Huntington's disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative, and autosomal dominant disease characterized by motor- and psychiatric disturbances, and cognitive decline. Since there is no cure, all treatment is aimed at ...Huntington's disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative, and autosomal dominant disease characterized by motor- and psychiatric disturbances, and cognitive decline. Since there is no cure, all treatment is aimed at improving quality of life. One form of non-drug therapy which is barely recognized, is music therapy. The literature on its use and effect in patients with Huntington's disease is limited. We therefore performed a detailed literature survey in order to delineate the different types of music therapy interventions and their aims. Music therapy studies were included when targeting: (1) motor disturbances; (2) cognitive disturbances; (3) psychiatric disturbances; and (4) emotional/social disturbances. A total of eight studies that met these criteria were analyzed. We found that music therapy interventions vary throughout the different stages of the disease and are not yet applied optimally. Not the stage of the disease but the individual treatment goals seem to be more determinative for the music therapy indications. In conclusion, precise aims and methods in relation to the stage of the disease are not well determined. There is a need for systematic study of this treatment option.展开更多
Point selection along the course of meridians is the basic principle for acupuncture prescription and selection of points. In application, there are three categories of point selection: selection of local and adjacent...Point selection along the course of meridians is the basic principle for acupuncture prescription and selection of points. In application, there are three categories of point selection: selection of local and adjacent points; selection of distant points, and selection of symptomatic points. Based on the展开更多
Much has been learned about the etiology and pathogenesis of schizophrenia since the term was first used by Eugene Bleuler over a century ago to describe one of the most important forms of major mental illness to affe...Much has been learned about the etiology and pathogenesis of schizophrenia since the term was first used by Eugene Bleuler over a century ago to describe one of the most important forms of major mental illness to affect mankind.Both nature and nurture feature prominently in our understanding of the genesis of the overall risk of developing schizophrenia.We now have a firm grasp of the broad structure of the genetic architecture and several key environmental risk factors have been identified and delineated.However,much of the heritability of schizophrenia remains unexplained and the reported environmental risk factors do not explain all the variances not attributable to genetic risk factors.The biggest problem at present is that our understanding of the causal mechanisms involved is still in its infancy.In this review,we describe the extent and limits of our knowledge of the specific genetic/constitutional and non-genetic/environmental factors that contribute to the overall risk of schizophrenia.We suggest novel methods may be required to understand the almost certainly immensely complex multi-level causal mechanisms that contribute to the generation of the schizophrenia phenotype.展开更多
Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of Jin's three-needle therapy on post-stroke cognitive impairment(PSCI)and the effect on neuroelectrophysiology(event-related potentials).Methods:A total of 60 PSCI patie...Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of Jin's three-needle therapy on post-stroke cognitive impairment(PSCI)and the effect on neuroelectrophysiology(event-related potentials).Methods:A total of 60 PSCI patients were selected and divided into a treatment group and a control group according to the method of random number table,with 30 cases in each group.The patients in the control group received routine treatment while the patients in the treatment group received additional Jin's three-needle therapy.The treatment for both groups lasted four weeks.Mini-mental state examination(MMSE)and Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)scores as well as amplitude and latency of potential 300(P300)were adopted to compare the between-group results before and after treatment.Results:Before treatment,there were no significant differences(all P>0.05)in MMSE and MoCA scores,P300 latency and P300 amplitude between the two groups.After 4 weeks of treatment,the MMSE and MoCA scores and P300 amplitudes were improved in both groups,and the P300 latencies became shorter.The results showed significant intra-group and between-group differences(all P<0.05).Conclusion:Based on the routine treatment,Jin's three-needle therapy is effective for PSCI.The mechanism is probably through its regulation on the patients'neuroelectrophysiology.展开更多
Autism is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder of developmental origin, where multiple genetic and environmental factors likely interact resulting in a clinical continuum between "affected" and "unaffect...Autism is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder of developmental origin, where multiple genetic and environmental factors likely interact resulting in a clinical continuum between "affected" and "unaffected" individuals in the general population. During the last two decades, relevant progress has been made in identifying chromosomal regions and genes in linkage or association with autism, but no single gene has emerged as a major cause of disease in a large number of patients. The purpose of this paper is to discuss specific methodological issues and experimental strategies in autism genetic research, based on fourteen years of experience in patient recruitment and association studies of autism spectrum disorder in Italy.展开更多
Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder broadly accepted being caused by genetic and environmental factors. Although conventional genetic studies have identified some candidate genes for schizophrenia, l...Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder broadly accepted being caused by genetic and environmental factors. Although conventional genetic studies have identified some candidate genes for schizophrenia, low odds ratios and penetrance, and a lack of reproducibility have limited their explanatory power. Despite the major efforts made toward identifying environmental factors in schizophrenia, methodological limitations and inconsistent findings of epidemiological reports have obstructed attempts to identify exogenous causal factors. Epigenetic mechanisms, mediating between environment and genes, have recently been proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. DNA methylation is the most stable and well-characterized epigenetic modification. In this paper, we briefly introduce DNA methylation mechanisms, genome-wide DNA methylation studies, and identify specific genomic methylation sites in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. The outline candidate genes such as Reelin and COMT, are also outlined before paying attention to the conundrum of recent researches.展开更多
文摘Huntington's disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative, and autosomal dominant disease characterized by motor- and psychiatric disturbances, and cognitive decline. Since there is no cure, all treatment is aimed at improving quality of life. One form of non-drug therapy which is barely recognized, is music therapy. The literature on its use and effect in patients with Huntington's disease is limited. We therefore performed a detailed literature survey in order to delineate the different types of music therapy interventions and their aims. Music therapy studies were included when targeting: (1) motor disturbances; (2) cognitive disturbances; (3) psychiatric disturbances; and (4) emotional/social disturbances. A total of eight studies that met these criteria were analyzed. We found that music therapy interventions vary throughout the different stages of the disease and are not yet applied optimally. Not the stage of the disease but the individual treatment goals seem to be more determinative for the music therapy indications. In conclusion, precise aims and methods in relation to the stage of the disease are not well determined. There is a need for systematic study of this treatment option.
文摘Point selection along the course of meridians is the basic principle for acupuncture prescription and selection of points. In application, there are three categories of point selection: selection of local and adjacent points; selection of distant points, and selection of symptomatic points. Based on the
基金supported by the Key Research and Development Program from Hunan Province(2018DK2011)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82071507).
文摘Much has been learned about the etiology and pathogenesis of schizophrenia since the term was first used by Eugene Bleuler over a century ago to describe one of the most important forms of major mental illness to affect mankind.Both nature and nurture feature prominently in our understanding of the genesis of the overall risk of developing schizophrenia.We now have a firm grasp of the broad structure of the genetic architecture and several key environmental risk factors have been identified and delineated.However,much of the heritability of schizophrenia remains unexplained and the reported environmental risk factors do not explain all the variances not attributable to genetic risk factors.The biggest problem at present is that our understanding of the causal mechanisms involved is still in its infancy.In this review,we describe the extent and limits of our knowledge of the specific genetic/constitutional and non-genetic/environmental factors that contribute to the overall risk of schizophrenia.We suggest novel methods may be required to understand the almost certainly immensely complex multi-level causal mechanisms that contribute to the generation of the schizophrenia phenotype.
文摘Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of Jin's three-needle therapy on post-stroke cognitive impairment(PSCI)and the effect on neuroelectrophysiology(event-related potentials).Methods:A total of 60 PSCI patients were selected and divided into a treatment group and a control group according to the method of random number table,with 30 cases in each group.The patients in the control group received routine treatment while the patients in the treatment group received additional Jin's three-needle therapy.The treatment for both groups lasted four weeks.Mini-mental state examination(MMSE)and Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)scores as well as amplitude and latency of potential 300(P300)were adopted to compare the between-group results before and after treatment.Results:Before treatment,there were no significant differences(all P>0.05)in MMSE and MoCA scores,P300 latency and P300 amplitude between the two groups.After 4 weeks of treatment,the MMSE and MoCA scores and P300 amplitudes were improved in both groups,and the P300 latencies became shorter.The results showed significant intra-group and between-group differences(all P<0.05).Conclusion:Based on the routine treatment,Jin's three-needle therapy is effective for PSCI.The mechanism is probably through its regulation on the patients'neuroelectrophysiology.
基金supported by the Italian Ministry for University,Scientific Research and Technologythe Italian Ministry of Health,the Fondazione Giuseppe e Mafalda Luce(Milan,Italy)+3 种基金Autism Aid ONLUS(Naples,Italy)the Autism Speaks Foundation(Princeton,NJ)the Autism Research Institute(San Diego,CA)the European Union(IMI project EU-AIMS)
文摘Autism is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder of developmental origin, where multiple genetic and environmental factors likely interact resulting in a clinical continuum between "affected" and "unaffected" individuals in the general population. During the last two decades, relevant progress has been made in identifying chromosomal regions and genes in linkage or association with autism, but no single gene has emerged as a major cause of disease in a large number of patients. The purpose of this paper is to discuss specific methodological issues and experimental strategies in autism genetic research, based on fourteen years of experience in patient recruitment and association studies of autism spectrum disorder in Italy.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81271484 and 81471361 toX.C,30900486 and 81371480 to J.T)the National Key Basic Research and Development Program(2012CB517904 to X.C)
文摘Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder broadly accepted being caused by genetic and environmental factors. Although conventional genetic studies have identified some candidate genes for schizophrenia, low odds ratios and penetrance, and a lack of reproducibility have limited their explanatory power. Despite the major efforts made toward identifying environmental factors in schizophrenia, methodological limitations and inconsistent findings of epidemiological reports have obstructed attempts to identify exogenous causal factors. Epigenetic mechanisms, mediating between environment and genes, have recently been proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. DNA methylation is the most stable and well-characterized epigenetic modification. In this paper, we briefly introduce DNA methylation mechanisms, genome-wide DNA methylation studies, and identify specific genomic methylation sites in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. The outline candidate genes such as Reelin and COMT, are also outlined before paying attention to the conundrum of recent researches.