422
More recently, scientists have “developed an electroencephalography-based test
to objectively measure pain… [in which] brain activity is measured in the form of
oscillations or ‘waves’ of a certain frequency…that correlates with pain in animals…the ‘theta band’ …[such that] computational analysis of theta brain waves to
determine their power can be used to objectively measure pain in rodents and
humans in a non-invasive manner…“
19
Functional magnetic resonance imaging has
also been utilized to devise yet other pain callibrations.
20
Far more elegant and realistic assessments of pain can be ascertained in such
recent reflections as those of Noelia Bueno-Gómez of the Department of Philosophy
and Research Center Medical Humanities at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Like Anderson, she has applied a highly empathetic, sophisticated approach to
respectfully delineating the very conceptualization of suffering and of pain.
21
All vertebrates are thought to possess endogenous opioid neuromodulators to
deflect pain to some extent. But there is more than ample empirical evidence to
prove the same modulation exists in invertebrates, from fruit flies to lobsters.
22
19 Suguru Koyama, Brian W. LeBlanc, Kelsey A. Smith, Catherine Roach, Joshua Levitt,
Muhammad M. Edhi, Mai Michishita, Takayuki Komatsu, Okishi Mashita, Aki Tanikawa, Satoru
Yoshikawa, Carl Y. Saab. An Electroencephalography Bioassay for Preclinical Testing of Analgesic
Efficacy. Scientific Reports, 2018; 8 (1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34594-2.
20 See, “An fMRI-Based Neurologic Signature of Physical Pain,” Tor D. Wager, Ph.D., Lauren
Y. Atlas, Ph.D., Martin A. Lindquist, Ph.D., Mathieu Roy, Ph.D., Choong-Wan Woo, A., and Ethan
Kross, Ph.D., April 11, 2013, N Engl J Med 2013; 368:1388-1397, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/
NEJMoa1204471, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1204471, Accessed April 27,
2020.
21 Noelia Bueno-Gómez, “Conceptualizing suffering and pain.” Philos Ethics Humanit Med 12, 7
(2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13010-017-0049-5, Published 29 September, 2017DOI: https://
doi.org/10.1186/s13010-017-0049-5, Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 12, Article
Number: 7 (2017) https://peh-med.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13010-017-00495#citeas, Accessed April 27, 2020. See also, Cassel EJ. The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of
Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2004. See also, Sorensen A. “The Paradox of Modern
Suffering.” The Journal for Research in Sickness and Society. 2010; 13:131–159.
22 See “Study Finds Insects Can Experience Chronic Pain,” by Jason Daley, Smithsonian Magazine,
July 16, 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/insects-can-experience-chronicpain-study-finds-180972656/. Accessed April 28, 2020. See also, “Fish do feel pain, study confirms,” by Russell Deeks, October 6, 2019, BBC Science Focus Magazine, https://www.
sciencefocus.com/news/fish-do-feel-pain-study-confirms/. Accessed April 28, 2020. See also.
“Cephalopods and Decapod Crustaceans – Their Capacity To Experience Pain And Suffering,”
Advocates for Animals, 2005. The publication also makes clear the relation between “Nociception,”
“The role of opioid molecules in the regulation of pain,” and “Similarities between stress systems
in vertebrates and invertebrates”. https://web.archive.org/web/20080406120543/ http://www.
advocatesforanimals.org.uk/pdf/crustreport.pdf; More recently, tremendous amounts of research
have attended upon invertebrates, particularly the octopus. (See Other Minds: The Octopus, the
Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
New York, 2016. In which the Author poses such conjectures, as “What is it like to have eight
tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually ‘think for themselves’?” See also,
OneKind, “Cephalopods and decapod crustaceans deserve legal protection,” https://www.onekind.
scot/campaigns/seatheirsuffering/. Accessed April 28, 2020. See, in addition, faunalytics, https://
faunalytics.org/cephalopods-and-decapod-crustaceans-their-capacity-to-experience-pain-and-suffering/ November 25, 2011.
46 Famine in Bangladesh
More recently, scientists have “developed an electroencephalography-based test
to objectively measure pain… [in which] brain activity is measured in the form of
oscillations or ‘waves’ of a certain frequency…that correlates with pain in animals…the ‘theta band’ …[such that] computational analysis of theta brain waves to
determine their power can be used to objectively measure pain in rodents and
humans in a non-invasive manner…“
19
Functional magnetic resonance imaging has
also been utilized to devise yet other pain callibrations.
20
Far more elegant and realistic assessments of pain can be ascertained in such
recent reflections as those of Noelia Bueno-Gómez of the Department of Philosophy
and Research Center Medical Humanities at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Like Anderson, she has applied a highly empathetic, sophisticated approach to
respectfully delineating the very conceptualization of suffering and of pain.
21
All vertebrates are thought to possess endogenous opioid neuromodulators to
deflect pain to some extent. But there is more than ample empirical evidence to
prove the same modulation exists in invertebrates, from fruit flies to lobsters.
22
19 Suguru Koyama, Brian W. LeBlanc, Kelsey A. Smith, Catherine Roach, Joshua Levitt,
Muhammad M. Edhi, Mai Michishita, Takayuki Komatsu, Okishi Mashita, Aki Tanikawa, Satoru
Yoshikawa, Carl Y. Saab. An Electroencephalography Bioassay for Preclinical Testing of Analgesic
Efficacy. Scientific Reports, 2018; 8 (1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34594-2.
20 See, “An fMRI-Based Neurologic Signature of Physical Pain,” Tor D. Wager, Ph.D., Lauren
Y. Atlas, Ph.D., Martin A. Lindquist, Ph.D., Mathieu Roy, Ph.D., Choong-Wan Woo, A., and Ethan
Kross, Ph.D., April 11, 2013, N Engl J Med 2013; 368:1388-1397, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/
NEJMoa1204471, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1204471, Accessed April 27,
2020.
21 Noelia Bueno-Gómez, “Conceptualizing suffering and pain.” Philos Ethics Humanit Med 12, 7
(2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13010-017-0049-5, Published 29 September, 2017DOI: https://
doi.org/10.1186/s13010-017-0049-5, Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 12, Article
Number: 7 (2017) https://peh-med.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13010-017-00495#citeas, Accessed April 27, 2020. See also, Cassel EJ. The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of
Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2004. See also, Sorensen A. “The Paradox of Modern
Suffering.” The Journal for Research in Sickness and Society. 2010; 13:131–159.
22 See “Study Finds Insects Can Experience Chronic Pain,” by Jason Daley, Smithsonian Magazine,
July 16, 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/insects-can-experience-chronicpain-study-finds-180972656/. Accessed April 28, 2020. See also, “Fish do feel pain, study confirms,” by Russell Deeks, October 6, 2019, BBC Science Focus Magazine, https://www.
sciencefocus.com/news/fish-do-feel-pain-study-confirms/. Accessed April 28, 2020. See also.
“Cephalopods and Decapod Crustaceans – Their Capacity To Experience Pain And Suffering,”
Advocates for Animals, 2005. The publication also makes clear the relation between “Nociception,”
“The role of opioid molecules in the regulation of pain,” and “Similarities between stress systems
in vertebrates and invertebrates”. https://web.archive.org/web/20080406120543/ http://www.
advocatesforanimals.org.uk/pdf/crustreport.pdf; More recently, tremendous amounts of research
have attended upon invertebrates, particularly the octopus. (See Other Minds: The Octopus, the
Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
New York, 2016. In which the Author poses such conjectures, as “What is it like to have eight
tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually ‘think for themselves’?” See also,
OneKind, “Cephalopods and decapod crustaceans deserve legal protection,” https://www.onekind.
scot/campaigns/seatheirsuffering/. Accessed April 28, 2020. See, in addition, faunalytics, https://
faunalytics.org/cephalopods-and-decapod-crustaceans-their-capacity-to-experience-pain-and-suffering/ November 25, 2011.
46 Famine in Bangladesh