Objective: We aimed to characterize patterns of use of complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies on patients with intractable neurodegenerative diseases and their caregivers.
Methods: We sent questionnaires to 1,406 patients with subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy (SMON), amyotorophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Parkinson related disease, or spino-cerebellar degeneration (SCD). We also send questionnaires to the 1,406 caregivers of these patients. The participants were asked to answer questions about current use of Annma/Massage/Shiatu, acupuncture, Zyudoseifuku, Chinese medicine or Supplementary food. Other questions including reasons for the use, subjective effectiveness of the CAM and subjective wellness were also asked.
Results: 33.7% of patients and 30% of caregivers responded to the questionnaires. Anna/Massage/Shiatu and Chinese medicine were most frequently used by patients (60.8%), and 51.3% of them answered that these therapies were effective. The caregiver’s response showed supplementary food and Anna/Massage/Shiatu were most frequently used (42.5%), and 35.9% of them answered that these were effective.
Conclusion: The present study showed that use of CAM was 20.5% in patients with intractable neurodegenerative diseases and 9.8% among caregivers when calculated using collection rates. Annma/Massage/Shiatu was most frequently used and was regarded effective on subjective wellness both in the patients and caregivers.

Measuring the length of the proportional units (PU) of different truncal parts in males and females and analyzing the relationship between these measurements showed that there was nosignificant gender difference in the length of one cun respectively for the perpendicular proportional units (PPU) of prothorax, epigastrium and flank but there were significant differences in the PPU of the hypogastrium, lateral thorax and hypochondrium and the horizontal proportional unit (HPU) of the back; within the same gender, there was no significant difference in the length ofone cun between the PPU of the prothorax and that of epigastrium and no significant difference betweenthe PPU of the flank and the HPU of the intermammillary region in males but there was a significant difference between PU of other parts.

Measuring the length of the proportional units of the lower limb and analyzing their interrelations showed that between genders there were significant differences in a length of one can of perpendicular proportional unit for various regions of the lower limb; within the same gender, there were different results in comparing the lengths of one of perpendicular proportional unit among various regions of the lower limb.

Fifty-one fresh adult cadavers (male 21, female 30) were randomly selected. The required acupoints were localized and then the cadavers were frozen for anatomical dissection. Distance between the shallow point on the skin and the dangerous zones were measured after the cavaders were unfrozen. Data were analyzed statistically. The results showed that safe needling depths for Fengfu, Yamen, Fengchi and Jingming were 40.08mm, 38.10mm, 39.70mm and 34.25mm, respectively

In this study, chemiluminescence technique was employed to compare the effect of tonifilyneedling and ginger-seperated moxibustion on Zusanli in regulating the phagocytosis of the neutrophil in the aged rats. As a result, both methods were proved to be able to elevate the phagocytosis and anti-bacteria effect of the neutrophil, and the later method was found more remarkable. So it concluded that acupuncture and moxibustion are both the effective ways in anti-aging and health-protection.

The authors carried out neurometry and CMI investigation on 512 subjects in June and July '87. The subjects were devided into four groups according to the CMI criteria by Fukamachi: CMI. I Diagnosed to be normal, II Provisionally to be normal, III Provisionally diagnosed to be neurotic, IV Diagnosed to be neurotic. Comparison was done not only among these groups, but also among age groups and between male and female.
Although there were no great differences among the group I, II and III, each current through F2, F4, F5 and F6 significantly decreased from the group I to IV (p<0.01). A similar tendency was seen in F2 and F6 of the male subjects in each age group, but no tendency in the female subjects.

Authors evaluated which factor among age, sex and season influences each Ryodoraku, and to what extent, using socalled healthy children.
METHOD
Ryodorakumeasurement was conducted on the same subjects in two different seasons. Comparison was done between groups divided according to their sex andage. The measured value of skin electro-resistance at the Ryodoraku representative measuring points and excitation-inhibition frequency were analyzed using single- and multi-variate data analysis.
RESULT
1) Each group showed slightly different Ryodoraku characteristics.
2) The differences among each group were greatest between the two seasons and rather big between years, however, small between male and female.
3) These tendencies werejobserved in both analyses using the measured values and using frequency.