44 research outputs found

    The use of traditional Chinese medicine in Hong Kong Chinese patients: a questionnaire survey.

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    Chen Qian.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-156).Abstract and questionnaires in English and Chinese.ABSTRACT --- p.I中文摘要 --- p.IIIACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.IVABBREVIATIONS --- p.VLIST OF TABLES --- p.VIITABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.IXChapter CHAPTER 1: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- "General principles of diagnosis, treatment and efficacy evaluation in TCM" --- p.3Chapter 1.1.1 --- Basic principle of TCM in diagnosis and treatment --- p.3Chapter 1.1.2 --- Principles of combination use of TCM --- p.3Chapter 1.1.3 --- Principles of TCM prescription --- p.5Chapter 1.2 --- TCM is beneficial to human health --- p.6Chapter 1.2.1 --- "TCM is beneficial, but needs further modernized confirmation" --- p.6Chapter 1.2.2 --- TCM is effective when used following the principles of TCM --- p.21Chapter 1.2.3 --- The proper use and efficacy of TCM need further investigations --- p.21Chapter 1.3 --- Unwanted effects of TCM --- p.24Chapter 1.3.1 --- Unwanted effects of TCM are commonly seen --- p.24Chapter 1.3.2 --- Adverse effects of TCM classified based on medical systems --- p.25Chapter 1.3.3 --- Reasons related to adverse effects of TCM --- p.30Chapter 1.4 --- Studies on the use of TCM in Hong Kong --- p.31Chapter 1.5 --- Hypothesis and purpose of this study --- p.33Chapter CHAPTER 2: --- METHODOLOGY --- p.34Chapter 2.1 --- Rationale of questionnaire survey --- p.34Chapter 2.1.1 --- Choice of study method --- p.34Chapter 2.1.2 --- Types of diseases in the survey --- p.39Chapter 2.2 --- Issues related to implementation of questionnaire survey --- p.39Chapter 2.2.2 --- Interviewers and respondents --- p.40Chapter 2.2.3 --- Materials of the survey --- p.41Chapter 2.2.4 --- Collection period of questionnaire form --- p.42Chapter 2.2.5 --- Procedure of the questionnaire survey --- p.42Chapter 2.3 --- Questionnaire format and the content --- p.44Chapter 2.4 --- Statistics methods --- p.46Chapter 2.5 --- Pilot study for validation of the survey --- p.46Chapter CHAPTER 3: --- RESULTS --- p.48Chapter 3.1 --- Results from the main patient survey --- p.48Chapter 3.1.1 --- General characteristics of main patient group…… --- p.48Chapter 3.1.2 --- The attitude of the main patient group towards TCM --- p.48Chapter 3.1.3 --- Use of herbal medicines in the main patient group --- p.49Chapter 3.1.3.1 --- Chinese herbal medicines used for tonics or food supplements --- p.51Chapter 3.1.3.2 --- Chinese herbal medicines used for treating illnesses --- p.52Chapter 3.2 --- Results from medical patients --- p.55Chapter 3.2.1 --- General characteristics of medical patients in the survey --- p.55Chapter 3.2.2 --- The attitude of medical patients towards TCM --- p.56Chapter 3.2.3 --- Use of herbal medicines in medical patients --- p.57Chapter 3.2.3.1 --- Chinese herbal medicines used for tonics or food supplements --- p.57Chapter 3.2.3.2 --- Chinese herbal medicines used for treating illnesses --- p.58Chapter 3.2.4 --- Use of herbal medicine in the patients with the metabolic syndrome --- p.61Chapter 3.2.4.1 --- About the patients with hypertension and/or dyslipidaemia --- p.62Chapter 3.2.4.2 --- About the patients with diabetes mellitus --- p.63Chapter 3.3 --- Results from surgical patients --- p.64Chapter 3.3.1 --- General characteristics of surgical patients --- p.64Chapter 3.3.2 --- The attitude of surgical patients towards TCM --- p.65Chapter 3.3.3 --- Use of herbal medicines in surgical patients --- p.66Chapter 3.3.3.1 --- Chinese herbal medicines used for tonics or food supplements --- p.66Chapter 3.3.3.2 --- Chinese herbal medicines used for treating illnesses --- p.67Chapter 3.3.3.3 --- TCM used in gynaecological and surgical patients --- p.70Chapter CHAPTER 4: --- DISCUSSION --- p.73Chapter 4.1 --- The use of TCM in Hong Kong patients --- p.73Chapter 4.2 --- The attitude of patients towards TCM --- p.82Chapter 4.3 --- Limitations in the survey --- p.83Chapter 4.4 --- Further investigations --- p.89Chapter CHAPTER 5: --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.90Chapter 5.1 --- TCM is commonly used in Hong Kong patients for either health promotion or illnesses prevention and treatment --- p.90Chapter 5 2 --- The use of TCM in Hong Kong patients lacks formal regulation and management --- p.90TABLES --- p.91APPENDIX --- p.133Chapter 1. --- Informed consent form --- p.133Chapter 2. --- Questionnaire form (English version) --- p.136Chapter 3. --- Questionnaire form (Chinese version) --- p.138BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.141Chapter 1. --- Full Publications --- p.141Chapter 2. --- Conference abstracts --- p.141REFERENCES --- p.14

    Exploring Chinese-Canadians' perspectives on health : a quantitative study

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    Chinese have unique perspectives on health and illness, which is mostly umecognized by western medicine. Immigration may contribute to problems with health consultations, inconvenience, and dissatisfaction. As the largest visible minority in Canada, Chinese- Canadians' perspectives on health should be studied in order to help Chinese immigrants adapt to a new health-care and health-promotion system, and keep them healthy. A quantitative questionnaire was designed based on the findings from a pilot study and previous literature. A hundred participants were recruited from Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, and St. Catharines. Descriptive analysis and correlation analysis were used to investigate the structure of the variables. Findings indicated that most oftheir attitudes and corresponding practices to the different health aspects were positive. The relation between dietary practices and attitude was only found in small cities. Their attitudes were impacted by their length of stay in Canada. Their attitudes to regularly timed meals and psychological consultation were related to their acculturation level, as was the regularity of their practice of dental flossing. Their self-evaluated general health levels were also found to be affected by their medical history, education level, feeling to talk about • sexual health, and smoking, particularly in the male subjects of the study. In conclusion, they realized that each health aspect w~s important to their health. However, their practices did not bear a strong relation to their beliefs. Traditional thoughts about health reseeded with time. Acculturation level did not affect most of their attitudes or practices. Under pressure, the priority of the daily health practices decreased. Older persons, those with low incomes, lower education levels or families under stress need to pay more attention to their health level. In-depth future research was recommended

    Discourse, materiality and power: Dietary supplements and their users

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    Throughout human existence people have used herbs and other medicinal substances to protect themselves against illness and treat their ailments. Gathering wild herbs has, however, been replaced today by the many products on the shelves of health stores and pharmacies in developed countries with health systems similar to New Zealand. Previous studies of supplements and their use have largely focused on how many people use them, or subsumed supplement use within wider studies of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Supplement use, however, has characteristics that make it different from CAM therapies more broadly. Yet there have been only a few investigations where supplement users have been asked directly about their practices, and those that have been done have tended to be under-theorised and so lack depth. This study used a constructionist approach, within which supplements and their users were examined from both humanist and post-humanist perspectives. I used semi-structured interviews to generate data with 36 participants who were regular users of supplements. The interviews were supplemented by observations of the displays of products that participants brought to my attention in the home and retail settings where the interviews took place. A critical theoretical analysis was undertaken, framed by Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the rhizomatic assemblage of multiple, interconnected actants which are always in a process of change. Within this wider framework, aspects of the data were examined using other theoretical concepts including deconstruction, the agency of matter, and Foucault’s ideas of power and caring for the self. The study revealed that popular assumptions about supplements as being natural, holistic and risk free can be deconstructed to show a wide variety of nuances and competing interpretations. Material things are significant in supplement use; not only the products themselves but the non-human communication technologies that allow individuals and companies the means to research, promote, sell or buy supplements when and where they choose across the globe. Using the experience and new knowledge acquired through these non-human things, supplement users become confident in their ability to resist over-scrutiny of their practices by the orthodox health system and this confidence becomes woven in to how they present themselves and their life story

    Would a 'vaccine passport' work in the Philippines?

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    A novel coronavirus in 2019 took the life of ‘patient zero’ and then millions of others alerting nation states to protect and secure the lives of their citizens. The coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 caused the ‘COVID-19’ disease which had governments impose restrictions on the freedom of movement or the right to travel in the form of ‘community quarantines.’ The serious adverse effects of these on the world and national economies moved the governments to loosen the quarantines and implement versions of so-called ‘vaccine passport,’ an international digital health certificate proving COVID-19 vaccination status. One of the uses of the vaccine passport is to expedite the safe and orderly passage of people in airports which extends to other travel terminals, essential and commercial establishments, and facilities. There are ethical concerns, however, such as the inequitable distribution of the scarce supply of vaccines, among others. In this article, I briefly describe the vaccine passport idea, its uses, and ethical concerns, and then apply these concerns in a national context through the pending bills that aim to legitimize a Vaccine Passport System in the Philippines. In the end, I recommend that lawmakers (who represent the moral interest of Filipinos) consider such concerns before they cast their votes

    Moving in from the fringes: The regulation of complementary and alternative medical practitioners in the UK.

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    Taking the cases of five complementary therapies in the United Kingdom, the study seeks to explain why some complementary medical practitioners are statutorily regulated while others remain unregulated. It also asks why regulation has taken the form that it has. The analytical framework used draws on sociology, economics and political science. The study examines whether statutory regulation is best explained as the result of the mobilisation of complementary medical practitioner groups, actions by the state, or interactions between individual policy actors. It tests the explanatory value of demand theories of professionalisation, supply theories of professionalisation, and personal policy network analysis. It also examines the role of ideas in shaping policy. While practitioner groups in all five therapies were professionalised not all actively pursued statutory regulation. In the cases of osteopaths and chiropractors mobilisation by practitioner groups appears to explain their success in gaining statutory regulation. The state's concern to regulate risk appears to have been crucial in the decision to introduce statutory regulation for acupuncturists and herbalists. In all cases, individual policy entrepreneurs and policy advocates, including HRH the Prince of Wales, played a crucial role in shaping the policy process. The medical model of professional self-regulation dominated policy ideas. Alternative regulatory models were seldom debated. The study discusses the implications of the findings for the future of professional regulation of CAM practitioners and healthcare professionals generally. It concludes by suggesting that despite its limitations personal policy network analysis might usefully be applied in other contexts

    The Largest Unethical Medical Experiment in Human History

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    This monograph describes the largest unethical medical experiment in human history: the implementation and operation of non-ionizing non-visible EMF radiation (hereafter called wireless radiation) infrastructure for communications, surveillance, weaponry, and other applications. It is unethical because it violates the key ethical medical experiment requirement for “informed consent” by the overwhelming majority of the participants. The monograph provides background on unethical medical research/experimentation, and frames the implementation of wireless radiation within that context. The monograph then identifies a wide spectrum of adverse effects of wireless radiation as reported in the premier biomedical literature for over seven decades. Even though many of these reported adverse effects are extremely severe, the true extent of their severity has been grossly underestimated. Most of the reported laboratory experiments that produced these effects are not reflective of the real-life environment in which wireless radiation operates. Many experiments do not include pulsing and modulation of the carrier signal, and most do not account for synergistic effects of other toxic stimuli acting in concert with the wireless radiation. These two additions greatly exacerbate the severity of the adverse effects from wireless radiation, and their neglect in current (and past) experimentation results in substantial under-estimation of the breadth and severity of adverse effects to be expected in a real-life situation. This lack of credible safety testing, combined with depriving the public of the opportunity to provide informed consent, contextualizes the wireless radiation infrastructure operation as an unethical medical experiment

    Preface

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