The role of medical museums in contemporary medical education.

From the early 19th century until the most recent two decades, open-space and satellite museums featuring anatomy and pathology collections (collectively referred to as "medical museums") had leading roles in medical education. However, many factors have caused these roles to diminish dramatically in recent years. Chief among these are the great advances in information technology and web-based learning that are currently at play in every level of medical training.

Gross range of motion in the cervical spine: the effects of osteopathic muscle energy technique in asymptomatic subjects.

Muscle energy technique is an established osteopathic manipulative intervention often used to treat somatic dysfunctions of the spine. There are little objective data to demonstrate its efficacy, however. To determine the efficacy of this osteopathic manipulative technique, the authors compared active cervical range of motion among asymptomatic young and middle-aged adults (n=18) before and after this treatment protocol, comparing those results against matched control subjects (n=14) who received sham manipulative treatment.

A retrospective study of cranial strain patterns in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

While providing osteopathic manipulative treatment to patients with Parkinson's disease at the clinic of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine of New York Institute of Technology, physicians noted that these patients may exhibit particular cranial findings as a result of the disease. The purpose of this study was to compare the recorded observations of cranial strain patterns of patients with Parkinson's disease for the detection of common cranial findings. Records of cranial strain patterns from physician-recorded observations of 30 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 20 age-matched normal controls were compiled.