International communication system of acupuncture-moxibustion based on OSI model

Abstract

Borrowing the open system interconnection (OSI) model of internet protocol and the 5W theory in communication studies, the links in the international communication of acupuncture-moxibustion can be classified into seven layers: physical layer, data link layer, network layer, transport layer, session layer, presentation layer and application layer, therefore it is built an OSI model of international communication system of acupuncture-moxibustion. It is pointed out that present international communication system of acupuncture-moxibustion is similar to the user datagram protocol (UDP) in internet technology. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) plays a key role to modernize acupuncture- moxibustion theory based upon its clinical effects. According to phenomenon-taking by classified analogy, it is found that the PICO model of EBM agrees pretty well with the "three-way handshakes" mechanism of the internet transmission control protocol (TCP), which is promising to construct an international discourse of acupuncture-moxibustion compatible with western medicine. Thus it will benefit to explore the scientific connotation of acupuncture-moxibustion theory and significantly improve the international prestige of acupuncture-moxibustion.