Spinal Pain And Lifestyle-related Health Risk Factors; Disentangling The Relationship And Evaluating Better Management Strategies
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,048.00
Summary
Spinal pain and lifestyle health factors such as overweight, smoking and lack of physical activity are major problems in Australia. They cause huge personal suffering and enormous cost to the healthcare system. Despite the fact that spinal pain and lifestyle factors are often linked, their prevention and treatment are typically separate. This program of research aims to understand how spinal pain and lifestyle risk factors interact, to help make prevention and treatment for both more effective.
I am a clinical scientist translating basic science findings into clinical science questions and answers that impart better understanding and management of pain and painful disease.
Estimation Of Transient Increases In Bleeding Risk Associated With Physical Activity In Children With Haemophilia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$102,143.00
Summary
Haemophilia A and B are genetic conditions which affect 1 in 7,000 males in Australia. These disorders cause frequent bleeding due to problems with the clotting factor in blood. Over the past decade there has been a move to administer clotting factor to children with haemophilia in order to prevent bleeds and the consequent damage to joints that occurs when bleeds occur in a joint. Participation in vigorous physical activity and sport is thought to increase the risk of bleeding. Because of this, ....Haemophilia A and B are genetic conditions which affect 1 in 7,000 males in Australia. These disorders cause frequent bleeding due to problems with the clotting factor in blood. Over the past decade there has been a move to administer clotting factor to children with haemophilia in order to prevent bleeds and the consequent damage to joints that occurs when bleeds occur in a joint. Participation in vigorous physical activity and sport is thought to increase the risk of bleeding. Because of this, children are often given clotting factor prior to playing sport. However clotting factor is extremely expensive. For example, a boy wanting to play tennis three times a week would require three injections of cIotting factor per week at a cost of approximately $250,000 a year. To date there is no good evidence about which physical activities are likely to increase the risk of bleeding. If this information was available clinicians would be able to optimise timing of administration of clotting factor so that it is administered prior to activities associated with high risk of bleeds. Another reason to quantify risk of bleeds associated with activity is to inform decisions about participation in physical activity. Every boy with haemophilia wants to know if he can play sport or ride a skateboard or jump on a trampoline. Informed decisions about participation require accurate estimates of risk. This study will use an innovative design to provide, for the first time, accurate estimates of the risk of bleeding associated with physical activity. This information will form the basis for clinical practice guidelines regarding participation in physical activity.Read moreRead less
Adouble-blind Placebo Contorolled Study Of Subcutaneous Ketamine In The Management Of Cancer Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$50,000.00
Summary
Palliative care teams are studying an anaesthetic, ketamine, used at low doses for cancer pain which is not responsive to opioid drugs. Clinical experience suggests ketamine may help in neuropathic pain, which is due to nerve damage and is common in cancer. The study involves five days of treatment at three doses of ketamine, to see how well pain is controlled on each dose. The highest dose given will be that which gives good pain control. The study compares ketamine with a placebo, and patients ....Palliative care teams are studying an anaesthetic, ketamine, used at low doses for cancer pain which is not responsive to opioid drugs. Clinical experience suggests ketamine may help in neuropathic pain, which is due to nerve damage and is common in cancer. The study involves five days of treatment at three doses of ketamine, to see how well pain is controlled on each dose. The highest dose given will be that which gives good pain control. The study compares ketamine with a placebo, and patients keep on their usual pain medicines. Participants are randomised to have ketamine or the placebo. The study looks at pain control, quality of life, ketamine side effects, and change in need for usual pain medicines. This is the first national clinical study of a new palliative care research network, the Palliative Care Clinical Trials Collaborative (PaCCSC). It is hoped that if ketamine is proven safe and effective in difficult cancer pain, it will be more easily available for cancer patients.Read moreRead less
Disorders of pain sensation due to nerve damage are common, debilitating and difficult to treat. Nerve damage often results in increased sensitivity to painful stimuli and the perception of innocuous stimuli as painful; it may also result in spontaneous pain. Pain is one of the commonest clinical problems, and yet it is often accepted or taken for granted. The outcome of this work will be an increased understanding of the way in which nerve injury leads to spontaneous pain and increased sensitiv ....Disorders of pain sensation due to nerve damage are common, debilitating and difficult to treat. Nerve damage often results in increased sensitivity to painful stimuli and the perception of innocuous stimuli as painful; it may also result in spontaneous pain. Pain is one of the commonest clinical problems, and yet it is often accepted or taken for granted. The outcome of this work will be an increased understanding of the way in which nerve injury leads to spontaneous pain and increased sensitivity to painful stimuli. This will lead in turn to the development of more effective treatments for neuropathic pain.Read moreRead less
The Analgesic Evaluation Of Novel Natural Products From The Australian Plant Barringtonia Acutangula
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$174,500.00
Summary
This project aims to evaluate the analgesic activity of several novel natural products that have been isolated from the Australian plant Barringtonia acutangula. An Australian Aboriginal tribe have been known to use B. acutangula aqueous bark extracts for its analgesic properties. Griffith University researchers have confirmed this biological activity in the crude aqueous bark extract. A large scale extraction and isolation process will obtain the novel compounds in sufficient quantities that wi ....This project aims to evaluate the analgesic activity of several novel natural products that have been isolated from the Australian plant Barringtonia acutangula. An Australian Aboriginal tribe have been known to use B. acutangula aqueous bark extracts for its analgesic properties. Griffith University researchers have confirmed this biological activity in the crude aqueous bark extract. A large scale extraction and isolation process will obtain the novel compounds in sufficient quantities that will allow for their pharmacological evaluation as potential analgesic drugs.Read moreRead less
Mechanisms Of Endogenous Cannabinoid Mediated Analgesia Within The Midbrain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$518,820.00
Summary
While opioid analgesics such as morphine are the most important drugs used to treat moderate to severe pain, their usefulness is limited by side effects such as tolerance and respiratory depression. In addition, clinically relevant neuropathic chronic pain syndromes (caused by nervous system damage) are relatively resistant to opioids. Animal studies have shown that the active ingredient of the plant Cannabis sativa, THC, and a number of synthetic cannabinoids are analgesic in acute pain models, ....While opioid analgesics such as morphine are the most important drugs used to treat moderate to severe pain, their usefulness is limited by side effects such as tolerance and respiratory depression. In addition, clinically relevant neuropathic chronic pain syndromes (caused by nervous system damage) are relatively resistant to opioids. Animal studies have shown that the active ingredient of the plant Cannabis sativa, THC, and a number of synthetic cannabinoids are analgesic in acute pain models, and interestingly, in chronic neuropathic pain models. Unfortunately, cannabinoid also produce a spectrum of adverse side-effects. Administered cannabinoids such as THC produce their physiological effects by mimicking the actions of the body's own cannabinoids (endocannabinoids) by activating cell-surface proteins, called cannabinoid receptors. The endocannabinoid neurotransmitter system is emerging as a potential therapeutic target. For example, it has recently been shown that analgesia induced by physiological stressors is partly mediated by endocannabinoids within the brain. In addition, novel endocannabinoid breakdown inhibitors have some efficacy in animal models of anxiety and chronic pain. Several brain regions are known to play a pivotal role in the analgesic actions of exogenous and endogenous cannabinoids. In previous studies I have identified the cellular mechanisms by which exogenously applied opioids and cannabinoids produce their analgesic effects in single brain cells. However, the mechanisms of endocannabinoid actions within these brain regions are unknown. The proposed study will determine the cellular actions of endogenously released cannabinoids in normal animals and in chronic pain states. Parallel studies will examine the effect of modulation of the endocannabinoid system in animal models of pain. These techniques have the potential to identify novel endocannabinoid analgesic pharmacotherapies with enhanced efficacy and reduced side effects.Read moreRead less
What Triggers Complex Regional Pain Syndrome After Minor Injury?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$958,898.00
Summary
Most people recover from minor trauma but some develop very disabling, difficult to treat, costly pain syndromes. We can identify those at high risk of developing such a syndrome after wrist fracture. By comparing inflammation, immune system function, stress, brain function and behaviour between high and low risk patients, we will take a major step towards understanding, preventing and treating these syndromes.
Targeted Ablation Of Sensory Neurons And Glial Cells With A View To Relieving Neuropathic Pain.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$280,910.00
Summary
In Australia more than half of chronic pain patients are diagnosed with neuropathic pain resulting from nerve injury. This type of pain persists long after injury has healed and is associated with spontaneous bursts of excruciating pain and altered sensory processing symptoms which can make even the light touch of clothing intolerable. Neuropathic pain is highly resistant to even the most intense and drastic pain treatments. Much research has been devoted to understanding neuropathic pain in ter ....In Australia more than half of chronic pain patients are diagnosed with neuropathic pain resulting from nerve injury. This type of pain persists long after injury has healed and is associated with spontaneous bursts of excruciating pain and altered sensory processing symptoms which can make even the light touch of clothing intolerable. Neuropathic pain is highly resistant to even the most intense and drastic pain treatments. Much research has been devoted to understanding neuropathic pain in terms of changes in nerve cell (neuron) structure, function and chemistry. Whilst we have learned a lot about how neurons contribute to neuropathic pain, it has since become clear that cells other than neurons (namely neuronal support cells called glia) also play a significant role in the production and continuation of pain after nerve injury. Thus, it may be that pain therapies which currently focus on stopping or minimising the changes in neurons after nerve injury are only doing half the job when it comes to relieving such pain. Targeted therapies aim to affect or kill particular groups of cells with the hope of further understanding their role in the disease progression or eliminating their contribution to the disease state to produce relief. This can be done using a toxin linked to a vehicle that only binds to a particular cell type and which, upon uptake, causes the cell to suicide. Targeting neurons and glia responsible for neuropathic pain may hold a key to relieving this pain state. This project aims to further understand the contributions of neurons and glia to the production of neuropathic pain and aims to determine the effectiveness of synergistic targeted therapies that kill both the neurons and glia responsible for neuropathic pain production. It is hoped that killing these cells will effectively remove their input to the production and continuation of neuropathic pain and may offer a new avenue for neuropathic pain treatment in the future.Read moreRead less