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EMORY
Health Sciences News
The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Health Sciences Communications
September
24, 2001
Emory receives
$5.7M for
alternative medicine center
By Janet
Christenberry
With the
help of $5.7 million from the National Institutes of Health, a new
center specifically designed to investigate complementary and alternative
treatments in neurodegenerative diseases is under way at Emory.
The Center
for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
in Neuro-degenerative Diseases will study promising interventions that
complement traditional medical approaches. The NIH grants, awarded through
the National Center for Complementary
and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), include a five-year grant for the center
and three individual research grants.
"Emory
has been selected as one of 15 CAM centers in the United States,"
said Mahlon DeLong, the center's principal investigator and chair of
neurology. "Our center focuses on neurodegenerative disorders, such
as
Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease."
The goal
of the center is to provide the resources necessary for the rigorous
scientific investigation of CAM in order to examine the potential efficacy,
effectiveness, safety and validity of alternative practices, as well as
the
psychological or physiological mechanisms underlying these practices.
According
to a 1998 Stanford University National Survey, 69 percent of
Americans have turned to alternative therapies to treat a variety of health
problems. In addition, Ameri-cans spent more than $27 billion on these
therapies in 1997, exceeding out-of-pocket spending for all U.S.
hospitalizations, according to NCCAM.
"Unfortunately,
little has been done to determine whether these alternative
approaches really work," DeLong said.
The center
currently encompasses three studies or individual research projects.
These studies include the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
to
relieve depression associated with Parkinson's disease; the use of Valerian
root to treat sleep disturbances in Parkinson's disease; and the effect
of the
Chinese mind-body modalities of Tai Chi and Qi Gong on motor disabilities
associated with Parkinson's disease.
The repetitive
transcranial magnetic stimulation study is already under way, and
the other two studies should begin in the coming months.
Charles
Epstein, associate professor of neurology, heads the magnetic
stimulation study, with DeLong as co-principal investigator. Donald Bliwise,
associate professor of neurology, is the principal investigator of the
Valerian
root and sleep study, with David Rye, associate professor of neurology,
and
Michael Decker, instructor in neurology, as the co-principal investigators.
Associate
Professor Jorge Juncos in neurology leads the Chinese exercise
modalities trials, with Steven Wolf, professor of rehabilitation medicine,
as
co-principal investigator. Wolf also serves as co-director for the center.
"Complementary
and alternative medicine covers a broad range of healing
philosophies, approaches and therapies," Wolf said. "We're finding
that more
and more patients are seeking this type of treatment. We're also finding
more
and more doctors are recommending alternative therapies to their patients."
In fact,
as indicated in a recent survey of 3,200 physicians conducted by
Health Products Research Inc., 50 percent of the physicians surveyed
expected to begin using or to increase their use of homeopathic and holistic
treatments within the next year.
"CAM
treatments may be used alone as an alternative to conventional
therapies," DeLong said. "They can also be used to supplement
conventional,
mainstream therapies in what is referred to as a complementary or an
integrative approach."
The center's
interdisciplinary team includes personnel and resources at the
School of Medicine, the School of Public Health and the Center for Human
Movement Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
For more
information on CAM, call administrator Rebecca Portman at
404-727-3251. The center has postdoctoral fellowships available, as well
as
funding for pilot/feasibility studies, for those interested in CAM regarding
neurodegenerative disease.
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