The reliability of preemptive analgesia is controversial. Its effectiveness may vary among anatomical areas or surgical types. We evaluated preemptive analgesia by epidural morphine in six surgery types in a randomized, double-blind manner. Pain intensity was rated using a visual analog scale, a verbal report, and a measurement of postsurgical morphine consumption. Preemptive analgesia was effe...

To investigate the selective parasympathetic control of atrioventricular (AV) conduction during sympathetic activation, we studied the effects of cervical vagus nerve stimulation on the positive dromotropic responses to sympathetic interventions before and after surgical dissection of dual fatty tissues at the junction of the inferior vena cava and inferior left atrium and at the right atrial s...

Objective(s) Achillea genius is widely used in traditional medicine for gastrointestinal disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of aqueous-ethanol extract of Achillea wilhelmsii on rat’s gastric motility in basal and vagal stimulated conditions. Materials and Methods Twenty four Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: control and test. The extract was prep...

produces the cardiac slowing, because cardiac glycosides can produce bradycardia even after bilateral severance of vagus nerves or under the effect of atropine (3, 4). Gold et al. (5, 6) suggested a direct bradycardiac action of cardiac glycosides on the heart muscle. However, the results on the effect of cardiac glycosides on the heart rate are still con troversial in the experiments with isol...

The vagus nerve is the longest of 12 pairs of nerves that originate in the brain, serving as the brain’s central command in the fight against stress, inflammation, and toxicity. The vagus helps regulate our “fight or flight” response, digestion, detoxification, various aspects of heart rate, and blood pressure. Recent research indicates it also regulates our immune system and provides us with a...

Activation of the vagal afferents by noxious gastrointestinal stimuli suggests that vagal afferents may play a complex role in visceral pain processes. The contribution of the vagus nerve to visceral pain remains unresolved. Previous studies reported that patients following chronic vagotomy have lower pain thresholds. The patient with irritable bowel syndrome has been shown alteration of vagal ...