Nontouch biofield therapy: a systematic review of human randomized controlled trials reporting use of only nonphysical contact treatment.

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVE AND CONTEXT: This review was designed to assess the quality and review the outcomes of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of biofield therapies (external qigong, Healing Touch, Johrei, Reiki, and Therapeutic Touch) that report using only nonphysical touch forms of treatment. RCTs of nonphysical contact biofield therapies have the potential to contribute to an evidence base for health-promoting effects mediated through mechanisms outside the present understanding of biomedicine.

Methods: Articles meeting inclusion criteria were identified from database and reference list searches and evaluated for a range of reporting and design items.

Effectiveness guidance document (EGD) for Chinese medicine trials: a consensus document.

Background: There is a need for more Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) on Chinese medicine (CM) to inform clinical and policy decision-making. This document aims to provide consensus advice for the design of CER trials on CM for researchers. It broadly aims to ensure more adequate design and optimal use of resources in generating evidence for CM to inform stakeholder decision-making.

Activating lay health influencers to promote tobacco cessation.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of tobacco cessation brief-intervention (BI) training for lay "health influencers," on knowledge, self-efficacy and the proportion of participants reporting BI delivery post-training.

Methods: Randomized, community-based study comparing In-person or Web-based training, with mailed materials.

Results: In-person and Web-training groups had significant post-training cessation knowledge and self-efficacy gains.

Families United/Familias Unidas: family group office visits to reduce risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

Purpose: The purpose of the Families United/Familias Unidas study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of group office visits on reducing diabetes risk in a multiethnic, primary care population.

Methods: Adults, ages 18 to 70 years, with any diabetes risk factor were recruited to attend 12 group office visits over 6 months. Each participant identified 1 support person, age 14 to 70 years, to accompany them.

Description of a clinical stream of back-pain patients based on electronic medical records.

Back pain consists of a spectrum of conditions, with no common etiology and therefore no dominant method of treatment. The purpose of this study is to describe the complexity of a collection of 8000 back pain patients who appeared in an integrative medicine clinic, as a prelude to conducing comparative effectiveness research on CAM alternatives to conventional therapy. Approximately 23% of all clinic patients were diagnosed at some time with back pain.

Intervention in overweight children improves body mass index (BMI) and physical activity.

Background: Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in family medicine with few clinical treatment options. We implemented and evaluated a group office-visit intervention by family physicians for overweight children and their parents, emphasizing nutrition and physical activity within a resiliency psychosocial model.

Methods: The intervention lasted for 3 months, with half of the children crossing over to intervention after 6 months in the study.

Analysis of nonintervention studies: technical supplement.

Methods for analyzing data in nonintervention clinical studies are substantially different from those that are appropriate for randomized clinical trials. Although the latter methods are well known, the former are not. A systematic approach for dealing with statistical confounding in nonintervention research has been developed over the past 30 to 40 years, and the essence of this theory constitutes the contents of this article.

From medical records to clinical science.

Medical records contain an abundance of information, very little of which is extracted and put to clinical use. Increasing the flow of information from medical records to clinical practice requires methods of analysis that are appropriate for large nonintervention studies. The purpose of this article is to explain in nontechnical language what these methods are, how they differ from conventional statistical analyses, and why the latter are generally inappropriate.

Commentary on Mathie RT et al. Method for appraising model validity of randomised controlled trials of homeopathic treatment: multi-rater concordance study.

Although many researchers agree that applying conventional drug-trial quality criteria to CAM studies lacks plausibility, few take on the burden of devising alternative criteria in a specific area of CAM. This commentary points out strengths and weaknesses in the approach taken in the work of Mathie and colleagues to do this for homeopathy.

Comparative effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine and psychosocial care in the treatment of temporomandibular disorders-associated chronic facial pain.

Unlabelled: This dual-site study sought to identify the appropriate role for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM; acupuncture and herbs) in conjunction with a validated psychosocial self-care (SC) intervention for treating chronic temporomandibular disorders (TMD)-associated pain. Participants with Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders-confirmed TMD (n = 168) entered a stepped-care protocol that began with a basic TMD class. At weeks 2 and 10, patients receiving SC whose worst facial pain was above predetermined levels were reallocated by minimization to SC or TCM with experienced practitioners.

Families United/Familias Unidas: development and implementation of a family-based group office visit model for the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the development and implementation of a new diabetes prevention intervention that combines the benefits of family support with the group office model. Intensive lifestyle modification can effectively delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, yet health providers are challenged in translating these results to their patients. The group outpatient visit model can provide a means to address prevention issues in a financially sustainable manner.

Reductions in pain medication use associated with traditional Chinese medicine for chronic pain.

Context: Participants in a randomized trial of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD) had a linear decline in pain over 16 TCM visits.

Objective: To investigate whether reductions in pain among participants receiving TCM can be explained by increased use of pain medications, or whether use of pain medications also declined in this group.

Design: One hundred sixty-eight participants with TMD were treated with TCM or enhanced self-care according to a stepped-care design.

A community-based intervention to prevent obesity beginning at birth among American Indian children: study design and rationale for the PTOTS study.

Eating and physical activity behaviors associated with adult obesity have early antecedents, yet few studies have focused on obesity prevention interventions targeting very young children. Efforts to prevent obesity beginning at birth seem particularly important in populations at risk for early-onset obesity. National estimates indicate that American Indian (AI) children have higher rates of overweight and obesity than children of other races/ethnicities.

Effectiveness Guidance Document (EGD) for acupuncture research - a consensus document for conducting trials.

Background: There is a need for more Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) to strengthen the evidence base for clinical and policy decision-making. Effectiveness Guidance Documents (EGD) are targeted to clinical researchers. The aim of this EGD is to provide specific recommendations for the design of prospective acupuncture studies to support optimal use of resources for generating evidence that will inform stakeholder decision-making.

Nonlinear dynamical systems effects of homeopathic remedies on multiscale entropy and correlation dimension of slow wave sleep EEG in young adults with histories of coffee-induced insomnia.

Background: Investigators of homeopathy have proposed that nonlinear dynamical systems (NDS) and complex systems science offer conceptual and analytic tools for evaluating homeopathic remedy effects. Previous animal studies demonstrate that homeopathic medicines alter delta electroencephalographic (EEG) slow wave sleep. The present study extended findings of remedy-related sleep stage alterations in human subjects by testing the feasibility of using two different NDS analytic approaches to assess remedy effects on human slow wave sleep EEG.

Acupuncture and chiropractic care for chronic pain in an integrated health plan: a mixed methods study.

Background: Substantial recent research examines the efficacy of many types of complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies. However, outcomes associated with the "real-world" use of CAM has been largely overlooked, despite calls for CAM therapies to be studied in the manner in which they are practiced. Americans seek CAM treatments far more often for chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) than for any other condition.

Reliability of AcuGraph system for measuring skin conductance at acupoints.

Objective: There are many commercially available instruments for measuring electrical conductance, but there is little information about their reliability. The aim of this study was to quantify measurement variability and assess reliability of the AcuGraph system-a commonly used electrodermal screening device.

Methods: Four experiments were conducted to measure variability in electrical conductance readings obtained by the AcuGraph system.

Occurrence and co-occurrence of types of complementary and alternative medicine use by age, gender, ethnicity, and education among adults in the United States: the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Background: There are widespread assumptions that a large proportion of American adults use a variety of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. The goal of this study is to explore the clustering or linkages among CAM categories in the general population. Linkset analysis and data from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) were used to address two specific aims.

Improvement of menopausal symptoms with acupuncture not reflected in changes to heart rate variability.

Unlabelled: Hypothesis Studies indicate that menopausal symptoms are relieved by acupuncture. Additional studies have suggested that acupuncture may affect heart rate variability (HRV). This paper reports a pilot study that investigated whether menopausal symptoms responded to acupuncture, and if changes in the spectral analysis of HRV, either suppression of low frequency or augmentation of high frequency bands, corresponded with symptom report.

Dental caries in American Indian toddlers after a community-based beverage intervention.

Objective/setting: The Toddler Overweight and Tooth Decay Prevention Study (TOTS) was an overweight and early childhood caries (ECC) project in the Pacific Northwest. It targeted American Indian (AI) toddlers from birth, to effect changes in breastfeeding and sweetened beverage consumption.

Design/intervention/participants: The intervention cohort was children born in three communities during 12 months; expectant mothers were identified through prenatal visits, and recruited by tribal coordinators.

The relationship between incidence of fractures and anemia in older multiethnic women.

Objectives: To prospectively examine the relationship between anemia and incident fractures of the hip, spine, and all skeletal sites in women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study and Clinical Trials.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Forty WHI clinical centers across the United States.

Effects of homeopathic medicines on mood of adults with histories of coffee-related insomnia.

Background/aims: The purpose of this within-subjects feasibility study was to determine whether two different homeopathic remedies, Nux Vomica (NV) and Coffea Cruda (CC), exert effects on subjective mood ratings in healthy adults with a history of coffee-induced insomnia. The impact of individual personality traits, anxiety sensitivity or Type A cynical hostility, and homeopathic constitutional type (HTYPE-NV, HTYPE-CC), on remedy effects was examined to evaluate differential responsivity, in accord with clinical claims.

Subjects And Methods: Young adults of both sexes (ages 18-31) with above-average scores on standardized personality scales for either cynical hostility or anxiety sensitivity, and a history of coffee-induced insomnia, participated in the month-long study.