ScienceDaily (June 7, 2010) — The timing of umbilical cord clamping at birth should be delayed just a few minutes longer, suggest researchers at the University of South Florida's Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair.

Delaying clamping the umbilical cord for a slightly longer period of time allows more umbilical cord blood volume to transfer from mother to infant and, with that critical period extended, many good physiological "gifts" are transferred through 'nature's first stem cell transplant' occurring at birth.

The USF review is published in a recent issue of the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (14:3).

"Several clinical studies have shown that delaying clamping the umbilical cord not only allows more blood to be transferred but helps prevent anemia as well," said the paper's lead author Dr. Paul Sanberg, director of the Center. "Cord blood also contains many valuable stem cells, making this transfer of stem cells a process that might be considered 'the original stem cell transplant'."

At birth, the placenta and umbilical cord start contracting and pumping blood toward the newborn. After the blood equilibrates, the cord's pulse ceases and blood flow from mother to newborn stops. In recent Western medical practice, early clamping -- from 30 seconds to one minute after birth -- remains the most common practice among obstetricians and midwives, perhaps because the benefits of delaying clamping have not been clear. However, waiting for more than a minute, or until the cord stops pulsating, may be beneficial, the authors said.

Birthing methods have also changed over the last century. Throughout human history and currently in cultures and areas where delivering mothers squat to deliver, gravity helps speed the stem cell transfer. Today, the cord may be clamped early for a number of reasons, including the medical resuscitation and stabilizing of infants or the notion that delaying clamping might lead to adverse effects or, more recently, to quickly facilitate umbilical cord banking.

According to study co-author Dr. Dong-Hyuk Park, the relationship between cord clamping time and the transfer of stem cells needs to be understood through the early weeks of the perinatal period and the process of 'hematopoiesis,' the formation of blood cells that begins as early as two weeks into pregnancy. A transfer of pluripotent stems cells continues throughout pregnancy, however, and for a time through the umbilical cord following delivery.

"Several randomized, controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have compared the effects of late versus early cord clamping," said Dr. Park. "In pre-term infants, delaying clamping the cord for at least 30 seconds reduced incidences of intraventricular hemorrhage, late on-set sepsis, anemia, and decreased the need for blood transfusions."

Another potential benefit of delayed cord clamping is to ensure that the baby can receive the complete retinue of clotting factors.

Yet, there is debate and disagreement on early versus later clamping. The side favoring delayed clamping, the authors noted, cite the value of the infant's receiving umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived stem cells, known to be pluripotent.

"The virtue of the unique and immature features of cord blood, including their ability to differentiate, are well known," added Dr. Sanberg.

The researchers concluded that many common disorders in newborns related to the immaturity of organ systems may receive benefits from delayed clamping. These may include: respiratory distress; anemia; sepsis; intraventricular haemorrhage; and periventricular leukomalacia. They also speculate that other health problems, such as chronic lung disease, prematurity apneas and retinopathy of prematurity, may also be affected by a delay in cord blood clamping.

"There remains no consensus among scientists and clinicians on cord clamping and proper cord blood collection," concluded co-author and obstetrician Dr. Stephen Klasko, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the USF College of Medicine. "The most important thing is to avoid losing valuable stems cells during and just after delivery."

The authors agreed that delaying cord clamping should appropriately be delayed for pre-term babies and babies born where there is no effort to bank umbilical cords, and for babies born where there is limited access to health care and where nutrition may be poor.

Meditation Reduces the Emotional Impact of Pain

ScienceDaily (June 2, 2010) — People who meditate regularly find pain less unpleasant because their brains anticipate the pain less, a new study has found.

"Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a way to treat chronic illness such as the pain caused by arthritis," said Dr  Christopher Brown, who conducted the research. "Recently, a mental health charity called for meditation to be routinely available on the NHS to treat depression, which occurs in up to 50% of people with chronic pain. However, scientists have only just started to look into  how meditation might reduce the emotional impact of pain."

The study  found that particular areas of the brain were less active in meditators than non-meditators, particularly in anticipation of pain.

Dr Brown, who is based in the University's School of Translational Medicine, found that people who meditate also showed unusual activity during anticipation of pain in part of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region known to be involved in controlling attention and thought  processes when potential threats are perceived.

He said: "The results of the study confirm how we suspected  meditation might affect the brain. Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events. This may be why meditation is effective at reducing the recurrence of depression, which makes chronic pain considerably worse."

"We found that meditators anticipate pain less and find pain less unpleasant".

Journal Reference:

1. Christopher A. Brown, Anthony K.P. Jones. Meditation experience predicts less negative appraisal of pain: Electrophysiological evidence for the involvement of anticipatory neural responses. Pain, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2010.04.017

Zen Meditation Alleviates Pain

ScienceDaily (Feb. 6, 2009) — Zen meditation – a centuries-old practice that can provide mental, physical and emotional balance – may reduce pain according to Université de Montréal researchers. A new study in the January edition of Psychosomatic Medicine reports that Zen meditators have lower pain sensitivity both in and out of a meditative state compared to non-meditators.

Joshua A. Grant, a doctoral student in the Department of Physiology, co-authored the paper with Pierre Rainville, a professor and researcher at the Université de Montréal and it's affiliated Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal. The main goal of their study was to examine whether trained meditators perceived pain differently than non-meditators.

"While previous studies have shown that teaching chronic pain patients to meditate is beneficial, very few studies have looked at pain processing in healthy, highly trained meditators. This study was a first step in determining how or why meditation might influence pain perception." says Grant.  read more

Mind Over Matter: Alternative Therapies Affect Experience Of Chronic Pain

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2006) — A significant number of people world-wide suffer with chronic pain, which affects every aspect of their lives, and often results in depression.

Researchers at Kent State University and Case Western University, led by Kent State nursing professor Wendy Lewandowski, tracked the experience of 44 patients being treated for chronic pain.

Patients in one group listened to a seven-minute audio tape that helped them to relax, focus on the sensory images their pain evoked, and then guided them to change the sensory images.

This technique, known as "guided imagery," is an effective supplement to medication therapy, the researchers found. Unlike those in the control group, the guided imagery patients in the study described their pain as ultimately more tolerable or easier to control.