eCAM: Moving Forward

In any endeavor, there may be highs and lows and usually mixes. Strengths are needed and summoned in a way to assuage the difficulties. We have enjoyed an auspicious beginning. Volume 4 has enjoyed a good year, continuous exposure to international audiences, enthusiasm expressed by authors and observers and most importantly the publication of our first Supplement devoted to the Vinci Symposium (1). In fact that was only one of the several gatherings devoted exclusively to eCAM. This is the last issue of 2007 and it seems appropriate to inform our readers of a few efforts to increase their visibility of eCAM. Thus I have been able to attend the following meetings, as invited speaker, or member of organizing committees. Here is a partial list for your perusal: The 4th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology: 15–17 November 2007, San Francisco, CA, USA, (http://www.integrativeonc.org/); The World Summit for Harmonization of Traditional, Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 7–11 November 2007, Lima, Peru (http://www.cmp.org.pe/); European Traditional Medicine – International Conference, 5–6 October 2007, Vinci, Italy (http://www.usl11.tos.it/ etm2007/index.html); ALPHA 2007 – Age And Alternative Medicine, 31 August to 1 September 2007, Greifswald, Germany (http://www.medizin.uni-greifswald.de/intensiv/ alpha2007.pdf); The First Regional Scientific Conference on Traditional Arabic and IslamicMedicine, 8–10 August 2007, Amman, Jordan (http://www.arabic-islamic-medicine. com/); VII International Conference on Biotherapy, 21–24 June 2007, Seoul, Korea (http://www.icb2007.org/ main/index.php?page=home). On another positive note to this year, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the publication of two books: Giarelli, Guido, Paolo Roberti di Sarsina, Bruno Silvestrini (a cura di) Edwin L. Cooper Prefazione; Amedeo Bianco, Postfazione. Le Medicine Non-Convenzionali in Italia, Franco Angeli, 2007, 412 pages (2); Paolo Marandola and Francesco Marotta con il contributo di Woo Chul Moon; Prefazione di Umberto Veronesi. Il Manifesto Dela Lunga Vita. Sperling and Kupfer, 2007, 533 pages (3). Nearly 100 authors included papers on aging by Edwin L. Cooper and Shinji Kasahara, as well as Francesco Marotta. The paper by Emilio Minelli deals specifically with Complementary Medicine. For another high note, we are now coming to the end of the current contract with ISMET in Spain for an online excerpted Spanish language edition of eCAM, and also renewing the contract with ISMET for 2 years. I confirmed that ISMET have translated 16 articles during the last 12-month period, and expect to translate a maximum of 20 articles per year over the next 2 years. The Spanish language edition of selected papers is available at the open-access journal website, Digitalis, http://www.e-digitalis.com. I consider this a major contribution due to the extensive use of the Spanish language. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the efforts of Professor Lonnie Zeltzer, MD, Member of the Editorial Board, who has worked with diligence to put together several papers that concentrate on the subject of Yoga, clearly recognized as a vital component of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Integrative Medicine and of course eCAM. A brief definition seems appropriate to set the tone for reading. Yoga originates from a Sanskrit word that means yoke or union in ancient India. It is one of the longest surviving philosophical systems in the world as old as 5000 years. According to some estimates, artifacts detailing yoga postures have been found in India dating back to over 3000 B.C. Yoga is traditionally a method For reports and all correspondence: Edwin L. Cooper, PhD, ScD, Distinguished Professor, Laboratory of Comparative Neuroimmunology Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1763, USA. Tel: +1-310-825-9567; Fax: +1-310-825-2224; E-mail: [email protected]