This study assesses the interrater reliability of Ayurvedic pulse (nadi), tongue (jivha), and body constitution (prakriti) assessments. Fifteen registered Ayurvedic doctors with 3-15 years of experience independently examined twenty healthy subjects. Subjects completed self-assessment questionnaires and software analyses for prakriti assessment. Weighted kappa statistics for all 105 pairs of do...

BACKGROUND An international panel of experts was convened to examine the challenges faced in conducting economic analyses of Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine (CAIM). METHODS A one and a half-day panel of experts was convened in early 2011 to discuss what was needed to bring about robust economic analysis of CAIM. The goals of the expert panel were to review the current stat...

The book covers such things as definitions, cost, safety, regulation, legal and ethical issues and a range of practical issues, diagnostic techniques, and risk-benefit assessments of complementary therapies and medicines. The main part of the book is organized by condition, outlining for each the CAM treatments available, ranked according to level of evidence of effectiveness, followed by a con...

With medical education transitioning from knowledge-based curricula to competency-based curricula, critical thinking skills have emerged as a major competency. While there are validated external instruments for assessing critical thinking, many educators have created their own custom assessments of critical thinking. However, the face validity of these assessments has not been challenged. The p...

Background: Primary health care in rural regions is currently undergoing a global crisis in respect of the next generation of practitioners. National and international recommendations advise placing greater emphasis upon practical skills and competences in medical studies. It is also in the interest of training the next generation to include mentoring and longitudinal integration of contact to ...

Chemical examination of the aerial parts of Bocconia arborea (Papaveraceae), a plant used in traditional medicine, led to the characterization of (±)-6-acetonyldihydrosanguinarine (1), (±)-6acetonyldihydrochelerythrine (2), (±)-6-methoxydihydrochelerythrine (3), (±)-sanguidimerine (4), chelidimerine (5), and the novel constituents (±)-bocconarborine A ((6R,6’S + 6S ,6’R)-13-(6-hydrosanguinariny...

BACKGROUND During the last 5 years a fundamental curriculum reform was realized at the medical school of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University. In contrast to those efforts, the learning objectives were not defined consistently for the curriculum and important questions concerning the curriculum could not be answered. This also applied to Occupational and Environmental Medicine where teachers of bo...