News 

Pfizer and Lilly are collaborating to provide grant support for continuing professional education in the area of pain. A call for grant applications is open and the due date is January 25. 

The new fellowship, The Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: Communicating Science & Improving Care, will train 10-12 clinicians and researchers who are passionate about improving pain care and who are dedicated to building communications skills and strategies aimed at reducing human suffering from acute and chronic pain.

New PROMIS measures are available at HealthMeasures.net in the following domains: Substance Use-Appeal, Substance Use-Severity, Prescription Pain Medication Misuse, Pediatric Pain Quality, and Single-Item Pain Intensity. PROMIS measures are self-reported measures of global, physical, mental and social health; have been psychometrically validated for use in diverse research and clinical settings; and are in the public domain. Some measures are available in CAT (Computer-Adaptive Test) versions as well as short forms, and have been translated into Spanish and other languages.

The House and Senate have recently passed tax reform bills that would significantly harm graduate students and universities, threatening scientific advancement.

With a lack of government response to the opioid crisis, some private industries have stepped in to address the gap. Insurers such as Aetna are working to reduce opioid use, addiction, and overdose deaths by their insured, and drug lobbying groups are pushing for new opioid guidelines.

APS Scientific Program Chair, Tonya Palermo, PhD, dives into details regarding the upcoming APS Scientific Summit, March 4-6 at the Disneyland® Hotel in Anaheim. 

Increased scrutiny of opioid prescribing for patients with chronic pain has led providers and healthcare organizations to consider opioid-dose reductions, known as tapering.

Are physicians too worried about over prescribing opioids? APS Board Member, Ed Michna MD JD BS Pharm, has some concern.

APS Board Member, Ed Michna MD, quoted by the Orlando Sentinel on the move by Florida Blue to stop covering OxyContin.

Congress is considering a deal to raise the budget caps for FY18 and FY19 for both defense and non-defense discretionary spending. Join Research!America and partners across the broad science community to urge Congress to pass a deal that raises the budget caps to help advance our nation's research priorities.

APS Future Leader Grant Recipient, Beth Darnall, PhD, earns $8.8 million award from PCORI.

Many patients use extracts of the plant kratom for pain relief and treatment of opioid withdrawal and dependence symptoms. However, the FDA has released a summary statement on the lack of evidence for kratom in pain relief and opioid treatment, and highlight some of the dangers of kratom use, including potential seizures and liver damage.

President Trump is expected to announce on 10/26/2017 that the opioid abuse and addiction epidemic is a public health emergency. This will free up federal money to address the issue, and ease laws to allow easier action against the crisis.

A new federal outline of future pain research strategies, areas of focus, and topics of greatest urgency has been released to the public.

Partners for Understanding Pain, a consortium of U.S. and international organizations led by the American Chronic Pain Association, has released the updated 2017 Tool Kit for Health Care Professionals, a collection of resources to promote education and action around issues in pain management.

Researchers found that the chemical hydrogen peroxide is sensed by the TRPA1 pain sensors in many species, and helps explain how TRPA1 senses cold, heat, and chemicals in different species. This points to a common evolutionary history of pain sensation in detecting hydrogen peroxide.

Almost half of older homeless adults are believed to suffer from longstanding chronic pain, mostly associated with post-traumatic stress syndrome, arthritis and physical abuse, according to research reported in The Journal of Pain.

Furthering its mission to support and advance pain science, APS today announced recipients of its annual Future Leaders in Pain Research grants program.

Nonpharmacologic Management of Acute Non-specific Low Back Pain: The Role of Thermal Therapies. The focus of this call is to encourage organizations to apply for educational grants to provide programming targeted to healthcare providers caring for patients with acute non-specific low back pain.

APS members, Alicia Heapy, PhD, Bob Kerns, PhD, and Steven George PT PhD, are recipients of this multi-component research project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.