Da medicina tradicional chinesa à prática de acupuntura médica baseada em evidência

Acupuntura é uma prática milenar que faz parte da chamada medicina tradicional chinesa. Tem sido praticada por milhares de anos na China e alguns países do continente asiático. Como tem sido descrita como efetiva no tratamento de diversas doenças e condições, a acupuntura tem sido considerada um instrumento útil na prática da saúde. Da prática primitiva até os dias de hoje, a acupuntura tem ganhado novos adeptos, atraindo assim a atenção da comunidade científica, a fim de entender melhor o seu mecanismo de ação e sua efetividade. Vários estudos têm sido feitos e publicado envolvendo acupuntura, mas há ainda controvérsia acerca de sua eficácia e efetividade. Novos estudos devem ser feitos para estabelecer o real papel da acupuntura no tratamento de diversas doenças e condições.Acupuncture is a healing technique practiced for thousand years in China and some Asian countries, and was considered as part of Traditional Chinese medicine. As it claimed to be effective in treatment of several diseases and conditions, it has been described as useful instrument in ancient practice. From primitive to nowadays practice, acupuncture is gaining more adepts, thus attracting attention of scientific community in order to better understand its mechanism and its effectiveness. Several studies have been published concerning to acupuncture, but there is still controversy about its efficacy and effectiveness.Further studies should continue to be performed in order to establish the real role of acupuncture in treatment of several diseases and conditions

Medical education in non-conventional therapies

A demanda da população pela medicina alternativa e complementar (CAM) vem aumentando substancialmente nas últimas décadas, exigindo dos médicos noções básicas dessas diversas terapias, a fim de que possam orientar os pacientes em tratamentos diferentes dos que estão habituados a prescrever. Assim sendo, compete às escolas de medicina propiciar aos estudantes o conhecimento das evidências científicas, dos pressupostos teóricos e das abordagens práticas empregadas por estas distintas formas de tratamento. A presente revisão tem o propósito de fomentar a discussão sobre o ensino de terapêuticas não convencionais nas escolas de medicina, enfocando o interesse da população e da classe médica, a importância das iniciativas na graduação e na pós-graduação (residência), e as perspectivas da educação médica em terapêuticas não convencionais.The demand of the population by complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been substantially increasingin the last decades, requiring that doctors have basic notions of these various therapies, in order to guide patients in different treatments of those who are accustomed to prescribe. In this way, the medical schools have the responsibility to provide to students the knowledge of scientific evidences, theoretical assumptions and practical approaches used in these different forms of treatment. The present review has the purpose of fomenting the discussion regarding the teaching of non-conventional therapeutics in medical schools. It is focused on the interest of the population and the medical class, the importance of the initiatives in undergraduate and graduate (residency), and the perspectives of medical educationin non-conventional therapeutics

A Large Panel Two-CCD Camera Coordinate System with an Alternate-Eight-Matrix Look-Up Table Algorithm

AbstractIn this study, a novel positioning model of a double-CCD cameras calibration system, with an Alternate-Eight-Matrix (AEM) Look-Up-Table (LUT), was proposed. Two CCD cameras were fixed on both sides of a large scale screen to redeem Field Of View (FOV) problems. The first to the fourth AEMLUT were used to compute the corresponding positions of intermediate blocks on the screen captured by the right side camera. In these AEMLUT for the right side camera, the coordinate mapping data of the target in a specific space were stored in two matrixes, while the gray level threshold values of different position were stored in the others. Similarly, the fifth to the eighth AEMLUT were used to compute the corresponding positions of intermediate blocks on the screen captured by the left side camera. Experimental results showed that the problems of dead angles and non-uniform light fields were solved. In addition, rapid and precision positioning results can be obtained by the proposed method

Spatial and temporal EEG dynamics of dual-task driving performance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Driver distraction is a significant cause of traffic accidents. The aim of this study is to investigate Electroencephalography (EEG) dynamics in relation to distraction during driving. To study human cognition under a specific driving task, simulated real driving using virtual reality (VR)-based simulation and designed dual-task events are built, which include unexpected car deviations and mathematics questions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We designed five cases with different stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) to investigate the distraction effects between the deviations and equations. The EEG channel signals are first converted into separated brain sources by independent component analysis (ICA). Then, event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) changes of the EEG power spectrum are used to evaluate brain dynamics in time-frequency domains.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Power increases in the theta and beta bands are observed in relation with distraction effects in the frontal cortex. In the motor area, alpha and beta power suppressions are also observed. All of the above results are consistently observed across 15 subjects. Additionally, further analysis demonstrates that response time and multiple cortical EEG power both changed significantly with different SOA.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study suggests that theta power increases in the frontal area is related to driver distraction and represents the strength of distraction in real-life situations.</p

THE STUDY OF KNEE JOINT FORCE AND TORQUE DURING STEPPING EXERCISE ON THE GROUND AND UNDERWATER

Step aerobic is a popular exercise in a fitness center. Unfortunately, stepping activities will bring lower-extremity stress and pain especially for stepping dancer in aerobic exercise (Hains et al., 1997). This study characterized the lower-extremity joint biomechanics associated with stepping activities in different environment. The impact forces on knee joint are important for walking, running and stepping in the lower-extremity, because it may cause knee joint injuries such as OA. Loading is also believed to play a role in the onset of OA (William et al., 2004). He found that the forces at the knee are considerably larger during stair climbing than during walking: the average resultant peak force during stair climbing is 5.4 times body weight (BW). Because of the decrease of the BW loading, former researchers agree that exercises underwater are better than those on the ground. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the knee joint loading difference between ground and underwater stepping exercise. My hypotheses are 1) the knee force underwater is larger than on the ground during the up stepping position; 2) the knee force underwater is smaller than on the ground during the down stepping position

An optimized procedure greatly improves EST vector contamination removal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The enormous amount of sequence data available in the public domain database has been a gold mine for researchers exploring various themes in life sciences, and hence the quality of such data is of serious concern to researchers. Removal of vector contamination is one of the most significant operations to obtain accurate sequence data containing only a cDNA insert from the basecalls output by an automatic DNA sequencer. Popular bioinformatics programs to accomplish vector trimming include LUCY, cross_match and SeqClean.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In a recent study, where the program SeqClean was used to remove vector contamination from our test set of EST data compiled through various library construction systems, however, a significant number of errors remained after preliminary trimming. These errors were later almost completely corrected by simply using a re-linearized form of the cloning vector to compare against the target ESTs. The modified trimming procedure for SeqClean was also compared with the trimming efficiency of the other two popular programs, LUCY2, and cross_match. Using SeqClean with a re-linearized form of the cloning vector significantly surpassed the other two programs in all tested conditions, while the performance of the other two programs was not influenced by the modified procedure. Vector contamination in dbEST was also investigated in this study: 2203 out of the 48212 ESTs sampled from dbEST (2007-04-18 freeze) were found to match sequences in UNIVEC.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Vector contamination remains a serious concern to the data quality in the public sequence database nowadays. Based on the results presented here, we feel that our modified procedure with SeqClean should be recommended to all researchers for the task of vector removal from EST or genomic sequences.</p

Acupuncture: a validated therapeutic modality in updated physician therapeutic arsenal

One of the most ancient therapeutic maneuvers, acupuncture is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Based in ancient philosophic thinking and observation of naturally occurred phenomena, Traditional Chinese Medicine possesses peculiar pathophysiology,complicated diagnosis system based on examination of pulse, tongue and observation of patients´ behavior and attitudes. During long decades, acupuncture has been considered as an exotic alternative to Orthodox Western Medicine, however, recent studies and the panel studies promoted by NIH (National Institutes of Health) in 1988 have elected acupuncture asa validated therapy for a long listed health disorders, thus transforming acupuncture as a serious therapeutic modality. More discussions and studies should be evaluated in order to obtaining more evidence-based indication for acupuncture and to carry out the medical education in teaching acupuncture.Uma das mais antigas modalidades de terapêutica, acupuntura faz parte da MedicinaTradicional Chinesa. Baseada principalmente em um antigo pensamento filosófico chinês e na observação da ocorrência de fenômenos da natureza. Medicina Tradicional Chinesa possui uma fisiopatologia peculiar, um sistema de diagnóstico complicado baseado em exame de língua e pulso e na observação de comportamento e atitudes de pacientes. Durante décadas,a acupuntura foi considerada uma alternativa exótica à Medicina Ocidental Ortodoxa, entretanto, estudos recentes e estudos de painel do NIH norte americano em 1988 elegeram a acupuntura como uma terapia validada para uma extensa lista de afecções, transformando a em uma modalidade terapêutica séria. Necessitamos de mais estudos e discussões para aumentar as indicações baseadas em evidência para outras afecções, além de ajudar a implementar a educação médica em acupuntura

Acupuntura: prática baseada em evidências

Acupuncture has been put in evidence more recently. It represents an ascending practice among under-graduated medical students, as well as among graduated physicians in search for their specialization. Recently, acupuncture won BMA approval, which not only recommended NHS to accept acupuncture to treat chronic headache, but suggested that more primary care doctors should be trained to practice acupuncture. In a review of some recent studies, acupuncture has been studied as a validated practice to treat conditions like systemic arterial hypertension and in vitro fertilization, conditions which differ from usual indication of acupuncture. This new situation put a new perspective to acupuncture, perhaps it is on due time that acupuncture should be considered as part of orthodox medicine.A acupuntura está cada vez mais em evidência, além de ser uma especialidade em ascensão tanto entre os estudantes de medicina, como entre os médicos que buscam a sua especialização, ganhou destaque da Associação Médica Britânica que advogou a sua aprovação perante a comunidade médica britânica, além de recomendar o Sistema de Saúde Pública Britânica a aceitar o tratamento de cefaléia crônica por acupuntura, aconselha que o mesmo encoraje os médicos de atenção primária a passar por treinamento em acupuntura. Na revisão de trabalhos recentes, a acupuntura está sendo pesquisada para o tratamento de diversas moléstias ou condições clínicas diferentes daquelas a que eram indicadas. Situações como hipertensão arterial sistêmica e fertilização in vitro, a acupuntura tem sido estudada como opções de tratamento válidas. Essa situação coloca uma nova perspectiva para a especialidade acupuntura, que está sendo considerada cada vez como uma prática em saúde validada, dentro dos paradigmas da medicina ortodoxa