by Bob Flaws

We just posted several new free articles at the Blue Poppy website; so check them out under the Recent Translated Research & Articles tab on the right hand side of the home page. Three of the articles are by the well-known Australian acupuncturist and teacher, John McDonald. The first of these is titled, "A Short History of Point Usage: Zu San Li." This article traces the historical evolution of the clinical use of this extremely important point. The next article is titled "Chinese Versus French Perspectives on the Channel System." This article details a number of discrepancies between French/Vietnamese descriptions of the channel divergences (jing bie) and the original Chinese source materials. These discrepancies, based on mis-translation, have crept into a number of influential English language books, and John's intention is to alert readers to these errors. The third of John's articles is titled, "Missing the Point." In his abstract, John describes this article as a review of the commonly used major methods of point selection with comments upon the advantages and pitfalls of each method. He also discusses the particular hazards of misleading applications of point functions and highlights what he believes to be the erroneous 'spirit of the point' method. Focusing the twin spotlights of the historical literature and contemporary research on point selection strategies, John's article will hopefully rescue us all from “missing the point.” For those who are primarily acupuncturists, I think these articles should be very thought-provoking. John is a very intelligent and insightful practitioner and well worth some consideration. Following along on this acupuncture theme, there is also a translation of mine on "Acupuncture & Migraines." There are also another two translations by me on Chinese herbal medicine. The first is on "Dan Zhi Xiao Yao Tang & GERD," while the second is on "Dry Eyes & Chinese Medicine." Hopefully, something for everyone.

Click on this link (http://www.bluepoppy.com/cfwebstorefb/index.cfm) to go to our home page and read any of these articles. Remember, look on the right hand side of the page for the Recent Translated Research & Articles tab. Click on the tab and you will see the names of the articles I talked about above.

Over the years I have translated many articles that I am sure could be of interest to many practitioners. All of these articles have been cataloged and saved at our website and are available without cost to anyone interested in contemporary clinical research being done in China. To find an article go to TCMinfoline on the left hand side of the home page just under the list of store departments and either search on the listed categories or go to TCMinfoline Home and search on a specific subject.

I'll be in retreat from July 1-9. So I'll be off-line during that time. Happily, Eric Brand has lots of things to share on this blog. I know from the stats that he has created a real fan base here.