News Briefs
News Briefs
NCCAM Expands Research Centers Program
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health, has announced funding of three centers of excellence and two international centers for the study of complementary and alternative medicine.
Three of the five new centers will explore therapies used in traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and Chinese herbal mixtures. The other two centers will study a type of energy medicine (millimeter wave therapy) and botanical therapies used by traditional healers in Africa. The three new Centers of Excellence, which provide five years of support for experienced researchers, are:
Center for Arthritis and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Principal investigator: Brian Berman, MD
Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
This center will study traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) approaches (acupuncture and herbs) for treatment of arthritis. Researchers will conduct a clinical trial of an 11-herb Chinese formula (known as HLXL) for osteoarthritis of the knee, assess acupuncture's effect on inflammatory pain in an animal model, and study the efficacy of HLXL in an animal model of autoimmune arthritis.
Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy
Principal investigator: Xiu-Min Li, MD
Institution: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
Center researchers will investigate a three-herb Chinese formula (known as ASHMI) as a therapy for allergic asthma. Studies of the herbal formula will look at mechanism of action in an animal model, characterize the herbs' active components, and investigate the formula's use in asthma patients.
Center for Mechanisms Underlying Millimeter Wave Therapy
Principal investigator: Marvin Ziskin, MD
Institution: Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
This center will study the mechanisms of action of millimeter wave therapy for a variety of diseases and conditions, as well as look at the therapy's use in animal models of chronic neuropathic pain and pruritis.
The International Centers for Research on CAM are the outgrowth of planning grants NCCAM awarded to 11 international teams in 2003. These teams had two years to develop a research collaboration and infrastructure that could compete for four-year centers grants. The two NCCAM recipients are:
Functional Bowel Disorders in Chinese Medicine
Principal Investigator: Brian Berman, MD
Partner institutions: University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD; Chinese University of Hong Kong, China; University of Illinois, Chicago, IL; and University of Western Sydney, Australia
This center will conduct multidisciplinary research on TCM practices (acupuncture and herbs) for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Researchers will study effects of acupuncture and a TCM herbal preparation in an animal model of IBS and conduct a preliminary study of the herbal preparation with IBS patients.
The International Center for Indigenous Phytotherapy Studies: HIV/AIDS, Secondary Infections, and Immune Modulation
Principal investigator: William Folk, PhD
Partner institutions: University of Missouri, Columbia, MO; University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Republic of South Africa; University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Cape Town, and the South African Medical Research Council
This center will study the safety and efficacy of traditional African plant-based therapies already in widespread use for HIV/AIDS and some of its secondary infections. Researchers will conduct a small clinical trial using sutherlandia (Lessertia frutescens) in adults with HIV and conduct preclinical and clinical research with African wormwood (Artemisia afra), which is used by traditional healers for treatment of many conditions seen in people with HIV/AIDS.
The National Cancer Institute will fund the:
International Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Cancer
Principal investigator: Lorenzo Cohen, PhD
Partner institutions: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; and Fudan University Cancer Hospital, Shanghai, China
This center will conduct preclinical and clinical studies of TCM approaches (herbs, acupuncture, and qi gong) for treating cancer and its symptoms, as well as treatment-related side effects.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health, has announced funding of three centers of excellence and two international centers for the study of complementary and alternative medicine.Subscribe Now for Access
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