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Biomedical subjects

E N Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to E N Anderson.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1987

Why is humoral medicine so popular?

The hot/cold system is perhaps the most widely known medical belief system in the world. I propose that the wide acceptance of hot/cold ideas is due to the fact that they provide a particularly simple, economic coding for common human experience, such as hypothermia, heatstroke, and fevers. Coding of foods as heating or cooling can be understood in terms of a system of sensory cues that make the foods appear hot or cold. This paper deals primarily with data from Chinese culture.

Cold Temperature↗
PubMed1978

Environmental backgrounds of young Chinese nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.

Twenty-four Chinese NPC patients under 25 years of age at the time of diagnosis were interviewed. The interviews were carried out in the presence of their families in 22 cases and concentrated on the environmental background of the subject's infancy and early childhood. An analysis of the results eliminated household inhalants, aerial contaminants, medicines, food therapy, spices, fresh foods and soya sauce as likely factors in carcinogenesis. The only remaining foods eaten by all subjects and worthy of consideration were laap cheung, salted fish and tau si. Salted fish was the most commonly eaten and the only one fed to babies. In childhood, the subjects had rarely or never been fed vegetables or fruits. Most had, since childhood, been characteristically sickly, inactive, withdrawn and choosy about their food. It would appear that consumption of salted fish and vitamin C-deficiency in early childhood are important environmental factors and that a certain personality type may be associated with an increased risk.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pathways of decision making among Yucatan Mayan traditional birth attendants.

In rural, developing world communities, women are often isolated from biomedical services. Frequently, traditional birth attendants (TBAs) are the only caregivers during childbirth, both normal and complicated. Women trust their TBAs to manage their births. Globally, government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have sought to upgrade TBAs' skills and to encourage them to refer complications. However, most training programs have failed to change TBAs' practice substantially. Logistical barriers in reaching biomedical services in a timely manner are a key issue. Another is the difference between biomedical and traditional practitioners in the cognitive frameworks that shape decision making and management behaviors. The purpose of this study, conducted in Quintana Roo State, Mexico, was to listen to the voices of practicing Yucatec Maya TBAs (parteras) as they described decision making and management of complicated births. In-depth interviews with six practicing parteras in rural, isolated communities revealed that the parteras used traditional Maya ethnomedicine while valuing biomedical approaches. We isolated themes in decision making and mapped management of birth complications. Integrating TBAs' traditional knowledge into biomedical training programs is one way to honor their knowledge and make training relevant.

Adult↗