It is little known that Austria has tradition in research in Chinese integrative medicine, especially traditional Chinese medicine. For more than 15 years, the research concerning high-tech acupuncture has been playing an important role at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. Within this review article, a short summary concerning high-tech acupuncture and cerebral circulation, and transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography is presented. TCD has been extensively used in various basic and clinical situations, and in the last decade has established its role also as a tool of investigating the effects of various acupuncture methods. Based on the Doppler principle, it uses ultrasound waves to insonate the blood vessels supplying the brain and to obtain stimulation-induced changes of hemodynamic information. The purpose of this review is to present the basic concepts of TCD technique in relation to acupuncture research, and the specific effects on cerebral hemodynamics caused by acupuncture stimulation.

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is well developed in international medical research. This article analyzes the basic connotations of CER from five aspects, including selection of objective, positioning of target population, comparison of intervention scheme, identification of contrast condition and analysis of therapeutic effects. The inclusiveness and advanced nature of CER were revealed by comparing with modern medical research methods, such as evidence-based medicine, patient-important outcome and randomized controlled trials. Based on the superiority of CER, the feasibility of applying CER in clinical evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine is explored. CER should be combined with the holistic concept, syndrome differentiation and individuality-concerned treatment so as to facilitate its development in research of traditional Chinese medicine in China.

From the point of view of systems science, human body can be considered as a complex system, and the human health system is a subsystem of it. Systems science conducts investigation in a holistic manner. As a theoretical method, it deals with the operation and evolution of systems from the macroscopic perspective, so this theory is similar to phenomenological theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in methodology. Naturally, numerous theories of systems science can be used in research of the human health systems of TCM. In this paper, the authors introduced synergetics, a theory of modern systems science, and its slaving principle, and in particular, analyzed the concept of order parameters related to the slaving principle and the relationship between body constitutions of TCM and order parameters. The body constitution of TCM can be treated as a slow variable in the human health systems. By using synergetics, the authors established a model of the human health system based on body constitutions of TCM. As an application of the model, the authors illustrated the argumentations in the theory of constitution being separable, the theory of a relationship between constitution and disease, and the theory of a recuperable constitution. To some extent, this work has made links between the TCM theory of body constitution and modern systems science, and it will offer a new thought for modeling the human health system.

Two-factor factorial design refers to the research involving two experimental factors and the number of the experimental groups equals to the product of the levels of the two experimental factors. In other words, it is the complete combination of the levels of the two experimental factors. The research subjects are randomly divided into the experimental groups. The two experimental factors are performed on the subjects at the same time, meaning that there is no order. The two experimental factors are equal during statistical analysis, that is to say, there is no primary or secondary distinction, nor nested relation. This article introduces estimation of sample size and testing power of quantitative data with two-factor factorial design.

Hyperplastic disease of the breast (HDB) is caused by a hormone imbalance experienced among women at a certain age. Slight breast pain is common in women before menstruation without need of treatment; however, if the pain becomes severe, it can cause physical and mental suffering. Therefore, it is of great clinical significance to control this disease.

It is important to detect and prevent Alzheimer disease (AD) at its early stage. Constituting the early stage sign of AD, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) has drawn much attention. Studies have shown that donepezil could reduce the AD assessment scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) score in MCI patients and improve the patient's attention and speed of response; however, it also has many side effects. Therefore, the authors aim to explore the effects of Chinese herbal medicine for treating aMCI.

To define the weighting coefficients of the symptoms and signs in the diagnosis of corresponding traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome elements of ulcerative colitis based on expert questionnaire investigation.

To explore the characteristic genomics of syndrome of liver-kidney yin deficiency in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients.

Acupuncture has been clinically proved to be effective in treating abdominal pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, its neurobiological mechanism remains largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) in relieving chronic visceral hyperalgesia and the possible involvement of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 1 (NR1) in rostral ventromedia medulla (RVM) of the brain in an IBS rat model.

The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of valerian (Valeriana officinalis) consumption in pregnancy on cortical volume and the levels of zinc and copper, two essential elements that affect brain development and function, in the brain tissues of mouse fetuses.