Separation and determination of the major active components in Tibetan folk medicinal species Swertia franchetiana by HPLC with DAD

A sensitive and specific reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method with diode array detection (DAD) was established for the quantitative determination of the nine active components, namely, swertiamarin (SWM, 1), mangiferin (MA, 2), gentipicroside (GE, 3), sweroside (SWO, 4), isoorientin (IS, 5), swertisin (SWS, 6), swertianolin (SWN, 7), 7-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-1 -> 2)-beta-D-xylopyranosyl]-1,8-dihydroxy-3-methoxyxanthone (RX, 8), and bellidifolin (BE, 9) used as the external standard, in Tibetan folk medicinal species Swertia franchetiana. Based on the baseline chromatographic separation of most components from the methanolic extract of Swertia franchetiana on a reversed-phase Eclipse XDB-C8 column with water-acetonitrile-formic acid as mobile phase, the nine components were identified by comparison with standard samples and qualified by using the external standard method with DAD at 254 nm. The correlation coefficients of all the calibration curves were found to be higher than 0.9980. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the peak areas and retention times for the nine standards were less than 2.07% and 2.86%, respectively.

Fingerprinting quality control of Qianghuo by high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection

A novel, simple and accurate fingerprint method was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection (HPLC-DAD) for the quality control of Qianghuo, a Tibetan folk and Chinese herbal medicine used as a diaphoretic, an antifebrile and an anodyne. For the first time, the feasibility and advantages of employing chromatographic fingerprint were investigated and demonstrated for the evaluation of Qianghuo by systematically comparing chromatograms of aqueous extracts with the professional analytical software recommended by State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). Our results revealed that the chromatographic fingerprint combing similarity evaluation could efficiently identify and distinguish raw herbs of Qianghno from different sources and different species. The effects on Notopterygium forbesii Boiss (Apiaceae) chromatographic fingerprints resulted from collecting locations, harvesting time were also examined. (c) 2006 Elsevier lrelanc Ltd. All rights reserved.

McArdle disease: a unique study model in sports medicine

McArdle disease is arguably the paradigm of exercise intolerance in humans. This disorder is caused by inherited deficiency of myophosphorylase, the enzyme isoform that initiates glycogen breakdown in skeletal muscles. Because patients are unable to obtain energy from their muscle glycogen stores, this disease provides an interesting model of study for exercise physiologists, allowing insight to be gained into the understanding of glycogen-dependent muscle functions. Of special interest in the field of muscle physiology and sports medicine are also some specific (if not unique) characteristics of this disorder, such as the so-called 'second wind' phenomenon, the frequent exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis and myoglobinuria episodes suffered by patients (with muscle damage also occurring under basal conditions), or the early appearance of fatigue and contractures, among others. In this article we review the main pathophysiological features of this disorder leading to exercise intolerance as well as the currently available therapeutic possibilities.

‘Complementary & alternative medicine’ (CAM): ethical and policy issues

Editorial for Bioethics 2016. 30:(2)

Ziołolecznictwo w medycynie komplementarnej Polonii argentyńskiej z prowincji Misiones. Studium z zakresu etnobotaniki medycznej

Wydział Historyczny: Instytut Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej

Roots and wings: orthodoxy, tradition, and creativity in Irish folk Catholicism

The present work is an exploration of the beliefs and practices of three lay Catholic devotional communities in and around the city of Cork, Ireland. The research is guided by the theory that folk, or popular, religion is a dynamic process in which individuals and groups utilise the resources of orthodoxy, popular tradition, and personal creativity, to better interpret, articulate, and create religious experiences. Ethnographic fieldwork was the principal method of data collection. Four areas of folk religion are given special attention: the use of religious narrative to represent and reproduce religious experience, the use of material artefacts to create channels for sacred presence and activity, the use of ritual and pilgrimage to establish sacred time and space, and the use of prayer to accomplish all of these goals. These sections are followed by a more holistic analysis of the material, a critical examination of the work, and suggestions for further research.

Career choice in medicine

Background: Career Choice in Medicine is an important and problematic topic. Medical education has been framed as professional identity development, yet career choice has not been viewed as a matter of identity. My primary aim was to offer new insights by exploring career choice using Figured Worlds theory, a socio-cultural theory of identity. Graduate retention is a challenge for many countries, including Ireland. My secondary aim was to address a gap in the data on postgraduate trainees in Ireland and to use the Irish case to illustrate points transferable to other contexts. Methodology & Methods: This was a predominantly qualitative Mixed Methods programme of research. My qualitative studies were oriented towards social constructionism. I collated existing data from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) and HSE-MET to describe trainees and their career paths. I surveyed Basic Specialist Training trainees (n=333) about their career plans. I surveyed new trainees (n=527) about their expectations of training and all RCPI trainees about their experiences of training (n=1246). I conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 medical students and doctors. A subgroup (n=6) provided longitudinal data. Figured Worlds theory and Gee’s discourse tools were used for analysis. Results: I have used the case of medical training and career choice in Ireland to explain how social, political and cultural context, and day to day experiences in the cultural world of medicine, shaped doctors’ career choices. My qualitative findings described a unifying model of career choice, consisting of priming, exposure, positioning and open-endedness, which can guide the design of interventions to shape and support career choice. Conclusion: My original contribution has been to demonstrate the fruitfulness of framing career choice in terms of identity development. This represents a turn in the conversation about career choice, which brings new starting points and moves the dialogue forward.

A strategy to advance the evidence base in palliative medicine: formation of a palliative care research cooperative group.

BACKGROUND: Palliative medicine has made rapid progress in establishing its scientific and clinical legitimacy, yet the evidence base to support clinical practice remains deficient in both the quantity and quality of published studies. Historically, the conduct of research in palliative care populations has been impeded by multiple barriers including health care system fragmentation, small number and size of potential sites for recruitment, vulnerability of the population, perceptions of inappropriateness, ethical concerns, and gate-keeping. METHODS: A group of experienced investigators with backgrounds in palliative care research convened to consider developing a research cooperative group as a mechanism for generating high-quality evidence on prioritized, clinically relevant topics in palliative care. RESULTS: The resulting Palliative Care Research Cooperative (PCRC) agreed on a set of core principles: active, interdisciplinary membership; commitment to shared research purposes; heterogeneity of participating sites; development of research capacity in participating sites; standardization of methodologies, such as consenting and data collection/management; agile response to research requests from government, industry, and investigators; focus on translation; education and training of future palliative care researchers; actionable results that can inform clinical practice and policy. Consensus was achieved on a first collaborative study, a randomized clinical trial of statin discontinuation versus continuation in patients with a prognosis of less than 6 months who are taking statins for primary or secondary prevention. This article describes the formation of the PCRC, highlighting processes and decisions taken to optimize the cooperative group's success.

FOLK ELEMENTS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY HUNGARIAN MUSIC

At the beginning of the twentieth century, composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály collected thousands of folksongs from the rural regions of Hungary. In an effort to preserve a part of their culture that they feared would be lost, they not only transcribed and catalogued these folksongs, but also incorporated the folk traditions they encountered into their own compositional style. This dissertation deals with violin music written by Bartók, Kodály and their Hungarian contemporaries that have in common the use of rhythms, modes, melodies, figurations and playing techniques sourced in folk traditions. The use of the Hungarian folk idiom in classical music was not exclusive to the twentieth century. From the late eighteenth century until the first decades of the twentieth century, composers utilized aspects of a popular eighteenth-century form of Hungarian folk music called verbunkos. What makes the use of folk music unique in the twentieth century is that, thanks to the work of Bartók and Kodály, composers found inspiration in the more authentic “peasant music.” Unlike the popular, urban verbunkos music, peasant music was the product of the more secluded village-music tradition, largely untouched by the influences of city life. In addition to stimulating a new focus on peasant music, Bartók and Kodály fully assimilated the folk idiom into their compositional toolkits, creating a new style of folk-inspired art music that influenced a generation of Hungarian composers. The new style included characteristic elements of both peasant music and the verbunkos tradition, such as ancient modes and scales, accompanimental and melodic rhythmic patterns, ornamentation, and phrase structures sourced in folk song. To demonstrate the implementation of the folk idiom by twentieth-century Hungarian composers, three recital programs were given at the University of Maryland that included works by Béla Bartók, Sándor Veress, Leo Weiner, Zoltán Kodály, Ernő Dohnányi, Zoltán Székely and György Kurtág. The works can be divided into two main categories: settings or transcriptions of folk material (e.g. Bartók’s Hungarian Folksongs) and compositions using classical forms that include the Hungarian folk idiom (e.g. Bartók’s Contrasts). Recital collaborators include Li-Tan Hsu, Evelyn Elsing, Elizabeth Brown, Shelby Sender and Samantha Angelo.

LUCIANO BERIO’S NATURALE: A STORY COMBINING FOLK MUSIC AND ART MUSIC

The study of a score by a serious performer is a fundamental step in the process of arriving at a knowledgeable and deeply informed approach to performing a piece of music. In order to obtain this knowledge numerous aspects of the score must be taken into consideration. It is the intent of this dissertation to gather and analyze the information concerning Naturale, a work written by Luciano Berio in 1985 for viola, percussion and recorded voice, based on Sicilian folk songs. All the aspects surrounding Naturale’s existence are taken into consideration in this study. First, it is important to reflect on Berio’s compositional style and traits, the manner in which he relates his works one to another, what he sees in folk music and his own personal desire to intertwine art music and folk music. For Berio Naturale is not an isolated venture into the realm of mixing folk music and his own avant-garde style; it is instead one of many works resulting from his long-standing relationship with folk music. Another essential aspect in this case is the study of Sicilian folk music itself, and the sources used by Berio to find the songs by which he was inspired. The work is examined section by section with figures showing both excerpts of Naturale as well as the original songs with their translations. An analysis containing harmonic, thematic and formal aspects of the score was developed in order to arrive at a better understanding of the structure and pacing of the piece. For this research the author went to Italy to conduct an interview with Maestro Aldo Bennici, the Sicilian violist for whom Naturale was composed. This interview helped in the discovery of two more songs used by Berio that have not to this point been identified in any other document. Bennici’s outstanding testimony portrayed the expressive character of this music and the evocative imagery behind this score. I hope to bring this knowledge to other performers, that they may fully understand and appreciate the unique beauty and power of Berio’s Naturale.

The IGNITE network: a model for genomic medicine implementation and research.

BACKGROUND: Patients, clinicians, researchers and payers are seeking to understand the value of using genomic information (as reflected by genotyping, sequencing, family history or other data) to inform clinical decision-making. However, challenges exist to widespread clinical implementation of genomic medicine, a prerequisite for developing evidence of its real-world utility. METHODS: To address these challenges, the National Institutes of Health-funded IGNITE (Implementing GeNomics In pracTicE; www.ignite-genomics.org ) Network, comprised of six projects and a coordinating center, was established in 2013 to support the development, investigation and dissemination of genomic medicine practice models that seamlessly integrate genomic data into the electronic health record and that deploy tools for point of care decision making. IGNITE site projects are aligned in their purpose of testing these models, but individual projects vary in scope and design, including exploring genetic markers for disease risk prediction and prevention, developing tools for using family history data, incorporating pharmacogenomic data into clinical care, refining disease diagnosis using sequence-based mutation discovery, and creating novel educational approaches. RESULTS: This paper describes the IGNITE Network and member projects, including network structure, collaborative initiatives, clinical decision support strategies, methods for return of genomic test results, and educational initiatives for patients and providers. Clinical and outcomes data from individual sites and network-wide projects are anticipated to begin being published over the next few years. CONCLUSIONS: The IGNITE Network is an innovative series of projects and pilot demonstrations aiming to enhance translation of validated actionable genomic information into clinical settings and develop and use measures of outcome in response to genome-based clinical interventions using a pragmatic framework to provide early data and proofs of concept on the utility of these interventions. Through these efforts and collaboration with other stakeholders, IGNITE is poised to have a significant impact on the acceleration of genomic information into medical practice.