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Central nervous system (CNS) diseases, such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, bulbar palsy, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor, cerebral palsy, headache, migraine, epilepsy, depression, anxiety, etc., involve complex neural mechanism, and seriously affect quality of life and threaten life safety in patients with these disorders. Multiple neural techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography, etc., provide powerful tools for uncovering complex networks of neural mechanism and exploring key potential biomarkers to reveal the underlying neural feature of those disorders.
Acupuncture therapy has been practiced in China and other Asian countries for more than two thousand years. Modern clinical research has confirmed the impressive therapeutic effect of acupuncture on numerous human ailments, such as controlling pain, nausea, and vomiting. However, the biological mechanisms of acupuncture are still under debate. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the mechanism of acupuncture therapy is explained by a meridian model. According to this model, acupuncture is believed to treat the diseased organs by modulating two conditions known as Yin and Yang, which represent all the opposite principles that people find in the universe, both inside and outside the human body. Yin and Yang complement each other, and are subjected to changes between each other. The balance of Yin and Yang is thought to be maintained by Qi, an energy substance flowing constantly through the meridian, a network connecting all the organs of the body. The illness, according to this theory, is the temporary dominance of one principle over the other, owing to the blockade of the Qi from flowing through the meridian under certain circumstance. The axiom of “No stagnation, No pain” in TCM summarizes this concept. Thus, the goal of acupuncture treatment is to restore the balance of Yin and Yang conditions in the diseased organ(s). This theory has been considered to be useful to guide this ancient therapy, such as carrying out diagnosis, deciding on the principle, and selecting the acupoints.
Neuronal Networks in Brain Function, CNS Disorders, and Therapeutics, edited by two leaders in the field, offers a current and complete review of what we know about neural networks. How the brain accomplishes many of its more complex tasks can only be understood via study of neuronal network control and network interactions. Large networks can undergo major functional changes, resulting in substantially different brain function and affecting everything from learning to the potential for epilepsy. With chapters authored by experts in each topic, this book advances the understanding of: - How the brain carries out important tasks via networks - How these networks interact in normal brain function - Major mechanisms that control network function - The interaction of the normal networks to produce more complex behaviors - How brain disorders can result from abnormal interactions - How therapy of disorders can be advanced through this network approach This book will benefit neuroscience researchers and graduate students with an interest in networks, as well as clinicians in neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychiatry dealing with neurobiological disorders. - Utilizes perspectives and tools from various neuroscience subdisciplines (cellular, systems, physiologic), making the volume broadly relevant - Chapters explore normal network function and control mechanisms, with an eye to improving therapies for brain disorders - Reflects predominant disciplinary shift from an anatomical to a functional perspective of the brain - Edited work with chapters authored by leaders in the field around the globe – the broadest, most expert coverage available
Explains trauma using a combination of the Five Elements (from Traditional Chinese Medicine) and a touch perspective; for practitioners of a variety of modalities, including acupuncturists, somatic therapists, massage therapists, and mental health providers. Combining Eastern and Western trauma physiology, clinician-educators Alaine Duncan and Kathy Kain introduce a new map for acupuncturists, medical practitioners, mental health providers, and body-oriented clinicians to help restore balance in their patients. Using concepts from Acupuncture and Asian Medicine (AAM), alongside descriptions of the threat response from Western bio-behavioral science, they describe common physical symptoms, emotional presentations, and paths for healing for five survivor "types" detailed by the authors and correlated to the Five Elements of AAM. This ancient/modern integrative lens illuminates the diverse manifestations of traumatic stress in its survivors--chronic pain, autoimmune illness, insomnia, metabolic problems, and mental health disorders--and brings new hope to survivors of trauma and those who treat them.
This book summarises the recent development in acupuncture research and in particular, the neurobiology of acupuncture. It provides a focus but a diverse range of subjects covering many body systems. The first a few chapters discuss the basic principles of acupuncture, then its modulatory effects on nervous system such as induction of neurotrophin and neurogenesis in the brain. Late chapters explore the clinical effects and potential mechanisms of acupuncture on different conditions ranging from neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and stroke, to psychiatric illnesses, insomnia, hypertension, gastrointestinal diseases and drug addiction. We believe this will promote the understanding acupuncture treatment and enhance acupuncture research in the future. - This volume of International Review of Neurobiology brings together cutting-edge research on the neurobiology of acupuncture - It reviews current knowledge and understanding, provides a starting point for researchers and practitioners entering the field, and builds a platform for further research and discovery
Acupuncture is rapidly moving out of the arena of "alternative" medicine, in large part because it is grounded more firmly than other alternative treatments in research. This book provides readers with the up-to-date information on the clinical bases of acupuncture.
Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common, highly disabling, and associated with significant premature mortality. The impact of these disorders on the social and economic well-being of individuals, families, and societies is large, growing, and underestimated. Despite this burden, these disorders have been systematically neglected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, with pitifully small contributions to scaling up cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies. Systematically compiling the substantial existing knowledge to address this inequity is the central goal of this volume. This evidence-base can help policy makers in resource-constrained settings as they prioritize programs and interventions to address these disorders.
Work on the human brainstem has been impeded by the unavailability of a comprehensive diagrammatic and photographic atlas. In the authors' preliminary work on the morphology of the human brainstem (The Human Nervous System, 1990), Paxinos et al demonstrated that it is possible to use chemoarchitecture to establish a number of human homologs in structures known to exist in the rat, the most extensively studied species. Now, with the first detailed atlas on the human brainstem in more than forty years, the authors present an accurate, comprehensive, and convenient reference for students, researchers, and pathologists. Key Features * The first detailed atlas on the human brainstem in more than forty years * Delineated as accurately as The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates, Second Edition (Paxinos/Watson, 1986), the most cited book in neuroscience * Based on a single brain from a 59-year-old male with no medical history of neurological or psychiatric illness * Represents all areas of the medulla, pons, and midbrain in the plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of the brainstem * Consists of 64 plates and 64 accompanying diagrams with an interplate distance of half a millimeter * The photographs are of Nissl and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) stained sections at alternate levels * Establishes systematically the human homologs to nuclei identified in the brainstem of the rat Reviewed by leading neuroanatomists * An accurate and convenient guide for students, researchers, and pathologists
Neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, are an important cause of disability and death worldwide and pose a serious burden on the global health system over the past 30 years. Acupuncture, as the most widely used traditional Chinese medicine therapy in the world, has been widely used in 183 countries and regions. Acupuncture can treat more than 300 kinds of diseases, especially for neurological diseases. Due to the unique advantages of acupuncture such as good therapeutic effect and low side effects, many researchers have conducted extensive clinical studies on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of neurological diseases, laying a foundation for the practicability and scientific vigor of this complementary and alternative therapeutic approach. There are still many problems unanswered in the current clinical research on acupuncture for the treatment of neurological diseases: First of all, clinical research is lagging behind due to the lack of emphasis on modern advanced methods and analytical techniques (e.g., artificial intelligence, omics analysis, bioinformatics analysis, data mining) and multidisciplinary integration process. Secondly, the quality of reports on most clinical studies of acupuncture treatment for neurological diseases is extremely low. Most clinical studies have not adopted standardized methodological evaluations, authoritative disease diagnosis standards, and efficacy evaluation standards. The lack of compliance regulations and strict study design reduces the accuracy and authenticity of the research. Thirdly, there is a lack of integrated assessment of the distribution of evidence for acupuncture treatment of neurological diseases. Therefore, strictly designed clinical research and in depth and systematic analysis method are currently needed to provide high-quality evidence for acupuncture treatment of neurological diseases. In this Research Topic, we hope to further understand the role of acupuncture in the treatment of neurological diseases through clinical research and secondary research. The range of acupuncture includes manual acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, body needling, auricular acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, laser acupuncture and acupressure, etc. Neurological diseases include stroke, meningitis, encephalitis, tetanus, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, migraine, tense-type headaches, headaches from drug overuse, and others.
