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You feel a pain, so you pop a couple of ibuprofen or acetaminophen. If the pain is severe or chronic, you might be prescribed something stronger — an opioid pain killer that can be addictive under some circumstances.
But what if you could ease pain by non-invasively manipulating a spot inside your brain where pain is registered?
A new study by Wynn Legon, assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and his team points to that possibility. The study, published in the journal PAIN today (Monday, Feb. 5), found soundwaves from low-intensity focused ultrasound aimed at a place deep in the brain called the insula can reduce both the perception of pain and other effects of pain, such as heart rate changes.
“This is a proof-of-principle study,” Legon said. “Can we get the focused ultrasound energy to that part of the brain, and does it do anything? Does it change the body’s reaction to a painful stimulus to reduce your perception of pain?”
Focused ultrasound uses the same technology used to view a baby in the womb, but it delivers a narrow band of sound waves to a tiny point. At high intensity, ultrasound can ablate tissue. At low-intensity, it can cause gentler, transient biological effects, such as altering nerve cell electrical activity
Neuroscientists have long studied how non-surgical techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, might be used to treat depression and other issues. Legon’s study, however, is the first to target the insula and show that focused ultrasound can reach deep into the brain to ease pain.
The study involved 23 healthy human participants. Heat was applied to the backs of their hands to induce pain. At the same time, they wore a device that delivered focused ultrasound waves to a spot in their brain guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Participants rated their pain perception in each application on a scale of zero to nine. Researchers also monitored each participant’s heart rate and heart rate variability — the irregularity of the time between heart beats — as a means to discern how ultrasound to the brain also affects the body’s reaction to a painful stimulus.
Participants reported an average reduction in pain of three-fourths of a point.
“That might seem like a small amount, but once you get to a full point, it verges on being clinically meaningful,” said Legon, also an assistant professor in the School of Neuroscience in Virginia Tech’s College of Science. “It could make a significant difference in quality of life, or being able to manage chronic pain with over-the-counter medicines instead of prescription opioids.”
The study also found the ultrasound application reduced physical responses to the stress of pain — heart rate and heart rate variability, which are associated with better overall health.
“Your heart is not a metronome. The time between your heart beats is irregular, and that’s a good thing,” Legon said. “Increasing the body’s ability to deal with and respond to pain may be an important means of reducing disease burden.”
The effect of focused ultrasound on those factors suggests a future direction for the Legon lab’s research — to explore the heart-brain axis, or how the heart and brain influence each other, and whether pain can be mitigated by reducing its cardiovascular stress effects.
Other authors on the paper include Andrew Strohman, an M.D.+Ph.D. student in the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Virginia Tech’s Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health program, and other Legon Lab members.
The study was supported by the Seale Innovation Fund, the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

University of Texas at Dallas researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind, handheld electrochemical sensor that can accurately detect fentanyl in urine within seconds.
The proof-of-concept technology can detect even trace amounts of fentanyl with 98% accuracy using a small portable device without costly and time-consuming lab analysis. A study demonstrating the device was published in the Jan. 10 print edition of American Chemical Society Applied Materials & Interfaces.
The prototype, which could be used to test for fentanyl via urinalysis, is a precursor to a test to detect the drug in saliva, said Dr. Shalini Prasad, professor and department head of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. The technology also could be used to test substances for fentanyl by mixing a sample with water and dropping the liquid onto the sensor.
“There is an urgent demand for an easy-to-use, portable, miniaturized device that can detect fentanyl with high specificity and share results immediately to an internet-connected device,” said Prasad, corresponding author of the study and a Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor in Systems Biology Science. “Our study demonstrates the feasibility of a highly accurate sensor to detect fentanyl within seconds.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Illegally made fentanyl is commonly mixed with other drugs, and an amount as small as 2 milligrams — equal to 10 to 15 grains of table salt — can be lethal. More than 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Research has determined fentanyl is detectable in urine for up to 72 hours. UT Dallas researchers are working to advance the technology to detect fentanyl in hair. Their ultimate aim is to develop a test to detect fentanyl in saliva. A saliva test could help first responders make treatment decisions for someone who has overdosed, Prasad said.
The device contains an electrochemical sensor, which generates electrical signals based on chemical reactions. Developing a sensor to detect fentanyl posed a challenge, however, because the synthetic opioid is a nonvolatile compound, which means it does not produce an electrochemical signature.

To capture fentanyl with an electrochemical sensor, researchers used a molecular cagelike structure they compared to a mousetrap. The trap consists of several substances, including gold nanoparticles. For the “cheese,” researchers had to get creative.
Bioengineering researcher Dr. Anirban Paul, first author of the paper, used reverse engineering to find a solution. Paul, who moved from India to work with Prasad, decided to try using naloxone, a lifesaving medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. The researchers conducted computational tests to understand how the compounds interact so they could determine how to deploy naloxone to draw fentanyl to it like a magnet.
“Naloxone is used to decrease the power of fentanyl,” Paul said. “I had the idea to use naloxone to capture fentanyl, like cheese to catch a mouse.”
Researchers tested urine from a lab that was spiked with low, medium and high levels of fentanyl. The urine is dropped onto a test strip. If the drug is present, the naloxone interacts with it and generates a signal. The device detected fentanyl up to 100 parts per million in spiked urine samples.
Study author Ivneet Banga PhD’23, a research project manager in bioengineering, helped plan the experiments and synthesize the materials. Last year as a doctoral student, Banga won a second-tier Baxter Young Investigator Award for a handheld breath analyzer that can detect respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, in seconds. She said she hopes the fentanyl sensor can help prevent deaths from overdoses.
Prasad and her team have developed a variety of electrochemical sensors, including technology to detect biomarkers of infections, such as COVID-19, in sweat, as well as biomarkers for flare-ups of inflammatory bowel disease. Last year, they developed a test to measure THC, a major active component in marijuana, in saliva with 94% accuracy.
The fentanyl sensor was developed in collaboration with EnLiSense, an Allen, Texas, company that develops lifestyle-based sensors and devices. Prasad and the current study co-author Dr. Sriram Muthukumar are co-founders of EnLiSense.

The world’s largest brain study of childhood trauma has revealed how it affects development and rewires vital pathways.
The University of Essex study — led by the Department of Psychology’s Dr Megan Klabunde — uncovered a disruption in neural networks involved in self-focus and problem-solving.
This means under-18s who experienced abuse will likely struggle with emotions, empathy and understanding their bodies.
Difficulties in school caused by memory, hard mental tasks and decision making may also emerge.
Dr Klabunde’s cutting-edge research used AI to re-examine hundreds of brain scans and identify patterns.
It is hoped the research will help hone new treatments for children who have endured mistreatment.
This could mean therapists focus on techniques that rewire these centres and rebuild their sense of self.

Dr Klabunde said: “Currently, science-based treatments for childhood trauma primarily focus on addressing the fearful thoughts and avoidance of trauma triggers.
“This is a very important part of trauma treatment. However, our study has revealed that we are only treating one part of the problem.
“Even when a child who has experienced trauma is not thinking about their traumatic experiences, their brains are struggling to process their sensations within their bodies.
“This influences how one thinks and feels about one’s ‘internal world’ and this also influences one’s ability to empathise and form relationships.”
Dr Klabunde reviewed 14 studies involving more than 580 children for the research published in Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
The paper re-examined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.

This procedure highlights blood flow in different centres, showing neurological activity.
The study discovered a marked difference in traumatised children’s default mode (DMN) and central executive networks (CEN) — two large scale brain systems.
The DMN and the posterior insula are involved in how people sense their body, the sense of self and their internal reflections.
New studies are finding the DMN plays an important role in most mental health problems — and may be influenced by experiencing childhood trauma.
The CEN is also more active than in healthy children, which means that children with trauma histories tend to ruminate and relive terrible experiences when triggered.
Dr Klabunde hopes this study will be a springboard to find out more about how trauma affects developing minds.
She said: “Our brain findings indicate that childhood trauma treatments appear to be missing an important piece of the puzzle.
“In addition to preventing avoidance of scary situations and addressing one’s thoughts, trauma therapies in children should also address how trauma’s impacts on one’s body, sense of self, emotional/empathetic processing, and relationships.
“This is important to do so since untreated symptoms will likely contribute to other health and mental health problems throughout the lifespan.”
Dr Klabunde worked with Dr Anna Hughes, also from the Department of Psychology, and Masters student Rebecca Ireton on the study.

Many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are difficult to diagnose before symptoms begin to appear. However, disease-related biomarkers such as aggregated proteins called amyloids could provide important insight much earlier, if they can be readily detected. Researchers publishing in ACS Sensors have developed one such method using an array of sensor molecules that can light up amyloids. The tool could help monitor disease progression or distinguish between different amyloid-related conditions.
Neurodegenerative diseases typically involve a breakdown of communication within the brain that is often caused by “sticky” clumps of misfolded proteins called amyloids that interrupt signal transfer. These amyloids are thought to be closely related to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, so they could be used as a means of early diagnosis to expand treatment options. Currently, radioimaging techniques including positron emission tomography (PET) scans can detect amyloids, but these methods rely on sophisticated equipment and typically focus on one of several amyloids involved in the disease. Instead, fluorescence imaging techniques have been explored as a simpler, yet still sensitive, means of detecting multiple specific amyloids. So, Margaret Sunde, Elizabeth New, Amandeep Kaur and colleagues wanted to develop a fluorescent sensor array for amyloids to monitor Alzheimer’s and other disease progression and to distinguish these atypical amyloids from similar, naturally occurring amyloid-forming proteins.
The team combined five coumarin-based molecular probes, each of which fluoresced to a different degree when it encountered the amyloids, into a sensor array. However, the team found that using just two of the probes with the strongest fluorescence responses still offered a high level of sensitivity and an identifiable fluorescent “fingerprint” for the individual amyloids.
The two-probe array was added to a sample mixture mimicking biological fluids containing molecules that could potentially interfere with sensing. Regardless, the array maintained a high sensitivity and selectivity. Its performance was also tested on samples taken from the brains of mouse models of Alzheimer’s. The team observed that the fluorescence patterns differed between early (at age 6 months) and later (at age 12 months) stages of the disease. Additionally, a unique fluorescence fingerprint was generated for three amyloids typically involved in Alzheimer’s, another disease-associated amyloid and five naturally occurring “functional amyloids” not involved in the disease. The researchers say that this tool could be used to distinguish between closely related amyloids and could inform new approaches for earlier and more confident diagnosis of amyloid-related diseases.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Bariatric surgery is more effective in controlling hypertension rates, or high blood pressure, in people with obesity and uncontrolled high blood pressure compared to blood pressure medication alone, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. People who underwent bariatric surgery had lower BMI and were on fewer medications after five years while maintaining normal blood pressure levels than those who only used antihypertensive medications.
According to the CDC, the U.S. obesity and hypertension rates in adults are 41.9% and 45.4%, respectively. Obesity is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and a major contributor to high blood pressure, which can make a person more susceptible to heart attack, stroke and heart failure, among other risks.
“In clinical practice, obesity is an overlooked condition. As a consequence, there is a frequent failure in approaching obesity as a crucial step for mitigating the risk of important cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension,” said Carlos Aurelio Schiavon, MD, FACS, lead author of the study and a surgeon specializing in bariatric surgery at Heart Hospital (hcor) and BP Hospital in Sao Paulo.
Researchers in this study looked at the impact of treating obesity to lower high blood pressure. While there are new medications to treat obesity, long-term adherence to medication can be challenging. This study looks at bariatric surgery as a better long-term solution to control obesity and, as a result, high blood pressure.
The GATEWAY trial included 100 people (76% of which were female) who had a body mass index (BMI) of around 36.9Kg/m2. All participants had hypertension and were using at least two medications. People with previous cardiovascular events and poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes were excluded. Subjects were assigned to either Roux-en-Y gastric bypass with medical therapy or medial therapy alone and the primary outcome was reduction of at least 30% antihypertensive medications while maintaining blood pressure levels less than 140/90 mmHg at five years.
At five years, BMI was 28.01 Kg/m2 for those who received bariatric surgery and 36.40 Kg/m2 for those on medical therapy alone. People who had bariatric surgery had an 80.7% reduction in the number of medications they were taking compared to a 13.7% reduction in those only using medical therapy. Hypertension remission, defined as controlled blood pressure without medications, was 46.9% in those who underwent bariatric surgery compared to 2.4% in those on medical therapy alone.
“Our results underscore the importance of approaching obesity in reducing hypertension rates,” Schiavon said.
Limitations of the study include that it was a single-center, open-label study with a small sample size and there was loss of follow up in some patients.
In an accompanying editorial comment, Michael Hall, MD, MSc, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said the study provides important long-term data on the benefits of gastric bypass on weight loss and blood pressure control, but questions remain.
“Further studies assessing the threshold for bariatric surgery in people with obesity, optimal timing of bariatric surgery in obese people with cardiometabolic diseases, type of bariatric surgery and comparative studies of obesity pharmacotherapies and bariatric surgery are needed to clarify the optimal treatment pathways for this common and growing disease,” he said.

Black people in the U.S. were far more likely to report harmfully low sleep in the months after a killing compared with white people surveyed during that time.Black people in the United States are more likely than white people to report that they do not sleep much, research shows. On average, they live in louder neighborhoods, work longer hours and pick up more late-night shifts — concerning to public health experts, since sleep deprivation is linked to chronic health issues and early death.But a group of public-health researchers from multiple universities and the National Institutes of Health wondered whether unequal exposure to police violence could also be contributing to racial sleep disparities, since those events are known to increase hypervigilance, worry and post-traumatic stress. They designed a pair of complex studies to measure how police killings of unarmed Black people affected sleep among Black and white people over time. The results were published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.Black people were consistently more likely to report harmfully low levels of sleep after such a killing than they did before it occurred, the researchers found, regardless of whether the killing was a nearby event or a high-profile incident captured in media. The researchers did not find substantial impacts on sleep among white people in either case.Dr. Atheendar Venkataramani, an associate professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, was a co-author of the studies. He said the findings reflected “the general human tendency to interpret events — and disparities in events — in ways that apply to you, and your future, and your family’s future.”Dr. Venkataramani’s lab, the Opportunity for Health Lab, uses statistical data to investigate the relationship between economic opportunity and health outcomes. He said that standard health questionnaires and clinicians, including himself, tended to ask patients about behavioral risk factors but that “we don’t really collect data with these kinds of timely social exposures in mind.”“We’re never really asking, ‘Hey, did you see something on the news that made you kind of rethink your position in society or how you feel about your future?’” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

The patients used tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro or Zepbound, but researchers could not distinguish the effect of the drug from the effects of weight loss.A study of the weight loss drug tirzepatide showed that people who took it had significantly lower blood pressures after 36 weeks of using the medication.Tirzepatide, made by Eli Lilly, is used to treat Type 2 diabetes, under the brand name Mounjaro, and to treat obesity, under the brand name Zepbound. It is the latest among a new class of weight loss drugs, and its chief competitor is semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk and sold as Ozempic for diabetes and as Wegovy for weight loss. For both drugs, researchers have been assessing whether they have additional effects that go beyond weight loss.The blood pressure study, supported by Eli Lilly and published on Monday in the journal Hypertension, was part of a larger effort to assess tirzepatide’s effects on weight loss. Researchers had already found that people who took the drug had lower blood pressures when readings were taken in a doctor’s office. The new study applied a more rigorous criteria: Did participants taking the drug have lower pressures when measured with a 24-hour monitor?They did. Those taking the drug had systolic blood pressures — the pressure on blood vessels when the heart contracts — that were from 7.4 to 10.0 milligrams of mercury lower than those of participants taking a placebo. Systolic pressure is believed to be an accurate predictor of heart disease risk.The blood pressure reduction, said Dr. James de Lemos, a cardiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the lead author of the study, is about what would be expected with a full dose of a blood pressure medicine. As such, he said, the drug can be useful for people trying to control their pressure and reduce their heart attack and stroke risk (although the study does not suggest tirzepatide be substituted for other blood pressure medications).But, he noted, it was not possible to distinguish the effect — if any — that the drug had on blood pressure from the well-known effect that weight loss has on reducing blood pressure.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Mental health practitioners are hiking, camping and braving the elements with their clients — all in an effort to help them connect with the Earth, and with themselves.Sometimes a pine cone is just a pine cone.But on a January day, the rough edges of the cone — and the lone feather sticking out of it — meant something different to Rachel Oppenheimer, 25, a counselor at the Chesapeake Mental Health Collaborative in Towson, Md.“Growing up, I had some challenges,” Ms. Oppenheimer said, referring to her prickly teenage past, “some struggles with managing my emotions.”But her grandmother, who died four years ago, was soft like the feather, and gave her unconditional love that reminded Ms. Oppenheimer how important it was to treat herself with “soothing tenderness,” especially when she became self-critical.Ms. Oppenheimer and her clinical supervisor, Heidi Schreiber-Pan, were visiting Talmar, a nonprofit farm that offers therapeutic programs and vocational training — a short drive from the busy road and nondescript strip malls near their office. At the farm, the only sounds were a burbling stream, trilling birds and several inches of snow crunching beneath their feet. It was the perfect location to teach Ms. Oppenheimer therapeutic techniques that make use of the natural world.They set up camping chairs under a bright blue sky during their session — a makeshift office without walls — and discussed how to create a circular design called a mandala. Next they would arrange items that Ms. Oppenheimer found on the ground, each symbolizing the complex feelings that stemmed from mourning her grandmother.Dr. Schreiber-Pan is one of a growing number of therapists who are taking their therapy sessions outdoors and, in some cases, training other counselors to do the same. They say that combining traditional talk therapy with nature and movement can help clients feel more open, find new perspectives and express their feelings, all while helping them connect with the outside world.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Published1 minute agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Chris RadburnWorsening health among the under fives in the UK needs to be urgently addressed, experts say.The Academy of Medical Sciences highlights what it says are “major health issues” like infant deaths, obesity and tooth decay.It says society is betraying children and the problems are limiting their future and damaging economic prosperity.The government says children’s health is a priority. A spokeswoman said: “We’ve taken significant action to improve children’s health now and in the long term.”This includes measures to reduce sugar in children’s food and investing in mental health services and dentistry, she added.But the academy, which represents medical scientists and health researchers in the UK, pointed out that progress on child health had stalled in recent years.Childhood obesity shows slight fall in EnglandMental health of under-fives overlooked – reportWhy are measles cases rising and what is the MMR vaccine?It says the pandemic and increased cost of living was to blame – and had proved particularly damaging to those living in more deprived areas.Its report says:The UK is 30th out of 49 rich countries for infant mortalityOne in five children falls short of the expected level of development aged twoOne in five is overweight or obese by fiveVaccination targets are being missed for diseases such as measlesOne in four is affected by tooth decay by fiveOne in five women struggles with their mental health during or just after pregnancyAir pollution is linked to worsening asthmaRising demand for child mental health servicesThe report calls for a cross-government vision to be developed to tackle the problems and investment in the child health workforce, including health visitors.Image source, Getty ImagesReport author Prof Helen Minnis said: “Every child has the right to a safe and healthy childhood. It is shameful that the UK is failing to provide this. “The science is clear – we are betraying our children.”And fellow author Prof Sir Andrew Pollard said there had been an “appalling decline in the health or our children” which was creating a “bleak outlook for their future”.He added: “It is time for big thinking and clear strategy by government to protect the health and life chances of our children and transform the future of our nation.”Dr Mike McKean, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the repot provided “alarming evidence”.”We are presiding over a crisis in child health that demands urgent action.”More on this storyFood apps and online gaming driving obesity – WHOPublished3 May 2022More children develop diabetes linked to obesityPublished15 June 2022Related Internet LinksNational Child Measurement Programme – NHS DigitalThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Published28 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, PA MediaBy Sean SeddonBBC NewsRishi Sunak has admitted the government has failed on a pledge to cut NHS waiting lists in England.The prime minister said the government has “not made enough progress” but that industrial action in the health service “has had an impact”.Mr Sunak made the comments in a TalkTV interview with Piers Morgan.Cutting NHS waiting lists is one of five priorities Mr Sunak set out in January 2023, along with measures on the economy and illegal immigration. At the time he said “NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly” but did not set a timeframe for achieving that.Asked by Mr Morgan if his government has failed to achieve that pledge, Mr Sunak said: “Yes, we have.”Is Rishi Sunak keeping his five key promises?The prime minister continued: “What I would say to people is that we’ve invested record amounts in the NHS – more doctors, more nurses, more scanners.”All these things mean the NHS is doing more than it ever has but industrial action has had an impact.”Strikes by nurses and some other health workers ended last summer, following a pay deal with the government. However, a dispute with junior doctors and consultants is ongoing, with walkouts continuing.The comments come a month after Mr Sunak told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg he expected to see measures designed to reduce waiting times to start taking effect in spring 2024.As of November 2023, the overall number of waits for non-emergency care in England stood at around 7.6 million.While there was a slight decrease on the number of waits compared with the previous month, that figure is roughly 400,000 higher than at the start of 2023.The prime minister’s full hour-long interview with Mr Morgan is due to be aired later on Monday.More on this storyIs Rishi Sunak keeping his five key promises?Published23 JanuaryWhen will politicians make their minds up on key plans?Published1 day ago