As is stated on the Elsevier Atlas Awards homepage: “Each month the Atlas Advisory Board are sent a selection of 10 articles to choose their winning Atlas article. The articles are shortlisted by Elsevier from across journal portfolios based on their potential social impact. We are delighted to present the entire monthly shortlist and congratulate the authors of the nominated articles.” While the voting is still in progress, we are still very excited to even be nominated. This marks the first time that an acupuncture article has been nominated for the Elsevier Atlas Award.You may click on the following link to take you the Elsevier Atlas Nominations page: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/atlas/nominations.
Each month the Atlas Advisory Board are sent a selection of 10 articles to choose their winning Atlas article.
ELSEVIER.COM
Reference:
1. Fan AY, Miller DW, Bolash B, Bauer M, McDonald J, Faggert S, He H, Li YM, Matecki A, Camardella L, Koppelman MH, Stone JA, Meade L, Pang J. Acupuncture’s Role in Solving the Opioid Epidemic: Evidence, Cost-Effectiveness, and Care Availability for Acupuncture as a Primary, Non-Pharmacologic Method for Pain Relief and Management—White Paper 2017. J Integr Med. 2017; 15(6): 411–425.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) — In the wake of an opioid epidemic, acupuncturists in the United States issued a white paper on Tuesday, recommending acupuncture as a primary non-pharmacologic method for pain relief and management.
“The United States is facing a national opioid epidemic, and medical systems are in need of non-pharmacologic strategies that can be employed to decrease the public’s opioid dependence,” said the 21-page white paper.
Official figures showed that opioid overdoses kill 91 Americans every single day and more than half of those deaths involve prescription opioids.
Titled “Acupuncture’s Role in Solving the Opioid Epidemic,” the white paper said “acupuncture has emerged as a powerful, evidence-based, safe, cost-effective, and available treatment modality suitable to meeting this need.”
Organizations that contributed to this paper included the American Society of Acupuncturists, the American Alliance for Professional Acupuncture Safety, the Acupuncture Now Foundation, the American Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Association, and the American TCM Society and National Federation of TCM Organizations.
The white paper said acupuncture has been shown to be effective for treating various types of pain, with the strongest evidence emerging for back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, chronic headache, and osteoarthritis.
It said mechanisms of action for acupuncture have been extensively researched, which found the ancient Chinese practice increase the production and release of endogenous opioids in animals and humans.
“Acupuncture should be recommended as a first line treatment for pain before opiates are prescribed, and may reduce opioid use,” it wrote.
“Further, acupuncture’s cost-effectiveness could dramatically decrease health care expenditures, both from the standpoint of treating acute pain and through avoiding the development of opioid addiction that requires costly care, destroys quality of life, and can lead to fatal overdose.”
The white paper came about a week after the U.S. National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to America’s Health Insurance Plans, asking its insurance company members to review their payment and coverage policies in order to promote alternatives to opioids such as acupuncture.
Objective: Chinese Medicine (known as acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM) in the United States), has spread far and been utilized in more than 183 countries or regions. It has played an important role in the health care systems of many countries. Licensed acupuncturists’ contribution to the U.S. market alone is more than 3.5 billion dollars. The aim of the current study was to determine the ranking status of Chinese Medicine schools on the global or international level in 2020. Materials and Methods: Databases of PubMed.gov, wanfangdata.com.cn, cnki.net, and google.com were searched, using the keywords: university or college or school, Chinese Medicine or acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, global ranking or international ranking, 2020 both in English and Chinese. If the ranking did not show up in the results directly, the authors moved on to find global or international higher education (universities or colleges) ranking agencies or institutions. Then the authors used the websites of ranking agencies or institutions to conduct more research, using the keywords: 2020, Chinese Medicine, or acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Results:U.S. News & World Report is the only recognized authority that reported the ranking status of universities of Chinese Medicine in its 2020 edition, in which the best global universities were ranked. A total of 1500 universities in 81 countries and regions were included. Based on the overall academic strength of each university, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, and Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine were ranked as numbers 1376, 1390 and 1440, respectively. In clinical medicine, 750 universities were ranked among the strongest in the world; Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine were ranked as 688th, 734th, and 738th, respectively. In pharmacology and toxicology, 250 universities were among the strongest in the world; Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine were ranked as 153rd and 209th, respectively. In oncology, 250 universities were ranked as strongest in the world; Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine was ranked as 243rd in the world. Conclusions: Chinese Medicine schools are more accepted and more highly ranked than they had been in the past.
Keywords: 2020; Chinese Medicine; acupuncture; best global universities; educational institution; ranking.
Copyright 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
Background and Objective: Acupuncture and Oriental medicine are widespread, practiced in >183 countries and regions. As such, it has played an important role in the world health care system. However, there are no official statistics available on the number of acupuncture practitioners in China. The aim of this study is to calculate the number ranges of acupuncture practitioners in China in 2018. Materials and Methods: In total, 33.708 million was used as the total number of patient visits for acupuncture in 2018 in China. This number was calculated using the data released by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China), in which the average daily workload of all acupuncture practitioners in China was 134,832 patient visits. Acupuncture practitioners in China are part of Chinese Medicine doctors (CMDs) at the physician level, called “acupuncture doctors.” This number 134,832 was divided by the workload of a single doctor of acupuncture, which was 19.4 or 7.0 patient visits per day. These numbers were from a survey by the authors. There are also the numbers 16.0 or 9.4 patient visits per day; these numbers were calculated from the salary level of acupuncture practitioners at 10,000 Yuan per month (providing the doctor’s net income was 30% or 50% in his/her gross income). From these 2 sources, the authors then obtained 2 sets of ranges of acupuncture practitioners in China in 2018. There were 9,927 CMDs in 49 big hospitals, of which 619 were acupuncture practitioners; the ratio of acupuncture practitioners to the whole of all CMDs was 6.23%. Using this ratio multiplied by the whole number of CMDs in 2018, then the number of acupuncture practitioners in China in 2018 could be obtained as well. Results: Calculating based on the workload, the range of acupuncture practitioners in China in 2018 was from 6,950 to 19,262. Calculating based on the salary level, the range was 10,618 to 17,697. Calculating based on the ratio of the number of acupuncture practitioners to the whole population of CMDs, the number was 28,360. Conclusions: The reasonable range of acupuncture practitioners in China in 2018 was 10,618 to 17,697, with a median of 14,157. Considering that some acupuncture practitioners are also engaged in teaching, research, and management, the mentioned number is enlarged by 30% to produce 18,404, which would be reasonable. It was also concluded that the density of acupuncture practitioners was 1.31 per 100,000 residents.
Background: There is currently no drug or therapy that cures COVID-19, a highly contagious and life-threatening disease.
Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis summarized contemporary studies that report the use of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) to treat COVID-19.
Search strategy: Six electronic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Wanfang Data and China National Knowledge Infrastructure) were searched from their beginning to May 15, 2020 with the following search terms: traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, COVID-19, new coronavirus pneumonia, SARS-CoV-2, and randomized controlled trial.
Inclusion criteria: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from peer-reviewed journals and non-reviewed publications were included. Further, included RCTs had a control group that was given standard care (SC; such as conventional Western medicine treatments or routine medical care), and a treatment group that was given SC plus CHM.
Data extraction and analysis: Two evaluators screened and collected literature independently; information on participants, study design, interventions, follow-up and adverse events were extracted, and risk of bias was assessed. The primary outcomes included scores that represented changes in symptoms and signs over the course of treatment. Secondary outcomes included the level of inflammatory markers, improvement of pneumonia confirmed by computed tomography (CT), and adverse events. Dichotomous data were expressed as risk ratio or hazard ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI); where time-to-event analysis was used, outcomes were expressed as odds ratio with 95% CI. Continuous data were expressed as difference in means (MD) with 95% CI, and standardized mean difference (SMD) was used when different outcome scales were pooled.
Results: Seven original studies, comprising a total of 732 adults, were included in this meta-analysis. Compared to SC alone, CHM plus SC had a superior effect on the change of symptom and sign score (-1.30 by SMD, 95% CI [-2.43, -0.16]; 3 studies; n = 261, P = 0.03), on inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP, mg/L; -11.82 by MD, 95% CI [-17.95, -5.69]; 5 studies; n = 325, P = 0.0002), on number of patients with improved lung CT scans (1.34 by risk ratio, 95% CI [1.19, 1.51]; 4 studies; n = 489, P < 0.00001). No significant adverse events were recorded in the included RCTs.
Conclusion: Current evidence shows that CHM, as an adjunct treatment with standard care, helps to improve treatment outcomes in COVID-19 cases.
Keywords: COVID-19; Chinese herbal medicine; Meta-analysis; SARS-CoV-2; Systematic review; Traditional Chinese medicine.
1. I simply spat my contempt and threw the drug back to the quack . 我愤怒地表示了我的蔑视,把药扔回给那个江湖医生。
2. When you go to the fair , beware of the quacks selling spurious medicinal herbs . 你 集的时候,当心卖假草药的江湖医生。
3. Those two quacks i’ve got working for me in the medical tent still can’t find out what’s wrong with me . 医务室裏我请来替我办事的那两个江湖医生,而直到现在还没有弄清楚我到底患了什厶毛病。
4. Don ‘ t be taken in he ‘ s just a quack. 可别上当- -他纯粹是江湖医生
5. After so many disappointments , he finds it hard to have faith in quack doctors. 经历多次失望之後,他对江湖医生失去了信心。
6. A person who makes elaborate , fraudulent , and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge ; a quack or fraud 假内行,庸医,骗子精心製作或製造欺骗的人,而且对自己的技术或知识常常誇大其辞的人;江湖医生或骗子。
7. ” no , for I am only embarked in certainties , ” replied Danglars , with the air of a mountebank sounding his own praises ; ” to involve me , three governments must crumble to dust . 因为我隻做十拿十稳的交易, ”腾格拉尔用江湖医生吹法螺的那種廉價的雄辩回答说。 “要弄倒我,必须有三个政府垮臺才行。 ” To act as a medical quack or a charlatan. 当冒牌医生或江湖郎中 A charlatan; a mountebank. 庸医,江湖郎中 Surely,as there are mountebanks for the natural body, so are there mountebanks for the political body: 对於人底肉體既有江湖医生;对政治团體也確是有江湖医生的; A hawker of quack medicines who attracts customers with stories, jokes, or tricks. 江湖医生以讲故事、插科打诨或耍花招等方法吸引顾客的江湖卖药者
Citation: Chen Y. A Perspective of Acupuncture Education in the United States. J Complement Med Alt Healthcare. 2019; 9(5): 555773. DOI: 0.19080/JCMAH.2019.09.555773
A good and informative article.
Abstract
Acupuncture education in the United States has a history of almost 50 years. The entry-level professional training dates back to the 1980’s as a milestone establishment of Council of Colleges of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (CCAOM), Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (ACAOM) and National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). Besides mainland China, America has the largest organized and influential acupuncture and Chinese Medicine education system in the world. Now 54 accredited acupuncture colleges have offered Master’s Programs, Professional Doctoral Programs, and Advanced Practical Doctorial (DAOM) Programs in comprehensive standards and competencies. Although there are some challenging issues, acupuncture education trends move forward into entry-level doctoral level training, regional and national accreditation, and system-based education, which will lead this profession to play a great role in the American integrative medical system. Keywords: Acupuncture; Education; Competencies; America
Citation: Fan AY. Gim Shek Ju: A Pioneer in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Education in the United States. Journal of Chinese Medicine Culture 2016; 1:58-61.
Gim Shek Ju: A Pioneer in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Education in the United States
Arthur Yin Fan
McLean Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, PLC. Vienna, VA 22182, USA
KEYWORDS: acupuncture; Chinese medicine; United States; Education; history of medicine; Gim Shek Ju
Several stories of pioneers establishing acupuncture and Chinese medicine (ACM) practices in the United States (U.S.) have been documented. However, the establishment of actual schools for acupuncture and Chinese medicine is one of the key signs that ACM has become an established profession. One of the first people who wanted to set-up a school for Chinese medicine in the United States was Dr. Tom Foo Yuen (谭富园, 89, Aug 7, 1858 – Jul 10, 1947) during the late 1800s in Los Angles, California. However, it was not until the time period of 1969-1970 that the first ACM school was established in the U.S. The school was called the Institute for Taoist Study in LA, with Dr. Gim Shek Ju as the only teacher.
Based on the recollection from some of his students, Dr. Gim Shek Ju (Gim, in short; 赵金石) was impressed by a group of Tai Chi students, most of them students at the University of California in Los Angles (UCLA). At the urging of his friend’s Tai Chi students, he used acupuncture to treat these students and some of their relatives during a Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown, LA in 1969. It was after these acupuncture treatments that these students became interested in ACM and had their Tai Chi teacher, Master Marshall Hoo, a close friend of Gim, persuade Gim to teach them ACM. Gim broke the old Chinese tradition (that means only teaching to those within the family) and taught two classes of non-Asian students ACM during 1969 to 1970. These two classes of students became the key people in ACM development in the U.S., both in acupuncture or Chinese medicine legislation and professional development of Chinese medicine in the U.S. The classes taught by Gim were the origin of three professions: acupuncture and Chinese or Oriental medicine (for licensed acupuncturists, LAc or Oriental medicine doctors, OMD), medical acupuncture (for MD acupuncturists) and animal or veterinary acupuncture (for DVM acupuncturists) in the U.S.
Figure 1. Dr. Gim Shek Ju with a Shaolin Monk.
Dr. Ju arrived in the U.S. around the 1950s (Dr. Fan notes: based on personal research, he should arrive in 1957). He did not settle in Chinatown, LA until the 1960s (around 1968). He was still traveling back and forth to Hong Kong at that time because his own family was there. He practice in LA was funded and organized by his third wife, Helen Robertson. The clinic was in the apartment that they lived in. Helen was a veterinarian from Downey, CA and a former patient of Dr.Ju. She had suffered a debilitating trauma from a car accident that damaged her spine to the point that she could not stand up, but remained bent at a 90 degree angle. After finding Dr. Ju via word of mouth, she was able to improve her condition. Most of Dr.Ju’s patients were Caucasian, and not Chinese. In fact, very few Chinese came to see him (the author notes: it is opposite to our “common sense”—many people believe Chinese medicine had its market because Chinese people, or say, Asian community uses it more). Most of his patients were extremely ill, and suffering with debilitating pain. Dr. Ju was able to treat patients with very little communication. According to his daughter, Mamie Ju, Dr. Ju’s powers of intuition and understanding or hearing the body was probably daunting to many…even modern-day TCM practitioners. But it was the “old” way, and in Mamie opinion, the right way to practice. “Ancient TCM practitioners were most likely practicing Shamans, and I believe my father was a Shaman by birth”. This is what made him very special. But it is difficult to explain this, even to other TCM practitioners.
Figure 2. Dr. Gim Shek Ju practice Tai Chi with a friend.
Figure 3. Dr. Tin Yau So in classroom of New England School of Acupuncture.
Dr.Ju and Dr. Tin Yau So (苏天佑) were colleagues at the Hong Kong College of Acupuncture; Dr. So was the founder. Dr.Ju strongly recommended Dr. So as the best teacher in ACM and let his students resume ACM under Dr. So; he flied with his student Steven Rosenblatt, as well as Steven’ s wife Kathleen, to Hong Kong to meet Dr. So, where these two American students actually studied there for one year in 1972. Per the invitation and handling of a visa by the National Acupuncture Association (founded by Dr.Ju’s students Bill Prensky, Steven Rosenblatt, etc.) , Dr. So arrived in LA in October,1973 as an acupuncturist in the UCLA acupuncture clinic.
Dr. So was one of the most influential individuals of the 20th century by formally bringing acupuncture education to the United States. He established the first acupuncture school in the U.S., the New England School of Acupuncture in Newton, Massachusetts in 1975 with the help of his (also Dr. Ju’s) students Steven Rosenblatt, Gene Bruno, Bill Prensky, etc. after overcoming great difficulties. To some extent, I could say that it was Dr. Gim Shek Ju who brought Dr. So to the U.S. that allowed him to become the father of Acupuncture and Chinese medicine education in the U.S.
Dr.Ju had a very thriving acupuncture practice treating patients inside his three bedroom apartment. He used one of the bedrooms as his main office and treatment room. His living room was the waiting room. There were people there from 8AM until after 5PM, but usually no later than 6PM. He often worked six days a week and was always busy doing something. He rarely rested. He kept a very strict schedule. He got up every morning before dawn and practiced Tai Chi. No-one knows when he learned Tai Chi. Then he started his working day at 8AM. He took a lunch break exactly at noon every day, and ate lunch in Chinatown with friends, probably his students too, and sometimes with his children on the weekends. Dr.Ju was usually in bed by 8PM unless he had other things to do. His students were not around regularly… or at least not on a regular basis. Dr.Ju never really grasped the English language. His daughter often had to translate for patients who were trying to book appointments over the phone. Mamie often had to schedule appointments for him when he was out. His daughter…making trips to the herbal store to get formulas, and helping him in the room with some of the female patients. Dr.Ju took many patients, the apartment was filled with people non-stop, and he accepted treatments outside of the clinic as well. It was not unusual for his daughter to come home and find a limousine parked outside our apartment either waiting to pick up Dr.Ju or to drop him off. Dr. Ju never spoke about who his patients were. He kept many of those things very, very private. He would not discuss many cases or anything in great detail.
His daughter remembers, when he was still involved with his American students, “I remember accompanying my father to UCLA where he gave a lecture about meridian/channel theory and how acupuncture worked. Another thing my father did that was rather record-breaking at the time was perform anesthesia on a wisdom tooth patient using acupuncture. I was maybe about 11 years-old at the time (1975) and I remember watching him do this on our old black and white television”. It was all over the news in Los Angeles.
His daughter continued helping Dr.Ju with his practice on-and-off until age 14 (this was around 1978, when Gim was about 61 years-old). At that time, Dr. Ju’s local practice had really slowed down. He was traveling more than he was working at home. He was invited to many places…particularly Mexico to perform acupuncture, and he had relationships with high officials and wealthy people there. He often stayed in Mexico for weeks at a time.
Dr. Ju died in Hong Kong in 1987, when he was 70 years old.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Ms. Mamie Ju providing her father’s stories and reviewing the draft.
Reference
Fan AY. The earliest acupuncture school of the United States incubated in a Tai Chi Center in Los Angeles. J Integr Med 2014. J Integr Med. 2014 Nov;12(6):524-8.
Fan AY. The legendary life of Dr. Gim Shek Ju, the founding father of the education of acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the United States. J Integr Med. 2016 May;14(3):159-64. doi: 10.1016/S2095-4964(16)60260-1.