Integrative Medicine Commons^™

Exercise As A Form Of Medicine, Steven J. Elmer

TechTalks

My research goals are to find better ways to restore musculoskeletal function, maintain health, and improve mobility in healthy and clinical populations. Students in my laboratory (engineering, kinesiology, physical therapy) investigate how humans move and implement new exercise interventions to improve physical conditioning and performance. We work with populations ranging from individuals living with a spinal cord injury to adults recovering from ACL surgery to elite athletes. Applications for our research range from basic aspects of muscle contraction to applied human performance in a variety of settings including rehabilitation, ergonomics, and sport.

I Am Their Kin, Nihit N. Mehta

Akesis

In trying to answer the question, “what consumes me,” I was reminded of a question, one that has been asked of me over these past few years: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question that I’ve encountered many a times along this journey of life. Yet, when I recently encountered this question, my answer was like a clarion call to the recesses of this heart. “I want to be a pediatrician. I was a really sick child, so the way I see it, I’m their family member, helping my kin feel …

Overgrowth, Samantha Stephen

Akesis

I often find myself consumed by a desire to better myself and my work.

This is true for both school and my art. It can be tricky trying to find a balance between the two.

This is a 5"x5" black and white print taken with a Holga 120 CFN Camera.

Compassionate Touch, Riddhi Daftary, Jessfor Baugh

Akesis

Artist Alex Rheault approached the College of Dental Medicine in the fall of 2015 about collaborating for UNE Interprofessional Art Exhibition: Wonder. Rheault’s idea was to create an artwork informed by CDM faculty and students that would explore the fear and anxiety many people associate with dental care. The artist connected with students Jessfor Baugh and Riddhi Daftary. Through meetings emphasizing free-form discussion—with Rheault often drawing as a part of the idea exchange—an interdisciplinary collaboration was born.

Baugh and Daftary identified five stages associated with anxious and fearful dental patients: Listen to Identify, Validation, Everyone has a Story, …

Facets Of Pain, Samantha J. Shepard

Akesis

Facets of Pain

By Samantha Shepard

This painting is a depiction of the emotions evoked by my journey with chronic pain. In the fall of 2009, I experienced an injury leaving me disabled for four years, I lost many things that day including my so-called identity as a young able bodied person. Though my journey with chronic pain was arduous, and at times, seemed endless, I continued to walk along my path to recovery, and today I am a successful premedical student at the University of New England working to pursue an education in osteopathy.

I often describe chronic pain …

N-Acetyl Cysteine May Support Dopamine Neurons In Parkinson's Disease: Preliminary Clinical And Cell Line Data., Daniel A. Monti, George Zabrecky, Daniel Kremens, Tsao-Wei Liang, Nancy A. Wintering, Jingli Cai, Xiatao Wei, Anthony J. Bazzan, Li Zhong, Brendan Bowen, Charles Intenzo, Lorraine Iacovitti, Andrew B. Newberg

Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Faculty Papers

BACKGOUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the biological and clinical effects of n-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) in Parkinson's disease (PD).

METHODS: The overarching goal of this pilot study was to generate additional data about potentially protective properties of NAC in PD, using an in vitro and in vivo approach. In preparation for the clinical study we performed a cell tissue culture study with human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived midbrain dopamine (mDA) neurons that were treated with rotenone as a model for PD. The primary outcome in the cell tissue cultures was the number of cells that survived the insult …

Lifting Others, Kevin G. Budziszewski

Akesis

Medicine is full of paradoxes. As a species, we often need to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. As humans, we become more energetic by the energy-intensive process of exercise. As physicians, we elevate ourselves by lifting others. Through all of the unexpected worries and complications that crop up in life – finances, illness, and indeed an understanding of our own mortality – it is through these three paradoxes of self-care that we survive the complications that life throws at us.

During my first year of medical school, I have grown to understand how important …

Making A Mountain Of A Mole Hill, Nihit N. Mehta

Akesis

There are times when students develop a certain amount of tunnel vision, which focuses their vision at the problem in front, making the proverbial "mountain out of a molehill.”

(Least) Complicated, Masina G. Wright

Akesis

The personal has always been a microcosm of the political.

Dear Mabel (Please Allow Me To Inhabit Your Pain Awhile), Jack C. Lewis

Akesis

This started as a note that I would have sent a patient I treated while working as a paramedic in Central Maine. Despite best intentions in caring for patients, we don't always walk away having "won." The practice of medicine is difficult for everyone, but it is necessarily a process and life-long endeavor.

Current Therapeutic Role And Medicinal Potential Of Scutellaria Barbata In Traditional Chinese Medicine And Western Research, Geyang Tao, Marcy J. Balunas

Honors Scholar Theses

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Scutellaria barbata is a common herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) most often used to treat cancer. S. barbata has been found to exhibit efficacy both in vitro and in vivo on a variety of cancer types. Similarly encouraging results have been shown in patients with metastatic breast cancer from Phase Ia and Ib clinical trials. This study aims to elucidate the current use of S. barbata by TCM practitioners and in current Western research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen TCM practitioners in Beijing and Nanjing, China to understand their clinical use of …

Theoria, Sanjay Rau, Ryan Kollar

Akesis

I heal through meditation.

Upon turning 13 years old, I began the practice of meditation under the tutelage of Hindu priests in Chennai, India. The expectation of this experience was to learn to clear out all distractions, focus intently on breathing and recite certain passages of Scripture.

At the time, meditation involved sitting cross-legged and reciting certain phrases 1008 times. The hot, muggy weather and mosquitos that plagued summers in Chennai made this task even harder. While difficult and seemingly purposeless at first, I began to appreciate and better understand the power that meditative practices provided in the following summer …

Standstill, Ianna Hondros-Mccarthy

Akesis

This is a short story about a girl getting in touch with life at a concert.

I Lost You To What Eludes Me, Akesis Anonymous Author

Akesis

I wrote this in memory of someone I lost in my life to cancer. My own healing process is still ongoing, and his loss was one major reason I decided to go into medicine. Hopefully through my journey in medicine I can help heal others, and in the process, find my own healing.

Helpless In Healing, Stephanie Braunthal

Akesis

Inspired by a frustrating patient interaction, this piece delves into the the role of the physician-patient relationship throughout the healing process.

From Falx To Fingertips: An Exercise In Mind-Body Awareness Through Acupuncture, Aye Mon Win

Akesis

This is a subjective account of an acupuncture treatment that includes a brief scientific exploration of its mechanisms of action. Additionally, connections are made between acupuncture and osteopathic manual manipulation, yoga, and meditation.

Flow, Jenifer Van Deusen

Akesis

Within us and around us flows the power to heal ~ open through song, image, poetry & breath.

Bones, Polyxeni Gudis

Akesis

I heal in the absence of words with the quiet scratching of charcoal on paper, and with the familiar texture of my thumb blending and erasing shadows with dust. I push my boundaries with new mediums, like watercolors. I experiment often and usually fail. I put my anger into harsh lines, I choose colors based on an emotion and I fill a canvas with the things I cannot say. I heal in brush strokes and in the contours of a piece that says what I want it to say without having to ever say a word.

Medium: Charcoal and pen …

The Effects Of A Trauma-Informed Care Training Program On Mental Health Professionals Knowledge, Skills, And Attitudes With The Smi, Angelina Pelletier

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Trauma has been found to be highly prevalent among individuals diagnosed with SMIs. Mental health professionals have been reported to misdiagnose or avoid addressing trauma in this population. There is a need to provide information about trauma and to foster awareness among mental health professionals who are treating individuals diagnosed with SMIs. With a TIC approach, operating from a recovery-oriented philosophy, there have been interventions created to address trauma and SMIs with the aim of developing awareness about trauma and the impact it may have on someone’s life. With these factors in mind, mental health professionals should be competent in …

Modulation Of Body Weight By Intestinal Flora In Orphan Nuclear Receptor Shp-/- Mice, Ryan Mifflin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The whole-body deletion of small heterodimer partner (SHP) in mice is associated with protection from diet-induced obesity and hepatic steatosis upon feeding of a western diet. This protection was reported to be mediated through decreases in hepatic gene expression for lipogenesis, as well as increases in gene expression for fatty acid oxidation. SHP has been known to regulate the expression of the CYP7A1 gene, encoding the rate-limiting enzyme for bile acid synthesis, thereby altering the bile acid pool. The effects of this altered bile acid profile on the gut microbiome are unknown, as some bacteria in the gut are responsible …