This article is protected by copyright. To share or copy this article, please visit copyright.com. Use ISSN#14703556.
To subscribe, visit advancesjournal.com.
News
MIND-BODY MEDICINE RESEARCHER ELIZABETH
BLACKBURN SHARES NOBEL PRIZE
lizabeth Blackburn, PhD , the
E Australian-born professor of biolo-
gy and physiology at the University
of California, San Francisco, has been
awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine. She shares the
award with her colleagues, Carol Greider,
PhD, professor of molecular biology and
genetics at Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine in Baltimore; and Jack Szostak,
PhD , professor of genetics at Harvard
Medical School in Boston, who, according
to the Nobel Prize Committee, “solved a
major problem in biology: how the chro-
mosomes can be copied in a complete
way during cell divisions and how they
are protected against degradation.”
Blackburn was awarded the Nobel
prize for her part in the discovery of
telomeres, the caps on the ends of chro-
mosomes that protect genetic informa-
tion. In an interview with the New York
Times, Blackburn described telomeres as
“like the tips of shoelaces.” And, as with
shoelaces, if the tips are lost, the ends
start fraying.
Blackburn’s discovery and her sub-
sequent work with psychologists on
telomeres, stress, and meditation, have
opened new areas of inquiry into the
components of aging and disease, at least
one of which seems to prove a mind-body
connection. “In my lab, we’re finding that
psychological stress actually ages cells,
which can be seen when you measure the
wearing down of the tips of the chromo-
somes, those telomeres,” Blackburn said.
◆◆◆
REIKI BANNED AT CATHOLIC
HOSPITALS IN THE UNITED STATES
The US Conference of Catholic
Bishops has announced that Reiki will no
longer be practiced in the church’s hospi-
tals and retreat centers.
6 ADVANCES Fall 2009, VOL. 24, NO. 3
Reiki, an energy-based therapy devel-
oped in Japan thousands of years ago that
has become more common in the West,
has been used by its practitioners to help
patients manage pain, stress, and anxiety
and recover more quickly from illness
and surgery. The church bishops, howev-
er, have decided that the therapy’s effica-
cy is not supported by either the tenets of
Christianity or science. “A Catholic who
puts his or her trust in Reiki would be
operating in the realm of superstition,
the no-man’s land that is neither faith
nor science,” the bishops said.
According to the Nashua, New
Hampshire–based International
Association of Reiki Professionals, Reiki
has never purported to offer patients a
specific cure for disease. Its use is as a
therapeutic tool to help patients create
within themselves an environment that
facilitates healing.
The Catholic Church’s ruling comes
as Reiki is enjoying increasing popularity
in the United States. According to a 2007
survey by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), about 1.2 million people
in this country have experienced Reiki.
Indeed, the therapy has captured the
attention of NIH to the extent that the
government-run health institute is fund-
ing a study of the effects of Reiki on
stress. “Should Reiki decrease stress path-
ways or reduce physiological responses
to stressful situations, it could be a useful
adjunct to traditional medicine and have
significant health and economic bene-
fits,” an NIH statement announcing the
study said.
However, Herbert Benson, MD ,
director emeritus of the Benson-Henry
Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at
Massachusetts General Hospital, said the
jury is still out as to whether Reiki’s bene-
fits are based in science or in the placebo
effect. “It’s not that the healing benefits
are not valid; it’s simply that it hasn’t
been worked out whether it’s the placebo
effect or whether it’s the Reiki itself,”
Benson told the Boston Globe.
◆◆◆
OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY LAUNCHES STUDY ON
STRESS REDUCTION TECHNIQUES
FOR ALZHEIMER’S CAREGIVERS
Oregon Health Sciences University’s
Oregon Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine in Neurological
Disorders (ORCCAMIND) in Portland,
has begun a study that will measure which
of several potential stress-reduction tech-
niques works most effectively for caregiv-
ers of Alzheimer’s Disease patients. Barry
Oken, MD, director of the center and pro-
fessor of neurology and behavioral neu-
roscience, and colleagues launched the
study in October.
Some 108 study participants have
been placed into 1 of 3 groups: a 7-week
meditation group, a 7-week caregiver
training group, or a group that receives 7
weeks of regular relief from their caregiv-
ing duties by trained professionals.
Successful stress reduction will be
measured by reports of self-perceived
stress by caregivers, heart rate variability,
breathing irregularities, and stress hor-
mone levels. “Currently there is little to
no data to direct physicians and individu-
als [in stress relief techniques],” Oken
s a i d i n a s t at e m e n t p o s t e d o n
ORCCAMIND’s web site. He concluded,
“The purpose of this study is to provide
more direction so that physicians can give
the patient/caregivers the best advice.”
News