The treatise On Ancient Medicine attests that questions of method were being debated both in medicine and in philosophy and is important evidence of cross-discipline methodological controversy. The treatise On Ancient Medicine is the first attempt in the history of Greek thought to provide a detailed account of the development of a science from a starting point in observation and experience. The author of it criticizes philosophical physicians who attempt to systematized medicine by reducing it to the interaction of one or more of the opposites hot, cold, wet, and dry, factors. He regards the theory of his opponents as hypothesis(hypothesis). Medicine has long been in possession of both an arche and a hodos, a principle and a method, which have enabled it to make discoveries over a long period of time. As far as method is concerned, the traditional science of medicine attained the knowledge of the visible by starting from observation and experience, but it recommended the use of reasoning and analogies with familiar objects as a means of learning about the invisible. It also utilized inference from the visible to the visible(epilogismos) and inference from the visible to the invisible(analogismos). The use of analogy as a means of learning about the obscure was also part of thecommon heritage of early philosophy and medicine. But the author's use of the analogical method distinguishes it from Empedocles' well-known analogy comparisons of the eye to a lantern and the process of respiration to the operations of a clepsydra. According to the author, traditional science of medicine used functional analogy like wine example and cheese example to know the function of humors within the body and utilized structured analogy like a tube example and a cupping instrument example to acknowledge an organ or structure within the body. But the author didn't distinguish between the claim that medicine has a systematic method of making discoveries and very different claim that it has a systematic method of treatment. The reason for this is that he thought that discoveries are the end point of the method of investigation and the starting point of the procedures used in treatment.
Drug Therapy/*history ; Greece ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Learning ; Medicine, Traditional/*history ; Research/history/trends

Traditional Japanese medicine, Kampo, is used by over 80% of medical doctors in Japan. Owing to its high quality and safety, Kampo has been integrated into modern medicine, and there are 345 randomized controlled trials using Kampo in Japan as of 2010. Although there are a number of articles in top journals about basic science research, we can find only small numbers of high-quality clinical evidence. Since undergraduate education on Kampo has been established, integrative approach with the balanced combination of modern medicine and Kampo is expected to generate good clinical evidence in the near future.
Biomedical Research ; methods ; trends ; Education, Medical ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Japan ; Medicine, Kampo ; history ; trends ; Medicine, Traditional ; history ; trends ; Models, Biological

The Singapore Medical Journal (SMJ) has in the past 55 years reflected the phenomenal socioeconomic progress of Singapore. Publications in the pre-independent years were mainly on diseases like cholera, diphtheria, leprosy, tetanus and worm infestation. In the new millennium, the research papers included molecular genetics, health economics, obesity, Internet medicine, cancer, cosmetic surgery and palliative medicine. The annual SMA Lecture published in the SMJ provides an ethical compass for doctors to remind them of primum non nocere.
History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Periodicals as Topic ; Research ; trends ; Singapore ; Societies, Medical ; history

Studies on the history of Western medicine in Korea began to be actively conducted and published since the restart of the Korean Society for the History of Medicine in 1991, which had been originally inaugurated in 1947, and the publication of its official journal, the Korean Journal of Medical History in 1992. In 1970s and 1980s, even before the start of the Journal, articles on a history of Western medicine were published mainly written by physicians in medical journals. This paper aims to provide an overview of the publications on the history of Western medicine in Korea, comparing papers published in the Journal with those published in other journals. Authors of the papers in the Journal are those who majored in history of medicine or history science whose initial educational backgrounds were medicine or science, whereas authors of the papers in other journals majored in Western history, economic history, social history, religious history, or women's history. While a large portion of papers in the Journal deal with medicine in ancient Greek or in modern America with no paper on medieval medicine, the papers in other journals deal with more various periods including ancient, medieval and modern periods and with diverse areas including France, Britain, Germany, Europe etc. Recent trends in 2000s show an increase in the number of researchers who published the history of Western medicine in other journals, total number of their publications, and the topics that they dealt with in their papers. In contrast, however, the number of researchers published in the Journal, the number of the papers and its topics - all decreased in recent years. Only three papers on the history of diseases have been published in the Journal, while eleven published in other journals. In order to stimulate research on the history of Western medicine in Korea, concerted efforts are necessary including academic communication among various disciplines, formulation of a long term plan to enlarge the pool of researchers and readers of the history of Western medicine, and development of strategic educational programs for both graduates and undergraduates including students of medicine and of humanities in Korea.
Education, Medical/history ; Europe ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; History, Ancient ; History, Medieval ; Humans ; Korea ; Periodicals as Topic/*history ; Publishing/history ; Research/*history/trends ; Students, Medical

The modernization strategy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been implemented for 20 years, which has provided a strong impetus to the development of TCM and gained remarkable achievements in scientific research platform, research result, industry scale, clinical evaluation, internationalization and professionals training as well. The achievements of TCM modernization greatly improved the clinical service ability and level of TCM, broadened the scope of service, become the important foundation of the big health industry. TCM has played an irreplaceable role in the health care reform, benefiting people's livelihood, promoting industrial structure adjustment and cultivating strategic emerging industries. This article summarized the main achievements of the modernization of TCM and prospected the direction and tasks in the next 20 years in order to further promote the modernization process of TCM.
Biomedical Research ; history ; standards ; trends ; China ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; standards ; trends ; Social Change ; history

Biomedical Research ; history ; trends ; Cardiology ; education ; history ; trends ; Cardiology Service, Hospital ; history ; Coronary Care Units ; history ; Coronary Disease ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Education, Medical, Graduate ; history ; trends ; Forecasting ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Singapore

Biomedical Research ; history ; trends ; China ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Periodicals as Topic ; Portraits as Topic

Acupuncture Therapy ; Biomedical Research ; trends ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; history ; trends ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Treatment Outcome