One of the Most Rapidly Advancing Fields in Modern Neuroscience The success of molecular biology and the new tools derived from molecular genetics have revolutionized pain research and its translation to therapeutic effectiveness. Bringing together recent advances in modern neuroscience regarding genetic studies in mice and humans and the practical

Chronic pain costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity. The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enlist the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in examining pain as a public health problem. In this report, the IOM offers a blueprint for action in transforming prevention, care, education, and research, with the goal of providing relief for people with pain in America. To reach the vast multitude of people with various types of pain, the nation must adopt a population-level prevention and management strategy. The IOM recommends that HHS develop a comprehensive plan with specific goals, actions, and timeframes. Better data are needed to help shape efforts, especially on the groups of people currently underdiagnosed and undertreated, and the IOM encourages federal and state agencies and private organizations to accelerate the collection of data on pain incidence, prevalence, and treatments. Because pain varies from patient to patient, healthcare providers should increasingly aim at tailoring pain care to each person's experience, and self-management of pain should be promoted. In addition, because there are major gaps in knowledge about pain across health care and society alike, the IOM recommends that federal agencies and other stakeholders redesign education programs to bridge these gaps. Pain is a major driver for visits to physicians, a major reason for taking medications, a major cause of disability, and a key factor in quality of life and productivity. Given the burden of pain in human lives, dollars, and social consequences, relieving pain should be a national priority.

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

Principles of Translational Science in Medicine: From Bench to Bedside, Second Edition, provides an update on major achievements in the translation of research into medically relevant results and therapeutics. The book presents a thorough discussion of biomarkers, early human trials, and networking models, and includes institutional and industrial support systems. It also covers algorithms that have influenced all major areas of biomedical research in recent years, resulting in an increasing numbers of new chemical/biological entities (NCEs or NBEs) as shown in FDA statistics. The book is ideal for use as a guide for biomedical scientists to establish a systematic approach to translational medicine. - Provides an in-depth description of novel tools for the assessment of translatability of trials to balance risk and improve projects at any given stage of product development - New chapters deal with translational issues in the fastest growing population (the elderly), case studies, translatability assessment tools, and advances in nanotherapies - Details IPR issues of translation, especially for public-private-partnerships - Contains contributions from world leaders in translational medicine, including the former NIH director and authorities from various European regulatory institutions

The purpose of this book is to examine immune-to-brain communication from the viewpoint of its effect on pain processing, and to clarify the major role that substances released by immune cells play in pain modulation. In these chapters, contributed by major laboratories whose focus is understanding how cytokines modulate pain, the perspectives examined range from evolutionary approaches across diverse species, to the basics of the immune response, to the effect of cytokines on peripheral and central nervous system sites, to therapeutic potential in humans. -- book cover.

With the loss of work days, the price of health care and payments for compensation, litigation, and malpractice, and the overwhelming cost of human suffering, chronic pain syndromes affect humanity enormously on both an economic and personal level. In Animal Models of Pain, expert investigators in the field provide a consolidated review of the current state of pain research by capturing the diversity of animal models that are used to investigate pain mechanisms, which range from surgical incision to mechanical compression and from spinal cord injury to cutaneous/local inflammation and beyond. As a volume in the respected Neuromethods series, this book delivers its vital content through detailed descriptions of a wide variety of step-by-step laboratory methods. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Animal Models of Pain seeks to lead scientists closer to the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life and relieving the unbearable burden of chronic pain for millions of people throughout the world.

Spinal Cord Injury Pain presents the basis for preclinical and clinical investigations, along with strategies for new approaches in the treatment of central neuropathic pain. Contributors from the private sector and academia provide a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art research in this challenging space. Topics include Epidemiology of Chronic Pain Following SCI, experimental models and mechanisms of chronic pain in SCI, and new targets and technologies. This book serves as a resource for continued translational research that will result in novel approaches and treatments that improve function and quality of life for individuals with CNP/SCI. Despite a better understanding of the complexity of mechanisms of CNP/SCI, improved medical and surgical management of SCI, and the subsequent acceleration of the identification of new targets and the development of novel analgesics, there is still a great unmet clinical need in the area of CNP following SCI. Hence, this book is a welcomed addition to current research and developments. Provides a comprehensive resource for novel approaches and treatments that improve function and quality of life for individuals with CNP/SCI Includes contributors from the private sector and academia Covers epidemiology of chronic pain following SCI, experimental models, mechanisms of chronic pain in SCI, and new targets and technologies

This book offers a series of authoritative reviews on pain in psychiatric disorders written by leading experts. They discuss the complex interplay between pain and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and borderline personality disorder, as well as neurosteroids, epigenetic mechanisms and TRPV1, with a strong focus on neurobiological mechanisms and current and future therapeutic targets. Special attention is given to the importance of inflammation and the immune system as a common substrate in both pain and psychiatric disorders. The state-of-the-art reviews present both preclinical and clinical research, providing the reader with sound knowledge that provides a basis for further research and clinical practice. Pain in Psychiatric Disorders is of special interest to psychiatrists, neurologists, neuroscientists, pharmacologists and other healthcare professionals treating pain in psychiatric patients, as well as research students with an interest in this field.

In 2006 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, recognizing the need for a new impetus to encourage clinical and translational research. At the time it was very difficult to translate basic and clinical research into clinical and community practice; making it difficult for individual patients and communities to receive its benefits. Since its creation the CTSA Program has expanded, with 61 sites spread across the nation's academic health centers and other institutions, hoping to provide catalysts and test beds for policies and practices that can benefit clinical and translation research organizations throughout the country. The NIH contracted with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2012 to conduct a study to assess and provide recommendations on appropriateness of the CTSA Program's mission and strategic goals and whether changes were needed. The study was also address the implementation of the program by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) while exploring the CTSA's contributions in the acceleration of the development of new therapeutics. A 13-member committee was established to head this task; the committee had collective expertise in community outreach and engagement, public health and health policy, bioethics, education and training, pharmaceutical research and development, program evaluation, clinical and biomedical research, and child health research. The CTSA Program at NIH: Opportunities for Advancing Clinical and Translational Research is the result of investigations into previous program evaluations and assessments, open-session meetings and conference class, and the review of scientific literature. Overall, the committee believes that the CTSA Program is significant to the advancement of clinical and translational research through its contributions. The Program would benefit from a variety of revisions, however, to make it more efficient and effective.

Did you ever wonder whether doctors want cures, or just treatments?Did you know ... This book reviews recent key, hard-won successes and findings from recent biomedical research. Written by one of the most ardent defenders of the public trust in science, it provides an accessible, detailed look at successes in translational biomedical and clinical research. The author provides an optimistic, forward-looking view for the possibility of change for the public good, cutting through the controversy and gets to very core of each topic. The public can be optimistic about the future of medicine, but only if they learn the facts of these advances, and learn what their doctors should be expected to know.Highly referenced, and filled with interviews from experts and people directly involved in the research behind the new facts in each chapter, this book is a rich source of information on advances in biomedicine that you will want to share with your family & friends.