Electrodermal mapping: A new technology

Teaching the Classical Science of Acupuncture in Unity with Modern Biomedicine; Pitfalls and Solutions

Acupuncturists entering the profession from medical universities could be missing key treatment approaches from the ancient literature due to inaccurate translations of important terms, such as qì, and structures, such as the acupoints. Conversely, private colleges accepting students with no scientific training are missing education in the mechanisms of acupuncture and lack the capacity to review, conduct or participate in research activities. Terminology, Anatomy and Mechanisms Recent translations of the classical Chinese literature, carried out by multidisciplinary academics with expertise in both linguistics and biomedicine, are bringing to light a perspective on the ancient texts that allows their fusion with mainstream Western healthcare. Three main areas of friction are identified here that can be overcome with these new perspectives; firstly, the problem of terminology with words such as qì, secondly, the lack of consensus definitions for the channels and acupoints, and lastly, the lack of unified models of mechanism. The addition of core modules addressing the accurate translation of key concepts as well as exact mechanisms of acupuncture relating to blood flow is suggested to fill the gaps in acupuncture education.

Stem cells in natural product and medicinal plant drug discovery-An overview of new screening approaches

Natural products remain a rich source of new drugs, and the search for bioactive molecules from nature continues to play an important role in the development of new medicines. Also, there is increasing use of herbal medicines for the treatment of a plethora of diseases, and demands for more scientific evidence for their efficacy and safety remains a huge challenge. The propensity of stem cells to differentiate into almost every cell type not only holds promise for the delivery of cell-based therapies for currently incurable diseases or a useful tool in studying cell physiology and pathophysiology. Increasingly, stem cells are becoming an important tool in preclinical drug screening and toxicity testing. In this review, we examine the scientific advances made towards the use of pluripotent stem cells as a model for the screening of plant-based medicines. The combination of well-established in vitro electrophysiological and a plethora of toxicogenomic technologies, together with the optimisation of culture methods of herbal plants and pluripotent stem cells can be explored to establish the basis for efficacy, and tissue/organ-based toxicities of many currently used medicinal plants whose efficacies and toxicities remain unknown.

Acupuncture and Neural Mechanism in the Management of Low Back Pain-An Update

Within the last 10 years, the percentage of low back pain (LBP) prevalence increased by 18%. The management and high cost of LBP put a tremendous burden on the healthcare system. Many risk factors have been identified, such as lifestyle, trauma, degeneration, postural impairment, and occupational related factors; however, as high as 95% of the cases of LBP are non-specific. Currently, LBP is treated pharmacologically. Approximately 25 to 30% of the patients develop serious side effects, such as drowsiness and drug addiction. Spinal surgery often does not result in a massive improvement of pain relief. Therefore, complementary approaches are being integrated into the rehabilitation programs. These include chiropractic therapy, physiotherapy, massage, exercise, herbal medicine and acupuncture. Acupuncture for LBP is one of the most commonly used non-pharmacological pain-relieving techniques. This is due to its low adverse effects and cost-effectiveness. Currently, many randomized controlled trials and clinical research studies have produced promising results. In this article, the causes and incidence of LBP on global health care are reviewed. The importance of treatment by acupuncture is considered. The efforts to reveal the link between acupuncture points and anatomical features and the neurological mechanisms that lead to acupuncture-induced analgesic effect are reviewed.

RegentK and Physiotherapy-Electrodermal Mapping

Background: Within this study, a new system which measures and analyzes electrical skin impedance in 48 channels within a 2.5 × 3.5 cm matrix is used in rehabilitation medicine for the first time. Methods: Electrodermal activity was measured in 20 patients before and after two different non-surgical treatments of a completely ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. The first treatment, RegentK, was developed by Mohamed Khalifa, the second is a standard physiotherapy. Results: The patients in the two groups were age-matched, and all demographic data showed no significant differences. It was interesting that electrodermal activity was significantly decreased only after RegentK. Conclusion: We conclude that not only local effects of pressure application are responsible for these results, rather as yet unknown neurovegetative mechanisms have to be taken into consideration.

Electrical potential of acupuncture points: use of a noncontact scanning Kelvin probe

Objective. Acupuncture points are reportedly distinguishable by their electrical properties. However, confounders arising from skin-to-electrode contact used in traditional electrodermal methods have contributed to controversies over this claim. The Scanning Kelvin Probe is a state-of-the-art device that measures electrical potential without actually touching the skin and is thus capable of overcoming these confounding effects. In this study, we evaluated the electrical potential profiles of acupoints LI-4 and PC-6 and their adjacent controls. We hypothesize that acupuncture point sites are associated with increased variability in potential compared to adjacent control sites. Methods. Twelve healthy individuals were recruited for this study. Acupuncture points LI-4 and PC-6 and their adjacent controls were assessed. A 2 mm probe tip was placed over the predetermined skin site and adjusted to a tip-to-sample distance of 1.0 mm under tip oscillation settings of 62.4 Hz frequency. A 6 × 6 surface potential scan spanning a 1.0 cm × 1.0 cm area was obtained. Results. At both the PC-6 and LI-4 sites, no significant differences in mean potential were observed compared to their respective controls (Wilcoxon rank-sum test, P = 0.73 and 0.79, resp.). However, the LI-4 site was associated with significant increase in variability compared to its control as denoted by standard deviation and range (P = 0.002 and 0.0005, resp.). At the PC-6 site, no statistical differences in variability were observed. Conclusion. Acupuncture points may be associated with increased variability in electrical potential.

Integrative laser medicine and high-tech acupuncture at the medical university of graz, austria, europe

At the moment, modernization of acupuncture has a high priority. On the traditional side, acupuncture has only recently been awarded the status of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO. On the innovative side, high-tech acupuncture is a registered trademark in Austria. Acupuncture has been used for medical treatment for thousands of years. A large number of empirical data are available but the technical quantification of effects was not possible up to now. Using electroacupuncture, needle, or laser stimulation and modern biomedical techniques, it was possible for the first time to quantify changes in biological activities caused by acupuncture. This paper which serves as introduction for the special issue "High-Tech Acupuncture and Integrative Laser Medicine" of the present journal, focuses on the latest innovative aspects that underline the further enhancement and development of acupuncture. Special emphasis is given to new methodological and technical investigations, for example, results obtained from all kinds of acupuncture innovations (e.g., teleacupuncture) and integrative laser medicine.