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Brain Fitness Seen as Hot Industry of the FutureWhen her son Alex was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the age of 10, Karen George was reluctant to put him on medication.Instead, she enrolled him in a clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of a brain stimulation program made by Cogmed, a private company that uses computer programs to exercise parts of the brain responsible for short-term memory.The five-week program required Alex to spend up to an hour a day on a computer, pitting his wits against a robot. Among other exercises, the robot blinked out sequences of flashing lights that Alex was required to replicate.The program made a dramatic difference in Alex's ability to concentrate, remember and act on daily chores, his mother says."I noticed it immediately," said George, 47, who lives with her physician husband in Santa Rosa Valley, California. "The program was like a game and my son was loving it."Cogmed is part of an emerging brain fitness software industry that could expand rapidly as aging baby boomers seek ways to stave off dementia (痴呆) and Alzheimer's disease.The size of the US market for brain stimulation products—which can range from games such as Nintendo Co Ltd's Brain Age to programs backed by research showing they can improve memory or other cognitive functions—more than doubled between 2005 and 2007 to $225 million, according to a new report by the consulting group SharpBrains.Just as baby boomers' desire to delay cardiovascular and other diseases fueled the health club boom, their desire to delay dementia is expected to keep the market for brain stimulation products growing.Even health insurers are getting in on the act. Humana, for example, has teamed up with Posit Science, which makes programs to enhance learning and memory, to offer brain fitness programs to certain Medicare members at a discounted price.The industry is so young, however, that it is unclear which business model will be most successful over time: companies like Nintendo that develop games that are fun but have no proven clinical benefit, or those such as privately held NovaVision Inc, whose product has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve vision in patients recovering from stroke or brain injury.Jonas Jendi, chief executive of Cogmed, says games without clinical data will never be successful in the long run."I think it will be very difficult to make money in the field of games, even though I think a lot of people will try," he said. "Our approach is to prove our product works through proper research." Cogmed's product has not been cleared by the FDA as a treatment for ADHD or any other memory or attention-related disorder, yet the company can point to a certain amount of published research to support claims that its program helps improve short-term memory. It distributes the product through networks of clinicians. Stephen Bozylinski, a paid adviser to Cogmed, says the short-term results are encouraging but it is unclear how long they will hold up. Karen George said she noticed Alex begin to relapse after about a year, and two weeks ago she put him on medication for his ADHD."For the program to work, a parent needs to supervise and coach their child, and right now we don't have that amount of time to invest," said George. "We might try it again later."Alvaro Fernandez, co-founder of SharpBrains, said that while circumstantial evidence exists thatbrain stimulation software programs work, especially over a short period, it is too early to tell if they lead to a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease long term.Dan Michel, chief executive of privately held Dakim Inc, says the only way discover that is if products are used for long periods of time, much like studying the impact of long-term training on the physical body. And for that to happen, programs must be fun, at least to a certain degree. "We start from the position that there is tons of research out there showing that significant cognitive stimulation delays the onset of dementia," said Michel, who markets his products to retirement communities. "What we are offering is not short-term memory stuff where you need to work on specific tasks; we are talking about preserving overall brain health."Marian Harris is a case in point. The 81-year-old resident of Belmont Village Senior exercises her mind three times a week using Dakim's device, which combines hardware and software with a touch screen that is easy to use and fun."I feel like my mind is pretty good right now but I want to keep it that way," said Harris. "I want to stay interested in life and not go into my little world as I get older."And using the system, which might require her to identify a song or gradually increase her memory for numbers, "is just a fun thing," she says.Bill Reando, activities coordinator at the retirement center, said he notices a difference in the residents who use the Dakim machine."Their confidence is higher, they are more active, they are quicker in remembering what they had for lunch."So far, not much money has been made in the sector. One of the leaders, Scientific Learning Corp, has struggled with its marketing strategy, said Fernandez, and most other companies in the field are venture-funded. But the industry is young and only just finding its feet."My subjective feeling is that many of these companies will be acquired," Fernandez said. "I think the health companies, the educational companies, will be interested in adding these products to their portfolios."Y N NGY N NGY N NGY N NGY N NGY N NGY N NGThe Healing Power of BeliefFor the past two years, I have been studying cancer survivors at UCLA, trying to find out why it is that some people respond much better to their treatment than others do. At first I thought that some patients did well because their illnesses were not as severe as the illnesses of others. The patients I am talking about here received, upon diagnosis, whatever treatment their individual cases demanded. Yet the response to such treatments was hardly uniform. Some patients showed much better improvements in their therapies than others.What was it that made a difference? Was there any one thing that all survivors had in common? Yes. I have found that the major characteristics of these survivors were very similar. Among the similarities are:∙They all had a strong will to live.∙They were not worried about their illness.∙They had confidence in their ability to be strong.∙Despite all forecasts to the contrary, they believed they could make it.∙They were capable of a joyful response.∙They were convinced that their treatment would work.Annie's StoryOne woman with whom I worked closely is perhaps a good example for the entire group. Let's call her Annie. Her illness was diagnosed as cancer of the liver. An operation convinced the surgeons that the disease was too far along to be treated by any known means. But Annie was absolutely determined to overcome her illness. She decided to fight with all of her powers of mind and body. Her family physician was so impressed with her spirit. Very supportive, he encouraged Annie to see a surgeon in Houston who had a high record of success with patients who had a strong will to live and a confident attitude. The surgeon's name was John Stehlin. Annie went to Houston and was interviewed by Dr. Stehlin. She visited the floor in St. Joseph's Hospital where Dr. Stehlin's patients were cared for. Instead of a gloomy white hospital setting, she found a cheerful, lively, attractive series of rooms, the largest of which was called the Living Room. It was equipped with easy chairs, reading corners, TV sets and video machines, and a large collection of funny movies on tape. Dr. Stehlin brought the sets and obtained the tapes after reading an article I wrote for the New England Journal of Medicine on the value of laughter. He had always believed that hopefulness and laughter go together. People who are capable of experiencing joy, he discovered, are much more likely to have successful surgeries and therapies than those who are nervous.After spending only l5 minutes with Dr. Stehlin, Annie felt uplifted and thrilled by the place. Dr. Stehlin examined Annie and studied her medical record. Then he told her he would be willing to operate and give her the best possible care—but only if she had complete confidence in herself, in him, and in the operation. He suggested that she return home to think about it.Annie did, but there wasn't much to think about. She was eager to proceed. When she returned to Houston, it was obvious to Dr. Stehlin that she was strongly motivated. He operated and removed 70 percent of her liver. Today, three years later, she is active and free of symptoms. Annie and Dr. Stehlin know the chances are that there are probably other pockets of cancer throughout her body. But her condition has stabilized (稳定). She is a happy, functioning human being.Powers of the MindAt the School of Medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles, I have been trying to find out if emotions affect the chemistry of the human body. For several decades the term psychosomatic" (心理引发病症) has been in general use. It means mind-body relationship. But the precise way the mind affects the body has not been clearly defined. As a result of the recent research, however, it is possible to say that specific changes take place throughout the body as the result of human attitudes.Indeed Dr. Richard Bergland, a brain researcher at the Harvard Medical School has written a paper suggesting that the human brain is basically a gland (腺). Building on this view, Dr. Carmine Clemente, director of the Brain Research Institute (学院) at UCLA has been looking into the secretions (分泌) of the brain. He has estimated that there may be thousands of such secretions—all of which play a part in the functioning of the body.Numerous medical reports now tell of instances in which individuals have been able to direct their bodies in the ways generally believed to be beyond the reach of the conscious intelligence. At the UCLA School of Medicine, I witnessed a demonstration in which a man controlled his ownheart. He could speed it up or slow it down almost to a stop merely by concentrating. Such a performance is not unknown in Eastern cultures, but it was startling, to say the least, to see such a demonstration in an American medical school. The evidence is proof that chemical changes take place in the body as a result of mental functions or moods.The Placebo (安慰剂) EffectThis mind-body effect should not be surprising in view of the experience over the years with placebos. The term placebo" is used to describe a pill" that contains no medical ingredients but that often produces the same effect as genuine medication. Placebos provide enough proof that expectations can have an effect on body chemistry. According to a recent article on placebos in Medical World News, studies conducted over the past 25 years have shown that placebos satisfactorily relieved symptoms in an average of 35 percent of patients tested. These symptoms include: fever, headache and anxiety. The explanation for this strange phenomenon is that the human mind can create actual changes in body chemistry as a result of what it believes. If, for example, a person believes that a certain medication contains a substance that can accomplish a specific need, the body tends to move in that direction.An increasing number of scientists now say that the body's healing system and its belief system are closely related. That is why hope, faith, and the will to live can be vital factors in the war against diseases. The belief system converts positive expectations into plus factors in any contest against illness.Y N NGY N NGY N NGY N NGY N NGY N NG Y N NG。