Observational Research Summary

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Observational Research Summaries The first article that I reviewed was a prospective, observational, case control research where the research aimed at investigating the effect of acute acupuncture treatment affected on a person immediately after optimal exercise test. The study aimed at surmounting constrains in the previous research by analyzing the acupuncture naïve cohort and using a balanced placebo of 2 × 2 design. The study used a randomized 2 × 2 factorial design of a balanced placebo while including a non-treatment control group. A total of five groups were selected for the study. The first group involved high expectance acupuncture (A-Hi) while the second one was a low expectancy acupuncture group. The third and fourth group was placebo high expectancy acupuncture (P-Hi) and placebo low expectancy acupuncture group respectively while the last group was a non-treatment control group. The sample size estimates were achieved through hypothesized difference of 30 min recovery period from optimal exercise. Participants included adults aged between 18 and 30 years and were selected using convenience sampling. …show more content…
In-group comparisons of demographic variables such as age, BMI and gender were and optimal exercise data were analyzed through variance univariate analysis. Both linear and quadratic analysis used in the study indicated there is no major significant effect overall treatment, acupuncture or instruction. Further, the results indicated that there is no significant effect on treatment of any acupuncture through instruction interaction on the physiological outcomes. The inclusion of instruction as a factor in the study was a major methodological improvement compared to previous studies. The main reason is that placebo effects have been assumed to contribute to some effects of