Free Republic

New details relating to Friday's attempted stabbing attack have been released, and the terrorist has been identified as Dr. Khazm al-Julani, a doctor of about 50 from one of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods. In footage released by Israel Police, al-Julani can be seen attacking one of the police officers with a knife. The officer reacts by protecting himself and running backwards before opening fire and neutralizing the terrorist. The Border Police who were standing behind the terrorist also drew their weapons .Al-Julani, who served as director of a college for alternative medicine in Jerusalem, did not manage to stab the police...

Three decades worth of research have yielded intimate details of Ötzi's life from his age, height and weight to manner of death -- felled by an arrow to the left shoulder sometime during early summer... Now, a team of European researchers has analyzed the tattoos scattered across Ötzi's body, as well as the various herbs and medicines found alongside his remains, to paint a clearer picture of the Iceman's community and its ancient medical practices, reports Joshua Rapp Learn for Science magazine... Previous studies of the Iceman's tattoos have hypothesized that the lines and crosses etched into his skin offered...

World's largest randomized controlled trial of acupuncture in emergency departments finds it is a safe and effective alternative to pain-relieving drugsThe world's largest randomized controlled trial of the use of acupuncture in emergency departments has found the treatment is a safe and effective alternative to pain-relieving drugs for some patients. Led by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, the study found acupuncture was as effective as pain medicine in providing long-term relief for patients who came to emergency in considerable pain. But the trial, conducted in the emergency departments of four Melbourne hospitals, showed pain management remains a critical issue, with...

Hannah the Komodo Dragon has been in pain. To relieve it, her doctors and keepers are taking an approach that has not yet been tried on an animal at the Palm Beach Zoo: acupuncture. Additionally, Hannah recently had a CT scan

Injections of an enzyme called PAP into an acupuncture point behind the knees of mice relieved pain caused by inflammation for up to six days, Julie Hurt and Mark Zylka of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report online April 23 in Molecular Pain. That’s almost 100 times longer than pain relief from acupuncture, which typically lasts about 1½ hours. Long-lasting pain relief “is truly important, clinically,” says Maiken Nedergaard, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester in New York. She and colleagues previously demonstrated that inserting and manipulating acupuncture needles causes the body to release a chemical...

According to new study published in PainPhiladelphia, PA, March 23, 2011 – Although acupuncture is commonly used for pain control, doubts about its effectiveness and safety remain. Investigators from the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth (Exeter, UK) and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (Daejeon, South Korea) critically evaluated systematic reviews of acupuncture as a treatment of pain in order to explore this question. Reporting in the April 2011 issue of PAIN®, they conclude that numerous systematic reviews have generated little truly convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain, and serious adverse effects continue to be reported. "Many...

Enlarge Image A needle a day. Inserting needles into certain acupuncture points, shown here as labeled dots, seems to spur tissue to release a pain-killing chemical. Credit: Takahiro Takano Millions of people worldwide use acupuncture to ease a variety of painful conditions, but it's still not clear how the ancient treatment works. Now a new study of mice shows that insertion of an acupuncture needle activates nearby pain-suppressing receptors. What's more, a compound that boosts the response of those receptors increases pain relief—a finding that could one day lead to drugs that enhance the effectiveness of acupuncture in people....

New insights spur effort to boost treatment's impact significantlyScientists have taken another important step toward understanding just how sticking needles into the body can ease pain. In a paper published online May 30 in Nature Neuroscience, a team at the University of Rochester Medical Center identifies the molecule adenosine as a central player in parlaying some of the effects of acupuncture in the body. Building on that knowledge, scientists were able to triple the beneficial effects of acupuncture in mice by adding a medication approved to treat leukemia in people. The research focuses on adenosine, a natural compound known for...

I'll admit it. The seeming lack of scientific evidence that acupuncture actually relieves pain has left me skeptical since I first learned of the ancient Chinese technique. And to this day, it's possible that much of the relief patients feel during and after an acupuncture treatment results from the placebo effect. But new research published this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience finds that the natural compound adenosine, known for its anti-inflammatory properties, floods tissue that is punctured or aggravated, and may be the secret ingredient in acupuncture.A man gives his brother an acupuncture treatment for back pain in Taiwain...

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE - Using ancient Chinese medical techniques, a small team of military doctors here has begun treating wounded troops suffering from severe or chronic pain with acupuncture. The technique is proving so successful that the Air Force will begin teaching "battlefield acupuncture" early next year to physicians deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan, senior officials will announce tomorrow.

Blind Acupuncturist Takes 2nd Stab At License First Application Rejected Last Year Over BlindnessPOSTED: 1:15 pm EST February 1, 2008 UPDATED: 2:02 pm EST February 1, 2008 AUSTIN, Texas -- A blind student of acupuncture is making a second request for a license to practice in Texas. That's after Juliana Cumbo's first application was rejected last year because of her blindness. The licensure committee of the Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners is set to rehear her request Friday. If she's licensed, she would be the first blind person to be issued a state license. The 31-year-old practices as a...

Crash diets, plastic surgery, "miracle pills" and extreme workouts are the most common ways to shed off those extra pounds. However, a new fad is gaining popularity and due to its price and supposed success, it is sweeping the nation one ear at a time. Those who perform the acupuncture ear stapling procedure claim that by inserting a tiny, surgical staple into the ear, it will trigger certain pressure points that may curb appetites, reduce stress, relieve pain, and may even help one to quit smoking. "I must admit, I was a little skeptical at first considering all the gimmicks...

ROCKY HILL -- Buffy likes to eat lunch while he gets acupuncture. The house cat licks a china plate of organic beef and vegetables with 10 tiny needles sticking into his furry spine. Buffy is undergoing acupuncture treatments at Catzablanca Cat Clinic and Hospital to ease his 18-year-old arthritic spine and hips. Veterinarian Linda Dupont, who recently began practicing feline acupuncture at her clinic and hospital, said she uses the ancient Chinese healing treatment to complement her Western medicine practice. "I see animals I can't help with Western medicine," said Dupont, one of about 13 veterinary acupuncturists in the state,...

HEALTH SENSE Acupuncture has won medical acceptance By Judy Foreman, Globe Staff  |  March 22, 2005 (excerpt--more at the Globe site)But a growing body of evidence -- brain scans, ultrasound and other techniques -- now shows that acupuncture triggers direct, measurable effects on the body, including perhaps activation of precisely the regions of the brain that would be predicted by ancient Chinese theory. This is potentially good news for the millions of Americans now scrambling for pain relief in the wake of conflicting government recommendations on painkillers Vioxx and Celebrex.

Zoo Uses Acupuncture on Ailing Elephant By Associated Press February 28, 2005, 10:18 AM EST SINGAPORE -- The Singapore zoo is using an old Asian remedy to treat sick animals: acupuncture. The latest patient is Tun, a 15-year-old Asian elephant whose right leg was crushed by a male elephant nine years ago. Zookeepers worried that Tun, who weighs 5,291 pounds, might not be able to settle her weight on her lame leg as she grew heavier. Veterinarian and acupuncturist Oh Soon Hock, who has poked and prodded giraffes, cheetahs and Komodo dragons in the name of medicine, started treating Tun...

Dec 19, 2004 Botox Leave You Stiff? Facial Acupuncture Gaining Ground By Michael Hill Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Paula Scardamalia has pins in her face - nine tiny ones angling out near her eyes, mouth and jaw. The pins were poked in to tighten chin skin and erase lines on the 52-year-old woman's face. The practice, called facial acupuncture, is becoming popular as a sort of holistic alternative to trying to turn back time through toxins or surgery. "This has got to be healthier than Botox or a surgical facelift," said Scardamalia, the little needles wagging slightly....

Three years ago, Alfred Szymanski could not seem to get his blood pressure under control. He ran 10 miles a week, stuck to a healthy diet and was on a hypertension medication, all to no avail. His doctor suggested switching medications, but Mr. Szymanski, wary of side effects, decided to try something he had always wondered about: acupuncture. After three 20-minute sessions, each covered by his medical plan, his blood pressure plunged 20 points. "Every time I left I was so relaxed; it was like euphoria," said Mr. Szymanski, 61, who lives in New York. "My blood pressure stayed down...

Paltrow says acupuncture helped her find love Gwyneth Paltrow says an acupuncturist helped her find love. The Hollywood actress credits the alternative therapy with guiding her towards a "new level" in her life. She told Vanity Fair magazine it enabled her to choose Coldplay frontman Chris Martin as the man to settle down with. The couple married last month and are expecting their first baby.

SINGAPORE (AP) -- An 8-foot-long Komodo dragon lizard in Singapore's zoo has been receiving traditional Chinese acupuncture treatment for a nerve disorder. "Tirto is now more relaxed and is beginning to enjoy his treatments," a spokesman for the Singapore Zoological Gardens, Vincent Tan, said Tuesday. He said the 8-year-old, 94-pound male lizard, has been receiving twice-weekly treatments for a neurological disorder from veterinarian Oh Soon Hock for the past three weeks. Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizards, are prehistoric-looking reptiles that can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds. They have long claws and serrated...

<p>GREAT FALLS, Montana (AP) --Montana's Libertarian candidate for Senate has turned blue from drinking a silver solution that he believed would protect him from disease.</p> <p>Stan Jones,a 63-year-old business consultant and part-time college instructor, said he started taking colloidal silver in 1999 for fear that Y2K disruptions might lead to a shortage of antibiotics.</p>