The safety and effectiveness of mind body interventions for women with pregnancy induced hypertension and or preeclampsia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: To undertake a systematic review of the safety and effectiveness of mind body approaches for women with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP). Design: A search was undertaken of databases from inception to 2019 for randomised and quasi randomised controlled trials. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome was a reduction in systolic and / or diastolic blood pressure for women with hypertension and or preeclampsia in pregnancy. Results: 121 studies were identified and eight studies were included in this review. These included mind body interventions examining yoga, guided imagery, relaxation, music, and acupuncture for HDP. Two studies of relaxation found a reduction in systolic (MD -11.3, 95%CI -13.23 to -9.39) and diastolic blood pressure (MD -6.59, 95%CI -9.43 to -3.75) and reduced stress (MD -11.4, 95%CI -16.5 to -6.3). In one study of yoga, the risk of developing HDP was reduced (RR 0.28, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.91, 59 women) and a second study found a reduction in stress at the end of the intervention of yoga. One trial of guided imagery found a reduction in mean arterial blood pressure compared to the control (4.35, 95% -8.04 to -0.66, p=0.02). Overall there was no effect on the development of preeclampsia, use of anti-hypertensive medication and any neonatal outcomes from the interventions evaluated. Few trials reported on safety outcomes, one trial of acupuncture reported one case of placental abruption and three cases of acupuncture related side effects.Conclusion: Few high quality trials have examined the effectiveness and safety of mind body interventions to manage HDP. Relaxation, yoga, guided imagery and music may have some potential benefit. Safety issues are completely unclear and thus the risk-benefit ratio of all interventions could not be determined. Further research is recommended.     

A Retrospective View of a Sexual Dysfunction Clinic, 1980–83

Case notes of 337 couples attending a well-established sexual dysfunction clinic between 1980 and 1983 were surveyed. The distribution of various types of sexual dysfunction was compared with similar studies reported from the U.K. Among males secondary erectile dysfunction was the commonest presenting cause and general unresponsiveness among the females. The majority of the referrals were from general practitioners. The drop-out rates in each category were high. The reasons for this are discussed and suggestions for further research made.     

Correlates of social functioning in autism spectrum disorder: The role of social cognition

BackgroundIndividuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience marked challenges with social function by definition, but few modifiable predictors of social functioning in ASD have been identified in extant research. This study hypothesized that deficits in social cognition and motor function may help to explain poor social functioning in individuals with ASD.MethodCross-sectional data from 108 individuals with ASD and without intellectual disability ages 9 through 27.5 were used to assess the relationship between social cognition and motor function, and social functioning.ResultsResults of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that greater social cognition, but not motor function, was significantly associated with better social functioning when controlling for sex, age, and intelligence quotient. Post-hoc analyses revealed that better performance on second-order false belief tasks was associated with higher levels of socially adaptive behavior and lower levels of social problems.ConclusionsOur findings support the development and testing of interventions that target social cognition in order to improve social functioning in individuals with ASD. Interventions that teach generalizable skills to help people with ASD better understand social situations and develop competency in advanced perspective taking have the potential to create more durable change because their effects can be applied to a wide and varied set of situations and not simply a prescribed set of rehearsed situations.     

头针耳针结合醒脑开窍法对脑出血昏迷患者临床疗效观察

目的:观察头针、耳针结合醒脑开窍综合疗法治疗脑出血昏迷患者促苏醒及言语、肢体功能恢复的临床疗效.方法:将脑出血致重度脑损伤患者随机抽取56例分成两组,综合治疗组36例,单纯体针组20例,进行疗效观察.结果:治疗组良好率69.4%.对照组良好率40%,差异有显著性(P＜0.05).结论:头针、耳针结合醒脑开窍综合疗法对脑出血昏迷患者促苏醒及言语、肢体功能恢复有更好疗效.     

我国中医药创新发展的机遇——从发达国家迈向"概念时代"谈起

经济全球化、信息网络化使世界变得平坦，发达国家正在由“信息时代”迈进“概念时代”。在全新思维中，以形象思维为基础，崇尚“高概念”、“高感性”，提倡“概念整合”及“模式识别能力”。我国中医药素以形象思维和整体概念为核心。中医对生命的理念所用的术语（形、气、神）与现代科学的“物质、信息、概念”融会相通。中医诊断及辨证施治和美国风行的“口述诊疗学”、“结合医学”、“整体医学”有众多联系。中医已经引起了西方的关注，如“现代舌诊学”。继承中医长期形成的学术成果，结合我国在系统科学、思维科学、复杂性科学及模式识别领域所获得与中医有关的研究与结果，进入“概念时代”的2l世纪，是我国的中医药创新发展的大好时机。     

Asthma and dualism

The rejection of Cartesian dualism can be taken to imply that the mind is implicated in health and illness to a greater degree than conventional medicine would suggest. Surprisingly, however, there appears to be a train of thought in antidualist nursing theory which takes the opposite view. This paper looks closely at an interesting example of antidualist thinking - an article in which Benner and her colleagues comment on the ways in which people with asthma make sense of their condition - and concludes that it places unduly stringent and arbitrary limits on the mind's role. It then asks how antidualism can lead to such a dogmatic rejection of the idea that states of the body are clinically influenced by states of mind. The answer to this question is that Benner assimilates very different philosophical theories into the same 'tradition'. On this occasion, she has combined Descartes, Kant and the Platonist ascetics into a single package, misleadingly labelled 'Cartesianism', and this move accounts for her unexpected views on the relation between mind and body in asthma.     

耳鸣对患者身心状况的影响调查

目的:探讨耳鸣患者身体和心理的健康状况及其耳鸣的防治措施。方法:对197例耳鸣患者采用症状自评量表进行问卷调查,并对与患者心理健康状况有关的某些因素作了调查分析。结果:耳鸣对患者的身心状况存在不同程度的影响,耳鸣造成患者精神紧张者占89.3%,影响患者生活乐趣占61.73%,使患者抑郁占76.6%。结论:耳鸣与身心因素密切相关,耳鸣问卷能较好地分析患者的身心问题。     

“脑主神明”对中医理论发展的重要性

确立和发展"脑主神明"学说,对中医学理论体系发展有举足轻重的作用。一是可以通过正确阐释脏腑功能和补充五行学说阐释脏腑关系之不足以重构完善的藏象学说。二是可以促进中医临床发展,并提出在"脑主神明"理论指导下,应该完善脑统领、主宰脏腑,脑定位、管理经络系统,脑、脏腑、经络相互影响等假说。