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AUSTRALIA – Asian Mushrooms Could Help Fight Prostate Cancer

AUSTRALIA – New Lung Cancer Treatment Discovered

AUSTRALIA – Gene Behind Rare Brain Disorder Identified

CHINA – China Bans Controversial Drug for Kids Below 12

INDIA – Ovarian Cancer Treated with Immunotherapy

INDIA – Gene Card Tells What Drugs to Avoid

INDIA – IISc, Deakin Join Hands to Fight Cancer with Nanotechnology

INDIA – Indian Govt to Introduce First Five-in-One Vaccine

SINGAPORE – New Test for Pain Tolerence

SINGAPORE – NUS Best University for Medicine in Asia

OTHER REGIONS — Implant Breakthrough Helps Paraplegic Man Stand Unaided

OTHER REGIONS — Scientists Discover Protein that can Halt Spread of Breast Cancer

Mind-body exercise, a form of physical exercise originating in the East with increasing popularity in the West, has a unique characteristic that requires conscious control of each body movement and concurrently maintaining a peaceful and relaxed state of mind during practice. With the ultimate goal of training both the body and the mind, there have been empirical findings supporting the positive effects of mind-body exercises on improving physical health condition (e.g., pulmonary function) as well as cognitive functions (e.g., learning and memory). This chapter will introduce a form of Chinese Chan-based mind-body exercise, namely Shaolin mind-body exercise or Chanwu, which was developed upon the traditional Shaolin Healing Approach. A brief description on some movements of Shaolin mind-body exercise will also be provided. Treatment outcomes based on both clinical observations and cumulative empirical evidence are so far encouraging. Specifically, intervention with the component of Shaolin mind-body exercise has been found to be able to foster a relaxed and attentive mind state of normal adults, significantly improve depressive mood and enhance bowel function and neurophysiological activity of both community-dwelling adults and patients with major depressive disorder. Some clinical cases with severe cognitive impairment have also been assessed to show significant enhancement in their attention, memory, language and executive functions. These positive findings have suggested potential clinical applicability of the Shaolin mind-body exercise as a possible neuropsychological intervention for improving cognitive function and psychological status of patients with various brain disorders or psychiatric illnesses.