Medicine for Policymakers is a Journal column that provides decision makers with brief explanations of the meaning and implications for biosecurity of clinical issues. The articles describe, for a nonmedical audience, hospital practices, medical challenges, healthcare delivery issues, and other topics of current interest. Readers may submit ideas to the ...

The aim of our study was to observe the dynamic changes of immunity for patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and intervention by traditional Chinese medicine. Twenty-three patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomized to combined treatment of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine (TCM) or conventional western medicine ...

BACKGROUND: Phlebotomy is a potential cause of preanalytical errors. We have observed phlebotomy in routine practice in a busy Emergency Department, to see how current practice compares with optimal blood sampling. METHODS: Phlebotomy episodes were audited and compared with standard procedures. A computer-based search of the number of haemolysed samples ...

Background and Aim:  Chinese traditional medical science is generally used as a therapeutic method against functional dyspepsia (FD) in China. Although great effort is made to understand the pharmaceutical mechanisms of Chinese traditional medicine, such as typical traditional Chinese medicine, Wei Kangning, there are still many mysteries to be uncovered. ...

Alendronate sodium is a medicine, which is commonly used in osteoporosis treatment. Nowadays, this substance is given to patients in tablets, but in future it is planned that it will be administrated into human organisms as intravenous infusions; therefore, significant interactions of this medicine with erythrocytes will be inevitable. It ...

The following article from Medicinal Research Reviews, Tetraoxanes: Synthetic and medicinal chemistry perspective by Nitin Kumar, Ram Singh, Diwan S. Rawat, published online on 21 December 2009 in Wiley Online Library (http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor in Chief, Binghe Wang and Wiley Periodicals, ...

A case of severe sodium valproate overdose is presented in which medicinal management failed to reverse coma of the patient. High-flux hemodialysis was then used to eliminate sodium valproate. This case demonstrated the effectiveness of hemodialysis in not only decreasing valproate levels very rapidly but also as an effective anti-coma ...

BACKGROUND: The impact of providing information about medicines to patients on decisions about starting or continuing them is unknown. PURPOSE: To estimate the impact on decisions to start or continue medicines, of providing information to patients about possible benefits and/or harms. Data Sources. Electronic searches from 1980 to October 2010; ...

This project was devised to estimate the incidence of major complications of airway management during anaesthesia in the UK and to study these events. Reports of major airway management complications during anaesthesia (death, brain damage, emergency surgical airway, unanticipated intensive care unit admission) were collected from all National Health Service ...

Our goal was to monitor the progress of 3 Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) objectives encouraging self-management education and clinician counseling for weight loss and physical activity among adults with doctor-diagnosed arthritis. Using the national 2002 and 2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and state-based 2003 and 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor ...

Objective. To examine the experiences of occupational violence in general practitioner (GP) and non-GP staff. Further objectives were to compare prevalence of violence in GP and non-GP staff and to examine levels of apprehension and perceptions of control over violence. Design. Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Setting. A network of research general ...

Objectives To compare the prevalence of use of potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) between older patients living in their own homes versus those living in nursing or residential homes, and to test the association between exposure to PIMs and mortality. Design Cohort study stratified by place of residence. Setting Tayside, Scotland. ...

To compare the level and determinants of job satisfaction between four groups of Australian doctors: general practitioners, specialists, specialists-in-training, and hospital non-specialists. National cross-sectional questionnaire survey as part of the baseline cohort of a longitudinal survey of Australian doctors in clinical practice (Medicine in Australia - Balancing Employment and Life ...

With a history of over 2000 years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) evolves into a unique system of diagnosing and treating illnesses. It is a challenge to convey the fundamentals of this traditional medicine to our Western colleagues because of the differences in language, philosophy and concept of diagnosis and treatment. ...

Rapid confirmation of dermatomycoses is desirable because it allows the clinician to initiate appropriate therapy without delay. The routine potassium hydroxide (KOH) wet-mount is cheap and rapid to use but this method lacks a color contrast. We offer a simple practical tip of adding Chicago Sky Blue (CSB) stain to ...

Nephrolithiasis is a common problem associated with significant costs to the health care system. Its prevalence continues to increase, particularly in women, which is attributed to changes in diet and lifestyle. The costs associated with the evaluation and management of nephrolithiasis in the United States has been estimated to be ...

Rural and remote areas are characterised by a shortage of medical practitioners. Rural background has been shown to be a significant factor associated with medical graduates' intentions and decisions to practise within a rural area, though most studies have only used simple definitions of rural background and not previously looked ...

The incorporation of new technologies into clinical daily practice is nowadays a fact in the field of medicine. Within these new technologies, telemedicine is turning out to be a working tool that is used with increasing frequency in medical centers. The systems of telemedicine have still not reached the same ...

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for more than 4000 years. By comparison with large combinatorial chemistry libraries and natural products of the West for high-throughput screening (HTS) of new drugs discovery, an advantage of TCM is that the preparation has clear efficacies on the therapy of some diseases. ...

With growing use of anticancer complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) worldwide, there is a need to assess and screen commercially available natural products for relative tumoricidal properties under standard experimental conditions. In the current study, we screened and ranked 264 traditional Chinese and Egyptian herbal medicines for tumoricidal potency against ...

Chromatographic fingerprinting technique of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has proved to be a comprehensive strategy for assessing the intact quality of herbal medicine. In general, one could use the chromatographic techniques to obtain a relatively complete picture of herbal medicines, which are in common called chromatographic fingerprints of herbal medicines ...

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), a key branch of natural medicines, play an important role in treatment of diseases because of their reliable clinical performance. Identification of their active compounds constitutes a bottleneck in the development of TCMs. Screening and analysis of active compounds is a challenge in TCMs research. This ...

Piper betle Linn. is a traditional plant associated with the Asian and southeast Asian cultures. Its use is also recorded in folk medicines in these regions. Several of its medicinal properties have recently been proven. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of mainly terpenes and phenols in betel leaves. These constituents ...

Rationale, aims and objectives  Until now, the evaluation of the effectiveness of guideline implementation in nursing and allied health professions has received relatively little attention. The aims of this study were (i) to describe the development process of guidelines concerning the management of peripheral venous catheters (PVCs) implemented in an ...

To evaluate the anti-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) activity of 50 traditional Chinese herbal medicines in order to provide the primary evidence for their use in clinical practice. A susceptibility test of water extract from 50 selected traditional Chinese herbal medicines for in vitro H. pylori Sydney strain 1 was performed ...

Objective:  To describe the prescribing practice of emergency medicine clinicians in the management of highly agitated patients and to identify perceived barriers to management and the gaps in training. Method:  We undertook an anonymous cross-sectional mail survey of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) members (fellows and advanced trainees) ...

Antiobesity pharmacotherapy and programs/providers that possess weight management expertise are not commonly used by physicians. The underlying reasons for this are not known. We performed a cross-sectional study in 33 Canadian medical practices (36 physicians) examining 1788 overweight/obese adult patients. The frequency of pharmacotherapy use and referral for further diet, ...

The discovery of artemisinin from Chinese medicinal plant, Artemisia annua in 1971, opened a new era in the malarial chemotherapy. This discovery was the beginning of exploring peroxides as potential replacements for the traditional antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine and mefloquine. The structurally simple class of peroxides that emerged from ...

The holistic system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an integrity of the ingredients contained in the Chinese herbal medicines, which creates a challenge in establishing quality control standards for raw materials and the standardization of finished herbal drugs because no single component is contributing to the total efficacy. Chromatographic ...

Metabolomics represent a global understanding of metabolite complement of integrated living systems and dynamic responses to the changes of both endogenous and exogenous factors and has many potential applications and advantages for the research of complex systems. As a systemic approach, metabolomics adopts a "top-down" strategy to reflect the function ...

Chinese herbal medicines are often referred to as Chinese materia medica (CMM). Composite formulae containing mixtures of CMM are prescribed for treatment and prevention of diseases in the practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Some of the well-known CMM formulae (Fufang in Chinese) are manufactured and marketed as proprietary Chinese ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of radiosterilization on 30 Chinese medicines using γ-rays from the isotope ⁶⁰Co. Two groups of Chinese medicines, non-treated and dry samples, were treated using a ⁶⁰Co irradiation source at the doses 0, 3, 6 and 9  kGy. After storage for ...

Innovative systems approaches to develop medicine and health care are emerging from the integration of Chinese and Western medicine strategies, philosophies and practices. The two medical systems are highly complementary as the reductionist aspects of Western medicine are favourable in acute disease situations and the holistic aspects of Chinese medicine ...

This study aims at a comprehensive analysis of ethnoveterinary treatment in the cattle-raising section of Sanrimgyeongje which covers 12 different volumes of literature including 4 Korean and 8 Chinese literatures from the 7th to the 18th century, with a special attention to the treatments for cattle diseases. The above mentioned ...

Toxicogenomics represents the integration of genomics and toxicology to investigate the interaction between genes and environmental stress in human health. It is a scientific field that studies how the genome is involved in responses to environmental stressors and toxicants. The patterns of altered gene expression that are caused by specific ...

To document the use of animal species in traditional medicine from the municipality of Mapimi, Durango, México. Direct interviews were performed in several short visits with inhabitants from the municipality of Mapimi, Durango. The interviews were analyzed with two quantitative tools. The informant consensus factor that estimates the level of ...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with higher morbidity and mortality among ethnic Chinese patients than Whites. Corticosteroid and other immunosuppressive drugs, including cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, and hydroxychloroquine are traditional therapies for this disease. Since the year 2000, mycophenolate mofetil and rituximab have been widely used in refractory SLE ...

We investigated the ethnomedical practices and knowledge of medicinal plant and fungus species of contemporary Yuracaré and Trinitario ethnic groups from Indigenous Territory and National Park Isiboro-Sécure (TIPNIS), located in the Bolivian Amazon region. Our aim was to identify the culturally most significant medicinal plant families, growth forms and species, ...

Large poultry belt is located in the residential areas of rural Haryana in North India. Housefly problem has become a big nuisance in this area. Policy makers require evidence of the association of poultry farming with houseflies and its possible impact on the health of the population. Across-sectional two-group comparison ...

A new method for the comparison of the treatment efficacy for specific diseases or conditions between Chinese medicine and Western medicine, which serve the same medical aim but are based on substantially different theoretical systems, was identified. Abiding by the principle of parallel subgroup design of a randomized controlled trial ...

Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word, which means "the scripture for longevity". It represents an ancient system of traditional medicine prevalent in India and in several other south Asian countries. It is based on a holistic view of treatment which is believed to cure human diseases through establishment of equilibrium in ...

In addition to hormone replacement therapy, non-hormonal therapy, particularly Japanese traditional herbal medicine (Kampo), has been used to alleviate the various symptoms of female menopause. The efficacy and safety of Japanese traditional herbal medicine for male late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) are investigated. One hundred fifty-one patients with LOH were treated via ...

Capsicum species are not only cultivated as vegetable and condiment crops but are also incorporated into a number of medicinal preparations in the ancient literature around the world. 'Naga chilli' or 'Bhoot Jolokia' (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) is a chilli variety indigenous to the northeast region of India and has been ...

Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is easy to develop and simple molecular marker, but lack of reproducibility makes it less reliable for authentication of herbal drugs. Besides RAPD, other popular PCR and non-PCR based markers like AFLP, ISSR, SSR and RFLP are also used for authentication. However, these also have ...

Purpose. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) has been practiced in mainland China for over three decades. This study reviews the development of CBR and describes its practice in Chinese communities in order to discuss current controversies within CBR practice internationally and in the Chinese context. Method. Review of literature. Development of CBR, its principles ...

To describe medicine use by children at three, 12 and 24 months of age. Cross-sectional study using data from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort (Southern Brazil), including: 3,985 children at three months, 3,907 children at 12 months, and 3,868 children at 24 months of age. The outcome investigated was use ...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative disease of the joints caused by wide variety of factors. factors. This paper provides a review of the clinical and experimental research on integrated Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Western medicine in the treatment of osteoarthritis. (1) Clinical research: integrated ...

In many Western societies, alternative healing options, including Chinese medicine, have started to move from the marginal to mainstream. In China, Chinese medicine has been an established component in the official health care system, but its relevance and effectiveness have often been challenged in a society committed to modernization. Despite ...

This article discusses the fundamental theory and history of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and points out that a series of problems and debates arise about CHM. In order to solve these problems, we need to answer the following three questions for the future development of CHM: Is CHM safe? Is ...

We are constructing an ontology for traditional Korean medicine, and we started with medicinal materials to express the relationships between patients' symptoms, diseases and treatments. Biological materials and mineral resources have been used traditionally for patient treatments. The ontology includes various data related to these materials, such as their scientific ...