by Bob Flaws Eric Brand and Nigel Wiseman have recently published their Concise Chinese Materia Medica through Paradigm Publications and readers will see that I have written a very laudatory blurb on the back of the dust-cover. Taking a quick look at… more »

by Honora Lee Wolfe Yikes! As if email were not enough, now there is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social network phenoms like Yelp, CafeMoms, and Technorati. What's an overworked acupuncturist to do and what do we need to know about this n… more »

by Eric Brand Chinese medicine enjoys broad coverage in the Taiwanese national insurance system, which covers all Taiwanese citizens as well as foreign students and workers. During my internship at Chang Gung Hospital in Taiwan, I was on a work-stud… more »

by Eric Brand The impact of Chinese medicine is easily seen in the food and drink of Taiwan. By nature, the prevailing local viewpoint regarding healthy diet emphasizes variety and suitability of food to the current climate. As far as the impact of… more »

by Eric Brand I am currently in Taiwan doing field research for my upcoming granule book, so I’m going to do a series of blogs on various local trends in Chinese medicine. Today’s blog will look at some of the trends in Chinese medical devices in Ta… more »

by Eric Brand For the record, I've learned a few things recently that spur me to correct a few things in my previous posts on granules. It sounds like I had things a bit wrong with the issue of fillers, I thought that most Taiwanese companies us… more »

by Eric Brand During the few years that I taught at PCOM, I was always stricken by the fact that most students in America don’t really comprehend the vast scope of our fascinating field. I found that many students had never traveled to Asia, and ten… more »

by Bob Flaws Continuing to think about legal issues, be careful treating patients with cancer. Some states, such as my own, Colorado, have laws specifically stating that only licensed MDs can "diagnose, treat, or prescribe for the treatment of cancer… more »

by Bob Flaws There's an interesting article in the Feb/Mar 2009 issue of The Townsend Letter about what we can expect from Washington in terms of alternative/complementary (CAM) health care. In the author's opinion: some good and some bad -- about wh… more »

by Eric Brand, L.Ac. Recently, I’ve been hearing some conversations between friends about schools and endowments in Chinese medicine, and it made me think that I should really blog about the inspiring potential that increased resources can bring to C… more »

by Eric Brand, L.Ac. The question of weights and measurements in Chinese medicine is complicated, and I never cease to be amazed at how few people are even aware of this complex issue. Most practitioners generally equate one Chinese qian to three gra… more »

by Eric Brand It is hard to accurately assess how long ago sexual transmission was recognized as a vector of disease in Chinese medicine. Many diseases that are now known to be caused by particular organisms or other vectors of disease were traditio… more »

by Eric Brand Practitioners in the Americas use a diverse blend of methods and dosage forms. Korean extractors exist on the market and are prominent in Korean clinics, but they are rarely seen outside of the Korean community. Many Western practitio… more »

by Eric Brand In Korea, the most prominent method of herbal extraction relies upon small, pressure-based extraction machines. These “home extractors” are widespread in Korea, and they are a Korean invention that has had a dramatic effect on Chinese… more »

By Eric Brand Part One: Granules in Asia The creation of concentrated extract powders represents one of the most important developments in the history of Chinese herbal medicine. As technology has advanced, Chinese herbalists increasingly find th… more »

by Bob Flaws Several months ago, Blue Poppy Press published Lorraine Wilcox's scholarly book on the history of moxibustion in the late Ming-early Qing dynasties. At the time, trying to make the whole publication process as comfortable as possible for… more »

by Bob Flaws Yesterday I translated an article on the prevention of nocosomial fungal infections with Bu Zhong Yi Qu Tang (with one or two added ingredients). Nocosomial infections are infections contracted or developed in hospitals which are not the… more »