Feasibility and Usability of EnergyPoints: A Mobile Health App to Guide Acupressure Use for Cancer Symptom Management.

Objective: To examine the feasibility and usability of EnergyPoints™, an innovative mobile health app that teaches and guides people with cancer to implement daily acupressure to self-manage their fatigue and sleep disturbances.

Methods And Intervention: The study used an integrated agile, human-centered approach. Adults (age 18 years and over) with cancer experiencing at least moderate fatigue, and living in the Greater New York City community, were recruited from social media, patient advocacy groups, and referrals.

n-3 fatty acids prevent impairment of neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity in B-cell activating factor (BAFF) transgenic mice.

Objective: Autoimmune-prone B-cell activating factor transgenic mice, a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome exhibit neuroinflammation, anxiety-like phenotype, deficit in adult hippocampal neurogenesis and impaired neurogenesis-dependent and neurogenesis-independent dentate gyrus long-term potentiation. Given that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids regulate hippocampal plasticity and inflammatory responses, we investigated whether n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids-enriched diet might prevent age-dependent hippocampal changes in B-cell activating factor transgenic mice.

Methods: B-cell activating factor transgenic mice were fed for 12 weeks with either n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids-enriched or control diet and we tested the effect of this dietary supplementation on hippocampal inflammation, progenitor cell proliferation and neurogenesis-dependent and neurogenesis-independent long-term potentiation.

Brain stimulation in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex, heterogeneous disorder that develops following trauma and often includes perceptual, cognitive, affective, physiological, and psychological features. PTSD is characterized by hyperarousal, intrusive thoughts, exaggerated startle response, flashbacks, nightmares, sleep disturbances, emotional numbness, and persistent avoidance of trauma-associated stimuli. The efficacy of available treatments for PTSD may result in part from relief of associated depressive and anxiety-related symptoms in addition to treatment of core symptoms that derive from reexperiencing, numbing, and hyperarousal.

The future of complementary and alternative medicine for cancer.

This article explores why cancer patients use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), why CAM use should be of interest to physicians who treat cancer patients, and how physicians may appropriately support their patients' quest for comfort, quality of life, and healing. We use the term "CAM" to refer to substances and practices that have been available primarily outside of the American medical mainstream, that have sources other than medical doctors and allied health care providers, and that are not commonly recommended by medical doctors as treatments for a given condition. Alternative treatments are those used instead of conventional medicine; complementary treatments are those used in addition to conventional medicine.