Objective. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate effect of Chinese medicine combined with conventional therapy on blood pressure variability (BPV) in hypertension patients. Methods. All randomized clinical trials (RCTs) comparing Chinese medicine with no intervention or placebo on the basis of conventional therapy were included. Data extraction, analyses, and quality assessment were ...

Objective To identify the understanding of the healthcare professionals in relation to the role of complementary therapies in primary health care. Method Systematic review by way of the following information sources: PubMed, CINAHL, PeriEnf, AMED, EMBASE, Web of Science, Psicoinfo and Psicodoc, using the keyword Primary Health Care alone, and associated with the following keywords: Medicinal Pl...

BACKGROUND Optical assistance in laparoscopic surgery is essential for an optimal procedure. Unlike conventional surgery, it requires new systems to reduce spatial location time, navigation and cleanliness without compromising surgical quality. This article shows the kinematic analysis of a new bio-mechatronic design to assist laparoscopic visual perspective in real time, either during training...

Introduction Constipation in children is a common health problem affecting 0.7% to 29.6% children across the world. Exact etiology for developing symptoms is not clear in children and the majority is considered to have functional constipation. The diagnosis is often a symptom-based clinical process. Recently developed Rome III diagnostic criteria looks promising, both in clinical and research f...

Received 13 November 2003 Revised version received 13 November 2003 Accepted for publication 27 November 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T he popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is considerable: the one year prevalence of CAM usage is 42% in the United States and 20% in the United Kingdom. As it turns out, at first glimpse, there are very few difference...

Clinicians and researchers are increasingly using the term integrative medicine to refer to the merging of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with conventional biomedicine. However, combination medicine (CAM added to conventional) is not integrative. Integrative medicine represents a higher-order system of systems of care that emphasizes wellness and healing of the entire person (bio-...

Despite radical improvements in medicine over the past 60 years, patients maintain multiple health care pathways that include high utilization of unconventional treatments. The authors examine three possible relationships between mainstream and alternative medicine: opposition, integration, and pluralism. Opposition, the traditional ethical position that the medical profession must eradicate un...

Unproved methods and controversial theories in the diagnosis and management of allergy-immunology are those that lack scientific credibility. Some definitions are provided for perspective because in chronic medical conditions, frequently, nonscientifically based treatments are developed that can have a very positive psychological effect on the patients in the absence of objective physical bene...

Complementary and alternative medicine is used by many cancer patients in most parts of the world, and its use is increasing. The aim of the present study was to examine, over 5 years, the perceived quality of life/life satisfaction in two samples of women with breast cancer who were treated with anthroposophic care or conventional medical treatment only. Data from admission, after 1 year and a...