Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine back issues from July 2006:
Letter from the publisher.
Jul 01, 2006; ... One can almost hear the rousing "yahoos!" in school yards around the world as summer vacation begins. Many alternative practitioners are probably yearning for those innocent days when they can toss aside the books and paperwork and just head off to the beach or lake. And a summer break, ...
Tests of Memory Enhancement Supplements by ConsumerLab.com reveals lead in some ginkgo.
Jul 01, 2006 ... In its new test report on Memory Enhancement Supplements, ConsumerLab.com (CL) has revealed finding significant amounts of lead in certain products on the market. The lead was found in supplements made with a specific form of the herbal ingredient Ginkgo biloba. ConsumerLab.com also ...
One hundred percent of Washington State lawmakers vote to protect Washington children from mercury in vaccines.
Jul 01, 2006 ... Ann Clifton, Co-Chair of the Mercury Awareness Team of Washington announces that the Washington Senate and the Washington House agreed unanimously on an important issue: the need to protect Washington State children from unnecessary mercury exposure from vaccines. The Mercury Awareness ...
AIDS may be a combination of nutritional deficiencies--HIV depletes selenium and three amino acids.
Jul 01, 2006; ... New clinical reports from Zambia, Uganda, and South Africa indicate that AIDS may be stopped by nutritional supplementation. A number of members of the medical profession have observed that high doses of the trace element selenium and the amino acids cysteine, tryptophan, and glutamine can ...
Nordic Naturals appoints "one of America's Best" as new Medical Advisor.(Joseph Maroon appointed as medical advisor)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Nordic Naturals announces the appointment of Joseph Maroon, MD, a board-certified neurosurgeon, as their new Medical Advisor. Named as one of "America's Best Neurosurgeons" for eight consecutive years in America's Best Doctors, Dr. Maroon currently practices at the University of Pittsburgh ...
Another weapon in the fight against prostate cancer?(Lupeol a chemical use to treat prostate cancer)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health show that Lupeol, a chemical found in great quantity in many fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, elderberries, mangos, figs, grapes, olives, and green peppers, holds promise to combat prostate ...
Artemisia annua anamed.(Shorts)
Jul 01, 2006; ... A German-based group of scientists and health care workers, called anamed (Action for Natural Medicine), has set up the anamed malaria program. The group is dedicated to helping communities and self-employed people in tropical nations cultivate and use botanicals to prevent and treat ...
Arginine & malaria.(Shorts)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The amino acid arginine may be helpful in preventing and treating children with malaria, according to a 2003 research letter in The Lancet. The researchers identified an inverse correlation between plasma L-arginine concentrations and severity of malaria in Tanzanian children. The body ...
Bedbugs return.(Shorts)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Bedbugs (Cimex spp.) are making a comeback, according to a January 2006, Associated Press article. Instead of receiving one or two bedbug complaints a year, US exterminators are getting one or two each week. The 5-7 mm long (about the size of an apple seed), nocturnal bugs feed on blood, ...
Bioresonance therapy for parasites.(Shorts)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Bioresonance therapy uses electromagnetic frequencies generated by the body to detect the presence of parasites, bacteria, toxins, and other health disruptors, and to help eliminate them. Every cell produces tiny electromagnetic vibrations. Cells that are in good health emit harmonious ...
Climate change & disease.(Shorts)
Jul 01, 2006; ... In October 2005, Paul R. Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School (Boston, Massachusetts), wrote a perspective article for the New England Journal of Medicine that outlines the health effects of climate change. The extremes ...
Disinfecting water.(Shorts)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Microbe-contaminated water causes three to five billion episodes of diarrhea each year. About three million deaths result from dehydration, attributed to diarrhea, during that time. To combat this problem, Population Services International (PSI), a non-profit organization, markets the use ...
High-density lipoproteins & microbe protection.(Shorts)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Researchers at MBL, an independent, nonprofit research institution, have identified high-density lipoproteins (HDL cholesterol) that give humans innate protection against Trypanosoma brucei brucei. T. brucei causes Nagana, a disease that kills three million African cattle each year. The ...
Malaria treatment resistance & transmission rate.(Shorts)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Two Ugandan clinical studies indicate that the transmission rate affects malaria treatment failure. A study by D. Francis and colleagues (J Infect Dis. 2006;193:978-986) found that people living in areas with high frequency of malaria transmission responded better to conventional drug ...
Institute for OneWorld Health.(company overview)(Company overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Institute for OneWorld Health is a non-profit pharmaceutical company, dedicated to finding effective, inexpensive treatments and preventives for parasitic-borne diseases. Founder Victoria Hale, PhD, a pharmaceutical scientist who worked for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), became ...
Washing produce.(Shorts)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Susan S. Sumner, a food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia), has found that misting fruits and vegetables with vinegar and three percent hydrogen peroxide (commonly sold in stores) kills attached microbes. Most people recognize that ...
Celebrex and colon polyps.(The War on Cancer)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The big news at this spring's American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting was that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex (celecoxib) was associated with a significant reduction in the occurrence of polyps of the colon. Since colon polyps are sometimes a precursor to ...
Cardiologist promotes integrative strategies to reverse heart disease.(Pathways to Healing)
Jul 01, 2006; ... When you see Seth J. Baum, MD, FACC, at a medical conference, he's likely to be giving a speech on the latest scanning technology for the heart: angiography using computed tomography (CT) images. These devices quickly produce three-dimensional images of clogged cardiac arteries, at much ...
The Christine Maggiore story continued ....(Townsend's New York Observer)
Jul 01, 2006; ... My previous column (Townsend Letter, June 2006) about Christine Maggiore opened by recounting her turnaround from HIV-AIDS believer to HIV-and-mainstream-AIDS-therapy doubter, a change of viewpoint that was followed by a nasty campaign on the part of the AIDS establishment to discredit her ...
Does policosanol really lower cholesterol levels?(Literature Review & Commentary)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Fifty-eight adults (mean age, 49 years) with normal to mildly elevated plasma cholesterol concentrations were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 20 mg/day of wheat germ policosanol or placebo for four weeks. There were no significant changes in either group in plasma ...
Omega-3 fatty acids for COPD.(Literature Review & Commentary)(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Sixty-four patients (mean age, 66 years) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were randomly assigned to receive 400 kcal/day day of a nutritional supplement that was either high (0.6 g/day) (omega-3 group) or low (0.07 g/day) (control group) in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty ...
Melatonin for tinnitus.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Twenty-four patients (mean age, 61 years) with tinnitus for a mean duration of 11.3 years received 3 mg/day of melatonin one to two hours before bedtime for four weeks, followed by four weeks of observation with no melatonin treatment. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and the ...
Potential hazard of avoiding allergenic foods.(Literature Review & Commentary)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Eleven children (median age, 2.6 years; range, 1.8-10.3 years) who had avoided cow's milk for 1.4 to 9.5 years (median, 2.3 years) because of atopic dermatitis underwent double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges. Before the elimination of cow's milk from their diet, all 11 children ...
Does breastfeeding prevent myopia?(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The association between breast-feeding and subsequent development of myopia was examined in a cross-sectional study of 797 children aged ten to 12 years in Singapore. The prevalence of myopia was significantly lower in children who had been breast-fed than in those who had not (62% vs ....
Eicosapentaenoic acid for bipolar depression.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Twelve outpatients with bipolar disorder who currently suffered from mild-to-moderate depression received 1.5-2.0 g/day of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; Laxdale, Ltd.) for up to six months, in addition to their usual medication (lithium, valproate, carbamazepine, or others). Eight of the ten ...
Getting scotched by soda.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Benzene, a known carcinogen, has been found in a number of soft drinks at concentrations far in excess of the legal limit for drinking water. Various regulatory agencies around the world have set upper limits for benzene in drinking water between one and ten parts per billion (ppb) ....
Low-dose vitamin K may improve warfarin therapy.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Eight patients (aged 45-79 years) receiving warfarin, whose international normalized ratios (INRs) had been fluctuating for reasons that were not clear, received 100 mcg/day of oral vitamin K1. After vitamin K supplementation, INR fluctuations decreased in nearly all patients. A ...
University of Washington researchers find magnetic fields may hold key to malaria treatment.(SPECIAL SECTION: TREATING MALARIA and PARASITE DISORDERS with NATURAL MEDICINE)(research)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a method of treating malaria with magnetic fields that could prove revolutionary in controlling the disease the World Health Organization calls oneof the world's most complex and serious human health concerns. Henry ...
A malaria primer.(SPECIAL SECTION: TREATING MALARIA and PARASITE DISORDERS with NATURAL MEDICINE)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006 ... History The history of malaria is a long and insidious one. Malaria is blamed for felling empires--Alexander the Great, for one, reputedly died of malaria--stilling the progress of nations and great thinkers, and determining the outcomes of pivota battles. Deadly fevers, most ...
Mosquitoes and malaria, travel immunizations, microscopy, and worms.(usage of websites )
Jul 01, 2006; ... Mosquitoes and Malaria Did you know that male mosquitoes dine mostly on flower nectar? The pregnant females are the ones that suck your blood, sometimes leaving deadly diseases behind. (If you want to be free of mosquitoes, you could move to the North or South Pole.) ...
Myrrh: a significant development in the treatment of parasites.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)(drug overview )(Drug overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Myrrh has been used as a medicinal herb for thousands of years. It is mentioned several times in the Bible, in writings as old as Psalms and the Song of Solomon, and of course it is well known as one of the three gifts that the Magi brought to Jesus Christ. (1) [ILLUSTRATION ...
Malaria & acupuncture.
Jul 01, 2006; ... Keywords: Chinese medicine, acupuncture-moxibustion, malaria ********** In Chinese medicine, malaria is called nue. This disease category covers true malaria (i.e., infection by various species of Plasmodium protozoa), as well as malaria-like conditions that resemble ...
Natural medicines & traveler's diarrhea: a look at preventive techniques.(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Travel, especially to areas where one may contract the seemingly ubiquitous "traveler's diarrhea" can make one anxious about appropriate preparation techniques. Preventive techniques are foremost on the lists of travelers. These treatments commonly include standard antibiotics taken ...
Artemesia and micronutrient therapy in the treatment of malaria.(Therapeutic Nutrition)(care and treatment)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Malaria affects more than 2400 million people, which is the equivalent of more than 40% of the world's population. Each year, more than two million die from the disease, with one malarial death occurring every 12 seconds somewhere in the world. Most of the malarial-related fatalities ...
Parasites, people, and power.(Medical Anthropology)(Case study)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The definition of a parasite depends greatly on one's culture and perspective. In individualist Western society, a parasite is an organism that grows, feeds, or shelters on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of the host. A parasite is also a person who ...
Artemisinin: from malaria to cancer treatment.(Drug overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Artemisinin, the key ingredient obtained from Artemisia annua, has a long history of use as an antimalarial remedy. Artemisia annua, or "sweet wormwood," is mentioned in the Recipes For 52 Kinds Of Diseases found in the Mawangdui Han Dynasty tomb, dating from 168 B.C. In that work, the ...
Summer cleaning? What about intestinal parasites?(SPECIAL SECTION: TREATING MALARIA and PARASITE DISORDERS with NATURAL MEDICINE)(care and treatment)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The plant world has long provided options to assist in the control of intestinal parasites. A few of the more popular herbs are viewed below, together with a significant and highly active anthelmintic herb from traditional Chinese medicine. But the main thrust of this review is to suggest ...
Colonics.(SPECIAL SECTION: TREATING MALARIA and PARASITE DISORDERS with NATURAL MEDICINE)(treatment methods)(Drug overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Ancient Origins Colonic irrigation is an ancient method of healing, and it would never have survived until the present scientific age if it were without value. It is a curious fact that medical practitioners seem to be either in favor of this treatment (and usually quiet about ...
The dysox state and chronic parasitic infestation.(Oxygen Homeostasis)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... A healthy bowel is inhospitable to parasites; an unhealthy bowel cannot keep them out. As a boy in Pakistan in 1950s, I learned from my elders that healthy children were expected to have parasites every now and then and were also expected to clear them out without drugs. As a medical ...
On the diagnosis and management of neurocutaneous syndrome (NCS), a toxicity disorder from dental sealants.(care and treatment)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Abstract Neurocutaneous syndrome (NCS), a newly discovered toxicity disorder, is characterized by neurological sensations, pain, depleted energy, and memory loss as well as itchy, cutaneous lesions which may invite various opportunistic infections. Components in the calcium ...
Biological liquid crystals: a scientific explanation of Bach Flower Essences.(drug use)(Drug overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... This paper discusses how biological liquid crystal compounds can form and how their projected frequencies regulate vital bodily functions. The Bach Flower Essences consist of a total of 38 single remedies, plus one more, Rescue Remedy. Rescue Remedy, the 39th remedy, is a ...
The Two-Minute, 24-Hour Mania Manager: a promising treatment for acute mania.
Jul 01, 2006; ... A diagnostic medical procedure used by neurologists can, within minutes, stop mania for up to 24 hours. The procedure stopped mania in a 29-year-old woman with a ten-year history of bipolar disorder in New Zealand. The same procedure stopped my 28-year-old son's mania in two minutes. ...
Emerging clinical science of bifunctional support for detoxification.(reports)
Jul 01, 2006; ... An enormous amount of research literature associating toxin exposure to disease has been published, and current estimates suggest that between $568 and $793 billion dollars is spent in the US and Canada every year on toxicity-related diseases (Muir and Zegarac, 2001). Exposure to ...
H5N1 influenza and neurological sequelae.(care and treatment)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Jul 01, 2006; ... News and medical reports of a possible avian influenza pandemic generally have neglected to mention that epidemics of influenza-associated encephalopathy and post-encephalitic neurological syndromes may accompany and follow a flu pandemic. In fact, historical and epidemiological evidence ...
Wayne Martin: July 17, 1911-May 13, 2006.(obituary)(Obituary)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006 ... We were deeply saddened to learn of the recent death of our long-time columnist, Wayne Martin. Born on July 17, 1911, Wayne Martin passed away peacefully on May 13, 2006, just a few months shy of his 95th birthday. An internationally-known biochemist and metallurgist, Wayne graduated from ...
Possible role of aspartame in risperidone-associated pituitary tumors.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently noted the frequency of prolactin-producing pituitary tumors in patients taking risperidone, a drug widely prescribed for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. (1) Of 64 patients with pituitary tumors receiving anti-psychotics, 48 had been using ...
Healing spider bites.
Jul 01, 2006; ... The solution is almost too simple: a simple self-defense stun gun, sold at pawn shops, gun shows, and on the Web, with prices ranging anywhere from $65 to $100, can heal spider bites. The one I use has had the middle set of prongs filed off at the base of each prong, This prevents the long ...
Addressing the mercury pollution in Indonesian Bay associated with gold-mining company operations.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Denver, Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corp. faces charges of dumping mercury and arsenic-laced pollutants into an Indonesian Bay. The goldmining company is accused of dumping millions of tons of pollutants into Buyat Bay on Sulawesi Island, causing the villagers to develop skin disorders ...
Natural medicine works.
Jul 01, 2006; ... Natural medicine doesn't work for everyone, although it does for most. It definitely worked for Bernard Kleiman, MD, an elderly Baltimore physician, medical colleague of my father, chief of otolaryngology at a local hospital, and past president of the Baltimore County Medical Society ....
A guided tour to medical self-help.(Fire Your Doctor: How to be Independently Healthy)(Book review)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Fire Your Doctor: How to be Independently Healthy by Andrew W. Saul, PhD Basic Health Publications, Inc., 28812 Top of the World Drive, Laguna Beach, California 92651 USA Softbound, c. 2005, 196 pp., $19.92 U.S., $25.95 CAN Self-Care or ...
Ten simple steps to better health.(Dr. Ann's 10-Step Diet)(Book review)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Dr. Ann's 10-Step Diet by Ann Kulze, MD Greenleaf Book Group LLC, 4425 Mopac South, Suite 600, Longhorn Building, 3rd Floor, Austin, Texas 78735 USA 800-932-5420; www.10stepdiet.com ISBN 09748328-0-4 Hardcover, c. 2004, 304 pp., ...
Nutrient-depleting drugs.(The Nutritional Cost of Drugs)(Book review)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Nutritional Cost of Drugs (second edition) by Ross Pelton, RPh, and James LaValle, RPh Morton Publishing Company, 925 West Kenyon Avenue, Unit 12, Englewood, Colorado 80110 USA; www.morton-pub.com. ISBN 0-89582-652-6 Softbound, 210 pp ....
Finding your Dosha (life force).(Yogic Nutrition: Natural Foods and Medicines to Enhance Your Yoga Practice)(Book review)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Yogic Nutrition: Natural Foods and Medicines to Enhance Your Yoga Practice by Dr. Gina L. Nick Longevity Through Prevention, Inc., P.O. Box 6936, Laguna Niguel, California 92607 USA; 866-587-4622 ISBN-13: 978-0-9712118-2-7 Paperback, 169 pp., ...
Your homeopathic travel kit: don't leave home without it!(Healing with Homeopathy)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Travel is wonderful, stimulating, broadening, and just plain fun--unless you are sick, injured, incapacitated, or otherwise not feeling well. We would much rather spend time lying on a beach somewhere, soaking up some rays, than lying in a hotel room or hospital bed feeling terrible, ...
Influenza vaccination responses and stress.(The Immune System in Infectious Transmissible Disease)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Anxiety, depression, and stress were measured by appropriate psychological instruments in spousal caregivers of dementia patients (median age 73 years) and 67 controls (median age 68) of comparable socioeconomic status. Salivary cortisol concentrations were measured in early morning, noon, ...
Immunity and grief.(research reports)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Twenty-six persons whose spouses had died were found to have significantly decreased mitogenic T-cell phytohemagglutinin responses at eight weeks, but not at two weeks, post-bereavement vs. controls who had not suffered death of a spouse (2p<.05). No significant hormonal changes resulted ...
Immunity and stress.(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Men whose wives had terminal breast cancer were found to have normal responsiveness of T- and B-cells to phytohemagglutinin, concanavalin A, and pokeweed mitogen antigenic challenge. A number of weeks after the deaths of their spouses, this response was severely compromised (PHA p<.04; ...
Immunity, guided imagery, and relaxation.(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... This study measured the effects of relaxation and guided imagery on cellular immune function. During a period of ten days, ten healthy subjects underwent a single one-hour relaxation procedure and one combined relaxation and guided imagery procedure, during which subjects were instructed ...
Immunity and humor.(Brief article)(Clinical report)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Ten randomly selected volunteers viewed both a Richard Pryor humorous videotape and a didactic lecture on anxiety presented in random-order, crossover fashion. All rated the Pryor tape more humorous than the lecture (p<.001). Scores on the Coping Humor Questionnaire were correlated with ...
Immunity and hypnosis.(Clinical report)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Twenty hypnotizable subjects, ages 22-85, significantly (p<.05) increased the in vitro proliferative responsiveness of their lymphocytes to pokeweed mitogen (which stimulates both T- and B-cells) when given the suggestion under trance that their white blood cells were like "powerful ...
Immunity and hypnosis II.(The Immune System in Infectious Transmissible Disease)(research)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Of 57 children, in those randomized to practice self-hypnosis, salivary Immunoglobulin A rose to 12.6 units from 7.75 at baseline after three 30-minute sessions, during which they learned self-hypnosis to suggest to themselves that they increase their immune substance in saliva as they ...
Immunity and imagery.(The Immune System in Infectious Transmissible Disease)(tests)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... In two randomly selected groups of healthy college students, mean salivary IgA increase was 32 mg/dl in the group treated with exposure to 17 minutes of focusing on immune system imagery while a music tape played in the background vs. a rise of 16 mg/dl in quietly sitting controls ...
Immunity and emotional expression.(The Immune System in Infectious Transmissible Disease)(research tests)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... This study investigated whether emotional expression of traumatic experiences influenced the immune response to a hepatitis B vaccination program. Forty medical students who tested negative for hepatitis B antibodies were randomly assigned to write about personal traumatic events or banal ...
Skin tests and hypnosis.(The Immune System in Infectious Transmissible Disease)(medical research)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Eight volunteers underwent skin testing for type I and type IV reactions before and after hypnosis. Histamine skin-prick testing after hypnosis accompanied by suggestions of decreased flare showed significantly less erythema (p<.02). The size of the wheal did not change. In a second study ...
Immunity and stress.(The Immune System in Infectious Transmissible Disease)(risk factors)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Salivary Immunoglobulin A determinations were done in 15 healthy undergraduates five days before exams, during exams, and fourteen days following their last final exam. Secretory IgA levels were much lower during exams (p<.0001). Students reporting more social support at the pre-exam time ...