A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch

Context.— Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a widely used nursing practice rooted in mysticism but alleged to have a scientific basis. Practitioners of TT claim to treat many medical conditions by using their hands to manipulate a "human energy field" perceptible above the patient's skin. Objective.— To investigate whether TT practitioners can actually perceive a "human energy field." Design.— Twenty-one practitioners with TT experience for from 1 to 27 years were tested under blinded conditions to determine whether they could correctly identify which of their hands was closest to the investigator's hand. Placement of the investigator's hand was determined by flipping a coin. Fourteen practitioners were tested 10 times each, and 7 practitioners were tested 20 times each. Main Outcome Measure.— Practitioners of TT were asked to state whether the investigator's unseen hand hovered above their right hand or their left hand. To show the validity of TT theory, the practitioners should have been able to locate the investigator's hand 100% of the time. A score of 50% would be expected through chance alone. Results.— Practitioners of TT identified the correct hand in only 123 (44%) of 280 trials, which is close to what would be expected for random chance. There was no significant correlation between the practitioner's score and length of experience (r=0.23). The statistical power of this experiment was sufficient to conclude that if TT practitioners could reliably detect a human energy field, the study would have demonstrated this. Conclusions.— Twenty-one experienced TT practitioners were unable to detect the investigator's "energy field." Their failure to substantiate TT's most fundamental claim is unrefuted evidence that the claims of TT are groundless and that further professional use is unjustified.      

A Closer Look at Health and Disease as Prerequisites for Diagnosis and Prognosis

Health and illness are key concepts of medicine but they also have essential significance for each and every one of our lives. For this reason, social value systems are inevitably integrated into medicine through the concept of health and illness. In turn, medical knowledge and medico-scientific notions are perpetually incorporated into societal perceptions of health and illness. Generally, such integration usually occurs via an extended concept of health and illness, which is to be discussed in the following. To a certain extent, medical and societal notions of health are mutually co-determined. The underlying dynamics deserve a closer look because if health and illness are societal and medical concepts alike this fundamentally impacts on the epistemological and the practical dimension of diagnosis and prognosis as discussed in this volume of Medicine Studies.     

低体重儿童动脉导管未闭封堵治疗的疗效观察

目的：探讨低体重儿童动脉导管未闭封堵治疗的疗效和安全性．方法2008年1月至2012年6月昆明医科大学附属延安医院对体重＜8 kg的婴幼儿PDA 32例（男14例,女18例）实施经导管介入封堵治疗,年龄6-18月,平均（11±5.5）月,体重（7.2±0.6） kg,主动脉造影示PDA最窄径为1-8 mm （4.6±1.7） mm,封堵后即刻和30 min行侧位降主动脉造影,术后1 d,1、3、6个月分别行超声心动图及X线摄片检查．结果30例封堵治疗成功,成功的患者均采用国产PDA封堵器,1例术中造影合并降主动脉缩窄和室间隔缺损,转外科治疗;1例为PDA封堵器主动脉侧过大,导致降主动脉狭窄,放弃封堵;2例术后即刻存在微量-少量残余分流;随访均未发生严重并发症．结论应用国产封堵器经导管治疗体重〈8 kg的婴幼儿的PDA是一种安全有效、简便、创伤小、恢复快的介入治疗方法．     

三看浙江

鱼米之乡、丝茶之府、文物之邦、旅游胜地,这是地处长江三角洲南翼的浙江省的名片.据2008年统计,浙江省城镇居民人均可支配收入连续8年、农村居民人均纯收入连续24年位居全国第一.在强大的经济背景支持下,其医疗卫生体制改革亦凸显强劲势头.     

三看浙江——访浙江省卫生厅党组书记、厅长杨敬

鱼米之乡、丝茶之府、文物之邦、旅游胜地，这是地处长江三角洲南翼的浙江省的名片。据2008年统计，浙江省城镇居民人均可支配收入连续8年、农村居民人均纯收入连续24年位居全国第一。在强大的经济背景支持下，其医疗卫生体制改革亦凸显强劲势头。     

思想政治理论课实践教学初探

实践课是思想政治理论课教学改革的一个切入点。实践课教学形式多样，可以扩宽学生的视野，启迪学生的思维，培养学生的各种能力，激发学生的求知欲，能进一步提高思想政治理论课的针对性和实效性。     

A New Look at Bimedial Prefrontal Leukotomy

Forty-four selected patients with “hard core” functional psychiatric illness were treated by bimedial prefrontal leukotomy, in which only the medial half of the prefrontal white matter of both frontal lobes was divided. This operation differs from the conventional or “standard” leukotomy which divides the entire prefrontal white matter. There were six patients with personality disorders, 25 psychoneurotics, 12 schizophrenics, and one with involutional melancholia. Forty-two of the 44 patients had thorough psychiatric follow-up, ranging from one to seven years postoperatively. They were assessed clinically and also on a point-rating scale of assessment.

Seventy-six per cent of these patients had excellent or satisfactory outcomes. The most striking benefit was decrease in anxiety and tension.

Modified leukotomy is a safe and effective method of reducing the symptoms of excessive tension, anxiety, fear or depression in patients with a variety of illnesses, including anxiety neurosis, phobic psychoneurosis, obsessional neurosis, neurotic or psychotic depressive reactions and schizophrenia. The operation should be considered in such neurotic, personality and psychotic illnesses when medical treatment has failed.

     

换个角度看学困生

分析目前教师对待学困生的态度,并结合实践,就教育工作者应适当换个角度来看待学困生,促其健康成长提出一些看法。     

高职临床医学（乡本寸医生）专业人才培养方案探讨

乡村医生素质对农村卫生事业的发展至关重要。只有制订科学、适用的人才培养方案才能为广大农村培养高素质、实用型卫生人才,提高农村卫生人员医疗服务水平。     

从临终关怀的角度看预先指示

预先指示是指有决定能力的患者对自身将来丧失表意能力时接受何种医疗照护而事先做出的一种安排和指示。预先指示在国外随着临终关怀的发展而出现,在当前中国的文化背景下,其应用和发展也更具有现实意义。