Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients back issues from December 2003:
Letter from the publisher.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Last month the Nobel Prize Committee awarded the prize in medicine to two individuals who transformed the arcane theory of chemistry known as nuclear magnetic resonance into one of the most highly used technologies in medicine, the MRI imaging scan. At one time insurance companies rationed ...
In memoriam; Jack M. Blount, MD.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Jack M. Blount, MD was born in Hickory, Mississippi, August 28, 1921. He received his undergraduate degree at "Ole Miss" (University of Mississippi) and his MD degree at George Washington University, Washington, DC. Even prior to entry in medical school, Dr. Blount had the ...
CHRF News File reprinted from file #53.
Dec 01, 2003 ... The CHRF News Files, a product of the Collaboration for Healthcare Renewal Foundation (CHRF), reports on collaborative initiatives and business developments of relevance to the emerging integrative medicine industry. Your receipt of the News Files is made possible through a grant from the ...
CHRF News File reprinted from file #53; NCCAM director calls for trained CAM researchers.
Dec 01, 2003 ... The 18th Annual Convention of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), "Exploring the Terrain of Natural Medicine," was held August 13-16 in Portland, Oregon. More than 750 people attended, and there were more than 140 exhibitors. Presentations covered business matters ...
CHRF News File reprinted from file #53; naturopaths fine-tune Research Agenda.
Dec 01, 2003 ... The AANP Convention also included "Special Topics" sessions focusing on the current two-year process for developing a North American Naturopathic Medical Research Agenda. Leanna Standish, ND, PhD, LAc, principal investigator on the project and senior research scientist at Bastyr ...
CHRF News File reprinted from file #53; cost increases drive benefit plan changes by large employers.
Dec 01, 2003 ... Due to skyrocketing healthcare costs, most US employers are preparing to communicate major healthcare benefit changes to employees this enrollment season. Preliminary HMO rate increases for large employers are averaging 17.7%, compared with 21% last year, according to Hewitt Associates, a ...
CHRF News File reprinted from file #53; new publications.
Dec 01, 2003 ... A new book from Elsevier Science/Churchill Livingstone, titled Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Rehabilitation, offers a welcome overview of this important field. Edited by Eric Leskowitz, MD, clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and staff psychiatrist in ...
Literature review & commentary.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Magnesium treatment of narcotic addiction Eighteen patients on a methadone-maintenance program who were continuing to use illicit opiates and cocaine (as determined by urine testing) were randomly assigned to receive oral magnesium (Mg; 732 mg/day, as Mg L-aspartate ...
Herbal history in the US.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... The rivalry between orthodox medicine (the one with official recognition and power) and alternative, often populist, medicine has existed for centuries. In the late 1700s, Samuel Thomson challenged orthodox practitioners by promoting a popular, self-care medicine based on the use of ...
Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... In January 2003, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released the Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. The first report, released in March 2001, measured the presence of 27 metals and chemicals in blood and urine samples from some 1999 National Health and ...
Prescription drug dosage.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... A 2002 Georgetown University study reported that over 20% of pharmaceutical drug labels undergo revision after they enter the marketplace. In 80% of the revisions, the original dosage was reduced, or new contraindications or restrictions for specific groups of patients were added. Because ...
Meridian Stress Assessment.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Meridian Stress Assessment (MSA), also called Electro-Dermal Screening, is a computerized assessment of organs and glands using acupuncture points and meridians. The technology sprang from the work of German doctor Reinhold Voll, who used an ohmmeter to measure skin resistance along ...
Irradiation.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Irradiation is being promoted as a way to destroy harmful bacteria in food as well as extend its shelf-life. According to Consumers Report (August 2003), "The government considers irradiation so effective that it allows tainted ground beef that otherwise would be unlawful to sell, such as ...
Testing for enzyme deficiency.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Genetic tests are now available that can help doctors prescribe drugs more effectively and with fewer adverse effects. Doctors know that some people have the intended reaction, some react adversely, and some experience no effect at all. It is often a matter of trial and error. Now, ...
Live transplant donors.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Thousands of people offer to donate a kidney or part of their liver to people needing transplants each year. Often, donors are friends or relatives, but as Mark S. Zelermyer relayed in his piece for Newsweek, some donors are merely acquaintances. After 20 years of receiving medication to ...
Alternative interpretation of nanobacteria-induced biomineralization.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... In 1998, E. W. Kajander and N. Ciftcioglu reportedly isolated coccoid-shaped nanobacteria from human kidney stones and suggested that they were the source of pathological extraskeletal calcification [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95, 8274-8279]. John O. Cisar at the National Institute of Dental ...
Stem cell migration.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Researchers at the US National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (Bethesda, Maryland) have evidence that stem cells from bone marrow can develop into brain cells. Four women who had received bone marrow transplants from men were autopsied upon their death. The researchers found ...
New transplant drug regimen.(Shorts)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Transplant recipients at the University of Pittsburgh's medical center are receiving a new drug regimen to prevent rejection of the donated organ. Until recently, transplant recipients have been required to take immune suppressive drugs for the rest of their lives in order to prevent their ...
The war on cancer.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Does Traveling for Treatment Increase Survival? There was a surprising study in a recent Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital studied the impact that traveling for treatment had on survival, specifically the survival of 110 ...
Pulse diagnosis in Chinese medicine.(Chinese Medicine Update)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese pulse examination, pattern discrimination [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Professional Chinese medicine bases its treatment on two diagnoses (liang zhen). There is the disease diagnosis (bian bing) and the pattern discrimination (bian ...
Testing, quality control, and scientific marketing for non-synthetic pharmaceuticals.(Medical Anthropology)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Introduction In part due to consumer interest and in part due to the great costs associated with total synthesis and economic un-productivity of chemical methods of drug discovery, the pharmaceutical industry is gradually winding its way back toward what I will call for this ...
Amino acid profiling clinical guidelines for determination of preferred specimen choice.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Introduction Profiling of amino acids in plasma and urine has been used to elucidate a rapidly growing number of aminoacidopathies since the introduction of partition chromatography methods in 1945. (1) The question of whether plasma or urine may be the preferred specimen choice ...
New diagnostic tools for evaluating digestive function.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Introduction Sound nutrition and digestion are fundamental to long-term health. Without proper digestive function to ensure adequate breakdown and assimilation of nutrients, even the most nutritious diet may be ineffective for optimizing health. Problems with digestion, ...
The desensitization of the allergic patient using a new technique of bioresonance.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Abstract The art of Chinese medicine is over 5,000 years old and the use of acupuncture and its meridians have been used since then in both health and disease. Western medicine is a lot younger and does not embrace the theory of a network of energy conduits and its disruptions ...
Chromium status and health: accurate and precise analysis using High Resolution ICP-MS.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Abstract Accurate and precise measurement of chromium (Cr) in biological specimens is critical for valid assessment of the status of this essential element. Appropriate Cr supplementation is clearly justified for all forms of diabetes, hyperinsulinemia and some types of ...
Laboratory evaluation of estrogen metabolism.(Estrogen Metabolism)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Recent enthusiasm about the potential benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), using conjugated equine estrogens and synthetic progestins for menopause, has undergone a remarkable reversal. Studies of this form of HRT failed to demonstrate some of the expected advantages of HRT, but ...
Trace elements and glucose disorders.
Dec 01, 2003; ... The incidence of diabetes worldwide is expected to double in the next 10 years, affecting over 200 million people. It is known that dietary modifications can help considerably in improving bloodglucose control and therefore reduce the many complications caused by this condition. Mooradian ...
Clinical importance of delayed immune reactions to antigens and haptens detected by functional Lymphocyte Response Assays (LRA by ELISA/ACT tests) in primary management of chronic disease--part 1.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Immune defense and repair in good health and ill health This article addresses our immune system's role in defense and repair. Emphasis is on comprehensive, functional, ex vivo tests of individual delayed allergy reactions. Clinically validated tools to repair immune responses ...
Vaccination: an analysis of the health risks--part III.
Dec 01, 2003; ... In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we examined factors countering our beliefs that vaccines are safe and effective. We also discussed the effects of specific vaccines, including those for diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus, polio, chickenpox, hepatitis B, and measles, mumps and rubella. In ...
AMA & Consumers Union join in attacks on DSHEA using Senate bill S.722 as their weapon; a call to arms for defeating US Senate bill S. 722.(Medical Journalist Report of Innovative Biologics)
Dec 01, 2003; ... This column is primarily written by Randall Walker, edited by Morton Walker, DPM & contributed to by legislative advocate Clinton Ray Miller of Statesville, North Carolina. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On February 16, 2003 when 23-year-old professional baseball pitcher ...
Preventing amputations for peripheral vascular disease.(Letters to the Editor)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Editor: There are far too many amputations among our older people. I have heard a figure of 60,000 such diabetic amputations each year in the USA. There could be very few such amputations. I am age 92 and in 1929 at age 17 I was hit by an auto on a motorcycle and ...
Urinary markers of intestinal yeast.(Letters to the Editor)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Editor: The detection of clinically significant intestinal yeast growth is challenging. Because of the serious life-threatening nature of invasive candidiasis for immunosuppressed individuals, there is strong interest in markers that reveal early stages of this condition. (1) ...
Environmental toxicity: an alternative way of assessing heavy metals.(Letters to the Editor)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Editor: Numerous scientists worldwide are supporting the view today that all life processes are being determined by subtle electromagnetic and photon phenomena [see Prof. Dr. A. Popp, Dr. Voll (EAP), Dr. Schimmel (Vega System) and many more). All electrically active metals ...
The Wolff-Chaikoff effect of increasing iodide intake on the thyroid.(Letters to the Editor)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Editor: In 1948, Wolff and Chaikoff published a landmark paper, (1) on the thyroid effect of increasing amounts of iodide (Potassium salt), injected intraperitoneally in rats. The authors stated: "Organic binding of iodine within the glands can be almost completely blocked by ...
Before you order that lab test ...(Editorial)
Dec 01, 2003; ... The purpose of a laboratory test is to acquire diagnostic information that cannot be obtained from a history or physical examination, or to confirm or refute clinical impressions that arise from the history and physical. I was taught in medical school that a good medical history can ...
The marketing of fear.
Dec 01, 2003; ... The Myth of Osteoporosis: What Every Woman Should Know About Creating Bone Health by Gillian Sanson Published by MCD Century Publications, LLC, 2035 Hogback Road, Suite 107, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 USA Softcover, 2003, $19.95, 220pp. The myth of osteoporosis began ...
Chronic multi-system illnesses.
Dec 01, 2003; ... The Clinical Neurobiology of Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain: Therapeutic Implications Robert M. Bennett, MD, editor The Haworth Medical Press[R], 10 Alice Street, Birmingham, New York 13904 USA Softbound, 2002, 267 pp., $34.95 US In September ...
Integrative medicine: making it work.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Own Your Health: Choosing the Best from Alternative & Conventional Medicine by Roanne Weisman with Brain Berman, MD Published by Health Communications, Inc., 3201 SW 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442 USA Quality paperback, 2003, $16.95, 456pp. ...
Nuritional supplements as health aids.
Dec 01, 2003; ... User's Guide to Nutritional Supplements edited by Jack Challem Basic Health Publications, 8200 Blvd E, North Bergen, New Jersey 07047 USA Oversized quality paperback, Selected References, Index, $19.95, USA; $31.95 CAN, 327 pages, 2003 User's ...
Schisandra--the complete liver herb.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Introduction The theme for this edition of the Townsend Letter is the value and use of alternative laboratory tests in the assessment and management of various health problems. One such diagnostic test that is widely used is the assessment (using certain drugs as probes) of an ...
The reviews this month are an attempt to connect the dots between PNIE and other holistic areas of interest including behavior, exercise and nutrition.
Dec 01, 2003; ... Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology describes the unity of mental, neurological, hormonal and immunological functions with its many potential applications. PNIE addresses the impact of cognitive images of the mind (whatever its elusive definition) on the central nervous system and consequent ...
Assessing individual susceptibility to endocrine disruption caused by the ingestion of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): Part 1.(Medicinal Properties in Whole Foods)
Dec 01, 2003; ... This month's article is the first of a two-part discussion that will focus on GMO foods, and in particular, milk products produced with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST), and herbicide-resistant foods that play a role in disrupting endocrine function in humans. It will also ...
How to safely & effectively use adrenal hormones and glandulars.(Highly Effective Treatments for Pain and Fatigue)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Adrenal hormones are essential for life. But, as with any hormone, too much can be dangerous. In the early studies using adrenal hormones, the researchers had no idea what dose was normal and what was toxic. When they gave injections of the hormone to patients, the patients' arthritis went ...
Treating psychiatric patients in your homeopathic practice.(Healing with Homeopathy)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Using homeopathic medicine as primary treatment for psychiatric patients raises a number of considerations for the practicing homeopath. Because there is no specialty training available in homeopathic psychiatry, it is important to assess one's own background, knowledge, interest level and ...
The effect of puncturing the network vessels and cupping on the partial pressure of oxygen & partial pressure of carbon dioxide in persistent asthma.(Acupuncture and Moxibustion)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Blood gas analysis, also called arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis, is a test that measures the amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood as well as the acidity (pH) of the blood. An ABG analysis evaluates how effectively the lungs are delivering oxygen to the blood and how ...
Laboratory testing in nutritional medicine--part 1.(Nutritional Influences on Illness)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Malnutrition A number of laboratory studies have been used in the nutritional assessment of malnutrition; however, they are unlikely to uncover marginal malnutrition. Although plasma or serum albumin is a popular measure, sick patients may have low levels for several other ...
Calendar.(Calendar)
Dec 01, 2003 ... CALL FOR ABSTRACTS for 1st INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON PARADOXICAL EFFECTS IN BIOPHYSICS & MEDICINE. Conference is December 12-17, 2004 @ Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California. The Symposium will provide a platform for exchange of credible scientific observations that ...
Research and medical update.(Women's Health Update)
Dec 01, 2003; ... Red Clover Isoflavone Extract No More Effective than Placebo Tice J, Ettinger B, Ensrud K, et al. Phytoestrogen Supplements for the Treatment of Hot flashes: The Isoflavone Clover Extract (ICE) Study. JAMA 2003;290(2):207-214 The most recent study on the role of red ...
Chemical Body Burden--part 1.(Web Page Potpourri)
Dec 01, 2003; ... A column devoted to informative alternative health resources on the internet A Guide to Biomonitoring of Industrial Chemicals http://www.childenvironment.org/pdfs/bmguide.pdf The Guide to Biomonitoring at childenvironment.org offers practical guidelines for ...