Biology subjects

Timmers, I.

Publications and source records attributed to Timmers, I..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Individual Dynamics in Stress-Related Pain Responses

BackgroundStress and pain are adaptive, bidirectionally related systems, modulated by shared factors. However, how stress reactivity relates to individual differences in pain-related distress and pain sensitivity remains unclear. This preregistered study therefore investigates how physiological reactivity to acute stress relates to trait pain-related distress and stress-induced changes in pain sensitivity, and whether pain-related distress acts as moderator. MethodsTrait pain-related distress was assessed in 148 healthy males using questionnaires. Baseline blood pressure, pulse rate, alpha-amylase, and cortisol were obtained as well as initial heat pain thresholds and tolerances. One group underwent the Maastricht Acute Stress Task, while another group performed the placebo version. Consecutively all stress- and experimental pain indicators were examined again. ResultsTrait pain-related distress was not associated with stress reactivity (MAST-induced changes in physiological stress indicators), while stress-induced changes in pain sensitivity showed high individual variability, but were not associated with stress reactivity. Finally, we found preliminary evidence that in individuals with a higher tendency to catastrophize and to fear pain, stronger alpha-amylase increases were associated with larger stress-induced increases in pain threshold (p-FDR = .07). ConclusionOur study illustrates the idiosyncrasy of the complex interplay between trait pain-related distress, physiological stress reactivity, and stress-induced changes in pain sensitivity. While our preliminary results require replication, they suggest that stable individual differences influence the link between stress and pain beyond physiology. This underscores the importance of considering trait differences in future research on stress-pain interactions to, ultimately, better tailoring preventions and treatments for patients with chronic pain.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Tactile Stimulation Designs Adapted to Clinical Settings Result in Reliable fMRI-based Somatosensory Digit Maps

A wide range of neurological diseases with impaired motor functioning of the upper extremities are accompanied by impairments of somatosensory functioning, which are often undescribed but can provide crucial information for diagnostics, treatment selection, and follow-up. Therefore, a reliable description of the functional representation of the digits in the somatosensory cortex would be a highly valuable, but currently lacking, tool in the clinical context. Task-based functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of passive tactile stimulation provides an indirect, but valid description of the layout of the digit map in the primary somatosensory cortex. However, to fulfill the specific requirements for clinical application, the presently established approaches need to be adapted and subsequently assessed for feasibility and retest reliability, in order to provide informative parameters for the description of the evoked digit activations. Accordingly, the present high-field 3T fMRI study compares the performance of two established digit mapping designs - travelling wave (TW) and blocked design (BD) - for passive tactile stimulation of the five digits, adapted to reduce the time requirements to just below 15 minutes. To be able to assess the retest reliability unaffected by any clinical conditions, the study was performed on neurotypical participants. The results show that both stimulation designs evoke significant and distinct activation clusters in the primary somatosensory cortex of all participants for all five digits. The average spatial locations of the center of gravities across participants show the common succession of distinct digit representation along the central sulcus. The cortical extent elicited activation, which is generally larger for the thumb and the index finger, also shows comparable average values across the two approaches. Less overlap of activation between neighboring digits was obtained in BD, consistent with the distinct single digit neuronal representations. A high retest reliability was obtained for the location of the digit activation, displaying stable center of gravity locations across sessions for both stimulation designs. This is contrasted by only medium to low retest reliability for the extent and overlap of the digit activations, indicating discrepancies across sessions. These results demonstrate the capacity of shortened fMRI digit mapping approaches (both TW and BD) to obtain the full layout of single digit cortical activations on the level of the individual, which together with the high reliability of the location of the digit representation over time indicates both approaches are clinically applicable.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Pain neuroscience education on YouTube: a systematic review

ObjectivesThe Internet in general, and YouTube in particular, is now one of the most popular sources of health-related information. Pain neuroscience education has become a primary tool for managing persistent pain, based in part on the discovery that information about pain can change pain. Our objective was to examine the availability, characteristics, and content of YouTube videos providing pain neuroscience education.\n\nMethodsWe conducted a systematic review of videos on YouTube using the search terms \"pain education\", \"what is pain\", and \"pain brain\" in January 2018. Videos were included if they were in English, were under 10 minutes long, and included information on the neuroscience of pain. Videos were coded for i) descriptive characteristics (e.g., number of views, duration on YouTube), ii) source and style, iii) whether or not they addressed seven pre-determined target concepts of pain neuroscience education (e.g., Pain is not an accurate marker of tissue state), and iv) how engaging they were.\n\nResultsWe found 106 unique videos that met the inclusion criteria. The videos ranged from having four views to over five million views (Mdn = 1163 views), with the three most highly viewed videos accounting for 75% of the total views. Animated videos were much more highly viewed than non-animated videos. Only a small number of videos had been posted by a clearly-identifiable reputable source such as an academic or medical research institution (10%), although a number of videos were posted by healthcare professionals and professional medical societies. For a small number of videos (7%), the source was unclear. We found 17 videos that addressed at least one target concept of pain neuroscience science education, only nine of which were considered to be engaging. The target concept Pain is a brain output was considered to be well addressed by the most videos (N = 11), followed by Pain is a protector (N = 10). We found only one video that adequately addressed all seven target concepts of pain neuroscience education.\n\nDiscussionYouTube contains a variety of videos that practitioners, patients, and families may view to access pain neuroscience education information. A small portion of these videos addressed one or more target concepts of pain neuroscience education in an engaging manner. It is yet to be determined to what extent patients are able to learn information from these videos, to what extent the videos promote behavior change, and thus to what extent the videos may be useful for clinical practice.

scientific communication and education↗