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Who would have thought that speed bumps could be so helpful? Ig Nobel prize winner Helen shares how the pain induced by speed bumps can be used in diagnosis. Rebeccah will then introduce us to a different area of pain research - pain experienced in newborn babies, and cutting edge methods she is using to understand it.
Speed bumps: pain in the *** or diagnostic tool?
Dr Helen Ashdown
(Clinical Research Fellow)
Helen and colleagues noticed that patients with appendicitis moaned about the speed bumps on the journey into hospital. They wondered if this might be a new question to ask to help with diagnosis, so they put it to the test. Their paper was published in 2012, and in 2015 the team were awarded the Ig Nobel prize for Diagnostic Medicine at Harvard University. Dr Ashdown will talk about the science behind the study and what they found, as well as sharing her experience of being showered with thousands of paper aeroplanes on a Harvard stage, while dressed as a speed bump.
Infant pain
Professor Rebeccah Slater
(Associate Professor of Paediatric Neuroimaging)
Rebeccah will talk about her current work using the most up-to-date brain imaging techniques to better understand the development of pain perception in newborn babies. Rebeccah originally trained as a physicist before specialising in neuroscience and setting up her own research group in Oxford. The Paediatric Neuroimaging Research Group are interested in understanding how to measure and treat pain in babies.
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