Recent research has shown that women who practice hatha yoga (a common type of yoga involving body postures, breath control, and meditation) regularly recover from stress faster than women who are considered yoga "novices." The research, supported in part by NCCAM and published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, also showed that yoga may boost...
An analysis of insurance records in Washington State—which requires private insurers to cover certain complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices—showed that more than a quarter of cancer patients visited CAM providers during their cancer treatment. The NCCAM-funded analysis, published in The American Journal of Managed Care, also indicated that related CAM expenditures accounted for...
A recent study found that Transcendental Meditation (TM) helped college students decrease psychological distress and increase coping ability. For a group of students at high risk for developing hypertension, these changes also were associated with decreases in blood pressure. This could be good news for the many students experiencing academic, financial, and social pressures...
As part of its strategic planning process, NCCAM is seeking broad input from many communities, including researchers, health care providers, CAM providers, educators, and the public. We are currently seeking comments on two white papers that address two critical areas of NCCAM’s research. Comments will be accepted through Monday, May 24, 2010 Principles Guiding...
No abstract ready Categories: Advanced medical technology ready for licensing and commercialization.
Purpose: Humanities form an integral part of undergraduate medical curricula at numerous medical schools all over the world, and medical journals publish a considerable quantity of articles in this field. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which the literature on humanities in undergraduate medical education seeks to provide evidence...
The inclusion of humanities in medical school curriculum has generated much pedagogic experimentation and assessment. Publications in medical journals in the past decade reflect the experience of teaching humanities in medical schools and the motives for which they are taught. As Ousager and Johannessen demonstrate elsewhere in this issue, short- and medium-range outcomes are...
The study by Ousager and Johannessen in this issue finds a lack of research attempting to measure the long-term effects of incorporating humanities into the undergraduate medical education (UME) curriculum, and warns that more such studies are needed if the humanities are to become integrated into UME. This commentary points to limitations in the...
Purpose: To describe trends in specialty choice and to identify predictors of primary care specialty choices among graduates of U.S. MD-granting medical schools. Method: A longitudinal study evaluated 1997-2006 medical school graduates who completed the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Matriculating Student Questionnaire and Graduation Questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression identified significant predictors of graduates’...
Purpose: The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) has undergone several revisions for content and validity since its inception. With another comprehensive review pending, this study examines changes in the predictive validity of the MCAT’s three recent versions. Method: Study participants were 7,859 matriculants in 36 classes entering Jefferson Medical College between 1970 and 2005;...