Abstract:

The review will assess the article: ‘Panax ginseng C.A Meyer root extract for moderate Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial’, published in 2012 by Xue et al. in the E-journal, Trials, volume 12 number 164. The assessment will focus on the knowledge contribution of the article to the field of translational medicine and evidence based research for use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).

Translational medicine, a research dissemination tool for advancing gains of basic laboratory discoveries to populations via clinical studies, has come to be a very useful tool for the practice of conventional medicines. This paradigm has also found usefulness as an emerging trend in the development and practice of CAM. CAM, though older than conventional medicine, have found rebirth in the healing sphere owing to public demand and based on successful psychometric evaluations using various rigorous study designs of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT).

The goal of designing a study protocols is to obtain a tool for measuring and evaluating how an intervention, medical device or diagnostic contribute to improvement in health status or knowledge. Hence, this review will assess the scientific rigour and proof of principles demonstrated by the author in developing the study design. The article will be summarised, assessed on presentation effectiveness and the depth of literature on current knowledge. A critique on authority, currency, relevance, accuracy, objectivity and stability will be carried out and the conclusion will present the statement of scientific value of the article.

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