Use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine in nine countries: A cross-sectional multinational survey.

OBJECTIVES: Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TC&AM) play an exceptional role in health care around the world as many patients has sought a holistic approach. SETTING: In this study, a multinational survey was developed and administered to obtain experience, attitude, and promotion information with regard to the international use of TC&AM among nine countries: Germany, United States, Japan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia, Kazakhstan, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The survey was administered via online to members of SurveyMonkey Audience, a proprietary panel of respondents who were recruited from a diverse population worldwide. RESULTS: A total of 1071 participants has completed the survey. The participants were in favor of the treatments and therapies as well as expressed positive attitudes and also have used herbal medicine treatment more than acupuncture therapy and also used the modalities to promote metabolism rather than treating musculoskeletal diseases. Moreover, participants mentioned that TC&AM should be applied for treating and managing infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. Additionally, participants recommended using Facebook channel to promote its treatments and therapies. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, this study provides initial insights on TC&AM that may influence the non-users globally and perhaps inspire a need for further research including more countries in different continents.

Improving Recruitment for a Newborn Screening Pilot Study with Adaptations in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Seven months after the launch of a pilot study to screen newborns for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in New York State, New York City became an epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. All in-person research activities were suspended at the study enrollment institutions of Northwell Health and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospitals, and study recruitment was transitioned to 100% remote. Pre-pandemic, all recruitment was in-person with research staff visiting the postpartum patients 1-2 days after delivery to obtain consent. With the onset of pandemic, the multilingual research staff shifted to calling new mothers while they were in the hospital or shortly after discharge, and consent was collected via emailed e-consent links. With return of study staff to the hospitals, a hybrid approach was implemented with in-person recruitment for babies delivered during the weekdays and remote recruitment for babies delivered on weekends and holidays, a cohort not recruited pre-pandemic. There was a drop in the proportion of eligible babies enrolled with the transition to fully remote recruitment from 64% to 38%. In addition, the proportion of babies enrolled after being approached dropped from 91% to 55%. With hybrid recruitment, the proportion of eligible babies enrolled (70%) and approached babies enrolled (84%) returned to pre-pandemic levels. Our experience adapting our study during the COVID-19 pandemic led us to develop new recruitment strategies that we continue to utilize. The lessons learned from this pilot study can serve to help other research studies adapt novel and effective recruitment methods.

Improving Recruitment for a Newborn Screening Pilot Study with Adaptations in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Seven months after the launch of a pilot study to screen newborns for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in New York State, New York City became an epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. All in-person research activities were suspended at the study enrollment institutions of Northwell Health and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospitals, and study recruitment was transitioned to 100% remote. Pre-pandemic, all recruitment was in-person with research staff visiting the postpartum patients 1–2 days after delivery to obtain consent. With the onset of pandemic, the multilingual research staff shifted to calling new mothers while they were in the hospital or shortly after discharge, and consent was collected via emailed e-consent links. With return of study staff to the hospitals, a hybrid approach was implemented with in-person recruitment for babies delivered during the weekdays and remote recruitment for babies delivered on weekends and holidays, a cohort not recruited pre-pandemic. There was a drop in the proportion of eligible babies enrolled with the transition to fully remote recruitment from 64% to 38%. In addition, the proportion of babies enrolled after being approached dropped from 91% to 55%. With hybrid recruitment, the proportion of eligible babies enrolled (70%) and approached babies enrolled (84%) returned to pre-pandemic levels. Our experience adapting our study during the COVID-19 pandemic led us to develop new recruitment strategies that we continue to utilize. The lessons learned from this pilot study can serve to help other research studies adapt novel and effective recruitment methods.

The role of Korean Medicine in the post-COVID-19 era: an online panel discussion part 2 - basic research and education.

BACKGROUND: Experiencing difficulties and challenges though COVID-19 pandemic, there are voices that it needs to be discussed to seek direction of basic research and college education of Korean Medicine (KM) so that KM community can play a significant role in the future infectious disease outbreaks. METHODS: This paper summarizes the edited highlights of an online video meeting by Google meet on May 19, 2020, organized by the Korean Medicine Convergence Research Information Center. Five researchers specialized in immunology, microbiology, virology, preventive medicine, and herbology, respectively, presented what KM community should prepare for the future acute infectious disease outbreaks by learning from the previous research on antiviral effect of herbs for coronavirus and the experiences of the present COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: There are a lot of herbs or natural products with potential anti-coronavirus effects reported from in vitro experiments and despite criticism, many clinical trials on traditional herbal medicine for COVID-19 are being conducted. In addition to establishing research evidence, KM community should train and produce public health professionals among Korean Medicine Doctors (KMDs) and official participation in public healthcare system should be ensured in terms of regulation and policy. Newly developed KM treatments can be interpreted by the KM theories and also should be allowed by regulations for KMDs to utilize them. CONCLUSION: The present online discussion suggested directions of basic research for acute viral infections diseases utilizing KM and how to enforce relevant education and regulations in the post-COVID-19 era.