International Links for February, 2009
From The New York Times: Combination treatments using artemisinin, an antimalaria drug extracted from a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine, have been hailed in recent years as the biggest hope for eradicating malaria from Africa, where more than 2,000 children die from the disease each day.
Now a series of studies, including one recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine and one due out soon, have cemented a consensus among researchers that artemisinin is losing its potency here and that increased efforts are needed to prevent the drug-resistant malaria from leaving here and spreading across the globe.
www.nytimes.com
A recent survey by the Korea Tourism Organization showed that beauty care and plastic surgery, along with Oriental medicine and general health check-ups, are one of the most popular reasons to come to Korea.
www.koreaherald.co.kr
The eastern Cuban province of Ciego Avila has reported significant achievements in improving physical rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation services include natural medicine, podiatry, speech therapy, mechanotherapy, laser, ultrasound, acupuncture, electro-therapy and infrared treatments.
www.cubaheadlines.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Amid the gloomy economic climate, taxpayers will still have a reason to smile when filing their 2008 tax returns. Those claiming for medical benefits could also enjoy tax relief for maternity expenses and buying and seeking traditional medicines and services respectively. They include ayurvedic and acupuncture treatments.
thestar.com.my
SHANGHAI: There is a popular saying in China which goes: "Spring sprouts, Summer matures, Autumn harvests and Winter preserves", describing what the body undergoes during the four seasons.
Throughout the year, many health-conscious Chinese get prescriptions for various tonics. But it is only when the mercury level drops that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors prescribe "Gaofang", a tonic that is only consumed during winter.
www.channelnewsasia.com
Chinese medicine works better than traditional western treatment in relieving irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), said a study revealed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Thursday.
The university's faculty of medicine conveyed a study more than a year ago, in which 84 patients with IBS, a common digestive disease in Hong Kong, were divided into groups receiving different treatments. The results show that after eight week's treatment, 46 percent of the patients taking traditional Chinese medicines which include seven types of herbal medicines reported overall improvement in symptoms, compared to 29 percent from the Western medicine group.
news.xinhuanet.com
China is planning to set up a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital in Russia this year, the first one outside the country, the China Daily reported.
China also plans to provide a range of TCM services in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia in 2009, such as Chinese herb sales, short-term courses on TCM training and TCM treatment centers, according to Wang Xiaopin, deputy head of foreign affairs department from the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM).
The move is in line with China's effort to expand the global recognition of TCM, said Wang, without disclosing how much profit the TCM projects abroad were expected to bring in.
www.chinaknowledge.com
/www.chinadaily.com.cn
Traditionally, herbal remedies are used to combat minor ailments that can be treated without a doctor. Cloisters and monasteries were the original groundbreakers for herbal medicine, helping to spread them across Europe during the Middle Ages and into the 15th century, says Dobos.
Hildegard, a Benedictine nun from Bingen, who lived from 1089 to 1179, was one of the best-known practitioners. Today, some monasteries still have gardens focused on herbal medicine.
'There's something that reduces the problems and speeds up the healing for almost every illness,' says Johannes Gottfried Mayer of the University of Wuerzburg. He runs a research group that focuses on the medical discoveries of monasteries.
www.monstersandcritics.com
MISSISSAUGA, ON, /CNW/ - MedX Health Corp., (TSXV.MDX) a global leader in developing drug free, non-invasive low level laser and light therapy for tissue repair and pain relief, today announced that the company has received FDA Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to study the effectiveness of laser acupuncture for addiction to nicotine, alcohol and drugs. This study, to be launched in both Canada and the United States, will be an open, multi-center trial treating patients with addictions to assess the effectiveness of using the MedX laser probe as a means of controlling the need for these substances.
www.cnw.ca
The Prince of Wales attracted praise and ridicule yesterday for launching a range of herbal medicine in high street shops. Marketed under his Duchy Originals brand, the tinctures are made from plant extracts and said to relieve ailments such as colds, low moods, anxiety and indigestion.
Boots started selling the products this week and Waitrose will soon stock the range, which the Prince hopes will popularize the spread of complementary medicine. Duchy Originals said the products – priced at £10 each – provide "alternative and natural ways of treating common ailments".
Two of the products have been licensed for sale under the new EU traditional herbal medicinal products directive, officially classing them as medicines and representing the heir to the throne's first commercial move into health care.
www.independent.co.uk