The Moral Dangers of Technocratic Medicine.

Current healthcare practices are becoming increasingly threatened by technocracy, and the influence of technocratic oversight of medicine as a profession compromises good, compassionate care. A real-life case illustrating how technocratic oversight in health care threatens the practice of medicine and health care in general serves as a basis for discussing some of the common perils inherent in a technocratic model of medicine. This article suggests antidotes and concludes with alternate pathways to practice medicine amid technocratic challenges.

Air Current Applied to the Face Improves Exercise Performance in Patients with COPD.

Purpose: Improving dyspnea and exercise performance are goals of COPD therapy. We tested the hypothesis that air current applied to the face would lessen dyspnea and improve exercise performance in moderate-severe COPD patients.

Methods: We recruited 10 COPD patients (5 men, age 62 ± 6 years, FEV1 0.