Integrating acupuncture into primary health care: the experience of an educational model implemented within the Brazilian Unified Health System in Florianópolis.

Objective: Primary health care (PHC) is the main entry point and the first level of contact for individuals, families and communities within the Brazilian public health system. Considering that few studies have investigated the use of acupuncture in PHC, this article presents our experience in the city of Florianópolis when integrating acupuncture into PHC using an educational programme developed to teach acupuncture to primary care physicians (PCPs).

Methods: The course programme was designed using the WHO standards for acupuncture training and discussed at three consensus meetings.

Status and Impact of Acupuncture Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Global and Brazilian Scientific Output from 2000 to 2014.

Objective: This bibliometric study was designed to evaluate the scientific output of Brazilian acupuncture publications and compare that output to the global trends in the same area.

Methods: The analyzed data were retrieved from the online version of Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) database and covered the period from 2000 to 2014. The documents were searched by using the topic filter to find acupuncture-related documents (ARDs) and the title filter for acupuncture-specific documents (ASDs).

Caffeine at Moderate Doses Can Inhibit Acupuncture-Induced Analgesia in a Mouse Model of Postoperative Pain.

Background: The use of acupuncture in the treatment of pain conditions has been extensively investigated. However, the influence of dietary ingredients on acupuncture-induced analgesia (AA) remains unexplored. Recently, the role of adenosine receptors in AA has been shown, and caffeine, one of the world's most commonly consumed dietary ingredients, is an antagonist of these receptors.

Teaching acupuncture: the Brazilian Medical Residency Programme.

Acupuncture has had a successful story in Brazil. With its use in the public health system supported by legislation since 1988, its recognition as a medical specialty in 1995 enabled the introduction of an annual board examination and the creation of an official Medical Residency Programme. Since then, medical acupuncture has developed considerably, mostly through its massive spread into the Brazilian public health system.