The interface between medical anthropology and medical ethnobiology

Medical anthropology is concerned with both the causes and consequences of human sickness, and its various theoretical orientations can be grouped into four major approaches: medical ecology, critical medical anthropology, interpretative medical anthropology, and ethnomedicine. While medical anthropologists of all theoretical persuasions have examined why people get sick, the analysis and understanding of patterns of treatment has been largely confined to ethnomedicine. Historically, more emphasis has been placed on the personalistic or supernatural aspects of ethnomedical systems than on naturalistic or empirical components. While this focus has produced valuable insights into the role of ritual and belief in healing, it has led to the impression that traditional medicine is primarily symbolic. Moreover, it ignores the theoretical bases of traditional healing strategies and the practical means by which most of the world heals itself, namely plants. Recently there has been more interest in the empirical character of ethnomedical systems, and in this paper we consider the role that medical ethnobiology has played in this shift of focus. We begin with a brief history of medical anthropology to illuminate why naturalistic medicine was neglected for so long. We then review exemplary research in two areas of medical ethnobiology – ethnophysiology and medical ethnobotany – that address the study of naturalistic aspects of medical systems. We conclude with suggestions for future research at the interface between medical ethnobiology and medical anthropology that will contribute to both fields.     

Biometry and medical statistics

The "biometric school" founded by K. Pearson, F. Galton, and W. F. R. Weldon was concerned especially with heredity and variation, and between the wars "biometry" was not widely used as a general term for quantitative biology. The foundation of the Biometric Society encouraged this wider usage, and medical and biological statistics were seen to share a common methodology. In recent years, medical statistics has developed more rapidly, and this growth has been reflected in the contents of Biometrics. The author stresses the essential unity of the subject, the central core of which is the application of statistics in the life sciences. The Society should encourage contact with those workers in quantitative biology who are outside this central tradition.     

医学院校“医学微生物学”本科教学改革的探索和实践

"医学微生物学"是医学院校本科生的重要基础课。上海交通大学医学院的"医学微生物学"自2005年获评为国家级精品课程后,仍持续深入改革,通过加强教学团队建设,探索新型教学方法,紧密结合临床资源及引入多元化考核方式,为实现"知识能力型"人才培养目标进行了许多有益的尝试。