Biofield Therapies: Helpful or Full of Hype? A Best Evidence Synthesis

Biofield therapies (such as Reiki, therapeutic touch, and healing touch) are complementary medicine modalities that remain controversial and are utilized by a significant number of patients, with little information regarding their efficacy. This systematic review examines 66 clinical studies with a variety of biofield therapies in different patient populations. We conducted a quality assessment as well as a best evidence synthesis approach to examine evidence for biofield therapies in relevant outcomes for different clinical populations. Studies overall are of medium quality, and generally meet minimum standards for validity of inferences. Biofield therapies show strong evidence for reducing pain intensity in pain populations, and moderate evidence for reducing pain intensity hospitalized and cancer populations. There is moderate evidence for decreasing negative behavioral symptoms in dementia and moderate evidence for decreasing anxiety for hospitalized populations. There is equivocal evidence for biofield therapies' effects on fatigue and quality of life for cancer patients, as well as for comprehensive pain outcomes and affect in pain patients, and for decreasing anxiety in cardiovascular patients. There is a need for further high-quality studies in this area. Implications and future research directions are discussed

The prolactin-releasing peptide antagonizes the opioid system through its receptor GPR10.

Prolactin-releasing peptide (PrRP) and its receptor G protein-coupled receptor 10 (GPR10) are expressed in brain areas involved in the processing of nociceptive signals. We investigated the role of this new neuropeptidergic system in GPR10-knockout mice. These mice had higher nociceptive thresholds and stronger stress-induced analgesia than wild-type mice, differences that were suppressed by naloxone treatment. In addition, potentiation of morphine-induced antinociception and reduction of morphine tolerance were observed in mutants. Intracerebroventricular administration of PrRP in wild-type mice promoted hyperalgesia and reversed morphine-induced antinociception. PrRP administration had no effect on GPR10-mutant mice, showing that its effects are mediated by GPR10. Anti-opioid effects of neuropeptide FF were found to require a functional PrRP-GPR10 system. Finally, GPR10 deficiency enhanced the acquisition of morphine-induced conditioned place preference and decreased the severity of naloxone-precipitated morphine withdrawal syndrome. Altogether, our data identify the PrRP-GPR10 system as a new and potent negative modulator of the opioid system.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Clinical and genetic characteristics of late-onset Huntington's disease

Background: The frequency of late-onset Huntington's disease (>59 years) is assumed to be low and the clinical course milder. However, previous literature on late-onset disease is scarce and inconclusive. Objective: Our aim is to study clinical characteristics of late-onset compared to common-onset HD patients in a large cohort of HD patients from the Registry database. Methods: Participants with late- and common-onset (30\u201350 years)were compared for first clinical symptoms, disease progression, CAG repeat size and family history. Participants with a missing CAG repeat size, a repeat size of 6435 or a UHDRS motor score of 645 were excluded. Results: Of 6007 eligible participants, 687 had late-onset (11.4%) and 3216 (53.5%) common-onset HD. Late-onset (n = 577) had significantly more gait and balance problems as first symptom compared to common-onset (n = 2408) (P <.001). Overall motor and cognitive performance (P <.001) were worse, however only disease motor progression was slower (coefficient, 120.58; SE 0.16; P <.001) compared to the common-onset group. Repeat size was significantly lower in the late-onset (n = 40.8; SD 1.6) compared to common-onset (n = 44.4; SD 2.8) (P <.001). Fewer late-onset patients (n = 451) had a positive family history compared to common-onset (n = 2940) (P <.001). Conclusions: Late-onset patients present more frequently with gait and balance problems as first symptom, and disease progression is not milder compared to common-onset HD patients apart from motor progression. The family history is likely to be negative, which might make diagnosing HD more difficult in this population. However, the balance and gait problems might be helpful in diagnosing HD in elderly patients