The biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate variability of the Antarctic continent and the Southern Ocean are major components of the whole Earth system. Antarctic ecosystems are driven more strongly by the physical environment than many other marine and terrestrial ecosystems. As a consequence, to understand ecological functioning, cross-disciplinary studies are especially important in Antarctic research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Altern Complement Med
June 2017
Skin problems and diseases are extremely common globally and, due to their visibility, often result in severe distress and stigma for sufferers. Traditional (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEthnopharmacological Relevance: Protection of intellectual property rights and benefit-sharing are key issues for all ethnopharmacological research. The International Society of Ethnobiology has produced helpful guidelines on access and benefit-sharing which are widely viewed as a "gold standard" but the question remains how best to apply these guidelines in practice. Difficult questions include ownership of traditional knowledge, making appropriate agreements, and how appropriately to share benefits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Altern Complement Med
November 2014
The linkage between herbal medicines and the sustainability of medical plants from which they are manufactured is increasingly being understood and receiving attention through international accords and trade labeling systems. However, little attention is paid to the fair trade aspects of this sector, including the issue of benefit-sharing agreements with traditional societies whose knowledge and resources are being exploited for commercial herbal medicine development and production. This article examines the case of Prunus africana (Hook.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To characterize Ayurvedic perspectives on the etiopathogenesis and supportive treatments for a biomedical diagnosis of cancer.
Methods: Hour-long, digitally recorded interviews were conducted with 10 experienced Ayurvedic clinicians, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using techniques of qualitative thematic analysis.
Results: Four major themes were identified.
Chin J Integr Med
September 2012
As cancer rates rise globally, standard care is being questioned; new approaches involving immune therapies are emerging. With this shift comes a corresponding shift in the use and potential of herbal medicines and extracts. The focus of this article, which has evolved from a presentation at the Second Beijing International Symposium on Integrative Medicine (BISIM May 19-20, 2012), is particularly on Chinese medicine, but is generalizable to Eastern medicine more broadly and to other herbal traditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Altern Complement Med
June 2008
Background: Ayurveda, India's natural health care tradition, has a unique way of classifying human population based on individual constitution or prakriti. Ayurveda's tridosha theory identifies principles of motion (vata), metabolism (pitta), and structure (kapha) as discrete phenotypic groupings. Patwardhan et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComprehensive measures of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure, concurrent activities and sun-protective practices are needed to develop and evaluate skin cancer prevention and sun protection interventions. The UVR exposures of 345 primary schoolchildren at 23 schools around New Zealand were measured using electronic UVR monitors for 1-week periods over 12 weeks in 2004 and 2005. In addition, ambient UVR levels on a horizontal surface were measured on-site at each school.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Altern Complement Med
December 2006
Cultural preference and the high cost and unavailability of anti-HIV drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world leads many to turn to traditional (indigenous) medicine to manage HIV-related illness. Traditional health practitioners can play an important role in delivering an AIDS prevention message and some may be able to offer treatment for opportunistic infections. In industrialized countries, approximately half or more of those with AIDS use complementary medicines in conjunction with their antiretroviral therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Altern Complement Med
December 2006
Photochem Photobiol Sci
March 2006
UV measurements from instruments maintained by USDA at 16 mid-latitude sites were analysed to investigate geographic differences. Fifteen of the sites are in North America, and one is in New Zealand. The instruments measure erythemally weighted UV radiation, and the results are presented in terms of UV Index (UVI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe hydroxyl radical is the predominant atmospheric oxidant, responsible for removing a wide range of trace gases, including greenhouse gases, from the atmosphere. Determination of trends and variability in hydroxyl radical concentrations is critical to understanding whether the 'cleansing' properties of the atmosphere are changing. The variability in hydroxyl radical concentrations on annual to monthly timescales, however, is difficult to quantify.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Soc Care Community
May 2004
Questionnaires covering health and the use of complementary, alternative and conventional health services were mailed to a random sample of 14 868 adults aged 18-64 years living in four counties of England in 1997. The present study examined the use of osteopathy/chiropractic among the 15% (n = 1377) of respondents reporting back pain. Osteopaths/chiropractors were seen by 13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study was undertaken to establish the health status of users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services in England.
Methods: A postal questionnaire (response rate: 64%) covering long-standing illness, use of conventional medical and CAM services, and the United Kingdom Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was sent to more than 14 000 adults in 4 counties.
Results: Sixty percent of CAM users reported having a chronic illness or disability; back pain and bowel problems were the conditions most commonly reported.
Am J Public Health
October 2002
Traditional medicine (a term used here to denote the indigenous health traditions of the world) and complementary and alternative medicine (T/CAM) have, in the past 10 years, claimed an increasing share of the public's awareness and the agenda of medical researchers. Studies have documented that about half the population of many industrialized countries now use T/CAM, and the proportion is as high as 80% in many developing countries. Most research has focused on clinical and experimental medicine (safety, efficacy, and mechanism of action) and regulatory issues, to the general neglect of public health dimensions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Altern Complement Med
October 2001
This report provides a summary of the background and inputs of various groups who attended the Global Forum on Safety of Herbal and Traditional Medicine conference held in the Gold Coast, Australia, on July 7, 2001. Keynote presentations covered the status of regulation of complementary medicine in Australia and comparative examples from Africa and Bangladesh. There was substantial input about work to date on databases, reflecting the need to have a focus on safety outcomes as a point of direction for the forum.
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