• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.18-29
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• 2005

Purpose: Aroma therapy is one modality of alternative medicine. It was well known to have an analgesic, antidepressive and anxiolytic effects. This study is designed to investigate the effect of aroma self hand massage on vital signs, pain, depression, anxiety and stress in breast cancer patients. Methods: 32 female patient over 20 years old were divided into two groups by a non-blinded randomized controlled method. Patient in the aroma group (n=15) massaged their hands twice a day using aroma oil by themselves in their home for 2 weeks. However, those in control group (n=17) had not received my intervention during the study periods. Pain intensity, state anxiety, depression and stress of subjects were evaluated three times (0, 1, 3 weeks) using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS, $0{\sim}10cm$), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory Scales (BDIS), Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument (BEPSI revised edition). Also the change of patients' accompanying symptoms after aroma massage were analyzed using a structured questionnaire. Results: Pain Intensity decreased in the aroma group compared with control group (VAS changes $-0.83{\pm}1.01\;vs\;0.38{\pm}0.86$, P=0.005). The numbers of accompanying symptoms (P=0.044), depression score (P=0.001) and anxiety score (P=0.008) were significantly decreased in the aroma group, while in control group they increased after 2 weeks. However, the stress score showed no significant changes in both groups ($0.05{\pm}0.85\;vs\;0.04{\pm}0.20$, P=0.1519). The depression, anxiety and stress score showed negative correlation with compliance of aroma massage, but statistically no significant. The systolic blood pressure was a little increased in aroma group ($4.53{\pm}14.43\;vs\;0.0{\pm}7.22$, P=0.026), but was not significant clinically. Patients in the aroma group complained of several symptoms such as headache (20%), paresthesia (6.75%) and nausea (6.7%). However, there were no drop-out patients for those side effects. Conclusion: Aroma self massage during two weeks in breast cancer patients alleviates the pain intensity, depression and anxiety significantly.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2019

Recent studies reported that obesity upregulated the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and regulated particular behavior patterns in animal models. They also reported that ameliorated the increase in nNOS expression and decreased depression and anxiolytic effects. Thus, exercise seems to be an effective strategy for improving brain function by downregulating nNOS. However, the immune response differs greatly, depending on the exercise intensity. The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in brain nNOS expression in obese C57BL/6 mice that performed exercise of different intensities. Obesity was induced in 6-wks-old mice (n=35) by feeding a 60%-fat diet for 6-wks. A control (CON) group (n=14) was fed a normal diet. At the end of the induction 6-wks period of obesity, seven animals in the CON group and obesity-induced group were sacrificed to confirm obesity induction (preliminary experiments and confirmation of visceral fat accumulation). The remaining animals were then used in an 8-wks exercise intervention. Other than the CON (n=7), the obesity-induced animals were divided into the following groups: high-fat diet (HFD, n=7), HFD-low intensity (HFD-LI, n=7, 12 m/min for 75 min), HFD-moderate intensity (HFD-MI, n=7, 15 m/min for 60 min), and HFD-high intensity (HFD-HI, n=7, 18 m/min for 50 min). The exercise was performed on an animal treadmill. The expression of the nNOS protein in the hippocampus was significantly higher in the HFD group as compared with that in the CON group (p<0.01). However, there was no difference in the hippocampal expression of the nNOS protein in the other exercise groups as compared with that in the CON group. In contrast, nNOS expression in the HFD-HI group was significantly lower than that in the HFD-LI group (p<0.05). The expression of phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) was significantly higher in all the exercise groups as compared with that in the CON and HFD groups. There was no difference in the expression of pAkt in the cerebral cortex among groups, and the expression of pAkt in the cerebellum was significantly higher in the HFD-HI group as compared with that in the CON group (p<0.05). There were also no between-group differences in pAkt expression in the cerebellum among the various exercise groups. In conclusion, nNOS seems to be overexpressed in response to obesity, and it appears to be downregulated by exercise. Relatively high-intensity exercise may be effective in improving brain function by downregulating nNOS.