more : http://www.painresearchforum.org/news/12514-sex-and-society-neuroscience

High-dose opioid reverses synaptic potentiation in the spinal cord in rats
by Megan Talkington on 16 Jan 2012

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1400290088001/report-adult-stem-cells-may-hol...

A nurse's tender loving care really does ease the pain of a medical procedure, and grandma's cookies really do taste better, if we perceive them to be made with love - suggests newly published research by a University of Maryland psychologist. The findings have many real-world applications, including in medicine, relationships, parenting and business.

read more : http://pain.groupsite.com/link/go/112705972

New website offers valuable lessons for health-care professionals

January 18, 2012

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A comprehensive, web-based learning tool that features a series of interactive video vignettes to help health-care professionals better understand end-of-life care and prepare them for difficult conversations with patients and families is now available online. The program, called "eDoctoring," is available at http://edoc.ucdavis.edu.

A new study has found a way to use air as a barrier for controlled drug release.
http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Materials-Formulation/Air-can-be-us...

HOUSTON -- (January 18, 2012) -- From the cherry red tip of a lighted cigarette through the respiratory tract to vital lung cells, the havoc created by tobacco smoke seems almost criminal, activating genes and portions of the immune system to create inflammation that results in life-shortening emphysema, said researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Professional athletes often experience extreme highs and lows, and can often be the last to realise they have depression.

Cricketer Andrew Flintoff, who has suffered from the condition, has been exploring the issue for a BBC documentary.

Psychotherapist Philip Hodson discussed some the issues it raises on BBC Breakfast.

watch video : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16501970

THE DEVICE: It is not easy to record the electrical signals that pass fleetingly through neurons and cardiomyocytes. But with a novel nanoscale device developed by Charles Lieber and colleagues at Harvard University, scientists can record these action potentials without damaging cells and even probe sub-cellular structures like dendrites, according to a report published last month (December 18) in Nature Nanotechnology.

watch video : http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/blood-test-predict-future-15377479?tab=9...

The vast majority of people with chronic pain rely on pain medications like prescription opioids for relief, but as the use of these drugs has increased, so has the incidence of serious problems including overdose, addiction and health complications.
Often pain killers don’t improve a person’s ability to function well (because they feel too sedated) or their quality of life, which should be the main goal in treating pain.
Most pain experts advocate a more comprehensive approach to managing pain including exercise and what’s known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).