Ache

• This agreement provides clients, families and the community access to CareFlash's signature platform, "The Careopolis, a Metropolis of Love and Empathy."
• As in the brief video on Connell's website ( https://www.connellfuneral.com/careopolis/careopolis ), a Careopolis is an online "caring community," created and operated by a family and invited loved ones.
• A Careopolis enhances how loved ones:
  Adds Jamie Connell, Co-President, Connell Funeral Home, "When families experience a death, loved ones can at times be at a loss for what to say.
• Adds Matt Connell, Co-President, Connell Funeral Home, "Forward thinking death-care professionals view our role more holistically than has traditionally been the case.

• The campaign marks a reset for the brand that will be brought to life through a range of initiatives championing everyday heroes, including a visually captivating television commercial directed by BAFTA award-winning director Charlotte Wells.
• "As a brand with a storied history of nourishing potential in others, we are thrilled to partner with Charlotte Wells to celebrate the unsung heroes who inspire greatness in all of us."
• In the acclaimed filmmaker's first commercial film, Charlotte Wells beautifully captures the spirit of this campaign.
• The emotionally compelling short film follows a father and son as they navigate life's stages together, from childhood to adulthood.

• Novelist Jim Fusilli returns with THE PRICE YOU PAY, available now from Down & Out Books.
• The man who put him in jeopardy: his father, a renegade policeman well-known to Jersey City's politicians and drug dealers.
• THE PRICE YOU PAY is Fusilli's tenth novel, but his first available in print in bookstores as well as via online retailers in 15 years.
• Added Meg Gardiner, "With THE PRICE YOU PAY, Fusilli gives us a tough and heartfelt coming of age crime story—gritty, suspenseful, involving.

• It’s a result of complex interactions between your immune system and your brain called the “neuroimmune synapse”.
• Read more:
  Turning down the volume of pain – how to retrain your brain when you get sensitised

Immunology basics

• Yes, it fights off infections for us – but it also makes us acutely aware of the job it is doing.
• When our body detects an infection, our immune system releases molecules including signalling proteins called cytokines.
• Classically, we think of this as a beneficial behavioural change to help us conserve energy to fight off the infection.

Invisibly small changes

• When molecular changes occur in part of the brain linked to cognition or mood, we think and feel differently.
• If these neuroimmune synapse changes happen in the sensory processing regions of the brain and spinal cord, we feel more pain.

Immune memories

• In fact, the sick feeling we sometimes get after a vaccination is the good work our immune system is doing to contribute to a protective immune memory.
• Women, who generally have a stronger immune response than men, may be more likely to experience pain symptoms.
• Their heightened immune response (while beneficial in resisting infections) also predisposes women to a higher risk of inflammatory conditions like autoimmune diseases.

When to worry and what to do

• Mild to moderate pain is a common symptom during illness and we often notice this in the lower back.
• The good news is it usually subsides as the infection clears and the sickness resolves.
• While treating the underlying infection is crucial, there are also ways to dial down sickness-induced neuroimmune pain.

All in the mind?

• But by understanding the mechanisms of back pain during illness and by using some simple strategies, there is hope to manage this pain effectively.
• Joshua W Pate is the author of the pain science children's book series titled Zoe and Zak's Pain Hacks.