Rituals in Traditional Chinese Medicine: Taking a Case of Infertility as an Example

Ritual is one of the most classic research topics in the field of Anthropology, and rituals have close connection with medial practice. However, the research on this topic from the experience of Traditional Chinese Medicine is limited. This paper presents the whole story that a patient suffering from infertility got cured got cured by a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) and finally became a mother. With the detailed description of each medical practice, including pulse-taking, traditional Chinese herb therapy, and postpartum confinement, this paper analyzes the ritualized elements in the whole process, interprets how ritual play a role in the practice of TCM, and points out ritual’s essential significance in contributing to human’s well being and adjusting the relationships between individual and the world.

Research on the duration of electrocardiogram components in pregnant goats

The electrocardiogram is a graph recording of heart’s electric activity, so it is used in medical practice mainly in order to observe the heart’s activity. The values of the main components of the electrocardiogram in pregnant goats were determined within the current research. All of these were performed in three different stages of pregnancy (the beginning, the middle and the ending), being focused on the variation of these values during the pregnancy. The gestation diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound-exam. During the pregnancy, the following values for the duration of the main ECG’s components were found: the P wave (0.045-0.044 s), the P-R segment (0.061-0.048 s), of the P-R range (0.105-0.086 s), of the QRS complex (0.042-0.040 s), of the Q-T range (0.242-0.218 s), of the P-T range (0.377-0.368 s), of the R-R range (0.465-0.431 s), the T wave (0.091-0.104 s) and of the T-P segment (0.097-0.101 s). Our results show that during the pregnancy the duration of: the P wave, the P-R segment, the P-R range, the QRS complex, the Q-T range, the P-T range and the R-R range, decrease, while the duration of the T wave and the T-P segment increase.