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You’ve probably heard of at least five of these, even if you don’t live in the United States: Hotmail, iPod, The Grateful Dead, Google, “Just Do It,” YouTube, Macs, TiVo, the new VW Bug, Rubik’s Cube, Beanie Babies, “The Blair Witch Project,” the Mini (car), the mini (skirt), Air Jordans,…

Highland General Hospital in Oakland, Calif., is a teaching hospital. Most days, about 35 to 40 medical students, interns and residents attend what is known as “the noontime conference,” held in a room next to the hospital cafeteria. While they wolf down their food, a specialist lectures.

According to the American Medical Women’s Association, there are about 13 million people in the U.S. who have thyroid disorders. However, more than half of those 13 million cases are undiagnosed. One in eight women will have a thyroid disorder in their lifetime.

With the advent of the subprime mortgage credit crunch and the very real prospect of inflation for the first time in decades, it looks as if the United States has started an economic downturn. It’s overdue, as we have had one of the longest periods of economic growth in U.S.…

These requests are nothing more than a ploy to see if a provider is desperate enough to take a lesser payment that is paid slightly faster. They are a bad deal for the provider on two levels.

Chinese medicine draws some of its most important images from classical thought. The polar pair of yin and yang has been used since before written language for interpreting the results of divination procedures. These concepts have continued at the core of historical Chinese attempts to understand the mysteries of the…

One of the many topics of discussion from fellow TCM students is a general lack of confidence. This flaw appears once students get into a clinical setting and realize that, while they may have studied hard, their cases are rarely “simple” because of it. This quickly leads to students feeling…

Hua Tuo was born into a poor family. When he was seven years old, his father passed away, taking with him the only source of family income. Faced with financial hardship and poverty, Hua Tuo began to work in a local herbal pharmacy. While working there, he carefully observed the…

The April 2008 issue of Acupuncture Today carried a front page article in which the AAAOM protested the appointment of a medical doctor to the advisory council of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The doctor teaches an acupuncture program for physicians.

As practitioners, we value communication with our patients. We work hard to establish open and honest lines of communication. We should listen without judgment and be able to offer a non-biased, clinically based opinion. We do this because it establishes a bond of trust between us and our patients. They…

In my last two articles, I discussed simple formula combinations for gan mao and gynecological pathologies. In this month’s column, I will examine clinically effective formula combinations for common gastrointestinal complaints. Many chronic diseases develop due to a poorly functioning digestive system.

Did you know that if you were to search for “Acupuncturist” as a distinct professional designation on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Web site, you wouldn’t find it? Additionally, if you searched the BLS database using the term acupuncture , you would find that it…

We all know our profession is blessed with many wonderful and special people. However, an exceptional few are true social entrepreneurs, dedicating their skills and knowledge to people around the world who would otherwise have no access to the healing benefits of AOM. I would like to see them receive…

As any chronic sufferer will tell you, migraine headaches can be debilitating, affecting concentration and the ability to perform daily tasks. In fact, the odds are high that a patient will come to see you with a complaint of migraines.

Last April, Acupuncture Today reported on the case of Juliana Cumbo, a blind acupuncturist in Texas seeking her license to practice. (See “The Blind Leading the Blind?” in the April 2008 issue of AT. ) Cumbo had graduated with a master’s degree from the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin…