Pain Measurement: Scales, questionnaires, tests, and other methods used to assess pain severity and duration in patients or experimental animals to aid in diagnosis, therapy, and physiological studies.Pain: An unpleasant sensation induced by noxious stimuli which are detected by NERVE ENDINGS of NOCICEPTIVE NEURONS.Chronic Pain: Aching sensation that persists for more than a few months. It may or may not be associated with trauma or disease, and may persist after the initial injury has healed. Its localization, character, and timing are more vague than with acute pain.Pain Management: A form of therapy that employs a coordinated and interdisciplinary approach for easing the suffering and improving the quality of life of those experiencing pain.Pain Threshold: Amount of stimulation required before the sensation of pain is experienced.Pain, Postoperative: Pain during the period after surgery.Low Back Pain: Acute or chronic pain in the lumbar or sacral regions, which may be associated with musculo-ligamentous SPRAINS AND STRAINS; INTERVERTEBRAL DISK DISPLACEMENT; and other conditions.Back Pain: Acute or chronic pain located in the posterior regions of the THORAX; LUMBOSACRAL REGION; or the adjacent regions.Neck Pain: Discomfort or more intense forms of pain that are localized to the cervical region. This term generally refers to pain in the posterior or lateral regions of the neck.Abdominal Pain: Sensation of discomfort, distress, or agony in the abdominal region.Pain, Intractable: Persistent pain that is refractory to some or all forms of treatment.Pelvic Pain: Pain in the pelvic region of genital and non-genital origin and of organic or psychogenic etiology. Frequent causes of pain are distension or contraction of hollow viscera, rapid stretching of the capsule of a solid organ, chemical irritation, tissue ischemia, and neuritis secondary to inflammatory, neoplastic, or fibrotic processes in adjacent organs. (Kase, Weingold & Gershenson: Principles and Practice of Clinical Gynecology, 2d ed, pp479-508)Pain Perception: The process by which PAIN is recognized and interpreted by the brain.Facial Pain: Pain in the facial region including orofacial pain and craniofacial pain. Associated conditions include local inflammatory and neoplastic disorders and neuralgic syndromes involving the trigeminal, facial, and glossopharyngeal nerves. Conditions which feature recurrent or persistent facial pain as the primary manifestation of disease are referred to as FACIAL PAIN SYNDROMES.Acute Pain: Intensely discomforting, distressful, or agonizing sensation associated with trauma or disease, with well-defined location, character, and timing.Pain, Referred: A type of pain that is perceived in an area away from the site where the pain arises, such as facial pain caused by lesion of the VAGUS NERVE, or throat problem generating referred pain in the ear.Reproducibility of Results: The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of experimental results.Shoulder Pain: Unilateral or bilateral pain of the shoulder. It is often caused by physical activities such as work or sports participation, but may also be pathologic in origin.Gait: Manner or style of walking.Walking: An activity in which the body advances at a slow to moderate pace by moving the feet in a coordinated fashion. This includes recreational walking, walking for fitness, and competitive race-walking.Patents as Topic: Exclusive legal rights or privileges applied to inventions, plants, etc.Electric Stimulation Therapy: Application of electric current in treatment without the generation of perceptible heat. It includes electric stimulation of nerves or muscles, passage of current into the body, or use of interrupted current of low intensity to raise the threshold of the skin to pain.Complex Regional Pain Syndromes: Conditions characterized by pain involving an extremity or other body region, HYPERESTHESIA, and localized autonomic dysfunction following injury to soft tissue or nerve. The pain is usually associated with ERYTHEMA; SKIN TEMPERATURE changes, abnormal sudomotor activity (i.e., changes in sweating due to altered sympathetic innervation) or edema. The degree of pain and other manifestations is out of proportion to that expected from the inciting event. Two subtypes of this condition have been described: type I; (REFLEX SYMPATHETIC DYSTROPHY) and type II; (CAUSALGIA). (From Pain 1995 Oct;63(1):127-33)Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy: A syndrome characterized by severe burning pain in an extremity accompanied by sudomotor, vasomotor, and trophic changes in bone without an associated specific nerve injury. This condition is most often precipitated by trauma to soft tissue or nerve complexes. The skin over the affected region is usually erythematous and demonstrates hypersensitivity to tactile stimuli and erythema. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1360; Pain 1995 Oct;63(1):127-33)Microcirculation: The circulation of the BLOOD through the MICROVASCULAR NETWORK.Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared: A noninvasive technique that uses the differential absorption properties of hemoglobin and myoglobin to evaluate tissue oxygenation and indirectly can measure regional hemodynamics and blood flow. Near-infrared light (NIR) can propagate through tissues and at particular wavelengths is differentially absorbed by oxygenated vs. deoxygenated forms of hemoglobin and myoglobin. Illumination of intact tissue with NIR allows qualitative assessment of changes in the tissue concentration of these molecules. The analysis is also used to determine body composition.Causalgia: A complex regional pain syndrome characterized by burning pain and marked sensitivity to touch (HYPERESTHESIA) in the distribution of an injured peripheral nerve. Autonomic dysfunction in the form of sudomotor (i.e., sympathetic innervation to sweat glands), vasomotor, and trophic skin changes may also occur. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1359)Autonomic Nerve Block: Interruption of sympathetic pathways, by local injection of an anesthetic agent, at any of four levels: peripheral nerve block, sympathetic ganglion block, extradural block, and subarachnoid block.Microvessels: The finer blood vessels of the vasculature that are generally less than 100 microns in internal diameter.Federal Government: The level of governmental organization and function at the national or country-wide level.Triplets: Three individuals derived from three FETUSES that were fertilized at or about the same time, developed in the UTERUS simultaneously, and born to the same mother.Fetal Mortality: Number of fetal deaths with stated or presumed gestation of 20 weeks or more in a given population. Late fetal mortality is death after of 28 weeks or more.Quintuplets: Five individuals derived from five FETUSES that were fertilized at or about the same time, developed in the UTERUS simultaneously, and born to the same mother.Multiple Birth Offspring: The offspring in multiple pregnancies (PREGNANCY, MULTIPLE): TWINS; TRIPLETS; QUADRUPLETS; QUINTUPLETS; etc.Government: The complex of political institutions, laws, and customs through which the function of governing is carried out in a specific political unit.United StatesMethoxyflurane: An inhalation anesthetic. Currently, methoxyflurane is rarely used for surgical, obstetric, or dental anesthesia. If so employed, it should be administered with NITROUS OXIDE to achieve a relatively light level of anesthesia, and a neuromuscular blocking agent given concurrently to obtain the desired degree of muscular relaxation. (From AMA Drug Evaluations Annual, 1994, p180)Awards and PrizesMetabolomics: The systematic identification and quantitation of all the metabolic products of a cell, tissue, organ, or organism under varying conditions. The METABOLOME of a cell or organism is a dynamic collection of metabolites which represent its net response to current conditions.Canada: The largest country in North America, comprising 10 provinces and three territories. Its capital is Ottawa.Alberta: A province of western Canada, lying between the provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Its capital is Edmonton. It was named in honor of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p26 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p12)British Columbia: A province of Canada on the Pacific coast. Its capital is Victoria. The name given in 1858 derives from the Columbia River which was named by the American captain Robert Gray for his ship Columbia which in turn was named for Columbus. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p178 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p81-2)Dissertations, Academic as Topic: Dissertations embodying results of original research and especially substantiating a specific view, e.g., substantial papers written by candidates for an academic degree under the individual direction of a professor or papers written by undergraduates desirous of achieving honors or distinction.Ceremonial Behavior: A series of actions, sometimes symbolic actions which may be associated with a behavior pattern, and are often indispensable to its performance.Heart Rate: The number of times the HEART VENTRICLES contract per unit of time, usually per minute.Thoracotomy: Surgical incision into the chest wall.Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung: A heterogeneous aggregate of at least three distinct histological types of lung cancer, including SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA; ADENOCARCINOMA; and LARGE CELL CARCINOMA. They are dealt with collectively because of their shared treatment strategy.Lung Neoplasms: Tumors or cancer of the LUNG.Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted: Endoscopic surgery of the pleural cavity performed with visualization via video transmission.Thoracic Surgical Procedures: Surgery performed on the thoracic organs, most commonly the lungs and the heart.Thoracic Surgery: A surgical specialty concerned with diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart, lungs, and esophagus. Two major types of thoracic surgery are classified as pulmonary and cardiovascular.Treatment Outcome: Evaluation undertaken to assess the results or consequences of management and procedures used in combating disease in order to determine the efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and practicability of these interventions in individual cases or series.