Advocacy

APS to Develop New Pain Grant Programs with Donor Funding Through Pain Research Fund

At the 2014 Annual Scientific Meeting, APS announced the launch of the Pain Research Fund, urging private donors to step forward to help fill the pain research grant allocation void caused by federal government cuts.

The APS Pain Research Fund enables private donors to support APS in developing new pain research grant programs. Money donated to the fund will be directed to research projects selected by APS, and donors of large amounts would have the option to specify the type of research they want to support.

“Breakthroughs in pain medicine depend on scientific research to discover new treatment options, but reduced government funding threatens to restrict pain research achievements in the future,” said APS Immediate Past President Roger B. Fillingim, PhD. “The American Pain Society has had success with three major private grant programs that have generated excellent science, and we believe the time is right to make a wide appeal for private donations to increase pain research funding.”

To find out more about the Pain Research Fund or how to donate, visit the Pain Research Fund website.

Funding Announcements

Clinical Evaluation of Adjuncts to Opioid Therapies for the Treatment of Chronic Pain (R01)

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) aims to fund applications designed to assess the clinical value of adjuncts prescribed to chronic pain patients together with opioid analgesics. Adjuncts of interest are either approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or have previously been studied as an investigational new drug. Studies with adjuncts of interest should be focused on enhancing analgesia rather than on reducing an adverse effect. A secondary purpose is to increase awareness among opioid prescribers of the potential value of adjunctive therapies by focused data dissemination.

It is hoped that by increasing availability of data describing the use of opioid adjuncts, their use will increase and levels of opioids needed for analgesia will diminish. Reductions in the dosage of opioids prescribed would improve the quality of life of chronic pain patients by reducing opioid-associated adverse effects and lowering the risk of addiction development.

Studies should examine clinical populations and address whether a proposed adjunct can reduce the dose of opioid required for analgesia compared with opioid monotherapy. Applications will be evaluated on the feasibility, scientific rigor, and likely value of the proposed outcomes of randomized control trials (RCTs) to study opioid-adjunct combinations. In addition, the investigators should describe their plan to disseminate the study results. This plan will be evaluated with a view to how effectively the study results will be communicated to the types of healthcare providers who typically prescribe opioids to the chronic pain population under examination.

The purpose of this FOA is to examine adjunctive therapies to reduce the need for opioids in chronic pain patients. Therefore, in the patient group under investigation the pain syndrome should chronologically precede opioid exposure and the opioids should be prescribed as a treatment for the pain.

In the population proposed to be studied, the subjects should be etiologically homogenous and symptomatically well defined. Examples of such chronic pain populations in which opioids often are prescribed include patients with radicular cervical pain, metastatic bone pain, or peripheral neuropathies.

Studies should use an RCT design to examine opioid and adjunct formulations that are either typically used in the outpatient chronic pain population under study or are feasible for daily use in that population. For example, a formulation that requires once a day oral dosing is likely to be of much higher programmatic interest than a formulation requiring multiple daily dosing or intrathecal administration. Adjuncts to be examined should preferably be FDA approved, examples of which would include pregabalin, duloxetine, or dronabinol. However, agents that currently are being (or previously have been) studied as investigational new drugs (for example, Sativex/Nabiximols) also will be considered.

Submissions were accepted beginning September 5 and letters of intent are due 30 days before applications are due. For more information about this funding opportunity, visit the NIH grants page.

Development of Opioid and Adjuvant Fixed Combination Dosage Forms for the Treatment of Chronic Pain with Reduced Addiction Potential (R41/R42)

This funding opportunity announcement seeks small business organizations to develop opioid and adjuvant drug combinations within a single dosage form for treatment of a pain condition. The drug combination should provide improved analgesia when compared with the same dose (morphine equivalents) of opioid monotherapy. Such dosage forms should minimize opioid exposure while optimizing analgesia to reduce risk of addiction and limit severity of other opiate adverse effects.

When designing this new product, investigators should consider FDA guidance (21 CFR 300.50) and address the following issues. Both of the agents contained in the proposed new product should currently have at least one existing FDA-approved indication, as well as some existing clinical evidence to support the use of the chosen adjuvant-opioid combination and a reasonable expectation that the combination will present minimal drug-drug interaction concerns. The application should emphasize available evidence that the chosen drugs and doses in the combination will allow a substantial patient population to gain sufficient analgesic value from the contained opioid dose while the adjuvant dose remains within a safe and effective "therapeutic window." One example of a potentially viable adjuvant is gabapentin, a drug known to reduce neuropathic pain and to which patients typically exhibit no more than mild adverse effects. Gabapentin typically does not induce substantial drug interactions because it is eliminated as parent drug by renal excretion and does not bind extensively to blood proteins.

The adjuvant should be chosen for a capacity to increase overall analgesia, rather than an ability to reduce opioid adverse effects. For example, inclusion of a poorly absorbed opioid receptor antagonist, with the intent of reducing constipation, would not be considered of high programmatic interest.

The combination dosage form proposed by the application should provide sustained relief when it is the only analgesic used and is administered no more than three times in a 24-hour period. The formulation should be such that a patient with reasonable mobility is able to self-administer the drug (e.g., oral dosage form).

The application should propose late-stage drug development–oriented studies that significantly drive the project toward an ultimate aim of a New Drug Application [505(b)(1 or 2)] or Abbreviated New Drug Application [505(j)] for the treatment of a long-term pain condition.

Studies planned for Phase 1 of the project should focus on issues that concern the feasibility of the project. The exact nature of such studies will differ depending on the proposed drug combination project.

Studies that might be appropriate for Phase 1 STTR applications include, but are not limited to

• development of a formulation that safely delivers the desired amount of both agents over an appropriate dosing interval
  
• preclinical studies demonstrating additive or synergistic analgesia with the opioid-adjuvant combination
  
• studies to provide data for an Investigational New Drug (IND) submission, such as short-term stability studies
  
• pre-IND consultations with an FDA project management group and development of the IND documentation.

Examples of projects appropriate for Phase 2 of an STTR award might include

• pharmacokinetic absorption and disposition studies to demonstrate the bioequivalence between approved dosage forms and the proposed product
  
• proof of concept clinical studies. Appropriate outcome measures might aim to detect and distinguish value added by an opioid adjunctive therapy, whether due to improved analgesia or reduced required opioid dosage.

Submissions were accepted beginning March 5 and letters of intent are due 30 days before applications are due. For more information about this funding opportunity, visit the NIH grants page.

Neurobiology of Migraine (R01)

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is issued by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pain Consortium. It solicits R01 grant applications from institutions and organizations to perform innovative research that will elucidate the mechanisms underlying migraine; expand our current knowledge of the role of genetic, physiological, biopsychosocial, and environmental influences in migraine susceptibility and progression; and explore new therapeutic targets and therapies for acute migraine management and longer term prevention.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is interested in research that would elucidate the mechanisms by which a given complementary or integrative health approach beneficially affects migraine, either as an acute intervention or prophylactically. For this FOA, complementary or integrative health approaches could include those within the “mind and body” domain but not in the “natural products” domain and would include, but are not limited to, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, qi-gong, acupuncture, massage, and spinal manipulation. The primary outcomes for these studies should be focused directly on the mechanism(s), though it may be appropriate to have secondary outcomes that assess clinical outcomes. There should be sufficient prior data to indicate either efficacy or effectiveness of the proposed complementary or integrative health approach.

The National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is interested in the neurobiological mechanisms underlying migraine headache as they pertain to overlaps with pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic temporomandibular and other orofacial pain disorders. Research examining common genetic, environmental, neurobiological, and biobehavioral factors underlying the co-occurrence of these disorders is encouraged. NIDCR is interested in funding meritorious research that focuses on studies addressing the comorbidity of temporomandibular and other orofacial disorders and migraine headache.

NIDCR is interested in the development of diagnostic, interventional, and novel therapeutic tools for headache pain associated with a variety of communication disorders such as tinnitus, Meniere’s disease, odynophagia, and burning mouth syndrome. Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the program director or principal investigator (PD or PI) is invited to work with his or her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities always are encouraged to apply for NIH support.

Submissions will be accepted beginning May 5. For more information about this funding opportunity, visit the NIH grants page.

Education

Submit Your Proposal for a Symposium Presentation in Palm Springs

APS will hold its 34th Annual Scientific Meeting May 13–16, 2015, in Palm Springs, CA. The APS Scientific Program Committee invites the submission of proposals for symposia for presentation during this meeting.

The Scientific Program Committee requests that all proposals reflect APS’s multidisciplinary approach to pain; therefore, proposals should include speakers representing varied areas of pain science, translational research, and treatment. For example, translational proposals that include both basic science and clinical treatment are encouraged.

The committee also will be looking for proposals that include perspectives from several disciplines (e.g., basic scientists, dentists, nurses, physical therapists, psychologists, etc.). The maximum number of participants per proposal is one moderator and three additional speakers; proposals can include fewer than three speakers. Proposal submitters should be creative in terms of designing their sessions to offer attendees an opportunity to interact with the faculty (e.g., facilitate lively discussions; include sufficient time for question and answer sessions; make use of case-based learning, debates, etc.) and to provide attendees with clear ideas for how they can use the information learned in the session in their day-to-day research or clinical settings. Submitters are required to describe methods for achieving these outcomes within the body of the abstract; submitters also can use the “Comments to Organizers” section of the submission system to highlight unique ways in which faculty will involve participants during the session.

Visit the Call for Symposia page on the APS website to submit your proposal before the July 14 deadline.

Last Call for Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship Applications

The Mayday Fund is dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree, and consequences of human physical pain. As a result, the Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship: A Media and Policy Initiative program provides new leaders in the field of pain with tools that will empower them to reach the broader public.

The fellowship program trains physicians; nurses; pharmacists; social workers; basic, translational, and clinical scientists; policy experts; and legal scholars in the pain management community to become leaders and advocates in the field of pain. The Fellowship Advisory Committee is seeking applicants who are passionate about becoming active, lifelong advocates in the field and who want to improve the lives of people in pain.

Many APS members and leaders have been a part of this unique training opportunity. However, the 2014–2015 fellowship marks the final year of the Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship, so this is your last chance to take part in this opportunity and become an advocate.

Interested individuals should submit an application by Tuesday, July 1.

33rd ASM Evaluation and CE Credit

If you attended the APS meeting in Tampa, FL, and wish to claim physician, nursing, pharmacy, or psychology credit, please complete the online meeting evaluation. Certificates of continuing education credit will be issued upon completion of the evaluation form.

Please visit the APS website to access the meeting evaluation. You will need to enter your username (found on the second ticket of your name badge from the meeting) and password. If you are not a member of APS, did not register online for the annual scientific meeting, or otherwise have not established a username and password, you will need to do so to access your evaluation form. Please contact APS Member Services by phone at 847.375.4715 or e-mail at info@americanpainsociety.org to activate your online profile.

APS encourages all meeting attendees to complete the evaluation, regardless of whether credit is being sought.

Pain Care in Primary Care: A Conference for Primary Care Providers

In collaboration with the Journal of Family Practice, APS will host an educational conference, Pain Care in Primary Care (PCPC), in Orlando, FL, July 17–19.

The conference is intended to help primary care providers improve their understanding of pain and pain management and improve care for their patients with acute and chronic pain. Nationally known experts in pain care and pain research will speak at PCPC.

Session highlights include

• "Regulations and Safe Practices in Prescribing Controlled Substances"
• "Headache and Back Pain"
• "Special Populations: Seniors, Women, Patients with Addiction History"
• "Neuropathy and Fibromyalgia"
• "Pharmacological Approaches to Treating Pain"
• "Clinical Practice Guidelines."

This conference will provide you with an opportunity to enhance your clinical care and acquire additional skills in treating patients with pain and pain-related symptoms. The 3-day conference will offer 17 continuing education credit/contact hours for physicians, nurses, and physical assistants.

Members

Together, We Can Strengthen Our Voice and Resources

As members of APS, you are part of a vibrant and diverse community of more than 2,200 multidisciplinary pain professionals who seek to increase the knowledge of pain and transform public policy and clinical practice to reduce pain-related suffering. Imagine if this vibrant community could double.

This is not beyond imagination. Doubling membership can be possible if you (and your fellow APS members) recruit just one colleague to join.

As our membership grows, so does our ability to add value for the members and pain community we serve. A stronger voice also means more influence to advocate for pain research funding and increased access to evidence-based, interdisciplinary pain care. You understand the value that APS delivers to you professionally and to the pain community and are in the perfect position to talk to others about the value of membership. APS is asking for your help.

Join us in our effort to grow APS membership:

• Invite one of your colleagues to join!
• Share the benefits of APS with your colleagues using our Online Recruitment Toolkit. Here you will find valuable information to share with your colleagues, such as discipline-specific flyers on the benefits of APS.
• Refer a colleague who is not yet an APS member to us by e-mailing his or her information to Jacky Liston at jliston@americanpainsociety.org.

For information about APS’s member benefits, visit www.americanpainsociety.org/join. There, an individual can join online or download a printable application.

Thank you for your continued membership in APS and commitment to our vision of a world where pain prevention and relief are available to all people.

Summaries

The Journal of Pain Highlights

The following highlights summarize selected articles from The Journal of Pain (Volume 15, Number 6, June 2014 Issue).

The Roles of Sex/Gender in the Experience of Pain: Resilience, Fear, and Acceptance as Central Variables in the Adjustment of Men and Women with Chronic Pain
Carmen Ramirez-Maestre and Rosa Esteve, Universidad de Malaga, Spain

A study published in The Journal of Pain reveals that women with chronic spinal pain reported significantly higher levels of pain anxiety and pain intensity than men but also showed surprisingly showed higher levels of daily functioning, despite the pain.

A Spanish research team studied a consecutive sample of 415 patients who had experienced chronic spinal pain for at least 3 months. The aim of the study was to analyze differences between men and women in experiencing chronic pain and assess the role of fear avoidance and pain acceptance in predicting ability to adjust to chronic pain.

Participants were interviewed with questionnaires probing several demographic and pain-related variables. The Vanderbilt Pain Management Inventory was used to assess coping strategies, and the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale measured anxiety and fear responses related to chronic pain.

Results showed that women in the study reported significantly higher levels of pain anxiety and pain intensity, which is consistent with previous studies showing that women tend to be more sensitive than men to threat-related stimuli and subsequent increased pain perception. Perception of greater pain intensity has been considered evidence of maladjustment to chronic pain. However, despite lower levels of pain intensity experienced by men in the study sample, the authors noted that the women adapted better to pain due to their higher levels of daily functioning.

Exercise-Induced Modulation of Pain in Adults with and Without Painful Diabetic Neuropathy
Matthew T. Knauf and Kelli F. Koltyn, University of Wisconon-Madison

For people with diabetes, regular exercise can help reduce complications from the disease, such as painful neuropathy. A study reported in The Journal of Pain showed that pain response ratings in some adults with diabetes decreased significantly following exercise, indicating that exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) occurred in the sample as the result of exercise.

The purpose of the study was to examine exercise-induced pain modulation in adults with diabetes who had painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) compared to those who did not have neuropathy. During workout sessions, experimental pain testing was completed before and after 3 minutes of isometric exercise.

Results of the study showed that adults with diabetes and no painful neuropathy had lower pain ratings than the group with neuropathy. The authors noted the results are consistent with previous studies showing that healthy adults experience exercise-induced hypoalgesia following exercise. However, those with painful diabetic neuropathy did not experience decreased experimental pain ratings with exercise, suggesting indicating that EIH only occurs with musculoskeletal pain.

PAIN Highlights

The following highlights summarize selected articles from PAIN (Volume 155, Number 6, June 2014 Issue).

Role of Nucleus Accumbens in Neuropathic Pain: Linked Multi-Scale Evidence in the Rat Transitioning to Neuropathic Pain
Pei-Ching Chang, Sarah Lynn Pollema-Mays, Maria Virginia Centeno, Daniel Procissi, Massimo Contini, Alex Tomas Baria, Marco Martina, Apkar Vania Apkarian; Department of Physiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL; Department of Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL; Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica, sez. Fisiologia, Università di Firenze, I-50134, Firenze, Italy

Recent evidence implicates the nucleus accumbens (NAc) as causally involved in the transition to chronic pain in humans, yet underlying mechanisms of this involvement remain unknown. In this article, investigators elucidate mechanisms of NAc reorganizational properties in an animal model of neuropathic pain (spared nerve injury).

Considering that the critical role of NAc in human pain chronification already was identified in a combined longitudinal and cross-sectional study, these investigators adopted a similar approach in rats and tracked NAc functional connectivity and receptor properties as animals transitioned from healthy to neuropathic pain behavior. They also examined the effects of reversibly interrupting NAc activity on modulation of neuropathic behavior.

Investigators observed a decreased synchronization of resting functional magnetic resonance imaging activity between ventral and dorsal striatum, and this desynchronization was associated with DR2 expression in the NAc. These parallels suggest that brain learning circuitry perpetuate or aid in the persistence of pain perception by rendering the perception more habitual—a hypothesis derived from current theories of addiction as a shift of cued behavior into a habitual state. As such, chronic pain seems to highjack brain learning circuitry in a manner similar to addictive behavior. Questions remain as to whether predisposition to chronic pain is part of a generalized predisposition to addictive behavior or whether it is a specific addictive trait for aversive conditions.

Genome-Wide Analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Copy Number Variants in Fibromyalgia Suggest a Role for the Central Nervous System
Elisa Docampo, Georgia Escaramís, Mònica Gratacòs, Sergi Villatoro, Anna Puig, Manolis Kogevinas, Antonio Collado, Jordi Carbonell, Javier Rivera, Javier Vidal, Jose Alegre, Xavier Estivill, Raquel Rabionet; Genomics and Disease Group, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece; Fibromyalgia Unit, Rheumatology Service, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; FSGCDB Group, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Spanish Genetic and Clinical Data Bank, Foundation FF, Spain; Fibromyalgia Unit, Rheumatology Service, Parc de Salut Mar, and Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Rheumatology Unit, Instituto Provincial de Rehabilitación, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Rheumatology Unit, Hospital General de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Spain; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Unit, Hospital Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a highly disabling syndrome defined by a low pain threshold and a permanent state of pain. The mechanisms explaining this complex disorder remain unclear and its genetic factors have not yet been identified. With the aim of elucidating FM genetic susceptibility factors, investigators selected 313 FM cases involving few comorbidities and genotyped them on the Illumina 1 million duo array. Genotypic data from 220 control women were obtained for genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis.

Investigators addressed their objective through two main approaches: GWAS and the evaluation of copy number variants (CNVs) using genotyping data and array-comparative genomic hybridization experiments. These analyses were performed on a large and very well-characterized cohort of patients with FM.

Findings identified two associated variants, a single nucleotide polymorphism in MYT1L and an intronic CNV in NRXN3. Both results suggest a possible role for the central nervous system (CNS) in FM genetic susceptibility.

Despite the difficulties encountered in the study of genetic factors of FM (e.g., clinical heterogeneity, reduced availability of replication cohorts, and nonavailability of target tissue), investigators have detected variants that can shed light on genetic factors determining FM susceptibility. To their knowledge, only neurotransmitter-related genes (including receptors, transporters, and enzymes implicated in neurotransmitters metabolism) had been tested as FM susceptibility candidates. The possible role of synaptic structural molecules such as NRXN3 and molecules implicated in CNS development and functioning such as MYTL1 open a new, wider field of research on etiology and drug targets.

Pain Medicine Highlights

The following highlights summarize selected articles from Pain Medicine (Volume 15, Number 5, May 2014 Issue).

Thermal Quantitative Sensory Testing to Predict Postoperative Pain Outcomes Following Gynecologic Surgery
Shireen Ahmad, Gildasio S. De Oliveira Jr., Jane M. Bialek, Robert J. McCarthy; Department of Anesthesiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL

The use of pain psychophysics to risk stratify pain outcomes of surgical patients has been attempted by previous investigators with variable results. This prospective cohort study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship of preoperative thermal quantitative sensory testing (QST) values with postoperative opiate consumption and pain in 124 opioid-naïve patients following abdominal hysterectomy or myomectomy surgery. Investigators hypothesized that 24-hour cumulative opioid consumption would be different in subjects with QST threshold values above and below the median values for the entire group.

Pain outcomes were assessed on arrival to the postanesthesia care unit. Findings demonstrated a significant association between preoperative thermal QST and postoperative opioid consumption. In this study, the median cold pain threshold was 10 °C, and the median heat pain threshold was 45 °C. Increased 24-hour morphine consumption was seen when the hot pain threshold was below 45 °C and the cold pain threshold was above 10 °C. These findings suggest that evaluating the response to both cold and heat pain thresholds may be a better predictor of analgesic use than the use of either stimulus alone.

This study demonstrates that preoperative QST thermal threshold in subjects without pre-existing pain prior to surgery is a predictor of postoperative analgesic requirements and may help to identify patients with higher opioid requirements. Thermal QST is a simple, non-noxious test, and the information gleaned from the testing might be useful for stratification of subjects based on their relative opioid requirements to optimize postoperative pain management.

Persistent Pain and Comorbidity Among Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn Veterans
Diana M. Higgins, Robert D. Kerns, Cynthia A. Brandt, Sally G. Haskell, Harini Bathulapalli, Wesley Gilliam, Joseph L. Goulet; Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA; School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston; Psychiatry, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT; School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Psychology, VA New Mexico Healthcare System, Albuquerque, NM

Chronic pain is a significant concern for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), with chronic pain among the conditions most frequently reported by Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation New Dawn (OND) veterans. The current study examined VHA electronic medical record data to examine variation in demographics and high-prevalence and high-impact medical and mental health conditions to characterize the differences between patients with persistent pain and those with no pain.

An array of variables and a number of medical and mental health diagnoses reliably discriminated the two study groups even after controlling for all other variables. Results suggest that Blacks, relative to Whites, are about twice as likely to have persistent pain, a finding that is consistent with a growing body of preclinical and clinical research. The importance of this observation is highlighted by recent observations that minority veterans are less likely to be screened for pain in VHA clinical settings, suggesting that they may be subject to disparities in pain treatment. This finding deserves particular attention and should be a high priority for further research and system improvements. Results also revealed that veterans with a high-school education or less education were more likely to have persistent pain.

Age was not found to independently discriminate OEF/OIF/OND veterans with persistent pain from those with no evidence of pain. Female veterans are more likely to report persistent pain than male veterans. Considering that the increased prevalence of pain among female veterans often is associated, at least in part, with military sexual trauma (MST), it is possible that MST accounts for the increased prevalence of persistent pain in this study. In addition to demographic variables, diagnoses of anxiety, mood, or substance abuse disorders or posttraumatic stress disorder were uniquely associated with persistent pain in this sample.

Results also suggested that a body mass index consistent with being overweight or obese is a predictor of persistent pain. Using similar stringent criteria to define and distinguish between no pain and persistent pain groups, future studies may be able to prospectively define and identify an acute pain sample and follow the subjects longitudinally to determine predictors of transition to chronic pain such as incident pain.

Research

APS Announces Its 2014 Future Leaders in Pain Research Grants Program Is Now Open!

The call for applications for the 2014 Future Leaders in Pain Research Grants program is now open. This year, APS will again award at least two grants of up to $20,000 each to the applicants who submit pain research proposals demonstrating the greatest merit and potential for success.

The Future Leaders in Pain Research Grant program was established in 2005 to fund pain research projects of doctoral-prepared investigators who have not yet attained National Institutes of Health RO1-level funding. The purpose of this grant is to encourage research in pain that will add to the existing body of knowledge, and to allow investigators to develop pilot data that will aid them in securing additional major grant funding for continued pain research.

Application submission will close at midnight EST, Friday, July 11.

For more information regarding deadlines, eligibility, topics, and more, please visit the Future Leaders in Pain Research Grants page on the APS website.

Call for APS Award Nominations Now Open

Every year, APS rewards excellence in the field of pain management and research by presenting awards for career achievement, pain scholarship, education and public service, advocacy on behalf of children, outstanding service to APS, and early career achievements at its annual scientific meeting.

Applications for the 2014 APS annual achievement awards are now open. Award winners will be announced in September 2014, and will be honored at the President’s Recognition Reception at the 34th Annual Scientific Meeting May 13–16 in Palm Springs, CA.

To make one or more award nominations, please visit the APS website and complete the electronic nomination form. Please be sure to include all of the requested information. All nominations should be completed online by Friday, July 25. Contact Amanda Pairitz at the APS office with any questions.

APS Continues to Establish a Presence at PAINWeek

For the third year in a row, several APS members will attend PAINWeek and share their expertise. Held in Las Vegas each September and attended by approximately 2,000 attendees, PAINWeek is the largest U.S. pain conference for the primary care clinician.

APS will host an exhibit to inform this audience of our work and foundational principles of science-grounded, evidence-based, interdisciplinary pain care. Those staffing the exhibit will distribute information about APS, issues of The Journal of Pain, annual scientific meeting announcements, clinical practice guideline references, and membership information.

Under the direction of APS Immediate Past President Roger B. Fillingim, PhD, another APS track will be held this year on Friday, September 5. This track was attended by more than 400 PAINWeek attendees last year. The 2014 track is titled “Pain in Women” and includes the following sessions and speakers:

• "Pain in Women: Clinical Evidence and Biopsychosocial Mechanisms," by Roger Fillingim, PhD
• "Vulvodynia: Clinical Profiles and Their Implications for Treatment," by Georgine Lamvu, MD MPH
• "Chronic Pelvic Pain: Biopsychosocial Factors," by Beth Darnall, PhD
• "Chronic Pain After Breast Cancer Treatment," by Robert Edwards, PhD

Charles Argoff, MD, and Brett B. Snodgrass, MSN APRN FNP-C, will take learners through the Opioid Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) course on Thursday, September 4, from 1:30–4:40 pm. This course, "REMS for ER/LA Opioids: Achieving Safe Use While Improving Patient Care," is a 3-hour session aimed at completing the entire Food and Drug Administration Opioid REMS blueprint and will target PAINWeek attendees and Las Vegas–area primary care prescribers.

Algorithm Predicts Likelihood of Academic PI Career

Take a look around. Do you ever wonder if the aspiring early-career scientist in your life will someday lead his or her own academic lab? Now there’s a way to predict the future without waiting for the inevitable passage of time to unveil the answers.

Lucas Carey and his team at Spain’s Pompeu Fabra University have developed an online tool, PIPredictor, which uses a machine-learning approach to analyze PubMed data to generate career-success estimates. The team contends that the likelihood of becoming a research professor is highly predictable. Although publications in high-profile journals contribute heavily to career success, journal prestige is only one factor. Additional success predictors include an author’s total number of publications, the impact of these publications, and number of citations per publication.

Gender continues to play a role in future success, as well. The researchers found that—given the same publication record and all else being equal—male authors are more likely to become PIs than their female colleagues.

Learn more about the tool and Carey and his colleague’s findings in “Can Publications Records Predict Future PIs?” published in The Scientist.

Society

SIG Updates

Welcome to our new shared interest group (SIG) chairs! Please contact them if you have any questions related to their SIGs, or e-mail list@americanpainsociety.org to request to join a SIG Listserv.

Advancing the Science of Quality SIG

Basic Science SIG

Clinical Trials SIG

Complementary Medicine SIG

Pain and Disparities SIG

Ethics SIG

Genetics and Pain SIG

Geriatric SIG

Measurement of Pain and Its Impact SIG

Nursing Issues SIG

Pain Education SIG

Pain in Infants, Children, and Adolescents SIG

Pain Rehabilitation SIG

Palliative Care SIG

Pharmacotherapy SIG

Psychosocial Research SIG

Sickle Cell SIG

Important Dates

Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship Application Deadline
Tuesday, July 1
Read more.

Future Leaders in Pain Research Grant Program Deadline
Friday, July 11
Read more.

2015 APS Annual Scientific Meeting Call for Symposia Deadline
Monday, July 14
Read more.

Pain Care in Primary Care Conference
July 17–19
Read more.

Annual Awards Deadline
Friday, July 25
Learn More.

PAINWeek conference
Tuesday, September 2–Saturday, September 6
Read more.

Call for Submissions

Do you have a topic that is relevant to APS members? Is there a member who is doing work that APS should spotlight? Is there a funding opportunity APS members need to know about? Please submit stories, events, and more to enews@americanpainsociety.org for consideration.