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Pharmacological management of cancer pain: Novel therapeutics

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Patients diagnosed with cancer often experience pain during their treatment course, making it difficult to care for themselves and continue with their activities of daily living. When cancer is found at later stages, the pain can become severe and constant; reducing their quality of life and significantly affecting mental and physical well-being. Despite opioids being known to provide adequate analgesia for higher pain levels, they are often the reason for under-dosing because of their adverse effects and concern for addiction. There are also patients who do not respond well to opioids because of genetic anomalies or personal preference. Therefore, there is a need for novel non-opioid cancer pain treatments. There are many new cancer pain treatments that are emerging. This manuscript discusses cancer pain, risk factors, epidemiology, guidelines for the treatment of cancer pain, personalization of cancer pain therapy, breakthrough pain, cancer-induced peripheral neuropathy, established cancer pain treatment options, and novel emerging cancer pain treatment options.

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Intracellular Molecular Targets and Signaling Pathways Involved in Antioxidative and Neuroprotective Effects of Cannabinoids in Neurodegenerative Conditions

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In the last few decades, endocannabinoids, plant-derived cannabinoids and synthetic can- nabinoids have received growing interest as treatment options in neurodegenerative conditions. In various experimental settings, they have displayed antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective effects. However, due to numerous targets and down- stream effectors of their action, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are rather complex and still under discussion.

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Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory effects of selected cannabinoids and terpenes from Cannabis Sativa L employing human primary leukocytes

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Cannabis sativa L. is a medicinal plant with a long history. Phyto-cannabinoids are a class of compounds from C. sativa L. with varieties of structures. Endocannabinoids exist in the human body. This article provides an overview of natural cannabinoids (phyto-cannabinoids and endocannabinoids) with an emphasis on their pharmacology activities.

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The non-euphoric phytocannabinoid cannabidivarin counteracts intestinal inflammation in mice and cytokine expression in biopsies from UC pediatric patients

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Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) using marijuana have been reported to experience symptomatic benefit. Cannabidivarin (CBDV) is a safe non-psychoactive phytocannabinoid able to activate and desensitize TRPA1, a member of the TRP channels superfamily, which plays a pivotal role in intestinal inflammation. Here, we have investigated the potential intestinal anti-inflammatory effect of CBDV in mice and in biopsies from pediatric patients with active UC

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Association of Mental Health Burden With Prenatal Cannabis Exposure From Childhood to Early Adolescence

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Dramatic increases in cannabis use during pregnancy are alarming because of evidence that prenatal exposure may be associated with a host of adverse outcomes.1 We previously found that prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) following maternal knowledge of pregnancy is associated with increased psychopathology during middle childhood using baseline data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.2 Here, leveraging longitudinal ABCD study data (data release 4.0), we examined whether associations with psychopathology persist into early adolescence.

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The chemical composition of ethanolic extracts from six genotypes of medical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) and their selective cytotoxic activity

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Cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) for medical purposes has been legalized again in many countries in recent years. Currently, only two major cannabinoids (Δ9-THC and CBD) are considered in the legislation and medication, which is not sufficient in case of dried plant material or resulting extract. Other substances (mainly terpenes/terpenoids), or their specific combinations, could influence the resulting therapeutic effect for specific oncology diagnosis and specific patients. Six different genotypes (Conspiracy Kush, Jilly Bean, Jack Cleaner 2, Jack Skellington, Nordle and Nurse Jackie) were cultivated indoor at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. Ethanol extracts taken from the inflorescences were assayed for their content of main cannabinoids and terpenes/terpenoids. The extracts were used for in vitro cytotoxicity studies on hepatocarcinoma human cell lines Hep-G2 and colorectal carcinoma human cell lines Caco-2 and Ht-29.

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Cannabinoid extract in microdoses ameliorates mnemonic and nonmnemonic Alzheimer’s disease symptoms: a case report

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Cannabinoid-based therapy has been shown to be promising and is emerging as crucial for the treatment of cognitive deficits, mental illnesses, and many diseases considered incurable. There is a need to find an appropriate therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, and cannabinoid-based therapy appears to be a feasible possibility.

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Can cannabis kill? Characteristics of deaths following cannabis use in England (1998–2020)

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Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug but is rarely considered a causal factor in death. This study aimed to understand trends in deaths in England where cannabinoids were detected at post-mortem, and to evaluate the clinical utility of post-mortem cannabinoid concentrations in coronial investigations.

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Medicinal Cannabis for the Treatment of Chronic Refractory Pain: An Investigation of the Adverse Event Profile and Health-Related Quality of Life Impact of an Oral Formulation

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Medicinal cannabis is prescribed in Australia for patients with chronic refractory pain conditions. However, measures of safety and effectiveness of different cannabinoids are lacking. We designed an observational study to capture effectiveness, adverse events (AEs), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures in patients prescribed an oral medicinal cannabis formulation at Cannabis Access Clinics through the Cannabis Access Clinics Observational study (CACOS).

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An Examination of the Anti-Cancer Properties of Plant Cannabinoids in Preclinical Models of Mesothelioma

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Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer with limited treatment options and a poor prognosis. Phytocannabinoids possess anti-tumour and palliative properties in multiple cancers, however their effects in mesothelioma are unknown. We investigated the anti-cancer effects and potential mechanisms of action for several phytocannabinoids in mesothelioma cell lines.

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Cannabis, Cannabinoids and Cannabis-Based Medicines in Cancer Care

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Cannabis sativa has long been known to affect numerous biological activities. Although plant extracts, purified cannabinoids, or synthetic cannabinoid analogs have shown therapeutic potential in pain, inflammation, seizure disorders, appetite stimulation, muscle spasticity, and treatment of nausea/vomiting, the underlying mechanisms of action remain ill-defined.

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Acidic Cannabinoids Suppress Proinflammatory Cytokine Release by Blocking Store-operated Calcium Entry

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Authors Malika Faouzi, Clay Wakano, Mahealani K Monteilh-Zoller, Ram P Neupane, John G Starkus, Jayanti Bhandari Neupane, Aaron J Cullen, Brandon E Johnson, Andrea Fleig, and Reinhold Penner Published July…

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