Genes, Environment and Therapeutic Strategies
In the meeting, Miles Chen, PhD and Kent Logan, MD Neurology of Chi Wellness and Chi NeuroHealth clinics will present a poster, entitled Tuina Therapy as Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Neurodegenerative Diseases. They report a case study of MS and Parkinson’s disease patients after receiving Tuina therapy. Those patients receiving Tuina appreciate marked and sustained mitigation of extremity spasticity and rigidity. Gait dexterity, speed, and agility are improved. Extremity pain and stiffness are reduced. Sense of wellness is enhanced. Moreover, empiric observations support a direct relationship between Tuina intensity (discomfort) and patient response. These two cases are unique among our neurodegenerative diseases cases because the MS patient (Case L) is also a neurologist and author of this report, and the PD patient (Case M, a MIT professor) did not use any medications. They suggest that Tuina may induce sustainable relief of spasticity and rigidity through certain neural plasticity. Pain may be a necessary signal for the brain to reorganize and overcome a monophasic or progressive injury such as seen in neurodegenerative disorders. We postulate that the ascending pain pathways may be capable of inducing reparative change to the descending spastic, motor pathways and muscle spindle gamma motor neuron overactivity. We hope to collaborate with clinicians in further clinical study of this treatment strategy for sporadic Neurodegeneration.
Robert H. Brown, Jr., M.D., D. Phil.
Professor of Neurology
Harvard Medical School
Director, Day Neuromuscular Research Laboratory and
Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic
Massachusetts General Hospital
Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
Daryl A. Bosco, Ph.D.
Instructor
Day Neuromuscular Research Laboratory
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
Alberto Ascherio, M.D., DrPH
Associate Professor
Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Raymond Bartus, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President
Chief Operating Officer
Ceregene, Inc.
San Diego, California, USA
Scott Brady, Ph.D.
Professor and Head Department of Anatomy
and Cell Biology
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Ana Maria Cuervo, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Anatomy
and Structural Biology
Marion Bessin Liver Research Center
Institute for Aging Research
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, New York, USA
Kevin Eggan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Assistant Investigator
Stowers Medical Institute
Principal Investigator
Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Mike Fainzilber, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Weizmann Institute of Science
Department of Biological Chemistry
Molecular Neurobiology Group
Rehovot, Israel
Alfred Goldberg, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Department of Cell Biology
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
John H. Growdon, M.D.
Professor of Neurology
Havard Medical School
Attending Neurologist
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Leonard Guarente, Ph.D.
Novartis Professor of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Biology
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Bradley T. Hyman, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Alzheimer Disease Research Center
John B. Penney Jr. Professor
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
Jean-Pierre Julien, Ph.D.
Professor
Laval University
Research Centre of CHUQ
Quebec, Canada
Brian Kaspar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Center for Gene Therapy and Neuromuscular Research
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Ohio State Univeristy
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Tom Maniatis, Ph.D.
Thomas H. Lee Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Harvard University
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Richard Mayeux, M.D., M.Sc.
Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry
& Epidemiology
Director, Sergievsky Center Co-Director,
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease
and the Aging Brain
Columbia University Medical Center
Sergievsky Center/Taub Institute
New York, New York, USA
Timothy M. Miller, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Hope Center for Neurological Disorders
Washington University School of Medicine
Department of Neurology
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Lorene Nelson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Chief, Division of Epidemiology
Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Health Research and Policy
Stanford, California, USA
Greg Petsko, D.Phil.
Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry
Brandeis University
Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center
Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
Al W. Sandrock, Jr., M.D.,
Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Neurology
Biogen Idec
Research & Development
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Christopher E. Shaw, MBChB, M.D., FRACP, FRCP
Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics
MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research
Head of Department of Clinical Neuroscience
The Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London
De Crespigny Park, London, United Kingdom
David G. Standaert, M.D., Ph.D.
John and Juanelle Strain Professor and
Vice Chair of Neurology
Director, Center for Neurodegeneration and
Experimental Therapeutics
Director, Division of Movement Disorders
University of Albama
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Neurology
Harvard Medical School
Director, Genetics and Aging Research Unit
MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease
Massachusetts General Hospital
Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
Jeffery L. Twiss, M.D., Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor
Head, Neuroscience Research Laboratory
Department of Research
A.I. duPont Hospital for Children
Wilmington, Delaware, USA