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CACPR Featured in UMB Spotlight

The Winter 2019 issue of UMB Spotlight includes a cover story about CACPR and the challenge of confronting chronic pain. The article features quotes from several members of the CACPR Executive Committee, and emphasizes the necessity of collaboration as we aim to understand the complex nature of chronic pain.
Joel D. Greenspan Addresses the Topic of Pain at the Maryland Science Center

On January 11, 2019, Dr. Greenspan gave a “Lunch & Learn” presentation at the Maryland Science Center. The “Lunch & Learn” seminar series is a new monthly initiative of the Maryland Science Center, which began in October 2018. Dr. Greenspan’s presentation, “What Everyone Should Know about Pain”, was live streamed with approximately 400 viewers.

Watch the Facebook video of Dr. Greenspan's presentation here. (P lease excuse the first few minutes of technical difficulties.)
CACPR-Sponsored Seminars

Feb. 11: Giandomenico Iannetti, MD, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience, University College London, and Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome. “From Pain to Defensive Actions: Saliency Detection as a Reactive Process.”

March 28: Beverley Greenwood-Van Meerveld, BSc (Special Hons), Ph.D., FACG, AGAF, Professor of Physiology, and Director of Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma. “Central Mechanisms Modulating Visceral Pain,” University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Room 8105. 
Co-sponsored by the Department of Neural and Pain Sciences in the School of Dentistry.
Welcome to CACPR's New Members
Vinita Agarwal, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Arts, Salisbury University

Research Interests: Chronic pain management in a range of domains including cancer survivorship; Pain acceptance and other outcome indicators; Complementary and Alternative medicine; Mind body approaches; Measurement of pain outcomes including humanistic perspectives; Patient-provider relationship; Patient-centered communication; Provider embodiment in integrative approaches to pain management
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Marianne Cloeren, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Research Interests:  Barriers to employment in addiction/recovery; work disability risk factors and mitigation; impact of online education on healthcare provider practice
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Ying He, PhD
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

Research Interests: Molecular pharmacology of chronic pain; Pain in sickle cell disease, cancer; Mechanisms of opioid addiction
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Beth Hogans, MS, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Dept. of Neurology, JHU and Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Neurology, University of Maryland School of Nursing

Research Interests:  Pain education, low back pain, peripheral neuropathy, and interprofessional collaboration/education
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Lynn Oswald, RN, MSN, PhD
Associate Professor, Dept. of Family and Community Health, University of Maryland School of Nursing

Research Interests: Stress, Substance use disorders, Decision-making, Brain reward system function, and Dopamine.  Recent interest includes associations of the above with chronic pain
Recent Publications
Vinita Agarwal, PhD
Department of Communication Arts, Salisbury University, Maryland

Agarwal, V. Patient communication of pain in the complementary and alternative medicine therapeutic relationship.  Journal of Patient Experience , (in press).
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Simon Akerman, PhD; Marcela Romero-Reyes, DDS, PhD
Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, University of Maryland School of Dentistry

Akerman S, Karsan N, Bose P, Hoffmann JR, Holland PR, Romero-Reyes M, Goadsby PJ Nitroglycerine triggers triptan-responsive cranial allodynia and trigeminal neuronal hypersensitivity . Brain. 2019 Jan 1;142(1):103-119. doi: 10.1093/brain/awy313.

This article was also the subject of a commentary in that issue of  Brain .
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Ke Ren, MD, PhD; Feng Wei, MD, PhD; Ronald Dubner, DDS, PhD
Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, University of Maryland School of Dentistry

Guo W, Imai S, Zou S, Yang J-L, Watanabe M, Wang J, Wei F, Dubner R, Ren K.  Altered glial glutamate transporter expression in descending circuitry and the emergence of pain chronicity Mol Pain 2019;  15 : 1-16.  doi: 10.1177/1744806918825044 .
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David Seminowicz, PhD;  Joyce Teixeira da Silva, PhD; Samuel Krimmel; Andrew Furman
Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, University of Maryland School of Dentistry

See publications in “CACPR Member Spotlight” below.
CACPR Member Spotlight

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Neural and Pain Sciences
University of Maryland School of Dentistry

David Seminowicz, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, School of Dentistry.  His research lab is interested in discovering the brain mechanisms of pain. Pain is a complex experience, and work currently underway is slowly beginning to reveal the relationship between brain activity and various aspects of the pain experience.
One major focus is on the effect of attention states on acute pain and in people with various chronic pain conditions. In the case of chronic pain, Dr. Seminowicz’s research team is investigating the effects of different treatments on abnormal brain activity and anatomy, using task and resting state functional MRI, and structural MRI including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). [Note references # 2, 5, 6, and 8]

While neuroimaging experiments in humans can tell us about the experience of pain, using imaging in animal models of chronic pain allows Dr. Seminowicz to ask questions about the involvement of precise brain areas in pain-related behavior. [Note references #1 and 3.]. His previous research demonstrated that the development of anxiety-like behaviors in the rat coincided with the volumetric decreases in prefrontal cortical (PFC) areas in a model of chronic neuropathic pain. Rodent models also provide the ability to perform histological and biochemical experiments on the same animals that have had MRIs. Dr. Seminowicz’s research team is currently investigating the roles of the PFC in other pain behaviors and using functional MRI to investigate the connectivity between PFC and other brain areas.

Publications in the Last Six Months

1: Da Silva JT, Evangelista BG, Venega RAG, Seminowicz DA, Chacur M. Anti-NGF treatment can reduce chronic neuropathic pain by changing peripheral mediators and brain activity in rats. Behav Pharmacol. 2019 Feb;30(1):79-88. PubMed PMID: 30633724.

2: Letzen JE, Seminowicz DA, Campbell CM, Finan PH. Exploring the potential role of mesocorticolimbic circuitry in motivation for and adherence to chronic pain self-management interventions. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2018 Dec 10;98:10-17.  [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 30543904.

3: Qadir H, Krimmel SR, Mu C, Poulopoulos A, Seminowicz DA, Mathur BN. Structural Connectivity of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Claustrum, and the Anterior Insula of the Mouse. Front Neuroanat. 2018 Nov 26;12:100. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2018.00100. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 30534060; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6276828.

4: Wideman TH, Edwards RR, Walton DM, Martel MO, Hudon A, Seminowicz DA. The Multi-modal Assessment Model of Pain: A Novel Framework for Further Integrating the Subjective Pain Experience within Research and Practice. Clin J Pain. 2018 Nov 15. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30444733.

5: Seminowicz DA, de Martino E, Schabrun SM, Graven-Nielsen T. Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces the development of long-term muscle pain. Pain. 2018 Dec;159(12):2486-2492. PubMed PMID: 30431520.

6: De Martino E, Seminowicz DA, Schabrun SM, Petrini L, Graven-Nielsen T. High frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulates sensorimotor cortex function in the transition to sustained muscle pain. Neuroimage. 2019 Feb 1;186:93-102. PubMed PMID: 30391344.

7: Ayoub LJ, Seminowicz DA, Moayedi M. A meta-analytic study of experimental and chronic orofacial pain excluding headache disorders. Neuroimage Clin. 2018;20:901-912. PubMed PMID: 30292089; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6176551.

8: Muthulingam J, Olesen SS, Hansen TM, Seminowicz DA, Burrowes S, Drewes AM, Frøkjær JB. Progression of Structural Brain Changes in Patients with Chronic Pancreatitis and Its Association to Chronic Pain: A 7-Year Longitudinal Follow-up Study. Pancreas. 2018 Nov/Dec;47(10):1267-1276. PubMed PMID: 30211804.

9: Da Silva JT, Zhang Y, Asgar J, Ro JY, Seminowicz DA. Diffuse noxious inhibitory controls and brain networks are modulated in a testosterone-dependent manner in Sprague Dawley rats. Behav Brain Res. 2018 Sep 3;349:91-97. PubMed PMID: 29733874.
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Epubs Ahead of Print

Seminowicz DA, Remeniuk B, Krimmel SR, Smith MT, Barrett FS, Wulff AB, Furman AJ, Geuter S, Lindquist MA, Irwin MR, Finan PH.,  Pain-Related Nucleus Accumbens Function: Modulation by Reward and Sleep Disruption,  Pain .

Ayoub LJ, Barnett A, Leboucher A, Golosky M, McAndrews MP, Seminowicz DA, Moayedi M. The medial temporal lobe in nociception: a meta-analytic and functional connectivity study.  Pain.

Da Silva JT and Seminowicz DA, Neuroimaging of pain in animal models: a review of recent literature,  Pain Reports .
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Presentations in the Last Six Months

Nov. 28: “Neuroimaging of acute and chronic pain: discovery of biomarkers and treatment outcomes”, Dean’s Lecture Series, School of Dental Medicine, SUNY Stony Brook, NY. 
 
Nov. 3: “Neuroimaging studies of the claustrum in humans”, Society for Claustrum. Research, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA.
About CACPR

In 1996, UMB recognized the importance of chronic pain as a significant health problem and established the Organized Research Center (ORC) for Persistent Pain in the School of Dentistry (SOD).

In its June 2011 report, “Relieving Pain in America,” the Institute of Medicine documented that at least 100 million U.S. adults suffer from common chronic pain conditions, with national annual costs and lost productivity estimated to be in the range of $560 billion to $635 billion. In recognition of this greater need, UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, established the Center to Advance Chronic Pain Research as a Universitywide organized research center.