Exploratory Program Grant for Frontier Medicine

描述（由申请人提供）：在美国，补充和替代医学（CAM）的使用在1990年至1997年期间增加了约25%。CAM从业人员的就诊人数为6.29亿，超过了初级保健的就诊人数 1997年，约有2.5亿名医生。尽管CAM在美国广泛使用， 在国际上，我们对许多流行疗法的安全性和有效性、作用机制和长期结果知之甚少。能量医学模式，包括治疗触摸，治疗触摸和灵气，通常用于从头痛到癌症的各种情况，但我们对人类能量场的理解以及如何将其用于治疗是有限的。尽管这些疗法中的许多已经使用了数百年甚至数千年，但当前的医学和科学环境要求我们开始将严格的标准应用于该领域的研究。康涅狄格大学健康中心（UCHC）的前沿医学探索中心与爱荷华州大学合作，将专注于生物场/能量治疗，特别是治疗触摸和治疗触摸。我们根据主要研究者的研究优势选择了我们的主要项目，并与经验丰富的能源医学从业者密切合作设计了项目。我们已经制定了一个项目之间和机构之间的合作计划 我们相信这将为“培育和推进生物医学科学领域”提供基础设施。 该中心的行政核心将为前沿医学研究人员提供科学和教育基础设施。核心将利用康涅狄格大学和爱荷华州丰富的学术环境，以提供一个基础设施，在其中评估治疗和愈合触摸对几种人类疾病和过程的影响。这四个项目包括基础和临床科学。这些研究是：项目1（Karen Prestwood博士）治疗性触摸对手腕骨折后绝经后妇女骨代谢的影响;项目2（格洛丽亚Gronowicz博士）治疗性触摸对体外骨形成的影响;项目3（Theresa Smith博士）治疗性触摸对人类成纤维细胞生物学的影响;以及项目4（Susan博士 治疗触摸在晚期宫颈癌：免疫效应和机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): In the United States, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) increased by approximately 25% between 1990 and 1997. The number of visits to CAM practitioners was 629 million and exceeded visits to primary care physicians by about 250 million in 1997. In spite of the extensive use of CAM in the US and internationally, we know little about the safety and efficacy, mechanism of action and longer-term outcomes of many popular modalities. Energy medicine modalities, including therapeutic touch, healing touch and reiki, are commonly utilized for conditions ranging from headache to cancer yet our understanding of the human energy field and how it may be used in healing is limited. Although many of these therapies have been used for hundreds or even thousands of years, the current medical and scientific environment demands that we begin to apply rigorous standards to the study of this field. The Exploratory Center for Frontier Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC), in collaboration with the University of Iowa, will focus on biofield/energy healing, specifically therapeutic touch and healing touch. We have chosen our major projects based on the research strengths of the principal investigators and designed projects in close collaboration with experienced practitioners in energy medicine. We have created a plan for collaboration between projects and between institutions which we believe will provide the infrastructure to 'nurture and advance this field of biomedical science'. The administrative core of the Center will provide the scientific and educational infrastructure for investigators in frontier medicine. The core will take advantage of the rich academic environments at the University of Connecticut and Iowa in order to provide an infrastructure in which to evaluate the effects of therapeutic and healing touch on several human diseases and processes. The four projects include basic and clinical science. The studies are: Project #1 (Dr. Karen Prestwood) The effect of therapeutic touch on bone metabolism in postmenopausal women after wrist fracture; Project #2 (Dr. Gloria Gronowicz) The effect of therapeutic touch on bone formation in vitro; Project #3 (Dr. Theresa Smith) The effect of therapeutic touch on human fibroblast biology; and Project #4 (Dr. Susan Lutgendorf) Healing touch in advanced cervical cancer: immune effects and mechanisms.