<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span>I find this study below interesting, Eugen. </span>Thanks for posting it.</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is the kind of work that I think will eventually lead to an understanding of the neurological processes associated with conscious experience (the NCC). Study 4, in which the signature response was substantially reduced after
the administration of an analgesic, seems to confirm that they have identified the neural correlates of this sort of pain. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent;">Study 3, in which they looked at the relationship between physical and social pain, reminds me of an abstract I read recently about a study that found that the administration of acetaminophen (<span style="background-color: transparent;">Tylenol) changes one's social outlook. Though not a barbiturate, Tylenol seems to cause people to have a more relaxed attitude about life. I would not be surprised to learn that other ordinary analgesics have similar effects.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span> Gordon</span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;">----------------------------</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="y_msg_container"><a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1204471" target="_blank">http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1204471</a><br><br>An fMRI-Based Neurologic Signature of Physical Pain<br><br>Tor D. Wager, Ph.D., Lauren Y. Atlas, Ph.D., Martin A. Lindquist, Ph.D.,<br>Mathieu Roy, Ph.D., Choong-Wan Woo, M.A., and Ethan Kross, Ph.D.<br><br>N Engl J
Med 2013; 368:1388-1397April 11, 2013DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1204471<br><br>BACKGROUND<br><br>Persistent pain is measured by means of self-report, the sole reliance on<br>which hampers diagnosis and treatment. Functional magnetic resonance imaging<br>(fMRI) holds promise for identifying objective measures of pain, but brain<br>measures that are sensitive and specific to physical pain have not yet been<br>identified.<br><br>METHODS<br><br>In four studies involving a total of 114 participants, we developed an<br>fMRI-based measure that predicts pain intensity at the level of the<br>individual person. In study 1, we used machine-learning analyses to identify<br>a pattern of fMRI activity across brain regions — a neurologic signature —<br>that was associated with heat-induced pain. The pattern included the<br>thalamus, the posterior and anterior insulae, the secondary somatosensory<br>cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the periaqueductal gray matter,
and<br>other regions. In study 2, we tested the sensitivity and specificity of the<br>signature to pain versus warmth in a new sample. In study 3, we assessed<br>specificity relative to social pain, which activates many of the same brain<br>regions as physical pain. In study 4, we assessed the responsiveness of the<br>measure to the analgesic agent remifentanil.<br><br>RESULTS<br><br>In study 1, the neurologic signature showed sensitivity and specificity of<br>94% or more (95% confidence interval [CI], 89 to 98) in discriminating<br>painful heat from nonpainful warmth, pain anticipation, and pain recall. In<br>study 2, the signature discriminated between painful heat and nonpainful<br>warmth with 93% sensitivity and specificity (95% CI, 84 to 100). In study 3,<br>it discriminated between physical pain and social pain with 85% sensitivity<br>(95% CI, 76 to 94) and 73% specificity (95% CI, 61 to 84) and with 95%<br>sensitivity and specificity in a
forced-choice test of which of two<br>conditions was more painful. In study 4, the strength of the signature<br>response was substantially reduced when remifentanil was administered.<br><br>CONCLUSIONS<br><br>It is possible to use fMRI to assess pain elicited by noxious heat in healthy<br>persons. Future studies are needed to assess whether the signature predicts<br>clinical pain. (Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and others.)<br>_______________________________________________<br>extropy-chat mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat" target="_blank">http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</a><br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>