Researchers at Stanford University used functional MRI to detect when people were experiencing pain by detecting changing blood flow patterns in the brain.  Because pain, almost by definition, has always been a subjective phenomenon, judging its true nature is difficult as some people are more tolerant of it than others.

The scientists hope a more objective tool may one day be developed, but they caution that the latest research is at a very early stage of this endeavor.

Researchers took eight subjects, and put them in the brain-scanning machine. A heat probe was then applied to their forearms, causing moderate pain. The brain patterns both with and without pain were then recorded and interpreted by advanced computer algorithms to create a model of what pain looks like. The process was repeated with a second group of eight subjects.

The idea was to train a linear support vector machine — a computer algorithm invented in 1995 — on one set of individuals, and then use that computer model to accurately classify pain in a completely new set of individuals.

The computer was then asked to consider the brain scans of eight new subjects and determine whether they had thermal pain.

Press release: Does that hurt? Objective way to measure pain being developed at Stanford

Full article in PLoS ONE: Towards a Physiology-Based Measure of Pain: Patterns of Human Brain Activity Distinguish Painful from Non-Painful Thermal Stimulation

Image: Stanford Office of Communication & Public Affairs

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic have developed a new way to combat feline AIDS. In the most recent issue of Nature Methods they describe the technique they established to accomplish gamete-targeted transgenesis for the first time in a carnivore. The researchers successfully managed to introduce protective genes into the cat’s genome. Another remarkable fact about this technique is that for tracking purposes the researchers used a jellyfish gene, alongside the gene for a rhesus macaque restriction factor which can block cell infection by Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). It resulted in a transgenic luminescent cat as you can see in the image.

Like HIV in humans, FIV causes AIDS in cats. And cats, like humans, have restriction factors ineffective against FIV and HIV respectively. By introducing the rhesus macaque restriction factor into the cats genome, the researchers created a model to better understand the potential of restriction factor introduction to combat immunodeficiency viruses. The project has the potential to benefit both feline and human health. And not just by creating glowing cats so you won’t trip over them in the dark.

Press release: Mayo Clinic Teams with Glowing Cats Against AIDS, Other Diseases

Abstract in Nature Methods: Antiviral restriction factor transgenesis in the domestic cat