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Another group received acupuncture at standardized points, which experienced practitioners agree can help the majority of back-pain sufferers. A final group received the toothpick treatment. These patients were poked with toothpicks inserted through the acupuncture needle tube at the standard points - but unlike with traditional acupuncture, practitioners did not penetrate the patient's skin. Instead, they pricked and then twirled the toothpick to simulate a needle going...
None of the patients in any of the groups knew which treatment they were receiving; all were blindfolded and lay face down with their head in a face cradle when the treatments were given. Each patient received 10 treatments over seven weeks. A control group of similar back-pain patients were told to continue doing whatever it was they did to relieve their pain, whether it was taking over-the-counter pain relievers or using massage or chiropractic services. The acupuncture patients were also allowed to continue using pain relievers if they were already taking them. (Read about...
More surprising was the fact that all three acupuncture services, including the sham version with toothpicks, had about the same effect on pain reduction. It's worth remembering that the toothpicks were used at the same points involved in the standard acupuncture treatment - that is, practitioners were not pricking their patients at random. A year after the treatments, all of the acupuncture patients reported an average 63% improvement in pain relief, while half of the untreated patients reported feeling better. "Everyone agrees that acupuncture is having some physiological effect. But we still don't understand how it might be working...
...squandered them. Fifteen years since the end of apartheid, the big questions facing South Africa are less about how to improve race relations - though divisions persist - than unemployment (officially 21%, and probably much higher), poverty and inequality (which even the ANC admits has risen since apartheid) and AIDS (whose treatment former President Thabo Mbeki, bizarrely, held to be a drug company conspiracy). Service delivery has slipped since 1994, and is the big question facing the new government. Manuel's new role gives him the opportunity to improve the ANC's record. (See pictures of South Africa today...
...would be a near-miracle if this message of Gaza's hardship ever reaches the Pontiff. Ever since Islamic militants Hamas seized control of Gaza in summer 2007, Israel has barred the exit of all Palestinians except those who need life-saving medical treatment. Security has tightened even more since Israel's 22-day military assault on Gaza, which ended in January. The Vatican and the Latin Church in the Holy Land are also pleading with Israeli authorities to make a goodwill concession and allow Gaza's Christians to see the Pope. Says Father George, who officiates mass...