Alternative Medicine Techniques Research Articles

Evaluation and comparison of anxiety levels after using Guided Imagery technique for relaxation and modified Guided Imagery-Hypnotherapy technique in 6 to 14 year-old children undergoing local anesthesia administration

Anxiety has been defined as a “vague, unpleasant feeling accompanied by a premonition that something undesirable is about to happen”. Dental anxiety is driven by a strong negative or unpleasant emotion towards a dental office or dental procedures. Children with a high level of dental anxiety are more resistant to treatment, and due to this avoidance in dental care can lead to needing more dental treatments. The quality of a treatment being carried out, as well as what materials that are to be used, is directly influenced by a child’s level of cooperation and ability to follow instructions. Behaviour management techniques play a major role during all paediatric treatment procedures, and it is the clinician who is responsible to properly and safely guide the child’s behaviour. Guided Imagery is a visual and sensory-based complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) technique. In hypnotherapy which is a type of mind-body intervention; increased suggestibility is used in the treatment of a medical or psychological disease or condition. Therefore, there is a need of a newer modality based on guided imagery and hypnotherapy to be used in as a whole or in tandem with other conventional behaviour management techniques. The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare anxiety levels after using Guided Imagery for relaxation and modified Guided Imagery-Hypnotherapy techniques in 6-14 year-old children undergoing local anesthesia administration.

Systematic review and meta-analysis showed that complementary and alternative medicines were not effective for infantile colic.

Osteopathy and chiropractic techniques are used for babies for different reasons, but it is unclear how effective they are. The aim of this study was to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing crying time and increasing sleeping time in babies with infantile colic. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on infantile colic studies that used complementary and alternative medicine techniques as interventions. The outcome measures were hours spent crying and/or sleeping. We used the PubMed, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Osteopathic Medicine Digital Database and Google Scholar databases from inception to 11 November 2022. The methodological quality of the randomised control trials ranged from fair to high. We focused on five studies with 422 babies. Complementary treatments failed to decrease the crying time (mean difference -1.08, 95% CI -2.17 to 0.01, I2 = 92%) and to increase sleeping time (mean difference 1.11, 95% CI -0.20 to 2.41; I2 : 91%), compared with no intervention. The quality of the evidence was rated as very low for both outcome measures. Osteopathy and chiropractic treatment failed to reduce the crying time and increase sleeping time in babies with infantile colic, compared to no additional intervention.

Electromyographic evaluation of the effectiveness of electroacupuncture in experimental damage of nervus radialis and nervus ulnaris in rabbits

Many different acupuncture points and techniques have been used in the treatment of peripheral nerve injuries. It is known that alternative and complementary medicine techniques have become popular in the treatment of nerve damage in recent years. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effectiveness of electroacupuncture in acute and chronic radial and ulnar nerve injuries. Electromyographic measurements were made to evaluate the effectiveness of electroacupuncture. In the study, the rabbits were divided into four groups namely acute nerve injury (ANI) group, chronic nerve injury (CNI) group, positive control (PC) group and negative control (NC) group. In the ANI, CNI and PC groups, damage was created on the nervus radialis and nervus ulnaris by applying pressure for 60 seconds using a hemostatic forceps under anesthesia. No damage was created in the NC group. Fifteen sessions of electroacupuncture were applied to the rabbits in the ANI, CNI, and NC groups every other day using LI-4, LI-10, LR-3, and ST-36 electroacupuncture points. Electroacupuncture was not applied to the rabbits in the PC group. Electromyographic examinations of both forelimbs of rabbits were performed during electroacupuncture applications. In the study, rabbits in the ANI group were measured at first amplitudes of 9.78 ? 1.66, and final amplitudes of 18.94 ? 1.83 (p ? 0.01). Rabbits in the CNI group were measured at first amplitudes of 11.34 ? 1.52, and final amplitudes of 16.03 ? 1.35 ( p ? 0.01). However, no statistically significant difference was found between the first and last latency values for both groups of rabbits. As a result, it was determined that electroacupuncture is an effective treatment method for both acute and chronic nerve injuries, as well as being more effective in acute cases than in chronic cases.

Managing Pain and Discomfort in Children with Cancer.

Approximately 15,600 children are diagnosed with cancer annually. Many of these children have cancer-related pain that improves with cancer treatment, but some develop intractable pain from cancer progression or sequelae from treatment modalities. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical evaluation of the literature relevant to pain management in children with cancer. We intend to emphasize important and up-to-date findings in pharmacology, interventional pain management, and complementary and alternative medicine. Alternative medications and routes of administration, complementary and alternative medicine techniques, and interventional pain procedures offer possible routes for a multi-pronged pediatric cancer pain management plan, although high-level data is often lacking. To improve pediatric cancer pain management, a multifaceted approach embracing the biopsychosocial model of pain is recommended, incorporating evidence-based pharmacology, complementary and alternative medicine techniques, and if needed, interventional pain procedures.

Neurofeedback as placebo: a case of unintentional deception?

The use of placebo in clinical practice has been the topic of extensive debate in the bioethics literature, with much scholarship focusing on concerns regarding deception. While considerations of placebo...

Electroacupuncture ameliorates blood-brain barrier dysfunction in 5XFAD Alzheimer’s animal model

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible and progressive neurodegenerative disease accompanied by aging, followed by memory impairment and cognitive decline. Although numerous attempts have been made to develop treatments for AD, most clinical trials have failed to delay or stop the progression of AD. Electroacupuncture (EA) is a complementary alternative medicine technique widely used to treat pain, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption is a known pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, including AD. Moreover, amyloid beta deposition increases BBB permeability and produces inflammatory cytokines induced by glial activation. However, our previous study revealed that EA treatment at the Taegye acupoints (KI3) improves memory impairment through anti-neuroinflammation and increases glucose metabolism in 5XFAD mice. Therefore, we evaluated whether EA treatment at KI3 regulates BBB dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex of 5XFAD mice. For this study, 6.5-month-old 5XFAD mice were treated with EA stimulation at KI3 three times a week for two weeks. Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and flow cytometry were used to evaluate the effects of EA treatment on BBB dysfunction. We found that EA stimulation attenuates BBB integrity by protecting BBB tight junction proteins (CD31, aquaporin 4, occludin, and claudin 5) in the prefrontal cortex of 5XFAD mice. In addition, EA treatment regulated inflammatory cytokines (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-17, IL-23, IFN-ɣ, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factors [GM-CSF], and IL-10) in the peripheral circulation of 5XFAD mice. Therefore, our data suggest that EA treatment could be a therapeutic agent for enhancing BBB dysfunction in AD.

Shark cartilage (SC) and shark liver oil (SLO) treatment for lung damage via formaldehyde (FA) exposure

Formaldehyde reacts with amino acids in living organisms to form toxic intermediates that cause epithelial cell damage. In past epidemiological studies, a statistically significant relationship was found between FA and leukemia risks and occupational inhalation exposure. As a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) technique or alternative medicine, shark cartilage (SC) and shark liver oil (SLO) are presented as a new and different alternative source in this study. In this study, the toxic effects of formaldehyde (FA) on lung and the protective effects of SC and SLO against these toxins have been investigated. For the experiment, 40 rats were classified as follows: 4, control group (experiment control); 6, the group that received FA but was not treated (treatment control); 15, the group that was given FA and SC for treatment; and the last 15 were the group that was given FA and SLO for treatment. Negative effects of FA on lung were evaluated biochemically, genetically and pathologically. In terms of therapeutic efficacy, SLO appears to be more effective in improving lung injury on the basis of genetic, pathological and biochemical findings, against to FA administration. The toxic effect of FA in lung and the therapeutic effect of SLO and SC were determined and we believe that our experimental model provided the desired goal and success on the basis of our work.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Usage and Its Determinant Factors Among Infertile Women: A Case of Iran

Aim: Some evidence shows an increased utilization of complementary and alternative medicine for infertility treatment, although little information is available to measure this phenomenon in infertile women. Hence, this study aimed to assess the application of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) techniques on infertile women. Materials and methods: This study was cross-sectional. Infertile women referred to the only center of infertility in Kerman, Iran were selected using convenience sampling. In total,144 participants were assessed. Data were collected using a twopart researcher-made questionnaire and they were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics [chi-square test and logistic regression] with SPSS version 18. Results: 56.3% of participants in the present study used at least one of the CAM methods in the past year.. The multivariate logistic regression showed a significant correlation only between education and CAM users/non-users. Conclusions: According to the results, almost one third of infertile women used CAM to treat their infertility indicating high prevalence of CAM usage among infertile women. Therefore, health care providers must pay more attention for infertility treatment to reduce the treatment interactions and increase the quality of care.Keywords: Complementary Therapies, Infertility, traditional medicine, women.

Ethical and Legal Considerations of Alternative Neurotherapies

Neurotherapies for diagnostics and treatment—such as electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback, single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) imaging for neuropsychiatric evaluation, and off-label/experimental uses of brain stimulation—are continuously being offered to the public outside mainstream healthcare settings. Because these neurotherapies share many key features of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques—and meet the definition of CAM as set out in Kaptchuk and Eisenberg—here we refer to them as “alternative neurotherapies.” By explicitly linking these alternative neurotherapy practices under a common conceptual framework, this paper draws attention to, and critically considers, the cross-cutting ethical and legal issues related to the provision of these services. The first section of this paper provides an updated empirical overview of uses of SPECT neuropsychiatric evaluations, EEG neurofeedback, and experimental/off-label forms of brain stimulation. Next, drawing on CAM bioethics scholarship, we highlight the pertinent ethical issues in the alternative neurotherapy context, including the truthful representation of evidence base, marketing to vulnerable populations, potential harms, provider competency, and conflicts of interest. Finally, we consider the principal legal issues at stake for the provision of alternative neurotherapies in the U.S., namely those related to licensing and scope-of-practice considerations. We conclude with recommendations for future research in this domain.

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Enabled Internet of Things (IoT) Architecture for Music Therapy

Alternative medicine techniques such as music therapy have been a recent interest of medical practitioners and researchers. Significant clinical evidence suggests that music has a positive influence over pain, stress and anxiety for the patients of cancer, pre and post surgery, insomnia, child birth, end of life care, etc. Similarly, the technologies of Internet of Things (IoT), Body Area Networks (BAN) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have been playing a vital role to improve the health and safety of the population through offering continuous remote monitoring facilities and immediate medical response. In this article, we propose a novel ANN enabled IoT architecture to integrate music therapy with BAN and ANN for providing immediate assistance to patients by automating the process of music therapy. The proposed architecture comprises of monitoring the body parameters of patients using BAN, categorizing the disease using ANN and playing music of the most appropriate type over the patient’s handheld device, when required. In addition, the ANN will also exploit Music Analytics such as the type and duration of music played and its impact over patient’s body parameters to iteratively improve the process of automated music therapy. We detail development of a prototype Android app which builds a playlist and plays music according to the emotional state of the user, in real time. Data for pulse rate, blood pressure and breath rate has been generated using Node-Red, and ANN has been created using Google Colaboratory (Colab). MQTT broker has been used to send generated data to Android device. The ANN uses binary and categorical cross-entropy loss functions, Adam optimiser and ReLU activation function to predict the mood of patient and suggest the most appropriate type of music.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Usage and Its Determinant Factors Among Infertile Men in Iran.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the use of some Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) techniques in infertile men. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 102 infertile men referred to the only center of infertility in Kerman, Iran using convenience sampling. Data were collected using a two-part researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics (chi-square test and logistic regression) with SPSS 16. Results: According to the present study, 72.5% of subjects used at least one of the CAM methods in the past year. Among them 28.4% of the subjects have used one CAM technique, 13.7% have used two techniques, 8.8% have used three techniques, 9.8% have used four techniques, and 11.8% have used more than four techniques since the last year. None of the socio-demographic characteristics had significant association with being the user of complementary and alternative medicines. Conclusion: The results showed that almost three quarters of the infertile men used CAM indicating a high prevalence of CAM usage among them.

Somatik belirtilerin sosyodemografik ve klinik özellikler ile ilişkisi

Objevtive: Somatization is a psychiatric condition characterized by recurring somatic symptoms that cannot be fully explained by the general medical condition of the individual and are not attributable to another mental disorder. There are physical, psychological and social factors that affect somatic symptoms of individuals. The aim of this study is to screen somatic symptoms of patients admitted to our clinic and to investigate the relationship between scanning results and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 414 participants aged 18-65 years who admitted to the …. between February 2018 and November 2018. Sociodemographic data form and SCL90-R (Symptom Checklist 90-Revised) psychological symptom screening test was applied to the participants through face to face interview method. Results: Of all the participants, 256 (61.8%) were female and 158 (38.2%) were male and the mean age was 33.7±13.6 years. Of all the participants, 47.3% were university graduates or had a higher educational background. The mean score of the somatization subscale of the SCL90-R screening test was 1.0±0.6. The factors increasing the somatic symptoms were female gender, increasing number of children, being an immigrant, decreasing education level, increasing amount of drug use, increasing number of applications to health institutions, and implementation of alternative medicine techniques, presence of mental illness in families and their relatives. Conclusion: In the present study, the prevalence of somatic symptoms was found to be high and clinically significant. In particular, the social position of women in Turkey, their lifestyles, and their specific characteristics such as using body language more are associated with high somatic symptoms. Emotional disability caused by migrations makes individuals be at greater risk in terms of somatization. The personality development that increases with the education level and increased communication skills reduce the risk of somatization. Symptoms of patients who frequently use health care and treatment options and apply alternative medicine are more significant in terms of somatization.

A pilot, controlled, randomized trial of life logy as a new complementary and alternative medicine technique in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a complex disorder, with primary symptoms of pain and fatigue. No cure for FM yet exists and treatments have been largely disappointing. In most cases complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used adjunctively to allopathic medicine. The present study aimed to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of sessions of life logy technique as well as patients’ physical and mental improvement on patients with fibromyalgia.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> Fibromyalgia patients were recruited from a private CAM center in Beirut, Lebanon from May to June 2017. Eighty patients were included and randomly assigned (1:1) to a treatment and a control groups. Each patient received 5 life logy sessions through 5 weeks and assessed by visual analogue scale, fibromyalgia impact questionnaire and SF-36 at sixth week, third and sixth months follow-up. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The mean visual analog score, functional impairment and quality of life and SF-32 (physical and mental) scores in treatment groups were significantly decreased for time intervals (p=0.003, 0.0034 and 0.003), (p=0.002, 0.001and 0.001), (p=0.003, 0.005 and 0.002) and (p=0.002, 0.001 and 0.004); respectively.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> This pilot study suggests that life logy technique is a promising, durable, non-invasive, outpatient and inexpensive technique with a considerable effect on reducing pain and improving life quality in fibromyalgia patients. Further studies on a larger number of patients are needed.</p>

Aerobic exercise modulates cytokine profile and sleep quality in elderly.

Sleep disturbance is a major problem for older adults which can be exacerbated by increased inflammation as aging is associated with increased circulating pro-inflammatory and lower anti-inflammatory cytokines. There is a need to develop alternative medicine techniques to help improve sleep quality in the elderly. To investigate the effects of aerobic exercise training on the sleep quality and inflammatory cytokines in elderly subjects. Forty previously sedentary elderly subjects participated in this study, their age ranged from 61- 67 years. All subjects were randomly assigned to supervised aerobic exercise intervention group (group A, n=25) or control group (group B, n=25). Polysomnographic recordings for sleep quality assessment, interleukin- 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were measured before and after 6 months at the end of the study. There was a significant increase in total sleep duration, sleep efficiency and sleep onset latency in group(A) after 6 months of aerobic exercise training, while, wake time after sleep onset and rapid eye movement (REM) latency significantly reduced after 6 months of aerobic training compared with values obtained prior to aerobic exercise training. Also, the mean values of TNF- α and IL-6 decreased significantly and the mean value of IL-10 significantly increased in group (A) after the aerobic exercise training, however the results of the control group were not significant. Moreover, there were significant differences between both groups at the end of the study. Exercise training can be considered as a non-pharmacological modality for modifying sleep quality and inflammation among elderly.

The Effects for Brain stress by SUKI Alternative Therapy

The purpose of this study is to know the change of brain wave with stress by SUKI pressure alternative therapy. The experiment group was 12 students(male 6/female 6) with complained upper trapezius pain. Calculated the brain wave before and after stimulate the upper trapezius trigger point by SUKI and the stimulate time was 3min each persons(FP2, F3, F4, FP1, T3, T4, P3, P4). the experimet periods was 5times in a weeks with EEG(QEEG-S). The Date collecting used by Telescan(LXE5209). All the data was analyzed with SPSS 22.0 for window program. To compare the differences before and after the point pressure method, a corresponding sample of t-test was performed, and the statistical significance level was p<.05. The results was followed. The points of Fp2, F3, F4(*p<0.049, *p<0.042, *p<0.019) of EEG was showed a significant differences but Fp1, T3, T4, P3, P4 points did not showed. The SUKI alternative medicine techniques had a reduced effects for the some kind of brain stress. It is need to continuous research in the future.

Health beliefs, behaviors, and symptoms associated with orthorexia nervosa.

This research explored whether symptoms of orthorexia nervosa (ON), a condition involving obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors regarding healthy eating, are associated with differences pertaining to use of nutritional supplements and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques, to health locus of control, and to symptoms of poor physical health. An anonymous online survey assessing the variables above was completed by college students at a university in the southern United States: 47 in the ON symptoms group, 50 in the healthy-eating control group, and 83 in the normal-eating control group. Compared to both control groups, the ON symptoms group reported greater supplement use and CAM participation, more reasons for these behaviors for the purpose of improving psychological health (i.e., to increase energy, enhance focus, and improve mood), and greater symptoms associated with poor physical health. None of the groups differed on internal or external health locus of control. For those with ON, "healthy" eating behaviors are accompanied by other health behaviors that include supplement use and CAM activities. However, despite their goal of achieving perfect health, these individuals experience diminished physical health with symptoms that may be related to their severe dietary restrictions. Level V, descriptive cross-sectional study.

Non-invasive technique of diabetes detection using iris images

Alternative medicine techniques are important in improving the quality of life, disease prevention and better to the conventional invasive method of diseases detection. This paper addresses a non-invasive approach of diabetic detection using iris images. The proposed techniques used to diagnose diabetes using modern digital image processing techniques that analyses structural properties of the iris and classifies the patterns according to iridology chart. The system analyses the broken tissues of the iris by extracting significant textural features using Gabor filter bank and grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) from the specified subsection of the iris. The extracted textural features help to categorise the diabetic and non-diabetic irises using benchmarks artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers. The promising results of extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Non-invasive technique of diabetes detection using iris images

Alternative medicine techniques are important in improving the quality of life, disease prevention and better to the conventional invasive method of diseases detection. This paper addresses a non-invasive approach of diabetic detection using iris images. The proposed techniques used to diagnose diabetes using modern digital image processing techniques that analyses structural properties of the iris and classifies the patterns according to iridology chart. The system analyses the broken tissues of the iris by extracting significant textural features using Gabor filter bank and grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) from the specified subsection of the iris. The extracted textural features help to categorise the diabetic and non-diabetic irises using benchmarks artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers. The promising results of extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Complementary and alternative medicine usage and its determinant factors among Iranian infertile couples.

Background The aim of this study was to determine the status of utilizing some complementary and alternative medicine techniques in infertile couples. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 250 infertile couples referred to a hospital in Kerman using convenience sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to study the prevalence and user satisfaction of complementary and alternative medicines. Results Results indicated that 49.6% of the infertile couples used at least one of the complementary and alternative medicines during the past year. Most individuals used spiritual techniques (71.8% used praying and 70.2% used Nazr) and medicinal plants (54.8%). Safety is the most important factor affecting the satisfaction of infertile couples with complementary treatments (couples think that such treatments are safe (54.8%)). Discussion Concerning high prevalence of complementary and alternative treatments in infertile couples, incorporating such treatments into the healthcare education and promoting the awareness of infertile individuals seem crucial.

Judging religion: Power, pluralism and the political control of medicine

Summary Medicine now knows how to handle religion in patient care settings thanks to cultural competency. Because of this newfound awareness in medicine, it might seem that medicine has come to tolerate and even celebrate religious pluralism. We argue however that these efforts to tolerate religion in medicine are often based upon mischaracterizations of what religion actually is. Even supposedly tolerant scholars tend to base their tolerance off mischaracterizations of religion. Consequently, medicine's attempts at respecting religion can devolve into a patronizing attitude. Although cultural competency intends to be friendly towards religion, it resembles William Osler's attitude, who argued religion is a danger to medicine. Both cultural competency and Osler imagine religion and medicine as opposites; medicine is rational and objective, religion is irrational and subjective. Even the “tolerant” pluralists of cultural competency demand religion serve medicine as an efficient and effective form of biopsychosocial therapy. The only difference is that cultural competency scholars often believe religion can fulfill this goal as an alternative medicine technique or as a psychosocial coping mechanism, while Osler sees no therapeutic value in religion. Imagining religion and medicine like Osler does is a mark of modern secularity's founding myth. We will examine the genealogy of this secular belief and argue that it ultimately originated in propaganda to justify the nation-state's power. We will then briefly sketch a more accurate history to counter this founding secular myth, consequently problematizing Osler's simplistic understanding of the relationship between medicine and religion and challenging how cultural competency imagines religion.