Exercise, ergonovine and the cold pressor test have been used to provoke variant angina attacks. The sensitivity of these three tests was compared in 34 hospitalized patients with well documented, active variant angina who had recently undergone coronary arteriography. The three tests were usually performed on three consecutive days, and 28 of the 34 had the three tests within 1 week. Angina wa...

BACKGROUND The P2X7 receptor is a member of the P2X family of adenosine 5'-triphosphate-gated cation channels. Several recent studies have demonstrated that this receptor is involved in mechanisms related to pain and inflammation. However, unknown is whether polymorphisms of the P2RX7 gene that encodes the human P2X7 receptor influence pain sensitivity and analgesic effects of opioids. The P2RX...

In the article we evaluated the possibility of using different methods of analysis of signals of laser Doppler flowmetry and tissue reflectance oximetry in the study of oscillations of basal blood flow before and after the cold pressor tests on the fingers. We conducted the experimental study and evaluated the results. The data revealed that the use of spectral analysis and adaptive wavelet tra...

Five adult female patients with Down's syndrome were compared with five age-matched controls in the standing and cold pressor tests. In both tests, there were no differences between the two groups in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure or plasma noradrenaline, adrenaline and dopamine concentrations. However, plasma adrenaline tended to be higher in the Down's group, both in the st...

Both emotion and attention are known to influence the startle response. Stress influences emotion and attention, but the impact of stress on the human startle response remains unclear. We used an established physiological stressor, the Cold Pressor Test (CPT), to induce stress in a non-clinical human sample (24 student participants) in a within-subjects design. Autonomic (heart rate and skin co...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this experimental study was to supplement and expand on clinical research demonstrating that the provision of social support is associated with lower levels of acute pain. METHODS Undergraduates (52 men and 49 women) performed the cold pressor task either alone or accompanied by a friend or stranger who provided active support, passive support, or interaction. Pain pe...

Previous studies report that the ingestion of highly concentrated sweet solutions produces a morphine-like analgesia in rats, human infants, and in adult males. To determine whether sweet-induced analgesia occurs with more commonly consumed substances, 30 adult males (Mage = 22.4 years) were exposed to a cold pressor test and pain responsivity was assessed both before and after consuming either...