Free Republic

Not just for sushi — but for research. You know that burning sensation when you eat wasabi? Researchers at University of California San Francisco think new information about the so-called “wasabi receptor” can help improve pain medications. The wasabi receptor is a protein inside our nerve cells. It reacts to spicy things like wasabi, and even tear gas. UCSF researchers used new imaging technology to better map the protein. They're experimenting with blocking the pain receptor's response. Pain medications and anti-itch medications could become more effective as a result.

Brasília (AFP) - Brazilian scientists have discovered a protein in coffee that has effects similar to pain reliever morphine, researchers at the state University of Brasilia (UnB) and state-owned Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation Embrapa said Saturday. Embrapa said its genetics and biotech division, teaming up with UnB scientists, had discovered "previously unknown protein fragments" with morphine-like effects in that they possess "analgesic and mildly tranquilizing" qualities. The company added tests on laboratory mice showed that the opioid peptides, which are naturally occurring biological molecules, appeared to have a longer-lasting effect on the mice than morphine itself....

I have spent my life being coached or coaching. I’ve played most of the major sports and some of the more unusual ones as well. I’ve learned that coaches face one major perennial challenge. It is the difficulty of motivating your athletes when pain and fatigue are urging them to quit.I’ve found that there are three basic coaching styles that seek to answer this challenge.The first coaching style asserts that true athletes don’t feel pain. It simply doesn’t exist; it is a figment of the imagination. This is the mind-over-matter rationale. Pain isn’t a challenge; or, it isn’t even to be...

Hi, just wanted to put a prayer request out for my mom. Her health problems are all tied to each other. She has arthritis in her hands and back. She has a little sccoliosis that's gotten worse from a fall she took a couple years ago, and she never really did any work to get herself right, and instead she compensated for her pain/problem and made it worse. She has pain. the pain makes her use her arms and shoulders and muscles differently so that she can still do things, but that puts pressure on her body in different ways...

A few years ago, I worked at a web design agency as a product manager. The part of the job I loved the most was working on product with our design team and clients. Unfortunately, this was only about 10 percent of the work that I actually got to do. The majority of the time, I was trying to control the constant flow of stuff–keeping track of meeting notes, searching for files, and trying to stay up-to-date with the latest technology news.I was mentally exhausted. I’d get home feeling that I hadn’t really accomplished anything. Once I left the agency...

Planned Parenthood has been caught teaching underage kids about kinky sex. What kind of parenthood are they even planning for anymore? Find out more in this edition of ZoNation. Experience the creative energy and conservative insight that Zo delivers in every show.

Chronic Pain Linked To Vitamin D Deficiency In Men Tuesday 29 April 2014 - 8am PSTMedical News Today Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a number of health issues. And now, a new study to be presented at a conference run by the British Society for Rheumatology suggests that low levels of vitamin D in the body are linked to chronic widespread pain. The researchers note that in the UK, chronic widespread pain is a major public health problem, affecting around 1 in 5 people, and it can be caused by rheumatic and neurological disorders. Also, around 50% of...

"An elderly blind veteran crying in pain spent four hours and 45 minutes in the emergency room of the VA Medical Center in North Las Vegas before seeing a doctor in October, but federal inspectors said in a report Wednesday that such long waits were not unusual for patients at the hospital." (snip) "Niccum died on Nov. 15 at a local hospice after a bout with a colon disorder. The Navy veteran had racked up 5,000 volunteer service hours helping veterans and staff at VA facilities."

An ancient folk remedy for chronic pain could be buzzing into mainstream markets. Axis Clinical Trials in Los Angeles is testing honey bee venom for treatment of osteoarthritis. Dr. Lydie Hazan spoke to CBS2′s Lisa Sigell about her experience treating patients with Apimed, otherwise known as standardized and purified “venom in a vial”. “We were contracted by a pharmaceutical company which is based in Korea. They decided they wanted this product marketed in the United States,” she said. “We inject it locally in the knees of patients that are afflicted with osteoarthritis.” Patients are monitored for months to see if...

Hi all, Last night I spent 8 hours in the ER and am still in pain. I'm also mad about the whole thing. Obviously, though, I'm healthy enough to type on my iPad! Any insight is appreciated. For the last 3 weeks or so I have had a dull pain right below the bottom of my ribcage on the left side. At times it would become sharp, like a stabbing pain and I would not be be able to take a deep breath during that time. I would cringe in pain during these times. After a while it would go...

The city clerk’s office has informed KRQE-TV that there’s been a record number for early voting on a proposed ordinance. What has caused over 23,000 people to vote as of this morning? The city of Albuquerque’s “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance,” which would ban abortions after 20 weeks, the juncture by which science shows the unborn child can experience pain. Early voting ends November 15th and Election Day is November 19th. (There is also a run-off election in one city council district that will give the city a new councilor.) There are four known late abortion centers in the...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has turned off its entire website in response to the government shutdown, leaving farmers, reporters and others with no way to access any of the agency’s information online. A visit to usda.gov sends readers to a “funding lapse” page that reads, “Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available. After funding has been restored, please allow some time for this website to become available again.” USDA’s total website shutdown goes far beyond the response of other federal agencies, and seems to be part of an effort to make people feel...

Even when it comes to something as basic, and apparently as simple and straightforward, as the question of who shut down the federal government, there are diametrically opposite answers, depending on whether you talk to Democrats or to Republicans. There is really nothing complicated about the facts. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted all the money required to keep all government activities going — except for ObamaCare. This is not a matter of opinion. You can check the Congressional Record. As for the House of Representatives' right to grant or withhold money, that is not a matter of opinion either....

Patients should not be prescribed long-acting or extended-release opioid pain relievers unless they need daily, round-the-clock care for pain that can't be managed by any other means, the Food and Drug Administration has told doctors. The new guidelines - meant to stem the country's growing epidemic of opioid abuse and addiction - will not place formal new restrictions on prescriptions by physicians, but administration officials hope to chasten physicians who prescribe the medications for anything other than ongoing, intractable pain.

Over the past decade NRL News and NRL News Today have collectively carried dozens and dozens and DOZENS of articles about the topic of the capacity of the unborn child to feel pain. So when colleagues tell you on your return to work of a must-read article, the first temptation might be to expect too little rather than too much. But after reading Eric Schulzke’s “The disputed science of fetal pain,” I can see why they say the article is balanced—a rarity—and comprehensive—even rarer.Schulzke cleverly works backwards. He starts with newborns who were born premature. Their parents are absolutely convinced...

The next four years are likely to be unpleasant. There are already several crises heading towards us, and in the fiscal, monetary, regulatory and general economic areas the Barack Obama administration's policy is likely to be counterproductive. In these circumstances, there's only one sound course of action for the Republican congressional majority: they must abandon all their natural politicians' preference for avoiding short-term pain and adopt a root-canal approach, welcoming short-term economic pain for the sake of preserving the US economy intact for better times ahead. For the past four years, Obama's trillion-dollar deficits and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's...

Here we sit on the good ship USA sailing merily along. We have tried repeatedly to tell passengers that there is an ice berg dead ahead, a fiscal cliff, Greece, etc. Despite our warnings they have not and will not listen to us. We have tried to tell the people about the pain being caused to them. Again, they will not and have not listened. Instead, they voted to not only stay on the ship but to stay on course. Understanding how (some) of the electorate got there is important. In my opinion some of it starts with the nature...

'Warrington's Paul Wood lost a testicle after sustaining an agonising injury in the Super League Grand Final. Remarkably, the prop played on after rupturing a testicle early in the second half of the match, which Warrington lost 26-18 to Leeds at Old Trafford. Wood even conducted media interviews after the game before going to hospital where he was operated on. He tweeted late on Saturday night to fellow rugby league star Leon Pryce: "Ruptured my right testicle mate, got a knee 1 minute into the second half, had to have it removed tonight." He joked on Sunday: "Just coming out...

Recognizing that prior to "viability" a fetus experiences pain during an abortion, and that the Arizona statute does not prohibit abortions necessary for the health of pregnant women, the court rejected a challenge to the law.By Order released on July 30th, Federal District Judge James A. Teilborg declined to hold an Arizona statute limiting abortions during and following the twentieth week of pregnancy unconstitutional. State restrictions such as those imposed by Arizona, but after the beginning of the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy, had been said to be permissible in Roe v. Wade almost forty years ago. Although I consider the...

Do you love fishing as I do? Did you give it up because of fibromyalgia? Instead of giving up, start preparing before you go! I have been fishing again for the last three years. I have specific things to take with me, and if you make a list, it will be no problem getting back to the sport you love!