Efficacy of a Short-Term Low-Calorie Diet in Overweight and Obese Patients with Chronic Sciatica: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Molecular Mechanisms and Pathophysiological Pathways of High-Fat Diets and Caloric Restriction Dietary Patterns on Pain

Pain perception provides evolutionary advantages by enhancing the probability of survival, but chronic pain continues to be a significant global health concern in modern society. Various factors are associated with pain alteration. Accumulating evidence has revealed that obesity correlates with enhanced pain perception, especially in chronic pain individuals. Existing dietary patterns related to obesity are primarily high-fat diets (HFD) and calorie restriction (CR) diets, which induce or alleviate obesity separately. HFD has been shown to enhance nociception while CR tends to alleviate pain when measuring pain outcomes. Herein, this review mainly summarizes the current knowledge of the effects of HFD and CR on pain responses and underlying molecular mechanisms of the immunological factors, metabolic regulation, inflammatory processes, Schwann cell (SC) autophagy, gut microbiome, and other pathophysiological signaling pathways involved. This review would help to provide insights on potential nonpharmacological strategies of dietary patterns in relieving pain.

Capsaicin-induced pain increases neural responses to low-calorie non-spicy food cues: An ERP study

Capsaicin, the main spicy ingredient in chili, can activate pain receptors on the human tongue and skin. Although some studies have determined that pain influenced preference for high-calorie foods, little is known whether pain can modulate the individuals' preference for spicy foods and its neural mechanisms. After 30 participants underwent painful (topical capsaicin cream) and control (hand cream) treatments, an event-related potential (ERP) study was conducted to investigate the modulation of capsaicin-induced pain on food preference with food images. Results showed that both P3 and late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes during the painful treatment were significantly larger than those during the control treatment for low-calorie non-spicy food cues. However, for the other three categories of food cues, there were no significant differences between the two treatments. The present study suggests that capsaicin-induced pain increases individuals' neural processing of low-calorie non-spicy food cues, which provides empirical evidence on the relationship between pain and neural responses to food cues to help optimize dietary interventions for patients experiencing pain.

The Critical Role of Nutrition Care to Improve Pain Management: A Global Call to Action for Physical Therapist Practice

Physical therapists have unique education in the comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment and treatment of chronic pain and its mechanisms. Recently, physical therapists have raised awareness regarding the impact of nutrition on promoting health and managing noncommunicable diseases. Robust evidence supports the implementation of nutrition in physical therapist education and practice. Of particular interest for the physical therapist are investigations that use dietary interventions for the treatment of chronic pain. Yet physical therapists have received little guidance regarding their role in nutrition care for pain management and may pass on opportunities to counsel their patients on the connection between nutrition and pain. Therefore, a clinical paradigm shift and unified voice within the profession is called on to encourage physical therapists to develop tailored multimodal lifestyle interventions that include nutrition care for the management of chronic pain. This Perspective describes evidence supporting the implementation of nutrition care in physical therapist practice, supports the role of nutritional pain management for physical therapists, and encourages the use of nutrition care for primary, secondary, tertiary, prevention, health promotion, and wellness related to chronic pain. To achieve these aims, this Perspective offers suggestions for how physical therapists can (1) enhance clinical decision making; (2) expand professional, jurisdictional, and personal scope of practice; (3) evolve entry-level education; and (4) stimulate new investigations in nutrition care and pain science research. In doing so, physical therapists can assert their role throughout the pain management continuum, champion innovative research initiatives, and enhance public health by reducing the impact of chronic pain.

IMPACT

The nutrition care process for pain management is defined as the basic duty to provide adequate and appropriate nutrition education and counseling to people living with pain. Including the nutrition care process as part of a multimodal approach to pain management provides an opportunity for physical therapists to assert their role throughout the pain management continuum. This includes championing innovative research initiatives and enhancing public health by reducing the impact of chronic pain for over 50 million Americans.

Avicenna and clinical experiences in Canon of Medicine

Avicenna used his medical knowledge and experience of scientists from different nations to create a new style in medicine. For this reason, his textbook, Canon of Medicine, has been considered a medical reference in all universities worldwide for centuries. In this article, some valuable and interesting diagnostic and therapeutic clinical experiences mentioned in the Canon of Medicine are described in five sections. This research was conducted to review Avicenna’s specific clinical observations and interventions in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases using the keywords “Avicenna” and “Canon of Medicine”. In this article, we presented several examples of diagnostic and therapeutic clinical experiences mentioned in the Canon of Medicine in 5 areas, including semiology, therapeutic strategy, urology, neurology, obstetrics, and gynecology. Canon of Medicine, as a complete medical series containing the medical experiences from different nations and Iranian medical scientists, has influenced the world’s medical knowledge for several centuries. Some of Avicenna’s clinical and experimental views can be useful from both a historical point of view and new research.

Anti-inflammatory activity of a natural herbal-marine drug (MS14 - SANT and SUSP) compared to sodium salicylate or methylprednisolone in a rat model for multiple sclerosis

A natural compound of marine herbal origin has been used in Persian Traditional Medicine to relieve some symptoms of multiple sclerosis. The present study investigated the antiinflammatory effects of a patented extracts of the traditional receipt (MS¹⁴). In this preliminary experiment, we used seven groups of six rats: the control group received vehicle, the two positive control groups were treated with either sodium salicylate (300 mg/kg) intraperitoneal (i.p.) or methyl prednisolon (MPN 10 mg/kg) i.p., while the test groups were treated with a solution centrifuged MS¹⁴ (SANT 100 mg/kg) and suspension of MS¹⁴ (SUSP 100, 150, 300 mg/kg) i.p. After thirty minutes, paw volume was measured by plethysmometer and immediately formalin solution was injected subcutaneously into the hind paw and after an hour, inflamed paw volume was measured. In days 2-8, the inflamed paw volume was measured and immediately drugs were injected i.p. The anti-inflammatory effect of MPN was significant only on days 5 and 6. The anti-inflammatory effect of SS was significant only on the 6th day, while the anti-inflammatory effect of SANT MS¹⁴ (100 mg/kg) was also significant only on the 6th day. SUSP MS¹⁴ (150 mg/kg) significantly reduced edema from second to 6th day. Intra-peritoneal injection of SUSP MS¹⁴ with 300 mg/kg was toxic, so excluded from the study. This research indicates that the MS¹⁴ possesses an anti-inflammatory effect after intra-peritoneal administration. Comparative anti-inflammatory effects of MS¹⁴ with Glucocorticoids in this study, may justify a possible mechanism for its action in multiple sclerosis, if further studies will provid strong statistically confirmatory effects in animals and safety human trials.