ISMAC: An Intelligent System for Customized Clinical Case Management and Analysis

Clinical cases are primary and vital evidence for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinical research. A great deal of medical knowledge is hidden in the clinical cases of the highly experienced TCM practitioner. With a deep Chinese culture background and years of clinical experience, an experienced TCM specialist usually has his or her unique clinical pattern and diagnosis idea. Preserving huge clinical cases of experienced TCM practitioners as well as exploring the inherent knowledge is then an important but arduous task. The novel system ISMAC (Intelligent System for Management and Analysis of Clinical Cases in TCM) is designed and implemented for customized management and intelligent analysis of TCM clinical data. Customized templates with standard and expert-standard symptoms, diseases, syndromes, and Chinese Medince Formula (CMF) are constructed in ISMAC, according to the clinical diagnosis and treatment characteristic of each TCM specialist. With these templates, clinical cases are archived in order to maintain their original characteristics. Varying data analysis and mining methods, grouped as Basic Analysis, Association Rule, Feature Reduction, Cluster, Pattern Classification, and Pattern Prediction, are implemented in the system. With a flexible dataset retrieval mechanism, ISMAC is a powerful and convenient system for clinical case analysis and clinical knowledge discovery

An integrated framework to classify healthcare virtual communities

Healthcare (HC) strives to improve service quality through its cost-effective social computing strategy. However, sudden rise in the count of virtual community of practices (VCoPs) introduced many choices for physicians; As a result, it is not surprising to observe current literature reporting lack of study to investigate ideas integration within and between VCoPs. VCoPs need to be categorized for HC physicians so they will be able to pin-point effective a VC to attain assistance from. This paper is one of the first investigative studies, in HC sector, that proposed a framework to classify and pin-point appropriate VCoPs, for physicians, after it reviewed and analyzed traditional and up-to-date theoretical, empirical and case study literature in the area of social computing, knowledge management (KM) and VCoPs. The implementation of this framework pinpointed professional VCoPs as most appropriate for physicians based on strict requirements, i.e. closed physician communities holding many participants, which are older than 5 years with high boundary crossing. This framework is also a “one-size-fit-all” formula to build an organizational VCoP, utilizable by other business sectors

Knowledge management system and infertility treatment using Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been practiced for over 5000 years. Different from western medicine which has its origin from anatomy, TCM is based on the ancient Chinese perception of humans as part of the environment and universe, subject to nature and its forces, therefore, health and diseases are direct result of the interaction of humans with the environment and the balance of distinct yet interconnected organs. The effectiveness of TCM has been recognized widely, yet due to its complexity and underlying conceptual foundations, it is very challenging to seek scientific evidence on how it works using lab experiments. This paper discusses an ongoing knowledge management project that is built on the logic of TCM treatment of infertility. The purpose of this project is to promote understanding of the TCM treatment, uncover its underlying theories, preserve TCM knowledge, and facilitate its continuing development

Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Comparative Overview

Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicine (TIM) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) remain the most ancient yet living traditions. There has been increased global interest in traditional medicine. Efforts to monitor and regulate herbal drugs and traditional medicine are underway. China has been successful in promoting its therapies with more research and science-based approach, while Ayurveda still needs more extensive scientific research and evidence base. This review gives an overview of basic principles and commonalities of TIM and TCM and discusses key determinants of success, which these great traditions need to address to compete in global markets

The Sasang Constitution as an Independent Risk Factor for Metabolic Syndrome: Propensity Matching Analysis

The Sasang Constitutional Medicine is a traditional Korean customized medicine that classifies people into four types: Tae-eumin (TE), Soyangin (SY), Soeumin (SE), and Taeyangin. The aim of this study was to show whether the Sasang Constitution (SC) could be an independent risk factor for the metabolic syndrome (MS). Totally, 3,334 subjects from 24 Korean medicine clinics participated in this study. A one-way ANOVA for the continuous variables and a chi-square test for the prevalence of MS were conducted. A logistic regression was conducted to calculate the propensity score and the odds ratios (ORs). The prevalence for MS in TE, SY, and SE was 50.6%, 30.9%, and 17.7% (P<0.001) before matching, and 36.7%, 28.6% and 28.2% (P=0.042) after matching, respectively. The TE was associated with an increased OR for MS compared with the SE and SY in both crude (OR 4.773, 95% CI 3.889–5.859, and OR 2.292, 95% CI 1.942–2.704, resp.) and matched groups (OR 1.476, 95% CI 1.043–2.089, and OR 1.452, 95% CI 1.026–2.053, resp.). This study reveals that the SC, especially the TE type, could be considered as a risk element for MS even in people with otherwise similar physical characteristics

The Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine as an Adjunct to Western Fertility Treatments for the Management of Female Infertility

Background: Traditional Western treatments for female infertility can take a costly toll on patients, both financially and emotionally. For patients undergoing such treatment, having the option of increasing likelihood of pregnancy via a treatment variation like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that has few risks and side effects would be an important consideration. The purpose of this literature review is to assess the efficacy of TCM in the treatment of female infertility when used as an adjunct to traditional Western fertility treatments. Method: An exhaustive search of available medical literature was performed using Ovid-Medline, CINAHL, EBSCO, Alt-Health Watch, CAM Power Search, AcuTrials, and Google Scholar. Results were limited to meta-analyses and English-language. Meta-analyses that utilized a broad scope of TCM—defined as acupuncture and herbal medicine—that was used in adjunct with Western fertility treatment were included. The use of sham acupuncture was permitted. Results: Three meta-analyses met inclusion criteria. Two studies analyzed the use of Chinese herbal medication in adjunct to Western fertility treatment. One study analyzed the use of acupuncture in adjunct to Western fertility treatment, specifically in vitro fertilization (IVF). All studies reported an increase in the rate of pregnancy in the TCM treatment group versus control. Conclusion: The use of TCM as an adjunct treatment to Western fertility treatments may provide an increase in the rate of pregnancy when compared to the use of Western fertility treatments alone. Future research should focus on analyzing the combination of both acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatment together, and used in adjunct to Western fertility treatments. Keywords: Chinese medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal drugs, East Asian traditional medicine, acupuncture therapy, moxibustion, female infertility, female subfertility, assisted reproductive technology, in vitro fertilization

Applications of 3D printing in the management of severe spinal conditions

The latest and fastest-growing innovation in the medical field has been the advent of three-dimensional printing technol- ogies, which have recently seen applications in the production of low-cost, patient-specific medical implants. While a wide range of three-dimensional printing systems has been explored in manufacturing anatomical models and devices for the medical setting, their applications are cutting-edge in the field of spinal surgery. This review aims to provide a com- prehensive overview and classification of the current applications of three-dimensional printing technologies in spine care. Although three-dimensional printing technology has been widely used for the construction of patient-specific ana- tomical models of the spine and intraoperative guide templates to provide personalized surgical planning and increase pedicle screw placement accuracy, only few studies have been focused on the manufacturing of spinal implants. Therefore, three-dimensional printed custom-designed intervertebral fusion devices, artificial vertebral bodies and disc substitutes for total disc replacement, along with tissue engineering strategies focused on scaffold constructs for bone and cartilage regeneration, represent a set of promising applications towards the trend of individualized patient care