The placenta as a target of opioid drugs

Opioid drugs are analgesics increasingly being prescribed to control pain associated with a wide range of causes. Usage of pregnant women has dramatically increased in the past decades. Neonates born to these women are at risk for neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS, also referred termed neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, NOWS). Negative birth outcomes linked with maternal opioid use disorder include compromised fetal growth, premature birth, reduced birthweight, and congenital defects. Such infants require lengthier hospital stays necessitating rising health care costs, and they are at greater risk for neurobehavioral and other diseases. Thus, it is essential to understand the genesis of such disorders. As the primary communication organ between mother and conceptus, the placenta itself is susceptible to opioid effects but may be key to understanding how these drugs affect long-term offspring health and how poor health outcomes may be ameliorated in utero. In this review, we will consider the evidence that placental responses are regulated through an endogenous opioid system. However, maternal consumption of opioid drugs can also bind and act through opioid receptors express by trophoblast (TB) cells of the placenta. Thus, we will also discuss the current human and rodent studies that have examined the effects of opioids on the placenta. These drugs might affect placental hormones associated with maternal recognition of pregnancy, including placental lactogens and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in rodents and humans, respectively. A further understanding of how such drugs affect the placenta may open up new avenues for early diagnosis and remediation approaches.

A Comparative Study on the Effects of Ketofol, Dexmedetomidine, and Isofol in Anesthesia of Candidates for Dilatation and Curettage

Background: Dilatation and curettage (D & C) is one of the relatively common surgeries among women. Familiarity with the analgesics, along with their different uses and specific characteristics, can help to determine the best and most appropriate drug to control pain in the patients. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effects of ketofol, dexmedetomidine, and isofol in anesthesia of candidates for D & C. Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial, 150 candidates for D & C surgeries with ASA class 1 and 2 were included. Patients were randomly divided into three groups. The first group received ketamine + propofol, the second group received dexmedetomidine, and the third group received isofol (isoflurane + propofol). Any hemodynamic changes or respiratory disorders, including apnea or hypoventilation, drop in the level of blood oxygen saturation, and the need for respiratory support, were recorded and compared. Results: Hypoventilation was observed in 47 patients in isofol group, 18 in the dexmedetomidine group, and 42 in ketofol group. Also, 48 patients in the isofol group, eight in the dexmedetomidine group, and 33 in the ketofol group experienced apnea. Moreover, 17 patients in the dexmedetomidine group, 35 in the ketofol group, and eight in the isofol group experienced bradycardia. The rate of bradycardia was significantly higher in the dexmedetomidine group (70%) compared to the other two groups, and the rate of hypotension was significantly higher in the isofol group (P = 0.001). Conclusions: According to the results, dexmedetomidine was associated with fewer complications during general anesthesia in D & C surgery.

Reducing Pain Through Affective Computing

For a long time, the primary approach to control pain in patients involved the use of specially designed drugs. While these drugs have proved to be sufficient to reduce the perception of pain in patients of all ages, they do not come without any potential side effects. The prolonged use of such drugs can have adverse effects on the health of a patient. This research proposes a shift away from such practices and proposes the use of technology as an adjunct tool to help patients cope with pain. Through the adoption of affective computing, this research presents Morpheus results obtained at the time of writing confirm that the approach presented by this research is indeed useful and can achieve results that are in line with the set out as part of this study. The authors firmly believe that the approach presented in this research can lay the foundations for the research and development of similar applications in pain reduction scenarios.

Clinical pharmacology of morphine in infants and children

Morphine is used to treat pain, for treatment of opioid dependence, and neonatal abstinence syndrome. Morphine is modestly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract whereas after rectal administration, by intranasal or buccal application morphine is well absorbed. Morphine is eliminated by glomerular filtration and by conjugation with glucuronic acid; morphine-3-glucurinide and morphine-6-glucurinide are the main metabolites and the last has analgesic effect. In infants, morphine is used to treat severe or sustained pain, sedation, and pain relief. In children, morphine is used to control pain and morphine may be administered by subcutaneous or intravenous injection, orally, by rectum, or by continuous subcutaneous infusion and morphine dose varies according to the child age. Morphine has been found efficacy and safe in infants and children but may induce adverse-effects. The effects caused by morphine and the treatment with morphine have been studied in infants and children. In newborns, morphine elimination half-life ranges from 7.7 to 13.5 hours and decreases with infant maturation. In newborns, infants and children, the total body clearance of morphine ranges from 14.5 to 71.1 L/h/70kg and increases with infant maturation and child development. Morphine is transported in the human brain, poorly crosses the human placenta and accumulates in breast-milk. The aim of this study is to review the published data on morphine dosing, efficacy and safety, effects, adverse-effects, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, drug interaction, treatment, transport into human brain of infants and children and morphine transfer across the human placenta and migration into the breast-milk.

Comparison of Intraperitoneal Bupivacaine and Intravenous Ketorolac for Postoperative Pain Management Following Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Background: Postoperative pain following laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) arises from incision sites and residual intraperitoneal CO2 gas. Opioids as a class of pain-relieving drugs are broadly used to control pain after LC; however, these drugs can cause various side effects. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of intraperitoneal injection of bupivacaine with that of intravenous ketorolac in managing postoperative pain in patients who had undergone LC. Methods: This randomized, double-blind clinical trial was carried out on patients who had undergone LC. Ninety patients who had undergone elective LC were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 30 for each group). Group A received 40 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine solution intraperitoneally at the end of the operation; group B received 30 mg of ketorolac intravenously 30 minutes before surgery and every 8 hours after surgery, and patients in group C received normal saline intraperitoneally and intravenous injection. The patients were postoperatively assessed for Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, postoperative opioid consumption, shoulder pain, side effects (sedation, nausea, and vomiting), and satisfaction. The data were analyzed using SPSS. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The intraperitoneal injection of bupivacaine and intravenous injection of ketorolac were significantly effective in reducing postoperative abdominal pain, shoulder pain, and incidence of nausea and vomiting compared to the placebo group (P < 0.001). Although intraperitoneal bupivacaine and intravenous ketorolac had no significant difference in pain relief compared with each other, patients in both bupivacaine and ketorolac groups were significantly more satisfied with their analgesia compared to the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Intraperitoneal injection of bupivacaine and intravenous injection of ketorolac both are safe and effective methods to control pain, nausea, and vomiting after LC.

Psychotherapy for comorbid depression and somatic disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background The treatment of depression in patients with somatic disorders is crucial, given its negative impact on quality of life (QoL), functioning, and even on the somatic disease prognosis. We aimed to examine the most updated evidence on the effects of psychotherapy in patients with depression and somatic disorders, including HIV, oncological, cardiometabolic, and neurological disorders. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis of 75 randomized trials (8209 participants) of psychotherapy for adults with somatic disorders and a diagnosis or elevated symptoms of depression. Outcomes included depression, QoL, somatic health-related outcomes, and mortality. Results Psychotherapy significantly reduced the severity of depression at post-treatment across all categories of somatic disorders (Hedges'g = 0.65; 95% CI 0.52–0.79), with sustained effects at 6–11 months (g = 0.38; 95% CI 0.22–0.53) and at 12 months follow-up or longer (g = 0.13; 95% CI 0.04–0.21). Psychotherapy also showed significant effects on QoL (g = 0.26; 95% CI 0.17–0.35), maintained up to 11 months follow-up (g = 0.25; 95% CI 0.16–0.34). No significant effects were observed on the most frequently reported somatic health-related outcomes (glycemic control, pain), and neither on mortality. Heterogeneity in most analyses was very high, and only 29 (38%) trials were rated at low risk of bias (RoB). Conclusions Psychotherapy may be an effective treatment option for patients with depression and somatic disorders, with long-term effects on depression severity and QoL. However, these results should be interpreted with caution due to heterogeneity and RoB.

Music Intervention to Orthopedic Patients: A Possible Alternative Solution to Control Pain

Aims and Objective. Pain is a common problem associated with postoperative orthopedic patients; the current study is aimed at evaluating music intervention as an alternative method to control pain. Methodology. The experimental design of the current study was comparative, descriptive, and quasi-experimental. 38 postoperative orthopedic patients were equipped with pocket-size MP3 players with prerecorded music tracks (instrumental and lyrical) in Hindi, English, and Urdu. After that, pre-post-pain scores were recorded with the help of designed brief patient logs. Ultimately, a satisfactory survey was completed at discharge. Major Findings. It was found that during the intervention of music, the pain was significantly reduced from 5.40 to 2.98. There was a slight relationship between listening time and pain relief. It was also found that the feedback was extremely positive and each patient suggested the use of music to others with 96.6% recommendation. Conclusion. From the current study, it was found that music intervention can be beneficial to postoperative patient pain control. Further, it is hoped that the findings of the current experimental work will lead to improvements in the care of postoperative patients.

Psychological Factors Affecting Pain Response in Critically Ill Patients

Pain is a traumatic experience and discomfort for all patients, especially criticallyill patients; if not treated properly, it can have harmful effects. Critical illnessesare usually painful, both because of the underlying source of the disease and thenecessary procedures performed to monitor and care for these patients. Paininduces anxiety, sleep deprivation, disorientation, agitation, delirium, and oftenbecome chronic depression. Psychological factors (sleep deprivation, anxiety, anddelirium) can also increase the perception of pain. Pain assessment is requiredfor proper pain management. Opioids are commonly used in pain management,but acetaminophen, dexmedetomidine, and gabapentin have more advantages.The recent trend is multimodal analgesia, which uses a combination of analgesicdrugs with different mechanisms of action. Another trend is the increasing useof pain relievers, which can control pain and relieve anxiety.