Acupuncture Near and Far

This editorial is being written from the Neuroscience Research Institute, in Inchon, Korea. The Institute is directed by Z.-H. Cho, PhD, a professor best known for his development of the positron-emission tomography (PET) scanner. The Institute is a large facility dedicated to the study of brain research. Perhaps the latest—and most intriguing—research is performed with the ultra-high field 7 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and brain PET system—a device that combines both PET and MRI. His team is able to measure a number of fine structures, such as the subfield of the hippocampus and several small nuclei, such as dorsal raphes, in the brainstem areas. This unique piece of equipment—the only one in the world—is paving the way for the investigation of deep brain stimulation by making it possible to investigate psychobiologic mechanisms and possible to locate the structures that are responsible for pathologic emotional behavior, such as those that occur in post traumatic stress disorder.

Also working in my temporary office is Im Quah-Smith, MD, PhD, a contributor to our Journal and a member of the Medical Acupuncture Editorial Board. She flew in from Sidney, Australia, to be part of the team that will, once again, investigate the Battlefield Acupuncture mechanism, using functional MRI.

While in Korea I had the opportunity to visit Kwang-Sup Soh, PhD, a professor, and visit the Nano Primo Research Center at the Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology, at Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. I had the opportunity to see a live demonstration of the primo vascular system that I wrote about in a previous editorial. ¹ Right under the microscope, I could see this system with fluid moving through the system. The fluid was situated in a lymphatic vessel. Also visible were the nodes. Seeing is believing! A great deal of research must take place before the primo vascular system may be correlated with the acupuncture meridians and points. Whether these are all correlated, I might venture to say that this system is surely different than our current knowledge of arteries, capillaries, and lymphatics. The primo vascular system could turn out to be a new circulating system!

The current edition of Medical Acupuncture is packed with interesting articles. Pock's Guest Editorial is certainly of high importance, because it concerns curriculum reform and affordable care. Sudhakaran discusses the chronic fatigue that we see repeatedly again in our clinics. Anastasi and colleagues, in a very intriguing article, offer a very unique correlation for delineating the progress of HIV with the appearance of changes in the tongue. This article reminds us that the tongue in Traditional Chinese Medicine provides a glimpse of the systematic changes caused by diseases and is helpful for determining placement of our acupuncture needles. Meyer and colleagues address a complicated subject: the association of parent- and-child–related stresses and illness. Yeh and colleagues offer a correlation of inflammatory cytokines provoked by acupressure used to treat low-back pain. Kim and Kang offer a somewhat complicated positioning of acupuncture points on the body based on X-ray computed tomographic images. Abe and colleagues discuss persistent pain in Brazilian para-atheletes. Taleco and colleagues use acupuncture to tackle one of the most common inherited neurological disorders: Charcot-Marie Tooth Disease. Clinical Pearls are again presented—this time on blepharospasm—as this is a popular section of the journal as well as the Literature Alert by Najm.

The holidays and the beginning of the New Year have already passed. I wish all the very best for 2014. If I had to offer advice about helping the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA) and Medical Acupuncture (MA) in the New Year it would be the following: All of us have natural gifts that we have been blessed with. Some of us are leaders, some of us are experts in the arts, and some of us are experts in medicine and science and, so we are all very different. Thank goodness! So if you want to help the AAMA and Medical Acupuncture, try encouraging people who are different than you are to help push our efforts with our combined talents. Attend the symposiums and write articles as part of our team. This combined effort will be like the harmony of Yin and Yang.