Artemisinin, qinghaosu, was extracted from the traditional Chinese medical drug qinghao (the blue‐green herb) in the early 1970s. Its ‘discovery’ can thus be hailed as an achievement of research ...groups who were paradoxically successful, working as they were at the height of a political mass movement in communist China, known in the West as the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), a period that was marked by chaos, cruelty and enormous suffering, particularly, but by no means only, among the intelligentsia. On the one hand, China’s cultural heritage was seen as a hindrance to progress and Mao set out to destroy it, but on the other hand he praised it as a ‘treasure house’, full of gems that, if adjusted to the demands of contemporary society, could be used ‘for serving the people’ (wei renmin fuwu). The success of the ‘task of combating malaria’ (kang nüe ren wu), sometimes known as ‘task number five hundred and twenty‐three’, depended crucially on modern scientists who took seriously knowledge that was recorded in a traditional Chinese medical text, Emergency Prescriptions Kept up one’s Sleeve by the famous physician Ge Hong (284–363).
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Artemisinin is currently used for treating drug-resistant malaria. It is found in
Artemisia annua and also in
A. apiacea and
A. lancea.
Artemisia annua and
A. apiacea were known to the Chinese in ...antiquity and, since they were easily confused with each other, both provided plant material for the herbal drug
qing hao (blue-green
hao). This article shows, however, that since at least the eleventh century Chinese scholars recognized the difference between the two species, and advocated the use of
A. apiacea, rather than
A. annua for ‘treating lingering heat in joints and bones’ and ‘exhaustion due to heat/fevers’. The article furthermore provides a literal translation of the method of preparing
qing hao for treating intermittent fever episodes, as advocated by the eminent physician Ge Hong in the fourth century CE. His recommendation was to soak the fresh plant in cold water, wring it out and ingest the expressed juice in its raw state. Both findings may have important practical implications for current traditional usage of the plant as an antimalarial: rather than using the dried leaves of
A. annua in warm infusions, it suggests that fresh juice extraction from
A. apiacea may improve efficacy.
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The body in balance Horden, Peregrine; Hsu, Elisabeth
2015., 20130815, 2013, 2013-09-25, Volume:
13
eBook
Focusing on practice more than theory, this collection offers new perspectives for studying the so-called "humoral medical traditions," as they have flourished around the globe during the last 2,000 ...years. Exploring notions of "balance" in medical cultures across Eurasia, Africa and the Americas, from antiquity to the present, the volume revisits "harmony" and "holism" as main characteristics of those traditions. It foregrounds a dynamic notion of balance and asks how balance is defined or conceptualized, by whom, for whom and in what circumstances. Balance need not connoteegalitarianism or equilibrium. Rather, it alludes to morals of self care exercised in place of excessiveness and indulgences after long periods of a life in dearth. As the moral becomes visceral, the question arises: what constitutes the visceral in a body that is in constant flux and flow? How far, and in what ways, are there fundamental properties or constituents in those bodies?
Numerous treatments in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) involve the use of wildlife products, including some that utilize ingredients derived from endangered flora and fauna. Demand for such ...endangered wildlife products in TCM can threaten the survival of species and pose serious challenges for conservation.
Chinese medical practice is embedded in the cultural fabric of many societies in East and Southeast Asia, and remains an integral part of everyday life and knowledge. It is grounded in principles and theories that have grown over hundreds of years and differ substantially from those of mainstream allopathic biomedicine.
In order to address the threats posed by the medicinal consumption of endangered wildlife, conservation scientists and practitioners will benefit from a basic understanding of TCM. Such knowledge will enable conservationists to craft culturally nuanced solutions and to engage constructively with TCM stakeholders. However, conservationists typically lack familiarity with TCM as the incompatibility of many TCM concepts with those of the biomedical sciences poses a barrier to understanding.
In this paper, we examine the core theories and practices of TCM in order to make TCM more accessible to conservation scientists and practitioners. A better understanding of TCM will enable conservationists to deliver more effective and lasting conservation outcomes.
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抽象
繁體中文標題: 深入了解中醫藥學以加強保育項目的有效性
繁體中文摘要: 中醫藥的治療方法會使用到來自瀕危動植物的產品。此類產品的需求可能會威脅瀕危動植物的存續, 為生態保育帶來挑戰。中醫藥文化在亞洲多地已經根深蒂固, 成為日常和知識體系中不可或缺的一部分。中醫藥學的原理和理論源遠流長, 建基於幾千年的發展, 跟主流西醫藥學有很大分別。其概念認知差異導致保育者對中醫藥的理解產生歧義。保育者需要了解中醫藥學對瀕危動植物的文化需求, 以制訂更有效的保育方案。本文考察了中醫藥學的核心理論和實踐方法, 使保育項目產生更持久的影響力。
简化中文标题: 深入了解中医药学以加强保育项目的有效性
简化中文摘要: 中医药的治疗方法会使用到来自濒危动植物的产品。此类产品的需求可能会威胁濒危动植物的存续, 为生态保育带来挑战。中医药文化在亚洲多地已经根深蒂固, 成为日常和知识体系中不可或缺的一部分。中医药学的原理和理论源远流长, 建基于几千年的发展, 跟主流西医药学有很大分别。其概念认知差异导致保育者对中医药的理解产生歧义。保育者需要了解中医药学对濒危动植物的文化需求, 以制订更有效的保育方案。本文考察了中医药学的核心理论和实践方法, 使保育项目产生更持久的影响力。
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
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“Feeling lighter” is a cross-culturally found subjective patient experience, but it may well contain a comment on intersubjectively recognisable physical, neuro-chemical and bio-electro-magnetic ...processes that natural scientific research can identify. The health scientist is advised to take the patient's experiences seriuosly, and regard them as a possible source of for future research topics.
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Ancient Chinese herbal texts as far back as the 4th Century Zhou hou bei ji fang describe methods for the use of Qing Hao (Artemisia annua) for the treatment of intermittent fevers. Today, the A. ...annua constituent artemisinin is an important antimalarial drug and the herb itself is being grown and used locally for malaria treatment although this practice is controversial. Here we show that the ancient Chinese methods that involved either soaking, (followed by wringing) or pounding, (followed by squeezing) the fresh herb are more effective in producing artemisinin-rich extracts than the usual current method of preparing herbal teas from the dried herb. The concentrations of artemisinin in the extracts was up to 20-fold higher than that in a herbal tea prepared from the dried herb, but the amount of total artemisinin extracted by the Chinese methods was much less than that removed in the herbal tea. While both extracts exhibited potent in vitro activities against Plasmodium falciparum, only the pounded juice contained sufficient artemisinin to suppress parasitaemia in P. berghei infected mice. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of malaria treatment using A. annua infusions.
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Plants, health and healing Hsu, Elisabeth; Harris, Stephen
2010, 2010., 20100915, 2012-03-01, Volume:
6
eBook, Book
Plants have cultural histories, as their applications change over time and with place. Some plant species have affected human cultures in profound ways, such as the stimulants tea and coffee from the ...Old World, or coca and quinine from South America. Even though medicinal plants have always attracted considerable attention, there is surprisingly little research on the interface of ethnobotany and medical anthropology. This volume, which brings together (ethno-)botanists, medical anthropologists and a clinician, makes an important contribution towards filling this gap. It emphasises that plant knowledge arises situationally as an intrinsic part of social relationships, that herbs need to be enticed if not seduced by the healers who work with them, that herbal remedies are cultural artefacts, and that bioprospecting and medicinal plant discovery can be viewed as the epitome of a long history of borrowing, stealing and exchanging plants.
Every age group experiences back pain, a common reason for activity limitation. Management of back pain in a woman is challenging because of physiologic and hormonal changes through the woman’s life ...cycle. The treatment is dictated by etiology and a woman’s stage of life or reproductive events, such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause. Most episodes of low back pain are temporary with minimal long-term sequelae, but recurrent and long-lasting episodes require more thorough clinical evaluation. This monograph describes the anatomy of the spine; illustrates a focused, thorough evaluation, including obtaining a medical history and performing a physical examination; discusses warning signs and symptoms of more serious etiologies; provides recommendations for further testing or referral; and offers case vignettes of common causes of low back pain as a woman progresses from young adulthood to advanced age.
What, if not Durkheim’s ‘collective representations’ acquired during exalted states of effervescence, gives rise to society, culture and science? Marcel Mauss provides another answer by pointing to ...the different rhythms of social relationships and the human effort to synchronise them. The seasonal cycle of the Eskimo Inuit, Mauss argues, is in accord with their game; hence people disperse in summer to pursue economic activities in small bands, while they congregate in dense house-complexes in winter and engage in ritual. It would appear that Mauss draws heavily on Boas’s contrast between the Kwakiutl winter celebrations and their ‘uninitiated’ livelihood in summer. These insights have traction for medical anthropologists who are interested in finding an anthropological explanation for the efficaciousness of ‘traditional’ medicines or ‘indigenous’ healing techniques.
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