Objective

To determine the informational consistency produced by the two most recent independent surveys and draw a conclusion whether the data would be sufficient for the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis and Bureau of Labor and Statistics consideration.

Methods

This paper compares workforce outcomes collected by the two most prominent acupuncture entities that have produced the most useful acupuncturist workforce data (California Acupuncture Board 2015 Occupational Analysis and the National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine^? 2013 Job Analysis) at national and state levels.

Results

Findings based upon the most compatible survey questions showed the following: more than 70% of acupuncturists work fewer than 40 hours weekly; approximately 76% work in solo practice or in shared space with other acupuncturists; more than 70% of the national sample have been in practice 15 years or less; and median income is between $40 000 and $50 000. A preponderance of acupuncturists is less than 50 years of age, and fewer than 15% of all respondents have been in practice more than 20 years.

Conclusion

Basic workforce information is a necessary precursor for conducting workforce projections. It is useful to track the expansion or contraction of any given profession. Tracking influences subsequent planning for the profession based upon reliable and valid information about its growth. The ability of the profession to collect its own workforce data is paramount to workforce projection models. Any future survey should be a shared project that follows guidelines supported by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis.

Objective

In spite of the World Health Organization's recommendations over the past decades, Ghana features pluralistic rather than truly integrated medical system. Policies about the integration of complementary medicine into the national health care delivery system need to account for individual-level involvement and cultural acceptability of care rendered by health care providers. Studies in Ghana, however, have glossed over the standpoint of the persons of the illness episode about the intercultural health care policy framework. This paper explores the health care users, and providers’ experiences and attitudes towards the implementation of intercultural health care policy in Ghana.

Methods

In-depth interviews, augmented with informal conversations, were conducted with 16 health service users, 7 traditional healers and 6 health professionals in the Sekyere South District and Kumasi Metropolis in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Data were thematically analysed and presented based on the a posteriori inductive reduction approach.

Results

Findings reveal a widespread positive attitude to, and support for integrative medical care in Ghana. However, inter-provider communication in a form of cross-referrals and collaborative mechanisms between healers and health professionals seldom occurs and remains unofficially sanctioned. Traditional healers and health care professionals are skeptical about intercultural health care policy mainly due to inadequate political commitment for provider education. The medical practitioners have limited opportunity to undergo training for integrative medical practice. We also find a serious mistrust between the practitioners due to the “diversity of healing approaches and techniques.” Weak institutional support, lack of training to meet standards of practice, poor registration and regulatory measures as well as negative perception of the integrative medical policy inhibit its implementation in Ghana.

Conclusion

In order to advance any useful intercultural health care policy in Ghana, the government's total commitment in informed training and provider education, enforcement of regulatory instrument and improved community engagement is needed. Evidence-based incorporation of traditional medical therapies into clinical practice will provide safer, faster and more effective health care for the underserved and resource-poor, particularly in the rural areas.

Objective

Traditional Korean Chungtaejeon (CTJ) tea is a type of fermented tea, which has received increasing attention in recent years because of its purported health benefits. The present study was designed to investigate the effect and mechanism of CTJ tea extract on body weight gain using C57BL/6J-Lep ob/ob mice and 3T3-L1 adipocytes, respectively.

Methods

The effects of CTJ on cell viability, lipid accumulation, and expression of protein and mRNA were measured in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, oil red O staining, Western blotting, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses. C57BL6J-Lep ob/ob mice were administered with CTJ (200 or 400 mg/kg body weight) for ten weeks. Then, body weight, food intake, total cholesterol, and triglyceride were measured in ob/ob mice.

Results

CTJ tea extract treated at 250 μg/mL (CTJ250) significantly suppressed lipid accumulation in the differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Likewise, CTJ250 significantly decreased the protein expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α, and adipocyte lipid-binding protein, and regulated the mRNA expression of PPARγ, sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c gene, fatty acid synthase, adipocyte lipid-binding protein, hormone-sensitive lipase, carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1, cluster of differentiation 36, and acetyl-CoA carboxylase in the differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Mice administered with CTJ showed dose-dependent decrease in body weight gain, starting from week 4 of the experiment. CTJ tea extract administered at 400 mg/kg body weight significantly decreased fat mass, food efficacy ratio, and levels of plasma triglyceride and total cholesterol.

Conclusion

CTJ attenuated weight gain in ob/ob mice and regulated the activity of the molecules involved in adipogenesis and lipolysis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. CTJ is a potentially valuable herbal therapy for the prevention of obesity and/or obesity-related disorders.

Objective

The leaves of Parquetina nigrescens have been claimed in folk medicine to be useful for managing sexual dysfunction, but there is inadequate scientific evidence for this claim. This investigation was conducted to assess the effects of aqueous leaf extract of Parquetina nigrescens (AEPN) in rats induced with sexual dysfunction.

Methods

 Male rats were allocated into various groups after being induced into sexual dysfunction with paroxetine hydrochloride. The groups were treated with distilled water, PowMaxM (reference drug), and the AEPN at 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg body weight (BW) respectively for 7 d. Frequencies of mount (MF), intromission (IF), ejaculation (EF), as well as latencies of mount (ML), intromission (IL) and post - ejaculatory interval (PEI) were progressively monitored with receptive female rats on days 1, 3 and 7. The precentage of mounted, intromitted, and ejaculated rats, intromission ratio (IR), copulatory efficiency (CE) and intercopulatory interval (ICI) were also computed. Standard methods were employed to determine the levels of serum luteinizing and follicle stimulating hormones (LH and FSH), testosterone, nitric oxide (NO) and the activity of phosphodiesterase V (PDE5).

Results

The plant contained alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, steroids, tannins, phlobatannins, cardenolides, phenolics, anthraquinones and triterpenes with alkaloids (2.32 mg/g) occurring in greatest quantity while flavonoids, anthraquinones and cardenolides (0.01 mg/g, each) were the least. All the 20 standard amino acids were detected in the plant leaf, with the lowest concentration being 0.30 mg/g for methionine and the highest being 2.12 mg/g for cysteine. Furthermore, P. nigrescens leaves contained Na, K, Fe, Mg, Zn, Ca, Cu, Mn, P, Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr, and Co, with Fe present in the highest and Co the lowest concentrations. Paroxetine significantly (P < 0.05) reduced MF, IF, EF, percentage mounted, intromitted, ejaculated, IR, CE, serum testosterone, LH, FSH and NO, while ML, IL, PEI, IF and PDE5 were significantly (P < 0.05) increased and/or prolonged. The AEPN significantly reversed these paroxetine-treatment-related alterations with most profound activity at the highest dose of 80 mg/kg BW, similar to that of the PowMaxM-treated animals.

Conclusion

The AEPN restored both the physical and biochemical indices of male sexual activity/competence via changes in reproductive hormones, NO and PDE5 activity. The pro-sexual activity, attributed to a myriad of mineral, amino acid and secondary metabolite constituents, was best at 80 mg/kg BW of AEPN.