Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38380173›Full record

ArticleMedical acupuncture2024

The Biggest Obstacle to the Integration of Acupuncture: The Meaning of Qi from the Ancients to Einstein.

Clare Foley, Gerhard Litscher

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Medical acupuncture, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Clare FoleyBiophysics (MSc, Ac.Lic.), Dublin, Ireland.
Gerhard LitscherInternational Society for Medical Laser Applications (ISLA Transcontinental), Göttingen, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Qi continues to be questionably translated in the West as the biblical idea of lifeforce. The true meaning of qi may be closer to the Western scientific definition of energy as the material basis of everything in the Universe. To illustrate this, parallels are drawn between the writings of ancient Chinese thinkers and Western definitions of energy, including the laws of thermodynamics underlying Western scientific thought and yin-yang theory underlying Chinese scientific thought. The focus is on the similarities in theories of material reality while acknowledging how differences in cultural mindset create distinct styles of description of the same ideas. The purpose in establishing a more accurate translation of qi, by removing Western projections, is to improve patient-practitioner communication and to remove obstacles to the acceptance of acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine as a mainstream medical intervention in the West.

Indexed as

acupunctureenergylifeforceqiTraditional Chinese MedicineWestern medicine

Identifiers

PMID38380173
PMCPMC10874819

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.