To Investigate the Metabolomics in the Subjects With Long Term Tai Chi Chuan Practice
Condition: Tai Chi Chuan; Metabolomics
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      The new biomedical technology including genomics and metabolomics will be applied to the
      subjects with TCC practice to investigate clinical symptoms and signs expression. The
      investigators will compare the related molecular pathways especially focusing on immune and
      inflammation between long term practice and beginner groups.
    

Detailed description: 
      Tai Chi has been developed and spread in the eastern Asia, even the whole world for a long
      time. It is an exercise to coordinate mind, breathing and body movements slowly and
      continuously. Tai Chi is regarded as a good and useful sport to strengthen the body. In
      recent ten years, more and more evidence demonstrated the benefits of Tai Chi especially by
      meta-analysis studies. These studies revealed that Tai Chi can lower blood pressure,
      including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, total
      cholesterol, triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, as well as preventing bone
      mineral density (BMD) loss in special populations. Tai Chi also helps the patients with
      Parkinson's disease reduce falls due to improving balance and functional mobility, and
      improve the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Recently, people are currently facing how to
      reduce the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, promote physical and mental health and
      strengthen muscles and bones, and so on. Regarding the role of Tai Chi in immunity, Tai Chi
      is helpful to improve immune function, however, the results are still inconsistent that it
      needs to be elucidated.

      Metabolomics technology is widely used in the fields of medicine and life sciences. Through
      mass spectrometry analysis, quantitative and qualitative changes in biomarkers can be used to
      identify biochemical metabolic pathways or effects that might be involved. The number of
      studies on metabolomics applications has grown rapidly over the past decade, however, little
      has been done to examine the physiological effects of Tai Chi practice. In addition, with the
      advancement of science and technology, the sensitivity and measurement method of the mass
      spectrometer have been improved, which is more suitable for understanding the physiological
      changes by Tai Chi exercises. After all, the exact cellular molecular mechanisms remain
      largely unknown after the practice of Tai Chi.

      In order to understand the health care of Tai Chi, the investigators designed this clinical
      control study to observe its clinical benefits from both traditional Chinese medicine and
      Western medicine. The investigators mainly compared long-term Tai Chi practitioners with
      beginner by TCM diagnosis and physical analysis to identify the differences and changes in
      TCM syndromes. At the same time, modern medical-related molecular biotechnology is used to
      detect changes in immunity and metabolomics analysis. Based on the views from macro to micro,
      it may provide important clues for clinical trials of related diseases with application of
      Tai Chi exercise in the future.
    

Observational model: Case-Control
Time perspective: Retrospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        The enrolled normal subjects were confirmed by the Tai Chi Association and the research PI.
        The long-term group has practiced Tai Chi for at least five years, and the short-term group
        has been practiced for less than three months. Men and women aged between 20 and 65 are
        included. We collected all of subjects' basic information, four diagnosis associated with
        TCM Syndrome Differentiation, FACIT-Fatigue scale, PSQI, BDI-II, SF-36 questionnaire scale,
        blood tests for CBC, liver and kidney function as well as metabolite analysis.
      
Keywords: Traditional Chinese medicine; Yin and Yang; Tai Chi Chuan; Metabolomics