Pain Influences Neuropsychological Performance Following Electrical Injury: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: Electrical injury (EI) is a significant, multifaceted trauma often with multi-domain cognitive sequelae, even when the expected current path does not pass through the brain. Chronic pain (CP) research suggests pain may affect cognition directly and indirectly by influencing emotional distress which then impacts cognitive functioning. As chronic pain may be critical to understanding EI-related cognitive difficulties, the aims of the current study were: examine the direct and indirect effects of pain on cognition following EI and compare the relationship between pain and cognition in EI and CP populations. METHOD: This cross-sectional study used data from a clinical sample of 50 patients with EI (84.0% male; Mage = 43.7 years) administered standardized measures of pain (Pain Patient Profile), depression, and neurocognitive functioning. A CP comparison sample of 93 patients was also included. RESULTS: Higher pain levels were associated with poorer attention/processing speed and executive functioning performance among patients with EI. Depression was significantly correlated with pain and mediated the relationship between pain and attention/processing speed in patients with EI. When comparing the patients with EI and CP, the relationship between pain and cognition was similar for both clinical groups. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that pain impacts mood and cognition in patients with EI, and the influence of pain and its effect on cognition should be considered in the assessment and treatment of patients who have experienced an electrical injury.

Incidence of hypertrophic scars among African Americans linked to vitamin D-3 metabolism?

The pathogenesis and progression of wound-healing involve intricate pathways and numerous chemical mediators. This remains an area of intense study as undesirable results of this process, such as hypertrophic scars and keloids, can result in significant morbidity. These lesions are distinct in their characteristics, although they are similar in their distribution in patients with darker skin colors. There is a robust inflammatory mechanism behind the formation of hypertrophic scars and keloids. Furthermore, their development may be intimately related to vitamin D-3, which has been shown to be a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. This chemical is made in the skin, whose production is influenced by various factors of which the amount of melanin is a crucial one. More specifically, an increase in pigmentation has been shown to decrease the amount of vitamin D-3 synthesis in the skin. Thus, this paper proposes the hypothesis linking the propensity of inflammation and subsequent scarring in darker-skinned individuals to the reduced levels of vitamin D-3 production in their skin.

High prevalence of cardiac autonomic dysfunction and T-wave alternans in dialysis patients.

BACKGROUND: Chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients have an elevated risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD), particularly in the 24 hours before the first HD of the week. Temporal changes in cardiac autonomic dysfunction, as characterized by abnormalities in heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate turbulence (HRT), along with T-wave alternans (TWA), may contribute to this dispersion of risk. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine the prevalence of abnormal HRV, HRT, and TWA in HD patients and to compare their temporal distribution among periods of variable SCD risk. METHODS: HRV, HRT, and TWA were analyzed from 72-hour Holter monitors in HD patients, and results were compared among the 24-hour high-risk period before the first dialysis session of the week, the 24-hour intermediate-risk period beginning with the weeks' first dialysis, and the low-risk period the day after the first dialysis. Positive cut points were standard deviation of all normal R-R intervals ≤70 ms for HRV, onset ≥0% and/or slope ≤2.5 ms/R-R for HRT, and ≥53 µV for TWA. RESULTS: Of 41 enrollees, 28 (46% male, age 55 ± 12, ejection fraction 57% ± 11%) had sufficient data for analysis. Abnormalities were prevalent with 82%, 75%, and 96% of patients reaching threshold for HRV, HRT, and TWA in at least one 24-hour period, respectively. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of abnormal measures among dialytic intervals nor in the intraindividual distribution of abnormal measures (P >.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Abnormal HRV, HRT, and TWA are prevalent in HD patients and may indicate heightened SCD risk. No significant correlation was observed among these measures and recognized periods of variable risk.