Inhibitory Effects of Bio-Energy Therapies on Cancer Growth——An overview of recent laboratory studies in the U.S. And its implications in cancer treat

Bioenergy therapies (such as Qigong, Reiki, Yoga, Pranic healing, and Therapeutic touch) have reported benefits for cancer patients, but few randomized control trials were done to verify their efficacy. It is believed that laboratory study of inhibitory effects of bio-energy therapies on cancer growth may lead to an understanding of the true efficacy of bio-energy and create a foundation for future clinical trials. Methods: Typical in-vitro study involved randomly dividing lab-prepared cancer cells into different groups with one being treated by bio-energy therapy and one or more as control groups. Sometimes, controls were treated by a sham healer. Typical in vivo study involved injecting or implanting cancerous cells into mice, then randomly dividing them into various groups. The control could be either non-treatment or sham treatment; the outcomes include tumor size or survival time. Results: Most studies demonstrated some inhibitory effects of bioenergy therapies on the growth of cancer cells in comparison with control. The in vivo studies reported that the bio-energy treated group had significantly slower tumor growth or longer survival lives than those in the control. One study reported survival with a normal life cycle instead of dying in 3 weeks, and cancer-infected mice developed immune response to the same breast cancer. However, researchers are confronted with methodological challenges in choosing appropriate controis, minimizing contamination, and replicating study outcomes. Conclusion: Encouraging evidence suggests hioenergy may have inhibitory effects on cancer growth, or prolong the life of cancer-infected animals, although improvement is needed in research design and replication of the findings. Bioenergy for cancer treatment is an area that is often neglected by mainstream medicine and research,and it should be seriously examined and considered as an important supplement to conventional cancer treatment.

Gene therapy recently has become an important area of research as a new therapeutic method. In vivo and in vitro gene therapies require efficient delivery of genetic material into a cell and preferably high levels of expression of transferred gene. Traditionally, gene delivery systems are classified as viral vector-mediated systems and nonviral vector-mediated systems. Viral vectors, which have been demonstrated as systems with high transfection efficiency, however, are limited due to adverse effects such as immunogenicity, toxicity, limited DNA carrying capacity and mutagenesis caused by cell-infected viruses[1].

I INTRODUCTIONTissue engineering has increasingly attracted as a promising new technology to assist tissue regeneration at body defects as well as biological functions of damaged or injured organs. There are three factors necessary for tissue engineering: growth factors, cells, and materials for scaffolding. Since among them is growth factor of protein or glycoprotein, which is susceptible to proteolysis and denaturation, if the growth factor is administered in solution form into the body, one cannot always expect the biological function. Therefore, it is of prime necessity to develop dosage forms for in vivo prolongation of the biological activity. One possible way is to incorporate a growth factor into an appropriate matrix for achieving controlled release of the factor at the site of action over a long time period. Numerous studies have been performed on protein release by taking advantage of polymer matrices[1-5],but there is a problem before us in the protein release technology, i.e., loss in the biological activity of protein released. It has been demonstrated that this activity loss mainly results from protein denaturation and deactivation during a formulation process with a polymer matrix. When exposed to harsh environmental changes, such as heating and exposure to sonication and organic solvents, protein is generally denatured, losing its biological activity[6-8]. Therefore, it is required to contrive a new formulation method for growth factor release under mild conditions to minimize protein deactivation. From this viewpoint, hydrogel is a preferable candidate for a release matrix because of its biosafety and inertness toward protein[9]. However, it should be noted that the period of protein release from hydrogels is mostly as short as a day because of their diffusion-controlled characteristics[1,2,9,10].

Among the various treatment methods for stroke, increasing attention has been paid to tradi-tional Chinese medicines. Buyang Huanwu decoction is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of stroke. This paper summarizes the active components of the Chinese herb, which is composed of Huangqi (Radix Astragali seu Hedysari), Danggui (Radix Angelica sinensis), Chishao (Radix Paeoniae Rubra), Chuanxiong (Rhizoma Ligustici Chuanx-iong), Honghua (Flos Carthami), Taoren (Semen Persicae) and Dilong (Pheretima), and identiifes the therapeutic targets and underlying mechanisms that contribute to the neuroprotective prop-erties of Buyang Huanwu decoction.

Previous neuropathological studies regarding traumatic brain injury have primarily focused on changes in large structures, for example, the clinical prognosis after cerebral contusion, intrace-rebral hematoma, and epidural and subdural hematoma. In fact, many smaller injuries can also lead to severe neurological disorders. For example, cerebral microbleeds result in the dysfunc-tion of adjacent neurons and the disassociation between cortex and subcortical structures. These tiny changes cannot be adequately visualized on CT or conventional MRI. In contrast, gradient echo sequence-based susceptibility-weighted imaging is very sensitive to blood metabolites and microbleeds, and can be used to evaluate traumatic cerebral microbleeds with high sensitivity and accuracy. Cerebral microbleed can be considered as an important imaging marker for dif-fuse axonal injury with potential relevance for prognosis. For this reason, based on experimental and clinical studies, this study reviews the role of imaging data showing traumatic cerebral mi-crobleeds in the evaluation of cerebral neuronal injury and neurofunctional loss.

Stroke is usually treated by systemic thrombolytic therapy if the patient presents within an ap-propriate time window. There is also widespread interest in the development of thrombolytic agents that can be used in cases of delayed presentation. Current agents that can be used in cases of delayed presentation of nerve damage by thrombus. Current systemic thrombolytic therapy is associated with adverse effects such as ifbrinogenolysis and bleeding. In an attempt to increase the efifcacy, safety, and speciifcity of thrombolytic therapy, a number of targeted thrombolytic agents have been studied in recent years. This review focuses on the concepts underlying targeted thrombolytic therapy and describes recent drug developments in this ifeld.

One of the wel -defined sexual y dimorphic structures in the brain is the sexual y dimorphic nucleus, a cluster of cells located in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus. The rodent sexual y dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area can be delineated histological y using conventional Nissl staining or immunohistochemical y using calbindin D28K immunoreactivity. There is increasing use of the bindin D28K-delineated neural cluster to define the sexual y dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area in rodents. Several mechanisms are proposed to underlie the processes that contribute to the sexual dimorphism (size difference) of the sexual y dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area. Recent evidence indicates that stem cellactivity, including proliferation and migration presumably from the 3rd ventricle stem cellniche, may play a critical role in the postnatal development of the sexual y dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area and its distinguishing sexual y dimorphic feature: a signifi-cantly larger volume in males. Sex hormones and estrogen-like compounds can affect the size of the sexual y dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area. Despite considerable research, it remains un-clear whether estrogen-like compounds and/or sex hormones increase size of the sexual y dimor-phic nucleus of the preoptic area via an increase in stem cellactivity originating from the 3rd ventricle stem cellniche.

In the treatment of brachial plexus injury, nerves that are functionally less important are trans-ferred onto the distal ends of damaged crucial nerves to help recover neuromuscular function in the target region. For example, intercostal nerves are transferred onto axillary nerves, and accessory nerves are transferred onto suprascapular nerves, the phrenic nerve is transferred onto the musculocutaneous nerves, and the contralateral C7 nerve is transferred onto the median or radial nerves. Nerve transfer has become a major method for reconstructing the brachial plexus after avulsion injury. Many experiments have shown that nerve transfers for treatment of brachi-al plexus injury can help reconstruct cerebral cortical function and increase cortical plasticity. In this review article, we summarize the recent progress in the use of diverse nerve transfer methods for the repair of brachial plexus injury, and we discuss the impact of nerve transfer on cerebral cortical plasticity after brachial plexus injury.

Neural cell differentiation and maturation is a critical step during central nervous system devel-opment. The oligodendrocyte transcription family (Olig family) is known to be an important factor in regulating neural cell differentiation. Because of this, the Olig family also affects acute and chronic central nervous system diseases, including brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and even gliomas. Improved understanding about the functions of the Olig family in central nervous system development and disease will greatly aid novel breakthroughs in central nervous system diseases. This review investigates the role of the Olig family in central nervous system develop-ment and related diseases.

Recent clinical research has demonstrated that berry fruits can prevent age-related neurodegen-erative diseases and improve motor and cognitive functions. The berry fruits are also capable of modulating signaling pathways involved in inflammation, cell survival, neurotransmission and enhancing neuroplasticity. The neuroprotective effects of berry fruits on neurodegenerative diseases are related to phytochemicals such as anthocyanin, caffeic acid, catechin, quercetin, kae-mpferol and tannin. In this review, we made an attempt to clearly describe the beneifcial effects of various types of berries as promising neuroprotective agents.

Two key characteristics of all virtual reality applications are interaction and immersion. Systemic interaction is achieved through a variety of multisensory channels (hearing, sight, touch, and smell), permitting the user to interact with the virtual world in real time. Immersion is the degree to which a person can feel wrapped in the virtual world through a deifned interface. Virtual real-ity interface devices such as the Nintendo? Wii and its peripheral nunchuks-balance board, head mounted displays and joystick allow interaction and immersion in unreal environments created from computer software. Virtual environments are highly interactive, generating great activation of visual, vestibular and proprioceptive systems during the execution of a video game. In addi-tion, they are entertaining and safe for the user. Recently, incorporating therapeutic purposes in virtual reality interface devices has allowed them to be used for the rehabilitation of neurological patients, e.g., balance training in older adults and dynamic stability in healthy participants. The improvements observed in neurological diseases (chronic stroke and cerebral palsy) have been shown by changes in the reorganization of neural networks in patients’ brain, along with better hand function and other skills, contributing to their quality of life. The data generated by such studies could substantially contribute to physical rehabilitation strategies.

This paper summarized the Chinese literatures in the previous 5 years about the pre-clinical animal researches on the application of electro-acupuncture (EA) treatment for depression, searched in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The efficiency of EA treatment for depression and the mechanism of it were discussed, to shed light on new ideas and new fronts for the further research on depression in clinical or pre-clinical fields.

Surgery following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) is a common multidisciplinary treatment for resectable esophageal cancer (EC). Atfer analyzing 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), we discuss the key issues of surgery in the management of resectable EC. Along with chemoradiotherapy, NCRT is recommended for patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC), and most chemotherapy regimens are based on cisplatin, lfuorouracil (FU), or both (CF). However, taxane-based schedules or additional studies, together with newer chemotherapies, are warranted. In nine clinical trials, post-operative complications were similar without significant differences between two treatment groups. In-hospital mortality was signiifcantly different in only 1 out of 10 trials. Half of the randomized trials that compare NCRT with surgery in EC demonstrate an increase in overall survival or disease-free survival. NCRT offers a great opportunity for margin negative resection, decreased disease stage, and improved loco-regional control. However, NCRT does not affect the quality of life when combined with esophagectomy. Future trials should focus on the identiifcation of optimum regimens and selection of patients who are most likely to beneift from speciifc treatment options.

By computer research, the literature of clinical and experimental studies on moxibustion therapy for chronic gastritis in the recent fifteen years was collected, sorted and analyzed, in order to understand the general situation about the clinical and experimental studies on moxibustion therapy for chronic gastritis, summarize the regularity of moxibustion therapy for chronic gastritis, so as to guide the treatment of chronic gastritis.

Autophagy is a lysosome-mediated degradation process for non-essential or damaged celular constituents, playing an important homeostatic role in cel survival, differentiation and development to maintain homeostasis. Autophagy is involved in tumors as wel as neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Recently, active compounds from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been found to modulate the levels of autophagy in tumor cels, nerve cels, myocardial cels and endothelial cels. Ischemic stroke is a major cause of neurological disability and places a heavy burden on family and society. Regaining function can signiifcantly reduce dependence and improve the quality of life of stroke survivors. In healthy cels, autophagy plays a key role in adapting to nutritional deprivation and eliminating aggregated proteins, however inappropriate activation of autophagy may lead to cel death in cerebral ischemia. This paper reviews the process and the molecular basis of autophagy, as wel as its roles in cerebral ischemia and the roles of TCM in modulating its activity.

Diabetes is a common metabolic disorder characterized by abnormaly increased plasma glucose levels. Postprandial hyperglycemia plays an essential role in development of type-2 diabetes. Inhibitors of carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes (such as α-glucosidase and α-amylase) offer an effective strategy to regulate/prevent hyperglycemia by controling starch breakdown. Natural α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitors, as wel as antioxidants from plant-based sources, offer a source of dietary ingredients that affect human physiological function in order to treat diabetes. Several research studies have investigated the effectiveness of plant-based inhibitors of α-amylase and α-glucosidase, as wel as their antioxidant activity. The aim of this review is to summarize the antidiabetic and antioxidant properties of several medicinal plants around the world. Half inhibitory concentration (IC50,for enzyme suppression) and half effective concentration (EC50, for antioxidant activity) values of less than 500 μg/mL were deifned as the most potent plant-based inhibitors (in vitro) and are expected to provide interesting candidates for herbal treatment of diabetes, as foods, supplements, or reifned drugs.

Expression of lysophosphatidic acid and its receptor in human pancreatic cancer and its clinical evaluation of diagnosis and therapy

Lysophosphatidic acid(LPA) is a naturally occurring phospholipid with diverse effects in various cells, ranging from immediate morphological alteration to long lasting cellular function changes, such as induction of stimulation of cell proliferation, survival, drug resistance and motility. Like many other biomediators, LPA interacts with cells through specific cell surface receptors(G protein-coupled receptors). LPA1/Edg-2,LPA2/Edg-4 and LPA3/Edg-7, named as Edg/LP subfamily, are the three most common lysophosphatidic acid receptors. LPA plays a critical role as a general growth, survival and pro-angiogenic factor in the regulation of pathophysiological processes in vivo and in vitro. Recent literatures suggest that abnormalities in LPA metabolism and function in pancreatic cancer patients may contribute to the initiation and progression of the disease. Thus, LPA might be a potential target for clinical pancreatic cancer diagnosis and therapy. Herein we review the expression of LPA and its receptors in the carcinogenesis of human malignancies, with focus on human pancreatic cancer, and also clinical diagnosis and treatment has been evaluated.