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CONTINUING HOMŒOPATHIC MEDICAL EDUCATION SERVICES

QUARTERLY HOMŒOPATHIC DIGEST

VOL. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013.

Part I Current Literature Listing

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Part I of the journal lists the current literature in Homœopathy drawn from the well-known

homœopathic journals published world-over - India, England, Germany, France, Brazil, USA,

etc., - discipline-wise, with brief abstracts/extracts. Readers may refer to the original articles for

detailed study. The full names and addresses of the journals covered by this compilation are

given at the end of Part I. Part II contains selected essays/articles/extracts, while Part III carries

original articles for this journal, Book Reviews, etc.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I. PHILOSOPHY

1. Homöopathie und Medizin theorie

(Homœopathy and Medicine Theory)

WISCHNER, Matthias (ZKH. 55, 4/2011)

There has been and still in, frequent questions

whether Homœopathy is a Medical Science and if yes,

then the question, how? The discussions so far have

been on general Philosophy of Science.

Attempts have also been made to ‘fit’ Homœopathy

within the general folds of (material) Science but such

attempts have been, naturally, clumsy.

WISCHNER argues that Homœopathy should be

considered only with regard to Philosphy of Medicine.

It has to be considered only in practical application.

[It should be recalled that HAHNEMANN called it

‘Heilkunde der Erfahrung’ – Practical Therapeutics.

Attention is invited to the small booklet “Die Idee der

Wissenschaft bei Samuel Hahnemann, by Dr. Phil.

Ekkehard Fräntzki, Haug Verlag, 1976. = KSS].

========================================

II. MATERIA MEDICA

1. Verifications, Falsifications, Clinical Symptoms

LUCAE, Christian

(ZKH. 55, 4, 2011)

1. Fever Cramps – Cicuta virosa

An year and seven months old boy: suffered from

Fever Cramps four weeks before and another seizure

two days before. Every time brought to Emergency.

Except Fever no other symptoms were available.

Meningitis was excluded.

Some hours before the Spasm the child was angry,

shrieked shrilly and threw herself on the floor. After the

first attack of spasm the shriek set in for an hour

nonstop until she became much tired. With the attack,

the fever developed slowly, the head was hot, the feet

cold and the arm and ball of feet twisted, foam at the

mouth. With the second attack he fell on his back, the

muscle tone was increased, the eyes turned upward to

the left. The body temperature was 38.3˚C (rectal), the

attack lasted 5-6 minutes and stopped after Diazepam.

He began to bite very severely after the first attack.

Weeks before the attack he was restless and there was

an opisthotonal position. Otherwise he was very

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restless and wild. He danced regularly and constantly

turned around in circle.

Had love of Eggs, ate a whole Chalkpiece and Coal.

After repertorisation and study of Materia Medica

Cicuta virosa 200 was given and repeated twice in 10

months. The child remained well.

The Materia Medica Pura and Guiding

Symptoms give only “Coal” as per Proving but no

“Chalk”, ‘Chalk’ has entered into the Repertory may be

from Clinical Cases. [BOENNINGHAUSEN also gives

only desire for ‘Coal’. = KSS]

2. Surviving Radiation: Diospyros Kaki – The World

Tree

CREVELD Marijike (HH. 36, 1/2011)

This article is a reprint. It has been mentioned in

the QHD also – may be 10 years ago. It is once again

mentioned here to draw attention to its relevance to

Cancer.

This tree, Diospyros Kaki, survived the Plutonium

bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. Large city was

destroyed but this tree which was close to the epicenter

of the explosion survived!

The author gives cases in which surgery,

chemotherapy and Radiation have been helped and who

suffer from adverse effects have been helped by

Diospyros Kaki.

There is a study which points that honey bees lose

their way to return to their hive – this is called ‘Colony

Collapse Disorder’; Radiation is linked with this. There

is also the longterm exposure to mobile phone radiation

causing tumors in experimental rats. Therefore a

remedy to treat the ill effects of radiation is badly

needed.

[It is not clear whether there was a Hahnemannian

Proving and if so its symptoms. Also the availability of

this medicine, which promises to be of very great help

to Cancer sufferers = KSS.]

3. Delusions; thoughts come from the right side of

neck – Moreton Bay Fig

GRAY, Alastair (HH. 36, 2 & 3/2011)

Moreton Bay Fig was a Proving conducted in 1999

at Nature Care College in Sydney, Australia. The

Proving was done with a large number of provers with

11 students. Several symptoms were observed during

the trituration and succussion stages. As has been

observed in the last two decades a large number of

‘mental’ symptoms have been recorded. Part II of the

article gives the symptoms in the ‘Schema’ form.

4. Identifying the Kali group

MASTER, Farokh J. (HH. 36, 3/2011)

The title is self-explanatory

Symptoms are given covering all the Kali salts in

general. The author says, “… all the symptoms and

observations mentioned have been confirmed in my

practice.”

========================================

III. THERAPEUTICS

1. Breathe Easy!

Break free from the anguish of Asthma –

Homœopathy has answers

GOODMAN-HERRICK, Pearlyn

(HT. 32, 3/2012)

An estimated 25 million Americans have Asthma

and the number has been growing steadily. Asthma is

believed to cost U.S. economy $56 billion per year.

More than 3000 people in the U.S. die of Asthma each

year.

An estimated 70% of people with Asthma also have

allergies. Cold air, exercise and emotions trigger

Asthma.

Conventional medicine views Asthma as

controllable not as curable. Common medicines are

corticosteroids.

Homœopathy succeeds in reducing both the

intensity and frequency of asthmatic episodes. It offers

an opportunity to build the person’s immune system.

A 7-year-old boy with Asthma was sympathetic,

afraid of dark, of being alone, and thunderstorms.

Thirsty for cold drinks. Phosphorus made him better.

In six months no longer troubled with Asthma.

Jenny 42, periodic episodes of wheezing seemed

worse in Summer and Fall. Tight feeling in chest,

between midnight and 2 a.m. Had her first attack at 10

years with a fear of being abandoned. Neat, freak.

Chilly overall. Arsenicum 200. Over the next four

months, her breathing difficulties gradually receded. In

a year 90% better.

2. A matter of Life & Breath: Quick Action Against

Asthma

HAM, Natalie (HT. 32, 3/2012)

Stephanie, 6, with Asthma since an infant. First

allergic shiners, obstructed and runny nose and itchy

eyes along with Asthma symptoms. Her mother would

treat her naturally with change in diet, herbs and

vitamins. “Always overheated”. Complaining of being

hot all the time. Cough worse around 0300hrs. Worse

from warmth. Face red while coughing.

Desire to be uncovered.

Sulphur 200c. Within 15 minutes, cough

decreased. No wheezing.

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Next day briefly woke up at 3 a.m. and slept off.

Cough decreased by 90%. Less aggravated by heat and

was in better mood.

Sulphur 200 three times a day for few more days.

5 days later, relapse. Sulphur 1M. A month later,

no longer having any symptoms.

Based on her sensitivity to criticism and

reprimands, sensitivity to animals, strong desire to be by

the ocean, Carcinosin 30.

A year later minimal coughing in the allergy

season.

3. Forschende Praktiker?

Falldokumentation in der homöopathischen Praxis

(Case Recording in Homœopathic Practice)

KESSLER, Ulrike (ZKH. 55, 4/2011)

A small study of the Practice by homœopaths with

reference to case documentation and study of the

outcome for further development of practice, is

presented.

How is the case documented? In Electronic base

(Computer)? How and what symptoms are chosen for

repertorisation? Is the Computer Repertory used what

details are documented or the Conventional one?

Which symptoms and in which order did they go? How

much time does one take for the Interview, the first and

the subsequent follow-up interviews, etc. etc.

In this way the Practitioner becomes a researcher

too.

Proper Protocol will help right study of Materia

Medica and methods which are successful.

4. Zur Dosierung der homöopathischen Arzneimittel

(On dosage of homœopathic medicine)

DINGLER, Werner and RISSEL, Rogel

(ZKH. 55, 4/2011)

There is confusion in the minds of several

homœopaths as to what HAHNEMANN meant by

‘dose’, ‘small dose’, etc.

Source references from 1797 when HAHNEMANN

gave raw substances, 1800 (succussion and dilution)

1806, 1809, 1816 (varied succussions, dilutions) 1821,

1824, 1832, 1833, 1837, 1842, (Q potencies).

In 1832 he corrected his strict advice of one dose

only and wait, and instructed that in chronic diseases the

same medicine can be repeated in 7, 9, 12, 14 days as

required. He also advised smelling of one globule.

In the last edition of Chronic Diseases he advised

the dissolution of one globule in water and from that

solution a dose may be given after stirring the solution

vigorously.

In 1842 he advised to give the dose/s according to

the individual cases.

It is seen from a careful study of the sources,

HAHNEMANN meant the size, volume of the pill and

not the dynamisation, when he mentioned a ‘dose’.

5. Randomized controlled pilot study to compare

Homœopathy and Conventional therapy in Acute

Otitis Media

SINHA, MN., SIDDIQUI, VA, NAYAK, C. et al

(HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of

Homœopathy and Conventional therapy in Acute Otitis

Media (AOM).

Method: A randomized placebo-controlled parallel

group pilot study of homœopathic vs conventional

treatment for AOM was conducted in Jaipur, India.

Patients were randomized by a computer generated

random number list to receive either individualized

homœopathic medicines in fifty millesimal (LM)

potencies, or conventional treatment including

analgesics, antipyretics and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Patients who did not improve were prescribed

antibiotics at the 3rd day. Outcomes were assessed by

the Acute Otitis Media-Severity of Symptoms (AOM-

SOS) Scale and Tympanic Membrane Examination over

21 days.

Results: 81 patients were included, 80 completed

follow-up: 41 for conventional and 40 for homœopathic

treatment. In the Conventional group, all 40 (100%)

patients were cured, in the Homœopathy group, 38

(95%) patients were cured while 02 (5%) patients were

lost to the last two follow-up. By the 3rd day of

treatment, 4 patients were cured in Homœopathy group

but in Conventional group only one patient was cured.

In the Conventional group antibiotics were prescribed in

39 (97.5%), no antibiotics were required in the

Homœopathy group. 85% of patients were prescribed

six homœopathic medicines.

Conclusion: Individualized Homœopathy is an

effective conventional treatment in AOM, there were no

significant differences between groups in the main

outcome. Symptomatic improvement was quicker in the

Homœopathy group, and there was a large difference in

antibiotic requirements, favouring Homœopathy.

Further work on a larger scale should be conducted.

6. Homœopathy in paediatric atopic diseases: long-

term results in children with atopic dermatitis

ROSSI, Elio; BARTOLI, Paola et al

(HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Aim: To study the socio-demographic features, the

prescribed remedies and the outcome of atopic diseases

in children treated with Homœopathy at the

Homœopathic Clinic of Lucca (Italy), and the long-term

outcome of children suffering from atopic dermatitis

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(AD) after an approximate 8-year period (range 5-10

years).

Methods: Our data derived from an observational

longitudinal study carried out on 213 children (38.6%)

with atopic diseases out of 551 children consecutively

examined from September 1998 to December 2008. We

used the Glasgow Homœopathic Hospital Outcome

Score to evaluate the results that were classified on the

basis of a Likert scale.

Results: Eighty-three (39%) children were affected by

Asthma, 51 (24%) by allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, 76

(36%) by AD and 3 (1%) by food intolerance. Follow-

up patients were 104 (48.8%), and 65 (62.5%) of them

reported a major improvement or resolution. The

parents of paediatric patients suffering from AD, who

had started homœopathic treatment at < 4.9 years of age

were examined; 28/40 (70%) had a complete

disappearance of AD, 12/40 children (30.0%) were still

affected by AD; 8/40 (20%) had asthma and 8/40

patients had, or developed, allergic rhinitis.

Conclusion: These preliminary results seem to confirm

a positive therapeutic effect of Homœopathy in atopic

children. Furthermore, according to the data from the

literature paediatric patients treated with Homœopathy

seem to show a reduced tendency to maintain AD and

develop Asthma (and allergic rhinitis) in adult age.

7. Monitoring improvement in health during

homœopathic intervention. Development of an

assessment tool based on Hering’s Law of Cure the

Hering’s Law Assessment Tool (HELAT)

BRIEN, Sarah, B., HARRISON, Hugh, and

LEWITH, George (HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Introduction: Hering’s ‘Law of Cure’ is considered

important in Homœopathy and thought to predict a

positive outcome to treatment. No formal outcome

measures are currently available to monitor response to

homœopathic treatment on the basis of these

assumptions. We describe a simple assessment tool, the

Hering’s Law Assessment Tool (HELAT) to identify

and differentiate patient responses to homœopathic

treatment as corresponding to Hering’s Law from other

symptomatic responses. We describe the development

of the tool and assess its face, content and predictive

validity.

Method: The HELAT was initially developed through

literature review, discussion between homœopaths and

clinically experienced homœopaths to assess face and

content validity. In phase two, we tested its predictive

validity by hypothesizing that the HELAT total score

may predict changes in a clinical response (using

standard validated rheumatological outcome, the

American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20%) in 32

patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving

homœopathic intervention over 24 weeks as part of a

clinical trial.

Results: The HELAT was piloted and changed to

improve face and content validity and the final version

was then employed for phase two as a predictor of

outcome. HELAT total score predicted patient’s

clinical response (ACR20) [B= 1.142, SE = 0.462, P =

0.013] which was independent of practitioner assessing

the patients treatment response [B = 1.04, SE = 1.01, P

= 0.302].

Conclusion: The initial data suggests that the HELAT

may hold promise for a potential clinical and research

outcome measure in Homœopathy. Further work is now

needed to formally assess its reliability and validity for

potential use in clinical practice and trials.

8. Homœopathic medicines substantially reduce the

need for clotting factor concentrates in haemophilia

patients: results of a blinded placebo controlled

cross over trial

KUNDU, Tapas, SHAIKH, Afroz, KUTTY, Afzal,

& et al. (HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Background: Modern management of Haemophilia

patients is expensive: 90% of expenditure is on clotting

factor concentrates. Any intervention which reduces the

need for clotting factor concentrates in these patients

without compromising the quality of life is of interest.

Aims and objectives: To investigate the effectiveness

of individualized homœopathic medicines in reducing

the requirement of factor concentrates in haemophilia

patients.

Materials and Methods: In a single blind placebo

controlled cross over trial 28 consecutive persons with

haemophilia (PWH) with severe (24) or moderately

severe (4) disease received standard management with

placebo Homœopathy for 1 year and active

homœopathic treatment in the subsequent year with the

same conventional management. There was no wash

out period. They received standard managements for

any acute emergency during the study period.

Development of inhibitor during the study period was a

withdrawal criterion. Sample size for the trial was

calculated as 24 PWH.

Transfusion requirements, bleeding scores, pain scores

were evaluated blind by independent experts.

Homœopathic medicines were selected by experienced

homœopathic physicians depending on clinical

condition of the patient. Chi-squared and paired t tests

were used in statistical analysis.

Results: 28 patients were recruited. Homœopathic

medicines improved frequency of bleeding, extent of

bleeding, blood products consumed and pain scores (P <

0.0001). There was also significant improvement in

well being. Plasma levels of clotting factors did not

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change. No patients developed inhibitors during the

study there were no drop-outs.

Conclusion: Individualised homœopathic medicines

may have an important supportive role in the

management of PWH, where blood products and factor

concentrates are not easily available. Larger, perhaps

multicentric trials are warranted.

9. Frequently occurring polar symptoms assessed by

successful cases

RUTTEN, Lex (ALB) and FREI, Heiner

(HOM. 101, 2/2012)

Background: Frequently occurring symptoms with

opposite poles like ‘Cold ameliorates/aggravates’ are

regarded valuable for homœopathic practice, but are

insufficiently assessed and impossible to handle with

conventional repertorisation.

Method: In a pilot study 30 questions out of a standard

questionnaire in 102 cases responding well to five

medicines were analysed and compared with a control

group of 100 consecutive new cases. Outcomes of a

pivot table, Likelihood Ratio (LR) calculations and

Multivariate Analysis (MVA) were compared.

Results: Some questions were less useful than expected.

With an average of 4.8 useful answers per patient and

moderate LRs this questionnaire provided substantial

information. MVA was useful in emphasizing

differences between medicines and for differential

diagnosis.

Conclusion: The value of frequently occurring

symptoms could be much enhanced by scientific

assessment. We propose further research with an

improved questionnaire.

10. Homœopathic aggravation with

Quinquagintamillesimal potencies

ROSSI, Elio; BARTOLI, Paola et al

(HOM. 101, 2/2012)

Introduction: Homœopathic aggravation is the

exacerbation of some symptoms or the whole

pathological situation, followed by improvement of the

patient’s conditions.

Aim: To evaluate the typology, intensity and frequency

of homœopathic aggravation, especially with

Quinquagintamillesimal (Q, LM) potencies and its

prognostic value.

Methods: The homœopathic prescription strategy

evaluated consists in the administration of a single

homœopathic medicine in Q dilutions, starting with 6Q,

then a progressive scale of Q potencies. Patients whose

symptoms could be attributed to a wrong and in-

appropriate prescription, according to the criteria

previously described, were excluded.

Results Data was collected on 1108 patients

consecutively visited from 3rd October 2002 to 31st

December 2007, and 441 cases followed for at least 2

months (40% of total cases). 63 of these cases (14%

reported homœopathic aggravation: 7% reported

‘slight’, 5% ‘medium’, 2% ‘intense’ and 0.4% ‘very

intense’ aggravation. Homœopathic aggravation was

present in 21% of paediatric patients (≤ 14 years).

About 50% of the cases manifested homœopathic

aggravation 1 or 2 days after the prescription and for

67% of patients the symptoms lasted 1 week or less.

Patients with aggravation of the original disease had

significantly greater improvement than those patients

showing the aggravation of other, new or different,

symptoms or conditions, or no aggravation.

Conclusions: These data show that homœopathic

aggravation with Q potencies is quite frequent in

homœopathic clinical practice and seems to be

associated with better treatment outcome.

11. Homœopathy in Cancer

MASTER, Farokh (HH. 36, 1/2011)

Dr. MASTER writes about his experience with

some remedies in Cancer which have given good

palliation.

Carbo animalis: Has been helpful in ‘Common

Cancers’. Also Sarcoma. Cancer of Cervix and

mammary gland. Pain from cervix extends to the arms.

There is burning too like Kreosotum. For Cancer of

Cervix, the discharge from vagina is characteristic

Carb-an. for Cancer of lymph nodes.

For Kreosote the Keynote is corrosiveness.

Ulceration, destructiveness, necrosis.

Hydrastis canadensis – Cancer of Eyes, Ears, Nose,

Face, Mouth, especially Gums, Palate, Tongue,

Esophagus, Stomach, Colon, Liver, Pancreas, Rectum

etc.

It will be worthwhile if cases are also furnished.

12. Cancer and Pre-cancerous state

SINGH, Ajit (HH. 36, 1/2011)

This article is a study of the personality predisposed

Cancer. A list of the ‘Mental’ symptoms (Schroyen’s

Repertory in Radar 10. 5003) are given. These

‘mental’ are the ‘altered’ state that is ‘psychological

symptoms which are not normal.

13. Dealing with Cancer

KULKARNI, Ajit (HH. 36, 1/2011)

Dealing with Cancer is mainly dealing with the

mental symptoms of the cancer patient. Allaying the

fears, despair, sadness etc. Also dealing with the side

.

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effects of Chemotherapy, Radiations, relieving pains of

terminally ill patients.

14. Treating the Totality

SHARMA, Rajneesh Kumar

(HH. 36, 1/2011)

A case of Cancer, Glandular tumour right side of

neck in a female 30 year. She was treated with

Phosphorus 200 and then M and lastly Sulphur M

between 30.9.2005 and 4.12.2005. Completely cured.

The pathology and its reversal is seen in photographs at

every stage.

47 year-old male presented with colicky pain

epigastrium since six months, extending to the back

accompanied by vomiting and sour taste. Severe

heartburn. Anorexia. Weak, emaciated. Diagnosed in

AIIMS as Adeno Carcinoma.

Nux vomica 200, then Causticum 30, between 11

Dec. 2003 and 30 March 2004. Completely cured.

15. Sexually transmitted disease – A cured Case

DEY, Abhijit (HH. 36, 1/2011)

A male diagnosed (VDRL positive) STD patient

treated homœopathically. Cure confirmed by serology

tests. Phosphorus, Medorrihnum, Natrum muriaticum

were the remedies.

16. Cases of Cancer: Treated with Iscador Therapy

RASTOGI, D.P.

Iscador Therapy for Cancer.

MEHTA, Firuzi (HH. 36, 1/2011)

This is an anthroposophical medicine treatment.

17. Snakes – An Essay in Interpretation

ENGEL, H.H. (HH. 36, 1/2011)

This again is Anthroposophy. In the early 20th

Century and even in the 1970s there was much

discussion on anthroposophical understanding of

homœopathic medicines. Dr.Ed. WHITMONT, a

Jungian Psychologist brought in much understanding of

the sickness of the patient and linking the remedy to it.

Dr.E. SCHMEER also understood Anthroposophy and

interpreted ‘constitution’ and remedy selection. Karl

KÖNIG analysed the drug sources, its action in general

and Otto LEESER by understanding the chemistry of

the drug. W. GUTMANN also on signatures and

natures of the substances.

18. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and

Homœopathy

MASTER, Farokh J. (HH. 36, 2/2011)

ADHD or ADD cases are becoming more. Or

rather there is more awareness of this. Sometimes even

reasonably active children who do not pay greater

attention but would rather play more are brought in by

parents dubbing the child as hyperactive. It is not

unusual that children will not be contained. Excessive

disciplining will make it more rebellious.

Dr. Farokh MASTER has written a very good

article on this ‘disorder’. Ritalin was the medicine used

routinely in the West for this condition. Dr. MASTER

has presented two cases: one was treated with

Absinthium and the other with Saccharum lactis. He

has referred to Dr. Tinus SMITS for the application of

this remedy.

[Dr. Heiner FREI of Switzerland has made special

study of this disorder and treated several children with

appreciable success. He applied Boenninghausens

Therapeutic Pocket Book and his own method of

Polarity Analysis in selecting the remedy. Has authored

some books on this including an English version

recently = KSS]

19. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

SINGH, Ajit (HH. 36, 2/2011)

These children seem to have abundant energy.

This article is a brief overall study of the disorder.

No cases are cited. The author has given his own

‘additions’ to the Repertory to the Rubrics: 1) Careless

and negligent 2) Child – Concentration difficult,

distracted easily; and 3) Hyperactive.

The author ends: “There is no ‘cure’ for ADHD.

Children with this disorder seldom outgrow it; however

some may find adaptive way to accommodate the

ADHD as they mature ..”.

[It is not correct for the author to say that this

disorder is incurable. Several cases have been cured, a

good percentage indeed. It is unfortunate that the editor

has not mentioned anything about this conclusion by

Ajit Singh = KSS]

20. Managing ADHD

KUMAR Shiva (HH. 36, 2/2011)

3 – 5% School children suffer from this disorder.

It is more common in boys.

A case is mentioned. Calcarea carbonica 200 was

given to this girl of 8 years. The remedy was given

further in M and 10M and she became 90% improved.

Tuberculinum M was given as intercurrent remedy.

21. Histrionic Personality Disorder

BIDANI, Navneet (HH. 36, 2/2011)

The author discusses Histrionic Disorder.

.

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A woman with burning pain in stomach from eating

fruits for which she had marked craving, also had

personality disorder. On the totality (Mental Symptoms

and gastric disorder) of her case, was given Veratrum

album M and over a time span of 4 months, she made

very good improvement not only with regarding to her

gastric complaint but also her histrionic disorder.

22. Antisocial Personality and Homœopathy

SHARMA, Rajneeshkumar & RAJPUT, Ruchi

(HH. 36, 2/2011)

What is antisocial personality, what are the cardinal

features and the relevant rubrics in the Repertory are all

exhaustively discussed.

23. The treatment of nervous disorders, the importance

of physical symptoms and signs

BURNS, McK. (HH. 36, 2/2011)

This is a reprint of an old ‘gem’ from the British

Homœpathic Journal, July 1964. Six case studies are

presented.

Case 1: 48 year-old woman, mental depression, anxiety

attempted to take her own life, pain right knee which

suffered an injury while dancing. Orthopedist could

find no abnormality. She felt as if she had a steel band

tied tightly around the knee joint. She had an almost

irresistible desire to use foul language.

Anacardium produced almost miraculous results.

Her knee no more troubled her and she had no more

anxiety, depression, etc.

Case 2: 23 year-old female. Breathlessness from the

time she heard of her father’s sudden death. This

cleared after few weeks. Then anxiety, palpitation,

Tachycardia, constant pain in the left chest 5th rib

interspace. Depressed, weeping, fear of death, lost

weight.

Spigelia 30, 3 doses and Bryonia 3x morning and

evening. Within few weeks, became well and could go

to work, gained weight, became her old self.

Case 3: 54 year female. Severe Migraine of 10 years

duration every week or ten days, lasting up to 48 hrs.

depressed, tense and nervous.

Prunus gave considerable relief; repeated over the

next two years.

Three years later she came with Haemorrhoids.

She then said that she had similar attacks earlier too.

Aesculus 30, three doses and Nux vomica 3x b.d.

cleared up everything and her migraines too seemed far

better cleared. With Nux vomica continued she went on

to improve steadily and no more complaints.

Case 4: 53 year female: Anxious, Tense. Palpitation

night and day. Tremor felt throughout the whole body.

Loss of weight. Vague digestive complaints. Acidity.

Examination revealed peptic ulcer.

Acid sulph. 30, three doses, Nux vomica 3x b.d.

began to improve immediately, to complete recovery.

Case 5: 85 year Female. Became muddled and

unsteady in her gait. Suddenly became confused,

unable to stand upright. She deteriorated gradually.

Visual and auditory hallucinations. Became violent at

night, difficult to be controlled. Hyoscyamus and

Stramonium did not help. “When visited found her

hairnet was askew. I straightened it upon her head. She

pulled me towards her and said her “head was so itchy”,

and while she spoke she yawned continually. These two

symptoms made me try Nat.mur.30. By evening she

was completely clear mentally and had been able to take

little food. Next day she walked to the bathroom and

three days later was downstairs. She has been quite

normal ever since.

Case 6: 15 year male. At 5 year age, born imbecile

subject to convulsions since infancy and subject to

Epilepsy. On Phenobarbitone. Unable he speak or do

anything for himself. Had to be fed. Made some

improvements with Calcarea carbonica and Baryta

carb. Recently while talking his parents said that he

rubbed his nose often, as if itching. On this symptom

Cina 30 was given and he made a dramatic and

immediate improvement. His parents said that this

remedy was unlike anything ever given before or after.

Now there is hope that he may be able to fully become

normal.

24. Life style diseases are challenge to Homœopaths

MOHAN, G.R. (HH. 36, 2/2011)

Life style diseases are the result of an inappropriate

relationship of people with their environment. By 2020

lifestyle diseases are expected to claim 7.63 million

lives in India. They are different from other diseases

because they are potentially preventable. In all life style

disorders, maintaining factors are important in

prolonging the disease. The pseudo chronic disease is

the one which has been influencing the individual for a

prolonged duration, which has been continuing in his

life. – ref. Aph. 77.

Early diagnosis can be made by general physical

examination. Psychological counseling is also very

important, and homœopathic remedies.

25. Homœopathy heals Severe Cystic Acne

ROTHENBERG, Amy (HT. 32, 4/2012)

People with cystic acne suffer from painful bumps,

deep beneath the skin. Skin may be extremely inflamed

over large areas of the face, neck or back and painful to

touch or pressure. Scarring is common. Embarrassment

and low self-esteem are frequent accompaniments to

this condition.

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Lara, 40 years, suffered with cystic acne for 25

years. Nothing helped her. Never had much energy

since childhood. Always chilly, needing extra sweaters

and blanckets. Anxious about children and their future.

Chronic Sinusitis. Tendency to constipation. Shy. Low

self-confidence. Silica 12c, daily for 6 weeks + natural

medicine approaches. After 6 weeks, her skin looked

remarkably better. No big cysts. No angry areas. She

felt energized and excited and more confident. Advised

to continue Silica 12C. After three months, her skin

was perfect. No bumps, no acne, no redness. Silica 30c

one dose. In the next one year, one dose of Silica 200,

when her improvement appeared to be plateauing.

It is now 8 years and she simply no longer has acne.

26. Blemish Busting Remedies

HT STAFF (HT. 32, 4/2012)

Indications are given for Hepar sulph., Calcarea

sulph., Kali bromatum, Pulsatilla, Silica and Sulphur.

27. Top Student – Athlete Beats Acne

MOSKOWITZ, Richard (HT. 32, 4/2012)

A 14 year-old girl with cystic acne since 5 years,

also had pain right shoulder, right hip and thigh in the

past, with sweaty head and greasy face, she craved rich

foods. Calc. sulph. 1M. No change after a month.

Lycopodium 1M. Two months later, skin clearer.

Lycopodium 12c to use as needed for headaches and

back pain. Lycopodium 1M for a relapse and excellent

result.

28. Whooping cough on the rise again

MALERBA, Larry (HT. 32, 4/2012)

All indications are that whooping cough is on the

rise in the U.S. this year. More than 32,000 cases had

been reported by late October 2012 alongwith 16

deaths.

So there is over emphasis on additional pertussis

booster shots with possibilities of broad range of

adverse reactions.

Since treatment is so demonstrably inadequate,

prevention is promoted as the only game.

Homœopathy has a long standing clinical track

record for reducing the duration and severity of

symptoms of whooping cough.

The indications are given for the following

remedies: Drosera, Belladonna, Coccus cacti,

Ipecacuanha, Bryonia, Antimonium tartaricum, Cuprum

metallicum, Kali carbonicum.

29. Stop Shingles in its Tracks

OSKIN, Jamie (HT. 32, 4/2012)

Shingles may begin with burning, itching or

throbbing in the affected area, along with flu like

symptoms such as weakness, fatigue, headache or fever.

When the rash appears, usually a week or more later, the

pain is often severe. The eruptions progress from red

and flat to raised, vesicles that crust, scab over and

eventually fall off. 20% suffer from post herpetic

neuralgia.

76 years old Rick, having deep aching pain in the

area of his shoulder blade, since 2 weeks, then vomiting

and wandering body aches. He was restless, constantly

changing position. Then small red blisters on right

chest at the same rib level as the pain in his back. Pain

better by lying on heat pad and also by walking about.

Rhus tox 200, twice a day until his symptoms resolved.

The rash disappeared overnight. Other symptoms

resolved by 80-90%.

Shingles of the eyes

Barbara 57, with pain in and around left eye and an

eruption on her face. By the time she consulted

ophthalmologist, and diagnosed as shingles, it was

already 10 days, so only antiviral eye drops were

prescribed. No relief in the next several months.

Another new outbreak on left nostril since 10 days.

She had shingles several times since 1989.

Feeling in eye as if it is on fire, dryness of eyes.

Congestion and fullness in her sinuses above. Always

worse before a storm.

Shooting pain inside eye socket and radiate above

and to the outside of eye. Worse after reading or

computer work, from bright light.

Rhododendron 30 twice a day for a week. In two

days, the pain steadily improved. A week later, burning

and itching in her left eye gone. Shooting pain almost

gone. Able to tolerate light more. Not worse before a

storm. Shingles lesion inside her nose was completely

gone. Dryness of eyes better. But pain again increased

since 2 days. Rhododendron 200 twice a day. A week

later, her burning, shooting and squeezing pains were

almost gone. Two weeks later, new acute shingles

eruption below left eye due to very severe cloudy

weather, overwhelming stress and emotional turmoil

about her daughter’s depression.

Rhododendron 1M, every 2 hrs. within 2 days 75%

relief.

Her chronic allergies and her grief over her

daughter worsened a few days later. Natrum

muriaticum 200 daily.

A week later, eye pain continued to be less and her

allergies much better. Over the next several months

improved steadily with an occasional dose during

setback.

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IV. PHARMACOLOGY

1. The Science of high dilutions in historical context

WAISSE, Silvia (HOM. 101, 2/2012)

This paper begins from a discussion of the terms

currently applied to the preparations used in

homœopathic practice and relates them to the names

given to them by HAHNEMANN, the founder of

Homœopathy. The latter were directly related to the

notion of matter HAHNEMANN held, this is discussed

as it evolved from the earliest sources to the sixth and

final edition of the Organon of Medicine, through all

the editions of this work as well as many other hitherto

rarely explored sources. This review shows that

HAHNEMANN moved conceptually within the field of

concepts of late 18th- early 19th century science. This is

only natural, and, a legitimate object for studies of the

history of science and medicine.

========================================

V. VETERINARY

1. Indian Zoo treats Lions, Tigers & Bears with

Homœopathy

SHREYA ROY, Chowdhury (HT. 32, 3/2012)

Since 8 years, Veterinarians at the National

Zoological Park in Delhi, India, have been using

Homœopathy for difficult cases when conventional

Veterinary methods had failed. Two Asiatic lions and a

Himalayan black bear with hind quarter paralysis were

successfully treated with Homœopathy.

- The Times of India, June 5, 2012.

2. Rescued Dog Gets New Leash on Life

Homœopathy helps anxious animals transition from

Shelter to home

CHAPMAN, Sara Fox (HT. 32, 3/2012)

Rescued animals often come with emotional

baggage. They are anxious when left alone. Some are

afraid of noises or storms and may exhibit destructive

behavior. This lack of socialization can be helped with

Homœopathy and patience. They often benefit from

Natrum muriaticum or Ignatia.

Stan, two-year-old Golden Retriever mix, with

destructive behavior, tendency to escape and frequent

loose stools from stress or dietary changes. Anxious

from noises like gunshots. Other sharp noises also

frightened him. Confined spaces annoyed him. He is

submissive. Sensitive. Anxious during car rides.

Carcinosin (to address miasmatic state exacerbated

by his history of abuse or neglect by the previous

owner) 30- 200-1M “potency chord” – equal quantities

of these three granular potencies in one dose.

Aconitum 30 in water doses during acute bouts of

anxiety, trembling, restlessness, sudden terror.

A month later overall improvement in his level of

anxiety. Three minor destructive episodes. Loose

stools improved.

Repeated Carcinosin potency chord as

improvement reached a plateau.

A month later, further improved. One minor

destructive incident. Two months later, still loose

stools. Lycopodium LM1 after abnormal stools.

In the next 4 months two more doses of Carcinosin

potency chord and Lycopodium once or twice a week.

During car rides, his pupils are dilated, trembles,

panting heavily. Belladonna 30. A month later did

much better on 6 hour car ride.

In the next 2 years, no need for Carcinosin and

Lycopodium.

========================================

VI. RESEARCH

1. Homœopathic Research Matters

An Array of Recent Research

JOHNSON, Christopher (HT. 32, 3/2012)

The year 2012 has seen a large number of

impressive studies demonstrating the effectiveness and

validity of Homœopathy in a number of areas. Here are

a few.

Swiss Health Technology Assessment (HTA)

This report stands out as likely the most thorough

and comprehensive evaluation of Homœopathy ever

conducted. This report resulted from the

“Complementary Medicine Evaluation Programme” set

up by the Swiss federal Government in 1998 to assess

the appropriateness of including various holistic medical

therapies and systems.

The board recommended Homœopathy be included

in the statutory Health Insurance Scheme.

The authors of HTA concluded: “Taking internal

and external validity criteria into account, effectiveness

of Homœopathy can be supported by clinical evidence,

and professional and adequate application (can) be

regarded as safe”.

Homœopathy for Chronic Sinusitis

This study is one of the largest Homœopathy trials

ever to focus on a specific condition, funded by the

Central Council for Research in Homœopathy, India.

628 patients enrolled and finished with 550 patients.

88% had moderate/severe sinusitis suffering an

average 13.7 years. 84% had pathological changes. An

ENT Specialist and a Radiologist assessed each patient

to confirm diagnosis. Treatment consisted of

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individually prescribed homœopathic remedies and use

of daily steam inhalation.

After three months of treatment, those with the

most severe and moderate Sinusitis experienced a drop

in symptom severity from 8 to 1.5, 6 to 1.5 respectively.

At the end of 6 months 96% improved. (62%

marked improvement, 25% moderate and 10% mild).

Only 43% still had pathological X-ray findings. This is

highly significant since it has been demonstrated that

radiologic pathology in chronic sinusitis simply does

not improve spontaneously.

Homœopathy in malnourished children

The study conducted by researchers at Juan B.

Contreras and Marta Abreu de las Villas Universities,

Cuba and published in The International Journal of

High Dilutions Research, investigated the use of

standardized homœopathic product containing

homœopathically prepared Calcium salts, (Calcarea

flourica 30c, Calcarea carbonica 30c and Calcarea

phosphoric 30c) as an adjunct in the treatment of

malnourished children.

99 children (mostly aged 1-14 years) who were

below the third percentile in weight – height ratio were

randomly allocated to receive either the standard

protocol for malnourishment (adequate diet of

multivitamin) or the protocol plus the homœopathic

product. After one year, 84% of the children receiving

the homœopathic product achieved normal weight,

whereas only 30% of those receiving the standard

malnutrition protocol did so.

The potential public health implication of these

findings is immense.

2. Prospective observational study of 42 patients with

atopic dermatitis treated with homœopathic

medicines

EIZAYAGA, JoséEnrique & EIZAYAGA, Juan

Ignacio (HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a highly

prevalent chronic inflammatory skin disease which

usually develops during childhood. Despite being a

condition frequently treated with Homœopathy, the

evidence is still insufficient to define homœopathic

treatment’s efficacy and the best therapeutic strategies.

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of homœopathic

treatment of AD in a general homœopathic practice

setting.

Methods: Patients spontaneously seeking homœopathic

treatment meeting Hanifin and Rajka’s criteria were

prospectively treated. Severity of disease was evaluated

by Rajka and Langeland’s score and a set of four Visual

Analogue Scales (VAS) evaluating disease severity,

itch, general and psychological wellbeing and quality of

sleep. Assessed outcomes were: change in AD

extension, change in VASs, and a categorical scale for

global subjective perception of evolution.

Results: Forty two patients were eligible. Twenty-one

had other atopic comorbidities and 28 (66.7%) were

moderate or severe cases. Sixteen (38.1%) patients

dropped out. Significant differences were found

comparing first and last consultations in mean

percentage (95%Cl) of affected skin area, 21.1% (10.9;

31.4) versus 5.5% (1.3; 9.7) respectively, P = 0.002, and

in the change or the four VASs: [mm (95% Cl)]AD 31.1

(20.6; 41.7), P < 0.0001; Itch 35.0 (23.6; 46.4), P

<0.0001; General wellbeing 11.1 (1.2; 20.9), P <0.0188,

and Sleep 17.4 (5.0; 29.8), P < 0.0073. Homœopathic

aggravations were reported after 29.8% of prescriptions.

Twelve individualized homœopathic medicines were

prescribed; Sulphur accounted for 60% of cases with

good treatment response.

Conclusions: This study suggests that in a general

medical practice setting, homœopathic treatment could

be regarded as an effective choice for patients with AD.

3. The impact of the medical speciality in primary

health-care problem solving in Belo Horizonte,

Brazil: homœopaths versus family doctors: a

preliminary quantitative study

IANNOTTI, Giovano & MELO, M. Elza

(HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Introduction: This research project examined influence

of the doctors’ speciality on primary health care (PHC)

problem solving in Belo Horizonte (BH) Brazil,

comparing homœopathic with family health doctors

(FH) and homœopathic doctors work in PHC. The

index of resolvability (IR) is used to compare resolution

of problems by doctors.

Methods: The present research compared IR, using

official data from the Secretariat of Health and test

requests made by the doctors and 482 structured

interviews with patients. A total of 217,963

consultations by 14 homœopaths and 67 FH doctors

between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 were analysed.

Results: The results show significant differences greater

problem resolution by homœopaths compared to FH

doctors.

Conclusion: In BH, the medical speciality,

Homœopathy or FH, has an impact on problem solving,

both from the managers’ and the patients’ point of view.

Homœopaths request fewer tests and have better IR

compared with FH doctors. Specialization in

Homœopathy is an independent positive factor in

problem solving at PHC level in BH, Brazil.

4. Effects of Ignatia amara in mouse behavioural

models

MARZOTTO, Marta; CONFORTI, Anita; et al.

(HOM. 101, 1/2012)

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Background: Ignatia amara (Ignatia), a remedy made

from the Strychnos ignatii seeds, is used for anxiety-

related symptoms, but consistent evidence of its activity

in reproducible experimental models is lacking. An

investigation was performed in order to assess on mice,

by means of emotional response models, the activity of

homœopathic Ignatia dilutions/dynamizations.

Methods: Groups of 8 mice of the CD1 albino strain

were treated intraperitoneally for 9 days with 0.3ml of

five centesimal (C) dilutions/dynamizations of Ignatia

(4C, 5C, 7C, 9C and 30C). Control mice were treated

with the same hydroalcoholic (0.3%) solution used to

dilute the medicines. Diazepam (1mg/kg) was the

positive reference drug. Validated test models for

locomotion and emotional response, the Open-

Field(OF) and the Light Dark (LD) tests, were

employed. Five replications of the same protocol were

carried out, in a randomized way using coded

drugs/controls.

Results: In the OF the general locomotion of mice was

slightly decreased by Ignatia 4C, but not by Ignatia 5C,

7C, 9C and 30C, indicating the absence of unspecific

motor impairment or sedation by these

dilutions/dynamizations. Ignatia and diazepam seemed

to decrease the number of urine spots released in the OF

during 10 min, with borderline significance (P = 0.083).

In the LD the tested medicine showed anxiolytic-like

activity (increase of time spent and distance travelled in

the lit area), though to a lesser extent than diazepam.

The highest and most significant difference with

untreated controls (P < 0.01) was observed with the 9C

dilution/dynamization. Among the 5 replication

experiments, the best drug effects were obtained where

the baseline anxiety of mice was higher.

Conclusions: Homœopathic Ignatia

dilutions/dynamizations (peak at 9C) modify some

emotion-related symptoms in laboratory mice without

affecting locomotion.

5. Development of broiler chickens after treatment

with thymulin 5cH: a zoo technical approach

SATO, César; LISTAR, Veranice Galha &

BONAMIN, Leoni Villano

(HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Modulation of immune response due to Thymulin

5cH has been previously observed. The aim of the

present study is to evaluate the development of broiler

chickens treated with Thymulin 5cH by conventional

zoo technical indices, phytohemaglutinin induced

inflammation test and histomorphometric analysis of

lymphoid organs (thymus, Fabricius bursa and spleen).

Animals were divided in two groups: (a) test: birds with

free access to thymulin 5cH diluted into the drink water

and (b) control: birds with free access to water only,

from the 1st to the 42nd day of life. All experimental

procedures were done in blind. The results show that

Thymulin 5ch treated group had increased productivity

index compared to control (391.45 versus 261.93)

associated with higher viability in the 7th week

(p = 0.013), and a possible shunt to B lymphocyte

activity. The data suggest that thymulin 5cH could be a

viable method to improve productivity in poultry

production due to its immune modulation properties.

6. Lymphocyte proliferation stimulated by activated

Cebus paella macrophages treated with a complex

homœopathic immune response modifiers

MOREIRA, Carlos Onete Coelho; DA COSTA,

Joana de Fátima Ferreira Borges;; et al.

(HOM. 101, 1/2012)

Introduction: Canova is a complex homœopathic

medicine that enhances a specific immunologic

responses against several exogenous and endogenous

conditions. Canova activates macrophages both in vivo

and in vitro.

Aim and method: We evaluated the effects of

macrophages activated by Canova in vivo and ex vitro

in the proliferation of lymphocytes. Canova was used

to activate Cebus paella macrophages in vivo or ex

vitro with Canova. Lymphocytes were cultured with

the macrophage culture medium. The analysis of

canova effects in cultured lymphocytes was performed

according to the cell cycle phase using flow cytometry.

The Interferon gamma and Interleukin-5 cytokines

quantification in these lymphocyte culture media was

performed by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

(ELISA).

Results: We observed that Canova activates

macrophages in vivo and ex vitro. The lymphocytes

cultured in a supplemented medium with macrophages

activated by Canova treatment presented a higher

number of proliferation cells than lymphocytes not

exposed to macrophages activated by Canova. The

Interferon gamma and Interleukin-5 cytokines were only

observed in the medium of lymphocytes exposed to

macrophages activated by Canova. Thus, Canova has

potential as new adjuvant therapy.

7. Homœopathy in chronic sinusitis: a prospective

multi-centric observational study

NAYAK, Chaturbhuja; SINGH, Vikram; et al

(HOM. 101, 2/2012)

Objective: The primary objective was to ascertain the

therapeutic usefulness of homœopathic medicine in the

management of chronic sinusitis (CS).

Materials and methods: Multicentre observational

study at Institutes and Units of the Central Council for

Research in Homœopathy, India. Symptoms were

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assessed using the chronic sinusitis assessment score

(CSAS). 17 pre-defined homœopathic medicines were

shortlisted for prescription on the basis of

repertorisation for the pathological symptoms of CS.

Regimes and adjustment of regimes in the event of a

change of symptoms were pre-defined. The follow-up

period was for 6 months. Statistical analysis was done

using SPSS version 16.

Results: 628 patients suffering from CS confirmed on

X-ray were enrolled from eight Institutes and Units of

the Central Council for Research in Homœopathy. All

550 patients with at least one follow-up assessment

were analyzed. There was a statistically significant

reduction CSAS (P = 0.0001, Friedman test) after 3 and

6 months of treatment. Radiological appearances also

improved. A total of 13 out of 17 pre-defined

medicines were prescribed in 550 patients, Sil (55.2% of

210), Calc. (62.5% of 98), Lyc. (69% of 55), Phos.

(66.7% of 45) and Kali iod. (65% of 40) were found to

be most useful having marked improvement. 4/17

medicines were never prescribed. No complications

were observed during treatment.

Conclusion: Homœopathic treatment may be effective

for CS patients. Controlled trials are required for

further validation.

8. Effects of Calendula officinalis on human gingival

fibroblasts

SAINI, Pragtipal; AL-SHIBANI, Nouf; et al.

(HOM. 101, 2/2012)

Background: Calendula officinalis is commonly called

the marigold. It is a staple topical remedy in

homœopathic medicine. It is rich in quercetin,

carotenoids, lutein, lycopene, rutin, ubiquinone,

xanthophylls, and other anti-oxidants. It has anti-

inflammatory properties. Quercetin, one of the active

components in Calendula, has been shown to inhibit

recombinant human matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)

activity and decrease the expression of tumor necrosis

factor-α, interleukin -1β(lL) lL-6 and lL-8 in phorbol

12-myristate13-acetate and calcium ionophore-

stimulated human mast cells.

Objectives: To examine the effects of Calendula on

human gingival fibroblast (HGF) mediated collagen

degradation and MMP activity.

Material and Methods: Lactate dehydrogenate assays

were performed to determine the non-toxic

concentrations of Calendula, doxycycline and quercetin.

Cell-mediated collagen degradation assays were

performed to examine the inhibitory effect on cell –

mediated collagen degradation. Gelatin zymography

was performed to examine theireffects on MMP-2

activity. The experiments were repeated three times and

ANOVA used for statistical analyses.

Results: Calendula at 2-3% completely inhibited the

MMP-2 activity in the zymograms. Doxycycline

inhibited HGF-mediated collagen degradation at 0.005,

0.01, 0.02 and 0.05%, and MMP-2 activity completely

at 0.05%. Quercetin inhibited HGF-mediated collagen

degradation at 0.005, 0.01 and 0.02%, and MMP-2

activity in a dose-dependent manner. Calendula

inhibited HGF-mediated collagen degradation and

MMP-2 activity more than the same correlated

concentration of pure quercetin.

Conclusion: Calendula inhibits HGF-mediated collagen

degradation and MMP-2 activity more than the

corresponding concentration of quercetin. This may be

attributed to additional components in Calendula other

than quercetin.

9. Effects of two homœopathic complexes on bovine

sperm mitochondrial activity

M.AZIZ, Dhafer; SCHNURRBUSCH, Ute et al.

(HOM. 101, 2/2012)

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the

effect of two homœopathic complexes Ubichinon

compositum® (Ubi comp) and Coenzyme compositum

ad us. vet.® (CoQ10 comp) on bovine sperm

mitochondrial activity.

Methods: Sperm viability, acrosomal integrity and

sperm chromatin structure were estimated to detect the

possible side effect of complexes on other sperm

parameters.

Results: Mitochondrial activity was significantly

enhanced by both Ubi comp (P < 0.01) and CoQ10

comp (P < 0.05). No effects were detected in other

tested sperm parameters.

Conclusion: The tested homœopathic complex

medicines stimulate the mitochondrial activity of bovine

sperm without effects on their viability, acrosomal

integrity or chromatin structure. The possibility that

this translates into improved fertilization capacity in

artificial insemination should investigated.

10. The biopsychosocial model and its potential for a

new theory of Homœopathy

SCHMIDT, M. Josef

(HOM. 101, 2/2012)

Since the nineteenth century the theory of

conventional medicine has been developed in close

alignment with the mechanistic paradigm of natural

sciences. Only in the twentieth century occasional

attempts were made to (re)introduce the ‘subject’ into

medical theory, as by Thure von Uexküll (1908-2004)

who elaborated the so-called biopsychosocial model of

the human being, trying to understand the patient as a

unit of organic, mental, and social dimensions of life.

Although widely neglected by conventional medicine, it

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is one of the most coherent, significant, and up-to-date

models of medicine at present. Being torn between

strict adherence to Hahnemann’s original

conceptualization and alienation caused by

contemporary scientific criticism, Homœopathy today

still lacks a generally accepted, consistent, and

definitive theory which would explain in scientific

terms its strength, peculiarity, and principles without

relapsing into biomedical reductionism. The

biopsychosocial model of the human being implies great

potential for a new theory of Homœopathy, as may be

demonstrated with some typical examples.

11. Homœopathic Research matters

JOHNSON, Christopher (HT. 32, 4/2012)

As Homœopathy’s popularity continues to grow,

the chorus of critics becomes ever louder.

The research by most skilled scientists show that

whether or not any molecules of the original source

substance remain, homœopathic remedies are definitely

different from plain water.

In 2005, Rustom ROY, along with Richard

HOOVER, William TILLER and Iris BELL, published

a paper in the journal Material Research Innovation.

The paper demonstrated that different types of liquid

water, although identical in chemical composition, can

have important structural differences and therefore

different material properties.

The authors described a number of phenomena

resulting from the succussion phase of manufacturing

homœopathic remedies.

In 2007 ROY’s team published a paper in the

journal Homeopathy presenting evidence from their

lab, distinguishing between remedies and both plain and

succussed water and further between different potencies

within each remedy.

Vittorio ELIA, Professor of electro-chemistry at the

University of Naples, has been studying the Physico-

Chemical properties of aqueous solutions for over 40

years. He has published 110 scientific papers on the

subject, with citations by 400 authors.

He has published 23 papers on the study of

homœopathically prepared dilutions - by Calorimetric

Method.

Swiss chemist Louis ROY has been studying the

effects of low temperatures on material and biological

fluids for over 50 years. he is an expert on Freeze

drying and Thermoluminescence.

In 1998, ROY published a paper in Nature,

demonstrating the application of low temperature

thermoluminescence to the study of water (H2O) and

heavy water (D20). The data showed two distinct

shapes (peaks) of the graphed measurements.

In 2003, Roy published in Physica A, an important

statistical mechanics (physics) journal, in which this

technique was used to assess homœopathically prepared

Sodium chloride and Lithium chloride. The

Thermoluminescence glows were substantially different

and reproducible.

========================================

VII. GENERAL

1. Running an NHS community Homœopathy clinic –

10-year anniversary 2001-2011

BAWDEN, Stella (HOM. 101, 1/2012)

An outcome series was conducted over a five-year

period of patients attending a community NHS

Homœopathy clinic in Dorchester, Dorset. 273 new

patients were seen. 183 (67%) questionnaires were

completed at six months after initial consultation. 44%

of patients had been unwell for more than five years;

19% of all patients for more than 15 years. A wide

variety of conditions were seen, the largest group with

depression anxiety or grief. For follow-up patients 75-

81% indicated an improvement in their symptoms and

activity while 58% recorded an improvement in their

overall wellbeing. Six months after the initiation of

treatment 155 (84.7%) felt an improvement in their

condition with 148 (81%) attributing this to

Homœopathy. Nobody reported deterioration due to

homœopathic treatment; conventional drug use was

reduced in 46 patients (25%).

2. ‘Remote-controlling’ of Stem-cell differentiation

with Homœopathy

GANGAR, H.U. (HH. 36, 2/2011)

Abstract: Stem cells exist in all multi cellular

organisms. The two broad types of Stem cells are:

embryonic Stem cells and adult Stem cells. Plants also

have these two Stem-cell populations. However,

embryonic Stem cells of plant are known as apical

meristem of the shoot and the root whereas adult stem

cells of plant are called as lateral meristem. Flowers

arise from the shoot lateral meristem (adult stem cells).

The flowering process is regulated by a set of genes.

Stem cells possess the ability to renew themselves and

to differentiate into an intermediate cell type, which in

turn, differentiate into diverse range of specialized cell

types. Embryonic Stem cells can differentiate into all of

the specialized embryonic tissues. Adult stem cells

maintain and repair the tissues in which they exist.

However, in certain plants, adult stem cells possess

ability to differentiate into all type of cells to develop

itself into full plant. In recently ongoing medical

research, technologies are under development, in which

stem cells, obtained from variety of sources, are grown

and induced to differentiate into specialized cells by

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 129

culturing and sub-culturing under specific conditions.

Subsequent to initial differentiations, they are

transplanted into diseased body for intended repair.

This type of therapy, through transplant of cells, needs

their ‘physical’ handling. This paper presents

experiments on cotton, gram, mung, chauli etc., which

reveal that stem cell differentiations can be controlled

remotely, without physically handling them, through the

use of homœopathic drugs. It further presents cases of

application of this technology (of triggering adult stem

cells into differentiations through homœopathic drugs),

on human bodies to achieve repair/cure of certain

diseases like large cystocele/rectocele (causing vault

descent), Polycystic Ovarian Disease, development of

large nodules on vocal cord etc. (in advanced stages,

which otherwise essentially require immediate surgery.

3. How to make – break – your homœopathic practice

Let’s work at doing better!

BENYEI, Candace R. (HT. 32, 4/2012)

The author is a long time family Therapist, Clinical

Psychologist, Veterinary Practice Manager, Business

Consultant and Lay Homœopath.

Though we have one of the most powerful and least

harmful medicines, we are very bad at helping folks

take advantage of it because of the excessive charges

$200-300 for first 45 minutes, and $85-100 for a second

half-hour, never minding that insurance covers none of

it.

She feels homœopaths need to find a way to make

treatment relatively affordable, that we should become

true healers.

=======================================

VIII. BOOKS

I. Historische Wörterbuch der philoophie,

(Historical Dictionary of Philosophy) RITTER , J.

GRÜNDER, K., GABRIEL, G. (hrsg). Volltext-CD-

ROM des Gesamtwerks mit einer. Einführung von

Gottfried GABRIEL und einer Anleitung zur

Benetzung, Einzelatzlizenz. Basel: Schwabe 2010.

348-s Fr 244-Є. (German)

Review Matthias WISCHNER (ZKH. 55, 4/2011):

“…. It is a great idea. A large number specialists,

scholars are involved. The work is now offered in a

CD-ROM with good search facilities….. An

irreplaceable references work for scientific work

involving mental processes. A large fund of knowledge

is available in this work covering all aspects of

intellectual life. For those who want to manage

sincerely on a higher level of understanding the mental

scientific work on the background of Homœopathy this

work will be very useful.”

II. Duale Reihe Anamnese und klinische

Unterschung (Double streams Anamnesis and

Clinical Investigations), Füeßl, H.S., MIDDEKE, M.,

Stuttgart, Thieme: 2010. 4 überarb. Aufl. (4th

revised edition) 506. S., 675 Abb., kart., mit CD-

ROM, 44.95 Є (German). Review Matthias

WISCHNER (ZKH. 55, 4/2011):

“Anamnesis and physical investigation are the basic

pillars of the daily practice. According to the authors

this book is No.1 in the market introduces students into

these basic techniques. In respect to Homœopathy this

is specially interesting. However homœopaths have

been following now for 200 years the art of Anamnesis

….”

III. Apparative Hochpotenzherstellung in der

Homöopathie in den Vereinigten Staaten von

Amerika in Zeitraum von 1860-1920. Quellen und

Studien zur Geschichte der Pharmazie, Bd. 94,

GYPSER, H. (Mechanised Manufacture of high

Potency in Homœopathy in the United States of

America during the period 1860-1920. Sources and

Studies in history of Pharmacy, Vol. 94). Stuttgart:

Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, mbH; 2011.

Kart 254 S., Є21.95 (German) review Christian

LUCAE (ZKH. 55, 4/2011): “This was the text of the

Dissertation of Helke GYPSER in 2010 on history of

Pharmacy in the University of Marburg. Although the

subject is specific with reference to 60 years of

potentising, the book contains much not exactly

pharmaceutical. In 60 pages the author gives 60 years

of potentisation in general (HAHNEMANN,

KORSAKOFF, JENICHEN, etc.).

Main part of the book is about the Protoganists:

FINCKE, BOERICKE, SWAN, SKINNER, BURDICK,

DESCHERE, TYRELL KENT, SANTEE and ABT.

Many details hitherto not well-known regarding the

construction of the machines and other matters have

been collected and furnished. We learn that Bernhard

FINCKE hailing from Saxony has published and proved

by X-ray and in accordance with the principle of

continued fluxion used Brooklyn’s tap water and

potentized 30,000 medicines of 961 drugs.

We also get much information about life of Francis

E. BOERICKE, Samuel SWAN and Thomas

SKINNER.

A complete list of references, an index of persons,

subject etc. are given.

This doctoral thesis is very informative, thorough

and is a valuable source for all homœopaths.

IV. Homœopathy for Acutes and Emergencies, A

Practical Guide by R.S. PAREEK and Alok

PAREEK. Narayana Publishers, Kandern,

Germany 2012, Hardback,148 pages, $36.00. ISBN

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 130

978 3-943309-22-5. Reviewed by Francis TREUHERZ

(HT. 32, 4/2012).

This is a serious work to share clinical experiences

of a father and son and extended family, who have their

own hospital specializing in emergency surgical and

medical care in Agra, India.

The practical experience describes a partnership in

serious “Accident and Emergency” care between regular

and homœopathic medicine and surgery. The limits of

each are described in detail.

There are special chapters on Cardiac and

circulatory emergencies; neurological emergencies such

as stroke, intra-cerebral haemorrhage, epilepsy, transient

ischaemic attack; and more on psychiatry; trauma and

injury, post-operative care including iatrogenic

emergencies, oncology, alcoholism, environmental

disasters such as industrial pollution, perenicious

anaemia and more. Always there is respect shown for

the necessary medical and surgical care given.

========================================

IX. NEWS & NOTES

1. A plant poison becomes a money-spinner –

Professor B.M. Hegde (The Hindu, Chennai).

“The most exquisite pleasure in the practice of

medicine comes from nudging a layman in the direction

of terror, then bringing him back to safety again.” –

Kurt Vonnegut.

China has a valley in the north where the

environment is very hostile - old, dark and lonely.

Small plants live there very precariously. Red yeast rice

is a very small plant there which has so many enemies

locally as they find the rice tasty. Nature equips all of

us, including red yeast rice plants, with tricks to live in

spite of the hostile atmosphere. This rice produces a

poison, lovastatin, which kills all foolish predators.

One researcher from the U.S. Government found

this poison and took it back home for further study. But

it proved to be pretty useless from the U.S. Army point

of view. However, this poison was seen to be blocking

an important enzyme known as the HMG-CoA

redutase. This enzyme is responsible for Cholesterol

production in the liver. The Pharma lobby found out

that, Lovastatin, in smaller doses, blocks Cholesterol

production in our liver.

By this time Cholesterol, the main lifeline of our

existence, was already made into a demon needing to be

killed at any cost. Many of you might not know that it

was a lie. But we believe in telling lies to people. Truth

telling and medicine just do not go together. Those of

you who want to know the truth should visit the site:

www.thincs.org

The medical world did not have a good looking,

tasty poison to bring down the Cholesterol our own liver

keeps producing for our good. “Right” thinking people

in the pharma lobby must have had a brilliant idea. Why

not use the Chinese red yeast rice plant poison to block

the liver’s Cholesterol factory?

The other leading drug that we had at that time was

Cholestyramine, sand like powder, which had to be

taken three times a day in two large tablespoons. A

majority of patients used to vomit and stop taking the

medicine. The business was not too good in that area.

The plant poison came in handy at that time.

Soon we created enough “evidence” to show that

Lovastatin reduces the Cholesterol level in the blood

report effectively. The FDA, in its inimitable style,

approved this drug for lowering Cholesterol. Industry

sponsored “thought leaders” soon got into action to have

several studies done to show how good this drug was

and went round the world delivering talks based on

company produced “science” and succeeded in

convincing the gullible medical world about the virtues

of this red yeast rice poison.

Special conferences were organized lavishly where

the invited “scientists” were feasted and entertained to

boost sales and it was shown that the drug company

profits went up exponentially to make shareholders

happy. The company executives laughed their way to

their banks!

To give the reader the taste of one such conference

on fat hypothesis in disease we will discuss that (in)

famous Transatlantic Conference on Cholesterol,

presided over by the famous Scottish scientist, Sir

Michael Oliver, Professor of Cardiology at the Royal

Infirmary in Edinburgh and for a term President of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and an FRS

himself. He was a no-nonsense scientist and the

conference ended in total disagreement about the role

Fat plays in vascular disease!

While on his flight back over the Atlantic, Sir

Michael was reading The New York Times, in which

there was a report on that conference with a title:

Consensus Conference on Cholesterol with his name

mentioned. He was surprised and equally enraged at the

blatant lie. When he landed in Edinburgh, he wrote an

article in the Lancet titled Consensus or non-senses

Conference on Cholesterol? There was a long-drawn

debate raging for a long time after. This will give you

an idea how clouded the area is.

Now we have enough and more evidence to show

how dangerous this red yeast rice poison is for the

human body. While it definitely reduces the blood

report of the fat profile, there is still no evidence that it

reduces the outcome of premature death. In fact, we

have evidence to show that in the long-run these drugs

increase total mortality. In medical research, patient

.

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death is of no consequence. It is only a statistic! How

does this happen? The enzyme HMGCoA reductase

blocks many other routes in the liver, the most

important being production of Mevalonic acid, a vital

part of good health and longevity.

There are rare births with congenital mevalonic

acid deficiency. The child looks like an old man at one

year and dies by the age of 2-3! If a doctor has seen a

child with that disease, she/he will never prescribe this

poison to any patient.

One other salient feature needs to be mentioned

here. The cell wall in our body is made up of

Cholesterol. The wall has to be strong to be

hydrophobic. Low Cholesterol levels make cell walls

weak, inviting cell necrosis, something that abets

Cancer growth!

Although the jury is still out on this poison, there is

enough and more evidence to show that the red rice

plant had this very powerful weapon to survive in that

extremely hostile terrain in the cold valley of North

China. I dare not prescribe that unless it is a terminal

illness.

“… that statins are a widespread conspiracy aimed

at fleecing the public and ruining their health. In fact,

the majority of studies show that men, just like women,

die more from heart disease if they have low

Cholesterol levels. And yet doctors are busy

prescribing Cholesterol-lowering medication to millions

of men around the world.” – Campbell-McBride

(The writer is a Cardiologist and former Vice-

Chancellor, Manipal University.

Email:hegdebm@gmail.com)

II. Why Novartis Case Will Help Innovation: (The

Hindu, April 15, 2013)

On April 1, 2013, the supreme court upheld the

decision to deny patent protection to Novartis

application covering a beta crystalline form of imatinib;

which is very effective against the form of Cancer

known as Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia. The judgement

marked a crucial conclusion to a saga that has been

several decades in the making; started in 1972. It

enables the explosive growth of the Indian generics

industry into the world’s largest exporter of bulk

medicines.

The case the Supreme Court heard was whether

Novartis beta crystalline form of imatinib was worthy of

patent protection: its judgement was that this

modification by Novartis did not satisfy the standard of

inventiveness required under Indian patent law.

The outcome of this nuance and originality?

Imatinib will continue to be available to patients in

India from multiple suppliers at a price 10 times less

than the current cost of Glivec, approximately 27,000

cancer patients in the country who pay for their imatinib

will continue to have access to the medicine in the

public and private sectors at the lowest cost possible.

In developing country like India, a hackneyed

narrative has emerged, warning us that this judgement

will have a negative impact on innovation in the long

run. The most useful outcomes of the judgement is a

renewed focus on innovation and how it would be

rewarded. [Behind the headlines foretelling various

levels of doom is the death of innovation in the country

for the end of research for diseases is the popular idea

that patents are proxy for innovation. The patents are

widely understood as short-term monopolies enshrined

in the law and provided as incentive to inventors on the

evaluation of publicly disclosed innovation.]

In the last three decades, the global gold rush for

patents has been dominated by minor and mostly in-

consequential innovations. (This is because weak

standards in the patent laws of developed countries

(U.S. & Europe) have encouraged this shift. The

whittled-down, lobbied-out patient regime is

characteristic of these countries and other less

developed countries where they influence the polity is

‘norm’ to which India now finds itself an ‘outlier’. The

outlier is a solution, the norm is the problem).

The real innovation crisis: Pharmaceutical research

and development turns out mostly minor variations on

existing drugs most new drugs are not superior on

clinical measures. Secondary patents extend patent life,

thereby, the monopoly pricing of pharmaceutical

products long beyond their designated life span. Weak

laws will only serve to extend commercial monopolies

at low levels of innovation and will no longer provide

the incentive for genuine innovation.

The Indian patents Act of 1970 was a game

changer; it shook up the pharmaceutical industry and

altered it irreversibly. The new, empowered scenario

was illustrated during the peak of the HIV/AIDS

treatment in the first decade of 21st century. Countries

like Brazil, Thailand, South Africa and India took health

security into their own hands. The Indian patents

Amendment Act of 2005, gave us the law we have

today. The Supreme court judgement is all the more

important as a result, for it shows a new way may be

hard and tiresome, but is ultimately possible.

III. Musical taste and dementia (The Times of India,

Mumbai 13 Jan. 2001).

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE described old age as

second childishness. A paper in Neurology by Giovanni

FRISONI and his colleagues at the National Centre for

Research and Care of Alzheimer’s Disease in Brescia,

Italy shows that one form of Senile Dementia can affect

musical desires in ways that suggest a regression, if not

to infancy, then at least to a patient’s teens.

Frontotemporal dementia is caused, as its name

suggests, by damage to the front and sides of the brain,

.

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regions concerned with speech and higher functions

such as abstract thinking and judgement.

Frontotemporal damage therefore produces different

symptoms from the loss of memory associated with

Alzheimer’s disease. Frontotemporal dementia is rarer

than Alzheimer’s. In the past five years the centre in

Brescia has treated some 1,500 Alzheimer’s patients; it

has seen only 46 with frontotemporal dementia.

Two of those patients intrigued Dr. FRISONI – one

was 68 year old lawyer, the other a 73 year old

housewife. Both had undamaged memories, but

displayed the sorts of defect associated with

Frontotemporal Dementia diagnosis that was confirmed

by brain scanning.

About two years after he was first diagnosed the

lawyer, once classical music lover who referred to pop

music as mere noise, started listening to the Italian Pop

band. The housewife had not even had the lawyer’s

love of classical music having never enjoyed music of

any sort in the past. But about a year after her diagnosis

she became very interested in songs that her 11yr. old

grand daughter was listening to.

FRISONI speculates that illness is causing people

to develop a new attitude towards novel experiences.

Alternatively, the damage may have affected some

specific neural circuit that is needed to appreciate

certain kinds of music. Whether that is a gain (or) a loss

is a different matter. As Dr. FRISONI puts it in his

article de gustibus non dis-putandum est. Or, in

plainer words, there is no accounting for taste.

IV. Breast beating about Cancer (The Hindu,

Chennai. June 5, 2013).

In the battle of the female cancers, breast cancer has

overtaken cervix as the top cancer among women in

Chennai.

Statistics from the Madras Metropolitan Tumour

Registry at the Adyar Cancer Institute’s Hospital

registry indicate that a subtle change has taken place

that has had Breast Cancer incidence growing at a much

higher rate than cervical cancer.

A comparative study between the incidence of two

conditions:

1) In 1982-87 – incidence of cervical cancer in the

registry was 44.3 per 1,00,000 population and

Breast Cancer incidence was 19.1.

2) In 2009-2010, cervical Cancer incidence had

dropped to 19.3 while that of Breast Cancer rose to

35.8 per 1,00,000.

In Rural areas, cervical cancer still remains high.

But in urban areas, Breast Cancer is still ahead. Greater

awareness has led to a reduction in the number of cases

of virally – contracted Cervical Cancer.

Education is the key, when girls study more, they

are more likely to have better genital hygiene; Dr.

SHANTHA, Chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute

adds. Dr. SWAMINATHAN explains that in the

metros, late age of marriage, child bearing and fewer

children have probably to do with the reduction of

Cervical Cancer cases. With urbanization, there have

been consequent lifestyle changes – a sedentary life and

diet of fast foods.

V. Amorous Worms Reveal Effects of Chernobyl.

(The Hindu, Chennai, April 24, 2003).

According to Ukrainian scientists, the worms

contaminated by radioactivity from the Chernobyl

Nuclear accident 27 years ago have changed their sexual

behavior to increase their chances of survival. It is one

of the first pieces of direct evidence on how wildlife is

affected by radioactive pollution.

Although there is a wealth of evidence on the

impact of ionizing radiations on humans, its effects on

wildlife are poorly understood. International

Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has

launched an investigation into how best to safeguard

“non-human species”.

Gennady POLIKARPOV and Victoria

TSYTSUGINA from the Institute of Biology of the

Southern Seas in Sevastopol studied the reproduction

of certain sedimentary worms that are vital to aquatic

ecosystems. They compared the behavior of three

species in a lake near Chernobyl with the same species

in a lake 20 Kilometers away. The lakes had similar

temperatures and chemical composition; but the worms

in the Chernobyl lake had received 20 times as much

radiation as those in the other lake. The researchers

found some remarkable changes in the worms’ sexual

habits.

Two species had switched from asexual to sexual

reproduction, as they are capable of doing. The

proportion of Nais pardalis seeking partners for sex was

5 percent in the normal lake but 22 percent in the

Chernobyl lake, while the proportions of Nais

pseudobtusa doing the same were 10 percent and 23

percent respectively. The third species, Dero obtusa,

showed double the rate of asexual reproduction in

polluted lake. Sexual reproduction allows natural

selection to promote genes that offer better protection

from radiation damage, and “the resistance of

populations as a whole will be increased”, says

POLIKARPOV.

Carmel MOTHERSILL from the Dublin Institute

of Technology, one of the experts helping the ICRP

develop its new policy on protecting wildlife.

VI. Freedom from Pain. (The Hindu, Tuesday,

October 19, 2010).

Arthritis (World Arthritis Day was on October 12)

a generic name for over 100 diseases and conditions that

affects joints and surrounding tissues and cause mild-to-

.

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severe pain, joint tenderness and swelling can affect

anyone – race, gender, age no bar.

According to a Mayo clinic study, the incidence

and prevalence of Rheumatoid Arthritis among women

is rising. About 60% of those with Arthritis are female

especially among elderly women. P.V.

JAYASHANKAR, President, Tamil Nadu Orthopaedic

Association agrees that they see more women with

Arthritis.

Older people are likely to develop it; overweight,

injury to joints may cause Arthritis. The risky category

are women who choose a “sedentary lifestyle; obese are

pre-disposed to inflammatory Arthritis such as RA have

a touch of Diabetes, Hypothyroidism and Hyper

cholesterolemia. Others at risk would be post-

menopausal women, those with family history of

Osteoporosis; and who smoke and drink. Its also a side

effect of Gluco corticoid medications and also women

taking medication (aromatase inhibitors) for Breast

Cancer.

Arthritis is painful, limits mobility. It can be

prevented, with planned exercises, Yoga, nutritional

supplements and weight control.

VII. Revival of Risky Medical X-Ray Practices: (The

Hindu, Chennai. May 23, 2002).

JACK SCHUBERT and RALPH E LAPP in their

eminently readable book entitled ‘Radiation – what it

is and How it affects you’ wrote about a Medical

practice that had, in the fifties, which became almost a

standard, among many firms, they used to send their

executives off to a clinic for a complete annual medical

checkup. It included X-ray screening of the lungs,

heart, stomach, upper and lower intestinal tracts,

Kidneys and other organs.

They received a whopping radiation dosage of

about 50 roentgen in the bargain! (Roentgen is a unit of

radiation exposure; a chest X-ray may involve an

exposure of about 0.1r).

On April 26, 2002, the U.S. Food & Drug

Administration (USFDA) noted that some medical

imaging facilities are now promoting and marketing

whole body CT screening as preventive health measure

to healthy individuals who have no symptoms or

suspicious of disease. FDA asserted that it knows of no

scientific study demonstrating that whole body CT

screening is effective in detecting any particular disease

early enough for the disease to be treated or cured.

According to FDA “Any such presumed benefit of

whole body CT screening is uncertain, and such benefit

may not be great enough to offset the potential harms

such screening could cause. Public health agencies and

National Medical Societies – the American College of

Radiology, the American College of Cardiology and the

American Heart Association – do not recommend CT

screening”.

CT screening may help to determine the extent of

the disease. But it is not to be used indiscriminately.

Screening of Symptom–less patients provides uncertain

benefit with potential for some risk.

The effective dose in CT procedure is not less than

the lowest dose received by some of the survivors of the

atomic bombs. All radiation doses have an associated

risk, a small possibility of developing radiation induced

Cancer some time later in life.

FDA warns that for a person without symptoms, CT

screening is unlikely to discover serious disease and the

potential harm to the individual may be greater than the

presumed benefit.

On 13th April 2002, The British Medical Journal

published a letter by consultant radiologist K.GROWER

THOMAS and his colleagues from several other

hospitals. They compiled a simple questionnaire and

interviewed 130 doctors of all grades including

consultant radiologists. Only 3/130 scored a pass mark

of 50% in spite of a generous marking scheme and no

negative marking. “The degree of knowledge was

inversely proportional to seniority, with consultants

scoring less than junior colleagues.” Many specialists

were not equipped to offer advice on the magnitude of

radiation doses in different medical X-ray procedures.

If physicians knew about the relative magnitude of the

doses in various procedures, it may help to reduce

unwanted referrals of symptom-free patients.

[Readers are requested to read this carefully and not

merely agree to CT scans and such scans radiation

technique = KSS]

VIII. It’s a PATH of violations, all the way, to

vaccine trials: Parliamentary panel. (The Hindu,

Sept. 2, 2013).

Accusing the international organization PATH

(Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health) of

exploiting with impunity the loopholes in the system

during a trial of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)

vaccines, a parliamentary panel has also questioned the

roles of the Indian Council of Medical Research and the

Drug Controller–General of India in the entire episode.

The issue pertains to trials conducted by two U.S.

based pharmaceutical companies through PATH on

tribal school girls in Khammam distinct in Andhra

Pradesh and Vadodara in Gujarat in 2012. The trials

were stopped only after the matter received media

attention following the death of seven girls. In its

report, presented to parliament, the committee has said

the ICMR representatives apparently acted at the behest

of PATH in promoting the interests of the Vaccine

manufacturers, and recommended that the Health

Ministry review the activities of the functionaries of the

Council involved in the PATH project.

The Department of Health Research/ICMR “have

completely failed to perform their mandated role and

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 134

responsibility as the apex body for medical research in

the country. Rather, they have even transgressed into

the domain of other agencies which deserves the

strongest condemnation and strictest action against

them”.

The Committee also questioned the ICMR’s

decision to commit itself to promoting the drug

inclusion in the universal immunization programme

before any independent study on its utility and rationale

of inclusion in the UIP was undertaken.

Had PATH been successful in getting the HPV

Vaccine included in the Universal immunization

programme of countries concerned windfall profits

would have been generated for manufacturers by way of

automatic sale, the Committee said. It asked the

Government to take up the matter with these countries

through diplomatic channels.

After drawing attention to gross violation of ethics

during the conduct of trials, the Committee said PATH

should be made accountable and the government should

take appropriate steps in the matter, including legal

action against it for breach of laws of the land and

possible violations of laws. Describing this act of the

PATH as a clear-cut violation of human rights and case

of child abuse The National Commission for Women

should also take Suo motu cognizance of this case as all

poor and hapless subjects were female.

[Is the ICMR not guilty? Should it not be held equally

responsible for the death of seven poor girls? There are

several unethical experiments leading to loss of life, but

the medical fraternity appear quiet. Apathy is abetment,

one should remember = KSS].

IX. SC Notice of PIL against Pentavalent Vaccine

for Infants (The Times of India, Sep. 3, 2013).

PIL petitioner Yogesh Jain, a former Pediatrician in

AIIMS and now a public health physician in Bilaspur

district, alleged a conspiracy in closing down of public

sector units manufacturing the proven DPT (Diphtheria

Pertusis & Tetanus) Vaccine in 2007 by the Health

Minister to clear way for introduction of Pentavalent

Vaccine.

The Government of India decided to pre-empt the

reopening of PSUs and distribution of DPT at low

prices by making an abrupt switch to Pentavalent

Vaccine (which is to immunize a child against DPT plus

Hepatitis B and Haemophilis Influenza type B or HIB).

“The strategy was to make out as if DPT was

obsolete and was bound to be replaced by Pentavalent

Vaccine. Any possibility of PSUs restarting DPT

production was made redundant by ousting it from the

public health system.”

The petitioner said though other countries, both

developed and developing, had banned the Pentavalent

Vaccine and taken swift action in the face of infant

deaths, the Health Ministry decided to launch this under

UIP.

To justify introduction of Pentavalent Vaccine in

India, interested parties have made attempts to

exaggerate the country’s HIB and Hepatitis B disease

burden, despite opposition from public health experts,

the vaccine was launched in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in

December 2011. Within days of introduction, the new

Vaccine resulted in death of two babies in Kerala.

Subsequently, 15 infants died from Vaccine related

complication in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the year

2012.

On April 26, 2012, the Ministry of Health and

Family Welfare announced that it would introduce the

Pentavalent Vaccine in five more states – Gujarat,

Haryana, Karnataka, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and

Pudhucherry – by Oct. 2013. The Ministry launched the

Vaccine in Haryana in Dec. 2012 without analyzing its

effects in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine PIL

alleging the increase in infant deaths after

administration of Pentavalent Vaccine.

[Neither the Pharmaceutical Company nor the

Govt. which blindly permits the use of the Vaccine nor

the Physicians who prescribe/apply it, have the real

benefit of the people at heart. In fact they have no

heart. It is only money in place of heart = KSS].

X. Stand up for Homeopathy! (HT. 32, 3/2012).

Powerful business interests in Europe, Canada &

United States are using every means possible to disrupt

the homeopathic community and discourage the use of

this grand system of medicine. NCH has been equally

active, aggressively promoting Homœopathy while

working hard to frustrate our adversaries’ efforts to

spread misinformation.

[This is an eternal battle, as between the Demons and

Angels or Devas and Asuras in the Hindu Mythology =

KSS].

XI. There was a small write-up in the English daily

Indian Express, dated 9 January 1997, titled ‘A tree

grows in Gulmarg’.

It is about the tree Taxus baccata. “There is a tree

growing in the slopes of Jammu & Kashmir that speaks

more eloquently on the state of Indian science than any

luminary who graced the podium of the just concluded

Indian Science Congress. The therapeutic pain-

relieving properties have long been known in the local

communities; but as usual it requires Western Scientists

to bring home to this country, the magical potential of

Taxus baccata as an anti-cancer agent. Meanwhile the

tree itself is pillaged by the local forest Mafia for its

invaluable bark and leaves to meet the demand from

German and American Laboratories researching into its

properties. Today, like the Indian Tiger, Taxus baccata

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 135

which had grown in large tracts of the Himalayan

forests and is now found only in Gulmarg, is on the

verge of extinction ……”

In the ‘Science & Culture, Vol.77, 1-2/2011, J.S.

Rawat, et al of the Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills,

Ita Nagar, Arunachal Pradesh, write about this condition

in the Taxus baccata forest in West Kameng Dt.

Arunachal Pradesh.

There is a worldwide demand for the bark of Taxus

baccata. The present study gives a very pathetic picture

of the illegal trade since 1990s. “Interactions with the

villagers disclose that Taxus in pure stands is no more

available in the nearby vicinities. The random transacts

in the forest areas reveals many dead plants in different

areas of the district. Out of the 143 plants located 105

are dead trees, only 4 are live trees, 14 are saplings and

20 are newly growing seedings.”

[There seems to be no efforts to regenerate the

stock, and the Taxus baccata seems to be very near

extinction. There also seems to be a strong Mafia

involved in the demolition of this plant. If even at this

near-end stage, the States of J & K, and Arunachal

Pradesh and the Government of India do not wake up

then that will be the end = KSS].

XII. Homœopathy in the News.

Queen Elizabeth and her Homœopathic Kit (HT.

32, 3/2012).

During her 60 years reign, the Queen has visited

more than 100 countries and along the way has

perfected the art of staying healthy, looking faultless

and keeping cool under pressure. Her luggage includes

60 vials of homœopathic medicines, carried in a special

leather case, without which she won’t travel anywhere.

 - The Daily Mail, May 25, 2012.

XIII. Homœopathy relieves hot flashes (HT. 32,

3/2012)

A multi-center, clinical trial, in France found a

combination of homœopathic remedy effective in

reducing the frequency of hot flashes. 101 menopausal

women over age 50 who experienced more than 5 hot

flashes daily were enrolled in the study via 35 different

gynaecologists in private practice. 50% received 2-4

tablets of the homœopathic remedy for 12 weeks and

the other 50% received identical looking placebo

tablets. Those receiving the homœopathic remedy

experienced significant reduction in hot flashes

compared to those receiving placebo.

The combination medicine was manufactured by

Boiron and contained Actea racemosa 4c, Arnica

Montana 4c, Glonoinum 4c, Lachesis muta 5c and

Sanguinaria canadensis 4c. – COLAU JC et al.

DRUGS R.D. AUG.1, 2012.

[This ‘remedy’ is not genuine Homœopathy in the sense

that five substances have been combined into a complex

one. It is the experience of almost every homœopath

that single remedy appropriate to the patient with

flashes, has cured well = KSS].

X. Growth projected for U.S. Homœopathic

market. (HT. 32, 3/2012).

The largest independent publisher of U.S. industry

research IBISWorld’s press release states that “The

aging population and struggling US economy have

fostered mounting interest in homœopathic healing

methods. This trend has spurred growth in the

Homœopathy industry with double-digit sales growth in

recent years. The report projects that revenue will

increase in the next five years.

-PR Web, July 18, 2012.

XV. CUBA: Alternative medicine in use 25-30% of

time.

In June 2012, Cuba held its 5th National

Homœopathy Conference along with the 4th National

Convention of Bio-Energy and Natural Medicine.

Traditional/alternative Medicine has been part of the

Cuban Health Care System for 20 years and is seen as a

means of sustainable development. Cuba is also

building a center to increase production of Vidatox, a

homœopathic medication against Cancer that has the

venom of the local scorpion as its essential ingredient.

 IPR Strategic Business Information

Database, June 10, 2012.

XVI. Homœopathy Web Pioneer Creates Waves

of Awareness. Intrepid, inspired and optimistic: Meet

Debby Bruck. Interview by Vatsala SPERLING.

Debby BRUCK, is the founder of Homœopathy

World Community (HWC) – a vibrant, International

Social networking website for professional homœopaths

– in 2009.

Here members can chat, have formal discussions,

support one another, plan events, share ideas,

photographs and Videos. HWC is by – invitation,

which means a person must be accepted for membership

before they can comment or post articles.

Many join HWC to share their knowledge and

experience. They also make connections online and

then meet face to face at meetings, workshops and

conferences to solidify their bonds.

Majority of the members live in India, with the US,

UK, Pakistan, Canada and Australia following. There

are members from 60 countries.

The website hosts forum discussions, blog articles,

Blog Talk Radio shows, livestream Video Health Inn

shows. The site is brimming with useful and relevant

content.

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 136

[It appears to be useful for colleagues to join the HWC

– Homœopathy World Community. There are several

from India = KSS].

XVII. A Life changing Journey to India and back.

VULETIN, Helen (HT. 32, 3/2012).

Helen Vuletin is a graduate from the Canadian

college of Homœopathic Medicine. She recalls her

experience of participating in a two week program at the

Bengal Allen Medical Institute in the Indian city of

Calcutta, conducted by the fourth generation

homœopath Dr. Subrata Banerjea.

The course consisted mainly of observing treatment

of patients in the very active Calcutta Slum Project

Clinic. He follows a practical way to determine the

Miasms in a case and use them to select a homœopathic

medicine that addresses the person as a whole.

MTEK – Miasmatic Totality

Totality of symptoms

Essence

Keynotes

The surface Miasm is determined by the presenting

symptoms, heredity, constitutional predisposition to

certain kinds of disease and physical qualities of the

skin and nails.

Dry harsh nails – Psora

Irregular, ridged or corrugated nails that are pale,

thick or convex - Sycotic,

Spoon shaped, paper like nails that are Concave,

fungal infections – Syphilitic,

Stains, specks or white spots, glossiness, hang nails

and pus where the nail meets the flesh – Tubercular.

The Totality is decided by the intensity of the

symptoms, the Essence determined by patient’s

demeanor, gestures, postures and behaviours, as well as

noting whether the weight of the pathology is physical

or mental/emotional. Finally Keynotes or PQRS

symptoms.

In this methodology, most of the patients felt

improvement in their chief complaints for months

together without repetition of the dose.

A summary of six cases seen are given.

XVIII. Dadajii: A Lifetime of Service. Monk in

Kolkata treats patients 7 days a week since 1990.

DOOLEY, Timothy R. (HT. 32, 3/2012).

Dadajii, is a yogic monk of Ananda Marga (since

1965) for whom the world is their monastery and their

practice (outside of their personal meditation and

discipline) is to serve humanity. He passed out the

exam to become certified homœopath in 1967.

Since 1990, he is practicing Homœopathy in the

Abha Seva Sadhan in Kolkatta, India. He works two

shifts a day, from mid morning to afternoon and then

again in the evening until the very last patient has been

seen, as long as it takes, regardless of the hour.

The clinic runs at a deficit and met by donations

from well-wishers. The donors appreciate that 100% of

their donations goes to the project (and none to the

organizational overhead)

After at least 650,000 consultations and counting,

Homœopathy is his advice to modern students of it, can

be used to cure any disease.

XIX. Visit to Dhawale Memorial Homœopathic

Hospital in India. JONAS, Julian (HT. 32, 3/2012).

Dr. M.L. Dhawale Memorial Homœopathic

Institute is a 50 – bed hospital in the rural township of

Palghar, about 100Kms north of Mumbai, was built in

2000.

The purpose was to serve patients low income rural

people with little access to medical services. The

hospital’s origin stretch back to 1930’s when a small

homœopathic study group was formed by a renowned

homœopathic physician, L.D. DHAWALE.

The motto is “where no doctor reaches, we will

reach. Where patients cannot afford costly services, we

will try to provide at minimum costs.” They also

recognize the importance of integrating certain

necessary aspects of conventional modern medicine,

such as blood tests, ultrasound and X-rays to

understand the pathological condition of patients.

Certain interventions such as surgery to repair

broken bones, emergency C sections and the removal of

tumors that do not respond to homœopathic treatment

are also performed by conventional physicians

employed to conduct these procedures.

The hospital provides inpatient and outpatient

services and includes special departments in Pediatrics,

Neonatal care, Psychiatry, Rheumatology, HIV &

AIDS, Diabetes, Respiratory illness and Dermatology.

In addition, it has surgical departments for Gynaecology

and Obstetrics – Orthopaedics, Opthalmology and

Dentistry as well as diagnostic facilities with a

pathology lab, X-ray machines, ultrasound and ECG

Units. It provides round the clock services for accident

and trauma patients.

A case of Meningitis in a 3 year-old comatose girl

admitted and treated with Opium is discussed.

Another important trust activity is furthering the

education of graduates from homœopathic colleges. A

rigorous 3 year residency program trains young doctors

to become competent in a hospital setting, adept at

performing and interpreting conventional medical

diagnostic procedures, as well as at dealing with the

wide variety of disease conditions present in both rural

and urban populations.

XX. In the ZKH. 55, 2/ 2011 Dr. Heiner FREI has

his article ‘Selbstverletzendes Verhalten bei

Borderline – Personlichkeitsstörung (Self injuring

state in Borderline Personality Disorder) narrated the

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 137

case of a 15 year girl with a mental disorder in that she

inflicts cuts on her forearms with a razor blade. This

since three months. She refused to go to a Therapy. At

the same time she had changed much physically. It was

learnt that since few months now was experiencing

mood swings, self-confidence is lost, often annoyed and

disturbed. Severe out bursts of rage/etc.

BOENNINGHAUSEN’s method of remedy

analysis was applied which meant that the characteristic

symptoms of the patient matched the genius of a

remedy. These are represented in the remedies in

Grades 3-5 in the Pocket Book.

Special Value was given to the Modalities.

The Therapeutic Pocket Book was used for

repertorisation. Then polarity Symptom which are also

the opposite (e.g. Thirst/Thirstless, < Cold/ > Cold,

desires fresh air/aversion to fresh air) whether the

patient symptoms agree with the remedy (that is in

grade 3 – 5 in the Repertory), was the symptom in low

grade and the opposite pole high grade, which meant

that the remedy was contra indicated while the genius of

the remedy did not agree with the patient’s symptoms.

The definite choice of the remedy was on the basis of

the ‘Mind’ alteration symptom and lastly by a study of

the remedy in the Materia Medica.

The polarity analysis is an extension of

BOENNINGHAUSEN’s concept as experienced clearly

in the Swiss ADHS-double blind study, to enhance the

precision of finding the suitable remedy.

Dr. Heiner FREI and his group fixed certain

protocals. The questionnaire, to suit the rubrics in the

Therapeutic Pocket Book – in general to all cases and

questionnaire to be applied in particular cases like

Respiratory disorder, Menstrual Complaints, etc. were

also devised.

The patient mentioned above was given Belladonna

200 selected on the above manner and within few days,

she became well.

Dr.Hans ZWEMKE has in a letter to the Editor

(ZKH. 55, 4/2011) raised many points and wondered at

the Polarity analysis, etc.

Dr. Heiner FREI, has answered in great detail.

FREI has spoken of the great difficulties in obtaining

pointer symptom in cases of ADD, consequently

failures. He and colleagues had much discussion and

found the answer in the BOENNINGHAUSEN method

of repertorisation and polarity analysis and their

experience with this method was such that they felt

greater confidence in treating ADD children and get

good rate of success.

There are several articles on this in the British

Journal, Homoeopathy and ZKH over the years

[Interested colleagues may write to me for these =

KSS].

XXI. The cruelty of Animal Experiments which is

considered essential for the allopathic Medical

School has been reported several times in the Print

Media. (HH. 36, 2/2011). Nevertheless, it persists. As

long as there are people who take the ‘medicines’ born

of animal experiments be it a mouse or a monkey, we

should swear not to take those medicine even if the

doctor may call it life-saver. Human lives are not any

more precious than any other creature. This we should

swear to ourselves.

The Beagle Freedom Project is to save the Beagle

Puppies from cruelty in the name of medical research.

The Report (The Hindu, Chennai, Dec. 8, 2013) says

that 70 Beagles were rescured from Bangalore-based

Advinus Therapeutics after being bred in Beijing and

illegally transported to Bangalore for research. All the

way from China to India, and then two months of

quarantine. Some pups have been weaned from their

mother almost immediately after birth; also de-barking,

where the animals, vocal cards are cut to silence them!

To add to these cruelties the research labs are totally

dark; the pups are in isolation in stainless steel cages in

rooms of concrete floors; no windows, no sunlight, no

grass or soil. The pups can’t even see each other. The

live in this condition for years.

We do not know how many labs of this kind

function in our country. Any tests conducted on such

emotionally and socially starved poor animals will be

bad medicine.

Homœopathy is humane, and no animal experiment

is required – None at all. But in the name of ‘Science’

there have been and there are animal experiments. We

should abhor this at every opportunity.

XXII. Some tit-bits from ‘Health Capsule’ by Bron

SMITH, appearing in The Hindu, Chennai.

i. A recent study revealed that those who watched an

average six hours of TV per day would cut their life

expectancy by almost five years, as compared to the

group that didn’t watch TV.

ii. How is orange juice made?: Orange juice is not

‘natural’. It’s highly refined. “Not from

concentrate” orange juice is stored in giant tanks.

First the oxygen is removed (de-aeration) so it

doesn’t oxidize. Stripped of Oxygen, the juice

tastes like sugar water, so “Flavor Packs” made

from chemical oils and essences are added,

including Ethyl butyrate, for its fruity flavor.

XXIII. Vinegar test for Cervical Cancer (The Hindu,

Chennai, 9 June 2013): “…. Randomised study of

woman over 15 years found that the Vinegar test was

able to reduce Cervical Cancer deaths of 31%. The

Vinegar test, while not perfect offers an alternative to

the expensive Pap Smear Test. A woman’s cervix is

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 138

swabbed with Vinegar which causes pre-cancerous

tumors to turn white. The results show up a minute later

when a bright light is used to visually inspect the cervix.

In Maharashtra Primary Health Care Workers are to be

trained in this screening.

XXIV. How can I maintain a Healthy Prostate?

(Health Capsule, The Hindu, 25.7.2013): Maintain

healthy Vitamin D levels. Ideally 50mg/ml. Eat a

healthy diet of organic, unprocessed foods. Limit

sugars and grains. Manage your stress. Exercise

regularly. Drink enough water to flush wastes from

your system. Maintain a healthy sex life to “exercise”

your prostate.

XXV. Hypothyroidism. MERCADO, S.C.

(International press abstracts) (HOM. 91, 1/2002).

This paper discusses the homœopathic treatment of

Hypothyroidism. In the first part, the symptoms of the

clinical picture, arranged by frequency of presentation,

are converted into rubrics and repertorised. Six main

remedies emerge: Ars., Phos., Calc carb., Kali-c., Nat-

m., and Merc.

The second part consists of an evaluation of the

treatment of 21 women. 5 who were frankly

Hypothyroid, and 16 with subclinical hypothyroidism.

90% had a positive family history, and all had tiredness

and were overweight. Four cases are presented in

greater detail; two without thyroid antibodies, one with

autoimmunity, and one after treatment with radio-active

Iodine (which became Euthyroid). What was

remarkable about this study was that constitutional

treatment alone did not appear to reverse

Hypothyroidism, and so treatment was complemented

with Thyroidinum, in 6c-200c potencies, on a daily basis

for 20-45 days. In the subclinical cases, hormone levels

reverted to normal more readily, but this did not occur

in the other cases, probably reflecting irreversible

thyroid damage.

Finally, some of the proving symptoms of

Thyroidinum are discussed, and indications as to when

this remedy should be considered are outlined as

follows:

1. Subclinical hypothyroidism, when the

constitutional remedy cannot reverse the condition.

2. Family history of Thyroid disease (as a nosode).

3. Overweight and tired for no apparent reason.

4. The presentation involves the Materia Medica

symptoms of Thyroidinum..

Homeopatia 2000; 65: 451-457.

XXVI. Handwriting Changes after homœopathic

treatment R. PENNA, N.V. de Casale (HOM. 91,

1/2002).

This paper describes the case of a 20-year-old-man

with diarrhea of 1 year duration. It started after his

decision to drop out of university, which filled him with

anguish and anxiety, and made him feel like a failure.

The condition was diagnosed as Irritable Bowel

Syndrome and was treated with Calc carb. 30c, repeated

doses, followed by ascending potencies. He had a good

response, both at physical and emotional levels. He had

kept a diary of progress; there was a remarkable change

in his handwriting over the course of 8 months of

treatment.

Before Calc carb. the following features were

present:

 Letters were badly drawn and illegible

 Words were piled together with irregular spacing

 Margins were irregular

 The axis of the letters would lean inconsistently to

the right or the left

 Lines had a wavy baseline

 Writing was twisted, trembling and retouched

After treatment:

 Letters were drawn better and easier to read

 Words were well set out and with regular spacing

generally

 Writing was tidy

 Margins remain irregular

 The axis of the letters became stable

 Letters of regular height, width and baseline

 No words were twisted, trembling and retouched

It was concluded that the disequilibrium of the

Vital Force has its effects at all levels, including

spontaneous handwriting. These effects are not well

characterized in our Materia Medicas or repertories,

and further research is needed to understand the

significance of these changes in terms of remedy

choice and therapeutic progress. = [bold mine KSS].

Homeopatia 2000; 65: 425-428.

XXVII. Toward a Truly Integrated Healthcare

System NCH takes action in advocacy and

Education. GAHLES, Nancy (HT. 32, 4/2012).

NCH is a partner for Health with the Integrative

Health care Policy Consortium (IHPC). The task of

the author on this Committee is to ensure that

Homœopathy is represented and that it becomes an

integral part of the dialogue, definition and regulatory

language moving forward.

To further enhance Homœopathy’s presence and

voice, she has also been a member of IHPC’s Access

and Non-Discrimination Committee.

.

©Quarterly Homœopathic Digest, Vol. XXX, 3 & 4, 2013. Private Circulation only 139

The Affordable Care Act has provisions to include

licenced complementary and alternative providers and

integrative healthcare practitioners. Homœopaths can

be identified in each of these categories.

XXVIII. Homœopathy in the News. Dermatologists

learn about Homœopathy (HT. 32, 4/2012).

“When practiced correctly, homœopathic medicine

can significantly help patients with skin diseases such as

acne, warts and eczema”. This was the take away

message from an article in Dermatology times, a news

analysis magazine reaching 14,000 dermatologists.

The article summarized research and experience of

dermatologist Robert J. Signore D.O. Illinois.

- Dermatology Times, Oct. 2012.

XXIX. Cuba markets natural anti-cancer drug.

At the 2012 LABIOFAM International Congress in

Havana on Sept. 26. Dr. Eva Solomon reported that

Vidatox 30CH (prepared from venom of Cuban

scorpion, Rhopalurus junceus) was given to 845 people

with Cancer in advanced stages (Breast, Lung, Colon,

Prostate and Cervix); After 6 months, 87% stopped

taking morphine because of decreased pain and

improved appetite.

The drug is administered in 5 sublingual drops

every 12 hours to those who have already concluded

traditional cancer therapy such as surgery,

Chemotherapy or Radiation. Researchers say it has

analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties; can

improve the quality of life and survival rates; and shows

efficacy against Tumors of epithelial origin but not

against Lymphomas or Leukemia.

Radio Cadena Agramonte, Sept. 26, 2012.

XXX. Lower your medical costs.

 Use CAM: A Dutch study found that large numbers

of patients with joint disease used Complementary

and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Manual

therapies, Acupuncture, and Homœopathy were

most frequently used. These people also lowered

their spending on Conventional Medicine.

 Use less Conventional Medicine.

On Sept. 25, PBS aired Money and Medicine, a

documentary about runaway spending in the U.S.

Health Care System. It focused heavily on the

dangers patients face from over diagnosis and over

treatment. Watch it online at

www.pbs.org/programs/money-medicine/. Also

recommended is the eye opening book

overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in pursuit of

Health by Dartmouth Professor H. Gilbert

WELCH, MD. MPH.

XXXI. Walk Right in, No appointment necessary! –

Holistic Walk-in Clinic brings Homœopathy to the

people BRAZELTON, Desiree (HT. 32, 4/2012).

BRAZELTON Desiree, a Graduate of North

Western Academy of Homœopathy wanted to make

Homœopathy available to the public in a way that was

familiar and accessible – A place where people could go

in the evenings and on weekends to receive treatments

for acute ailments – a place with talented, well trained

staff and an extensive pharmacy.

So she signed up lease in a New Wellness Centre in

Minneapolis neighbourhood in 2009.

It began with a staff of six homœopaths sharing

shifts a few nights a week and on Saturdays.

Appointments were scheduled for 30 minute slots. It

was gratifying when they could stop the cycle of illness

in a child – eg. with recurrent ear infection. Not

everyone walks in with acute illnesses only. Through

experience everyone gets treated with a homœopathic

remedy. In 2010, alongwith homœopathic care, we

offered Massage, Shiatsu, Acupuncture and Reiki which

complemented Homœopathy and allowed us to reach

more people.

On January 1, 2012, New walk-in-clinic, Wellness

center and Yoga studio with a special 108 saluation

class was started. Having Yoga on site with people

taking ongoing classes brings a certain vitality to the

center. Yoga provides balance and flexibility that

complements the positive mental and physical changes

that accompany homœopathic healing.

========================================

LIST OF JOURNALS

Full addresses of the Journals covered by this Quarterly Homœopathic Digest are given

below:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. AJHM: American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine, formerly Journal of the

American Institute of Homeopathy (JAIH). 101 South Whiting Street, Suite 16,

Alexandria, VA 22304. USA.

2. HH: Homœopathic Heritage, B. Jain Publishers Overseas, 1920, Street No.10, Chuna

Mandi, Paharganj, Post Box 5775, New Delhi - 110 055.

3. HOMEOPATHY: Formerly British Homeopathic Journal (BHJ), Homeopathy,

Faculty of Homeopathy, 29 Park Street West, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU13BE, UK.

4. HT: Homeopathy Today, National Center for Homeopathy, 101 South Whiting Street,

Suite 315, ALEXANDRIA, VA. 22304, USA.

5. IJHDR: International Journal of High Dilution Research, Romania.

6.

7. S&C: Science and Culture, Indian Science News Association, 92, Acharya Prafulla

Chandra Road, KOLKATA – 700 009.

8. THE HINDU: Newspaper, Chennai–600 002.

9. ZKH: Zeitschrift für Klassische Homöopathie, Karl F. Haug Verlag, Hüthig GmbH,

Im Weiher 10, D-69121 HEIDELBERG, GERMANY.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.

PART II

(This section contains abstracts/extracts from selected articles; even the entire article in some cases)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Ontogenesis of the illness

SAMPAIO DE AZAMBUJA, Renato

(IJHDR. Vol. 3, No 9/ 2004)

Introduction

A constant and fundamental concern in the work of

HUMBERTO MATURANA is to provide a scientific

explanatory content about the human being in his

systemic dynamics as an operational unit in the

responsibility of his being. According to what he points

out in his work, in the living systems “autopoiese

implies subordination of all changes in the autopoietic

system to the maintenance of its autopoietic

organization... to the conservation of its unit”. (De

Máquinas e Seres Vivos, 1997, Ed. Artes Médicas, pg.

91) This concern is part of and bases all the

development of his Theory of Autopoiese. For

MATURANA, the Ontogenesis

1

of the living being, and

in particular the human being, is deeply linked to its

operational way of living in autopoiese, that means, in

its developing and individual dynamic configuration

that characterizes and distinguishes it from the medium

where it lives as an autonomous entity. This article aims

at explicating some central aspects of his theory,

developing along the body of the text some conceptual

purposes around a notion of illness that is congruent

with such essential aspects of this new biology of

knowing.

Traditionally, western medicine, mechanic-

biological, also known as Allopathy, has its vision

focused on the structural components of the organism.

From this perspective, the alterations of the cellular and

molecular components of the organism are directly

responsible for the falling ill phenomenon. All

technological development in the sciences of health,

concerning diagnosis and treatment, aims at discovering

a cause and an explanatory mechanism to the illness that

is noticeable to the medical observer in terms of

alterations in its cellular and molecular components. For

1

Ontogenesis - the life cycle of a single

organism;biological development of the individual:

distinguished from phylogeny.

(Webster’s Dictionary)

each illness name it is said to be an altered mechanism

directly associated, as well as a treatment that aims at

compensating the mechanism through prudent chemical

substances of local action. Strictly speaking, this is the

bearing principle of modern medicine, that tries to

scientifically substantiate the comprehension of the

chronic illness phenomenon and its treatment. For

infecting-contagious illnesses, the principle is similar,

adding that every phenomenology of symptoms is

understood as triggered basically from the pathogenic

properties of bacterium and viruses. They cause the

events in the domain of the illness, as if these entities

could specify the characteristics of falling ill in a subject

who lives his existence. From this point of view, the

phenomenon of feeling in the altered sensations and

functions of the organism along his life that, yet, always

occurs on the language and interaction between doctor

and patient, would hold a straight crossing with the

altered structure of the organism, one causing the other,

not bearing any other possibility of explanation for the

illness following the traditional medical concept.

We will see, in this short article, that these

traditional concepts of illness are not compatible with

the new Systemic Biology developed by MATURANA.

We will see that the physiologic domains of the

organism do not specify their behavior level with their

sensations and functions and that what occurs inside the

organism is determined exclusively by itself in an

operational cloister. Besides, we will also see that, to the

knowledge of the illness, both by the medical observer

and the patient, it is essential to understand the essence

of the human cognitive process that occurs in the

language and, as a result, develops a draft about a new

thesis of knowledge of the illness which goes beyond

the cause-effect linear concepts, nowadays, in

hegemony within the biological sciences. According to

Humberto MATURANA “it is in the center of the

modern man difficulties not to know his own knowing”

(A Árvore do Conhecimento, 1995, Ed Psy II, pg. 264).

Structural determination

Humberto MATURANA started the development

of his Theory of Autopoiese, nowadays accepted in

several segments of the biological sciences and

epistemology, studying the color perception on doves’

.

retina. After many attempts to explain the color

perception through stimulus of lightning waves without

succeeding as expected, he could, through an

epistemologic turn, formulate a consistent thesis to

explain and demonstrate the phenomenon of color

perception. MATURANA concluded that the

specification of color perception as it occurs does not

depend, in any moment, on the frequency of lightning

wave. On the contrary, the perceptive phenomenon is

exclusively determined by the changes in the activity

relationships of the CNS structure in a global way. He

claims that any cognitive perceptions are, above all,

groups of states of neural activity and not lengths of

wave captured and decoded from an objective reality

itself. “We should focus on understanding that the color

experience corresponds to a specific configuration of

states of activity in the nervous system determined by

its structure” (A Árvore do Conhecimento, Ed Psy II,

1995, pg 65). He called this phenomenon structural

determinism.

It is important to point out that the structural

determinism is not directly related to the constituting

properties of each cerebral component involved in the

event, being them neurons or molecular substances, but

to the activity relationships as flow and movement of

cerebral patterns in a closed net of operations of

activities in its structure.

There are two main initial consequences of this

concept. The first one is the clear and definite stating of

the CNS

2

, operation, as of any biological cognitive

system

3

, as a net operational system, closed in itself. For

example,

“the immunologic system is mainly an operational

cloister to the lymphocyte and immunoglobuline, which

allows a somatic identity to the multicellular organism.

This net develops only secondarily, along the

course of its evolution, defensive capacities such as

immunologic response to infections... however, the

heart of the system running is constituted by a somatic

identity (De Máquinas e Seres Vivos, Ed Artes Médicas,

1997, pg.56). In other words, it characterizes the human

being as a system existing in the cognition, such as an

operational state of production of elements that

produces all the needed elements for self-production.

For a living being to keep alive, the only necessary

condition is that, in its historic, its structure is continual

dynamic modification, maintaining its internal

operational coherence towards the medium.

It is clear that, at the same time, the living systems

are obviously open structures from the thermodynamic

point of view, because of their constant or periodic need

for energetic apportion, essential condition for the

constitution of self-organizing structures. But on their

2

Nervous Central System.

3

The immune system for example.

way of operating in a medium, on perceiving and acting

on the consequences of distress, the living beings are

systems that operate closed in a relationship dynamics

of internal states that specify their domain of actions.

For Maturana, what distinguishes living beings from

their medium is that they have such organization that

their only product is themselves, there is no division

between producer and product, between being and

acting.

The second consequence, deriving from the first

one, is that given the condition of operational closing,

the living system that goes through interactions with the

medium is not instructed by the last one. This means

that the medium, that can be another organic system,

never specifies what happens with the living being who

suffered the distress. In fact, the distress of the medium

only triggers changes in the relationship of activities of

the internal states of the organism as a unit, these ones

structurally determined in their operational closing. In

Maturana’s words, “nothing can happen in the living

system that is not determined by the system itself ”

4

, or

yet, “The states of neural activity that are triggered by

the different distresses in each person, are determined

by their individual structure and not by the

characteristics of the distressing agent” (A Árvore do

Conhecimento, Ed Psy II, 1995, pg 65). Strictly, it is

the organism that specifies what it admits as interaction

and as a distress factor and not vice-versa, as we are

used to think. What happens after any interaction or

distress is entirely dependent on the structural dynamics

of the changes in the internal relationships of the

organism as a whole, and not only on its components

5

.

While the organism is the one to specify what

happens with it after being distressed by the

environment, this understanding opens a rich possibility

in the studies of human and individual susceptibility,

having in mind that not all beings fall ill with the same

pathogenic exposition. The proposal I present in this

article is that, within the autopoietic and dynamic

concept of the illness, the individual internal

susceptibility is the key question in its comprehension

and treatment. Susceptibility can be understood as the

condition of the structural dynamics of a living being

which specifies what can be considered a distressing

agent. It also specifies the operational way during a state

of illness.

In other words, it specifies the way the subject falls

ill, contrasting to the traditional point of view that

emphasizes the pathogen element as central in the

4

Maturana, 1997, Ontologia da Realidade, ed. UFMG,

pάg.60.

5

According to the reductional concepts in use in

modern biology.That can be the organism itself, in case

it has self-awareness.

.

specification of the illness. On the other hand, it is

important to observe that this approach on the living

being in operational cloister, specifies and characterizes

a domain in the internal activity of the automatic

organism and not intentional in the emergency of action

domains in terms of behavior, that appears in terms of a

not soluble unit or totality of the being, already

identified several times in philosophy and science as a

kind of vital activity.

Structural coupling

No living being lives isolated. On the contrary, it

emerges in a medium in which it is distinguished,

although it lives adequately in this same medium. Every

system that operates in operational cloister exists in a

medium. The existence of this organism occurs and is

kept while its interactions with the medium trigger, in

the being itself, changes in the changes of dynamic

relationships of the structure that are congruent with the

transformations happening in the medium, being them

provoked by the organism itself or not. By such way,

this living system becomes able to live in this medium.

These interactions result in other interactions which

again trigger other changes of internal states of the

organism that must be congruent with the modifications

in the medium where they are distinguished from and

live. And so on. Maturana named this process dynamics

“Structural Coupling” of the organism with its medium.

For life to occur, this coupling must necessarily be

reciprocal and mutually generative, although the

medium never specifies what happens inside the

organism, because this is, as we have seen, determined

in the structural dynamics of its body as a whole.

Continually, every living being lives in movement,

always inserted in a medium, where it interferes all the

time in the way it operates in reciprocal structural

correspondence. Any external observer

6

would say that

such organism identified something in the reality when

associating its movement to the environmental

condition. But, it is important to point out that, for the

organism, in its operational closing, nothing else

happened than its vital activity of autopoiese

maintenance, according to its conditions for internal

structural dynamics. What, for an observer, can be

related to a learning process, for the organism that tries,

what happens is a dance of internal correlations with the

only automatic sense of keeping its self-production.

This medium, continually modified, created and

recreated by the domain of actions of the living being, is

called “niche”

7

. This is the closet environment where a

6

That can be the organism itself, in case it has self-

awareness.

7

Maturana, 1997,O.R. , pág. 87.

structurally determined system lives. According to

Maturana, “to live is to slide on the accomplishment of

a niche”.

From this operational congruency between a living

being and its niche, from this well-succeeded structural

coupling there are conditions for total accomplishment

of a living organism autopoiese. If an adequate coupling

does not occur, there are no conditions for this

accomplishment so the organism either falls ill or dies.

Under these conditions, if the changes in the changing

of relationships of internal states in their operational

closing are defective, the structural change ends up

compromising the natural homeostasis, emerging illness

phenomenon. On the other hand, if the organization of

the living structure itself is compromised, the death of

the organism may occur. In other words, all interactions

or physiological alterations that occur inside the living

being are subservient to its autopoiese in a closed net of

self-production of itself. Or yet, autopoiese is the only

condition of the path of its internal states, which

continually modify from the inside, of its structural

dynamics, in a reciprocal coupling and mutually

generative with the environment.

This medium does not specify, in any moment,

what happens to the organism in its operational cloister.

The structural coupling with the medium is a dynamic

condition of the existence and complementation

between the system and the environment. If this

complementation is lost there is illness and/or death.

The preservation of this coupling is the preservation of

the adapting process of the living being in its

environment, of its relationships with it, preventing the

harm of its autopoiese.

The behavior: action and illness

Every sensorial experience in the world is

inseparable from the phenomenon of knowing, and, for

Maturana, we can not separate our history of actions

from how the world seems to be. “Every act of knowing

produces a world”. (A Árvore do Conhecimento, Ed Psy

II, 1995, pg. 68) Knowing, perceptive action as

behavior, the cognitive act is an essential fundament in

the theory of Humberto Maturana.

According to what we have observed, a system that

is determined by its structural dynamics exists in

constant interaction with the medium, literally building

a niche from which it is distinguished, in a single act,

specifying what it admits as interaction in the meaning

of a structural coupling that allows its well-succeeded

autopoiese. This, besides being a developmental and

dynamic relationship between the organism and the

medium, is, also and mainly, a recursive relationship,

where the action happens over the products of the

previous action, continually.

Within this framework, when there is regularity or

coherence in the recursive action shown by the

.

organism in its congruent operating and with structural

correspondence with the medium, an observer would

say that the mentioned living system perceived

something, established a cognitive process in its acting,

when associating the movement to the environmental

circumstance.

So, according to Maturana, “while the NS

8

experiences its closed dance of changes in the

relationships of activity, not paying any attention to the

environment we describe as medium, we see, as

observers, the organism in this same medium

experiencing state changes that we see as sense-effector

correlations that we describe as behavior”. (Maturana,

1997, O.R. pg. 91) or yet, “ we name behavior as the

changes in the posture or position of a living being, that

an observer describes as movements or actions, towards

a certain medium” (A Árvore do Conhecimento, Ed Psy

II, 1995, pg 167). That is, what is a behavior for an

observer, for the organism itself, in its closed dynamics

of relationships, is only an experience of life

relationships in the sense of keeping its autopoiese. For

the organism itself, “the behavior is not something the

living being really does, since only internal structural

changes happen in it, it is something that we [observers]

point out”. (A Árvore do Conhecimento, Ed Psy II,

1995, pg 167) We configure then, in these relationships,

a concept in which the cognitive act consists of the

constitution of a world of actions where its autopoiese is

kept. “Every to do is to know and every to know is to

do” (A Árvore do Conhecimento, Ed Psy II, 1995, pg

68).

Therefore, behavior or cognitive act is something

that, by definition, the observer

9

observes in the changes

of position or form of an organism, in a changing flow

of sense effector correlations in their sensations and

functions, which are disturbed by their interactions with

the medium (but not specified), or are generated as a

result of their internal structural dynamics. Behavior is

the distinction by the observer of pure movement and

action in the relationships of the living being, being

congruent or not with the medium in the sense of being

alive, healthy or ill, according to the efficiency of the

structural coupling with the medium.

The question which can not create any confusion is

that although the behavior is the result of these internal

state changes shown by the organism, and, this way,

dependent on its structural dynamics, these structural

changes themselves, while simply cellular and

molecular alterations, do not constitute or determine

their behavior on a linear relationship of cause and

effect as it could seem in the present common sense. It

means that the structural dynamics of an organism

8

Nervous System (Author’s Note).

9

That can be of himself.

occurs in a domain that we could call anatomo-

physiologic, because, being operationally closed in

itself, does not receive specifications from the outside

and, at the same time, does not directly specify any

behavior. This is the reason why there is no crossing

between these two domains of an organism existence:

nothing coming from the outside specifies what happens

in the internal structural dynamics of an organism. This

dynamics can only be altered according to its exclusive

operational mode level with its internal susceptibility;

this one able to specify what can disturb it. The opposite

is also true, that means, its structural dynamics does not

specify what happens in the observation of its life of

relationship. According to Maturana’s theory, there is

no way to reduce a phenomenon to another one without

missing the comprehension of unit and totality of the

system, so precious to the Theory of Autopoiese.

Actually, the necessity for anatomo-physiologic

phenomenon is obvious for the occurrence of mental

behavior or events, but those first ones do not specify

these last ones.

The operating of this structural dynamics, as seen

before, follows a contingent course with the behavior

domain and vice-versa. A domain generates the other

one, but they are not reducible between themselves.

They occur in a crossed net of non-linear recursive

processes, mutually generative, not directly specifying

or causing the observed alterations in their own

domains.

It is clear that an observer, who ignores the

operational closing as a basic characteristic of the living

being and who contemplates both domains at the same

time, can establish cause-effect relationships among the

phenomenon, as it occurs for the allopathic medicine

concept, but, this way, loses the capacity to observe the

indissoluble unit of being, translated into the huge

amount of medical specializations and into the endless

list of categories of illnesses that the human being

suffers from.

On the other hand, concerning the organism that

directly experiences life phenomenon, what this last one

perceives is only its behavior domain that, in the human

being, is based on the language and emotions. We will

see later on that this is the fundamental reason for the

increased value of the empiric experience of the sick

person, of the feeling of his alterations in language and

emotion, for the understanding of an illness inserted in

the dynamics of living and doing, instead of the

common understanding of the illness while pure and

simple alteration of the cellular or molecular structures

of the organism.

Within this framework, our understanding of falling

ill in the autopoietic process also occurs in two

phenomenal domains which do not cross out, despite

being mutually generative. The first domain is the one,

which happens at the operational closing of the

.

organism in its structural dynamics. In this domain, the

sense-effective correlations are automatic and blind

concerning the domain of behavior relationships. That

is, in its physiology, the organism reacts automatically,

exclusively determined by its structural relationship

dynamics, not being specified, on its mode, by any

external distress, also not specifying, at the same time,

its way of behavior. The second domain is exactly the

one observed as a cognitive phenomenon that occurs

every time the observer

10

operates in the language for

the description of the way the action/behavior of the

organism occurs. Therefore, the symptoms and all the

alterations related to sensations and altered functions

told by the patient in the language are phenomenon

which occur, described by an attentive observer in the

domain of the action and the behavior as a cognitive act,

and not simply in the domain of its physiology. It is

impossible to reduce, from this point of view, a domain

of phenomenon to another one.

It means, for the autopoietic theory of life, that we

could not consider an observed and told symptom as a

straight reflex of a structural alteration, even if the

existence of an altered physiology is obvious, without

losing the notion of the dynamic whole. As we have

seen since the beginning of this work, Maturana’s

constant concern about the consideration of the dynamic

unit of the living being is a trademark of his

epistemology. So, the illness as an observable

phenomenon must be cognitive data because it is

distinguished in the language, both from the patient and

the medical observer, and all its understanding must

occur in the domain of actions and relationships for us

to know its dynamic and individual totality.

Behavior and mental states (the language, the

awareness and the emotions)

For any living animal, its existence only occurs in

the domain of its interactions, in its life of relationships,

and its internal states will only be noticed in this domain

of behavior. The animal physiology originates and

makes the life of relationship possible, but does not

specify its way of life. This way of life, characteristic of

each species or each individual, occurs in the operation

of the organism as totality and unit in the action, and not

in the pure and simple operating of its individual

components.

For Humberto MATURANA, in the emerging of

the psychic, in terms of structural dynamics, nothing in

the operating of the NS

11

directly and mechanically

represents what really happens in the life of relationship

of the organism in its medium. “In the nature there are

10

That can be of himself.

11

Nervous System.

radically emerging properties [such as the psychism and

the awareness] that come out from their base

components, but are not reduced to themselves”. (De

Máquinas e Seres Vivos, Ed. Artes Médicas, 1997, pg.

48) That means, for us, human beings, “the psychic life

is [only] our way of living our relational space as human

beings and this living of ours occurs for our talking, for

our living in the talking”

12

and “it has its own properties

such as system or totality, that are not properties of its

components” (De Máquinas e Seres Vivos, Ed Artes

Médicas, 1997, pg. 29).

The definition for the psychic in the Autopoiese

Theory is of a relational dynamics expressed by the

individual in the living and suffering, but it does not

belong to the cellular and molecular structure of the NS,

not being, therefore, treated as a material entity to be

found in the NS, exactly for belonging to a phenomic

domain different from the structural dynamics. This

way, any system that is determined in its closed

structural dynamics and that shows a kind of observable

behavior related to a structural coupling with the

medium can be said to be an animal that lives in a

psychic space.

In this psychic space, distinguished this way in the

domain of the human being relationships, the language

can be understood as a group of linked sequences of

state changes in the language, inside an agreed domain

of the species, in which the organism is able to maintain

its autopoiese. These linked regularities, as coordination

of coordination of actions in the language, may be

present in any living being having a NS, but, as spoken

language, are only characteristics of the humans in the

evolution of the species.

Even if it cannot be reduced to its physiology, the

language, which occurs in a psychic space, is an

expressive system of coordinated actions of the internal

state that experiences the organism, all the time, in its

structural coupling with the medium. This way,

different people, with different modulations of the

internal structural dynamics, generate and modalize,

mutually, different psychic spaces. We are in the body

what we are in the psychic, in being and living, in acting

and doing, in short, in the individual cognitive act.

“What we do is inseparable from our experience of the

world” (A Árvore do Conhecimento, Ed. Psy II, 1995,

pg 66). Although the psychic is manifested in the

dynamics of living beings relationships, especially of

the human beings, it is lived by each one in the

individual solitude, so the meaning impregnated in the

building of the existence only happens in the living of

each person, at every time, through the language in the

manifested dynamic totality.

The physiologic organism always takes along its

way of life both as a result of the totality modulation of

12 Maturana,1997,O.R., pág. 115.

.

its structural dynamics and also as its relational domain

in moving in the interactions of the simple living in the

language, in a mutual generative relationship between

these two existential domains. From this point of view,

there is no body-mind interaction as it is traditionally

conceived. On the contrary, it is about an only

existential dynamics. It is a domain of cognitive actions

where the organism, in a single moment, specifies the

medium where it lives and is distinguished, engaging

itself dynamic and structurally in recursive actions,

coordinated and regular, which biggest example is the

language, in the single sense of maintaining its

autopoiese, that means, the production of productive

nets of itself. For us, humans, everything is born from

this come-to-be movement, from constituting itself

when constituting a world in the language.

The emotions have a crucial role in this framework.

According to Maturana, the human is lived in talking

and thrilling. All human actions, even the rational, are

based in thrilling. Any operation of the human organism

in the environment is a behavior that is based in the

emotions. The emotion is a space of the experience

when we move in the existence, in the flow of

congruent and recurrent actions coordination in the

language. It is a condition which modules our individual

living continual and contingently. So, every living

being, especially the human being, exists as a totalized

dynamic unit in continual relationship and change. For

us, this dynamic aspect is fundamental for the

understanding of the illness in the autopoiese theory.

The crossing of our emotions with our living in the

language follows a contingent course, mutually

generative, with our internal structural dynamics and its

balance, being able then, according to the

circumstances, to emerge a pattern of illness that

specifies, in the being and doing of the individual, a

domain of symptomatic totality in terms of emotions

and contingent psychic life to an individual clinical

state. Every falling ill process is a unit in movement that

cannot be separated or reduced to its cellular and

molecular components only, neither separated from the

thrilling and from the psychic life of the individual.

The mind, inserted in the Autopoiese Theory, as

well as the awareness and the self-awareness, is a

phenomenon, which is distinguished in its specification

in the human language. It is not a physiologic entity

that can be located in CNS as the biological science

taught so far tries to convince us. For Maturana, the

mind is a phenomenon that emerges from the

relationship life, and not a property of cerebral

molecular components. The experience of awareness,

when specified in the language, appears as an action

experience in the living, in an exclusively cognitive

domain, always keeping the structural coupling of the

organism with the medium for the maintenance of

autopoiese. Therefore, the study of mental phenomenon,

of the emotions, as well as sensations and altered

functions of the organism in the illness, specified in the

language of the one who self-observes, are fundamental

in the understanding of falling ill in the individual

dynamics.

According to Humberto MATURANA, what

happens and is special about the cognitive process of

awareness is that it “is a self-distinction experience...

and I claim that the awareness happens as a particular

relational dynamics [that can be with itself in the

example of self-awareness], when the organism operates

as a participant of a domain of recursive distinctions in

the language and that awareness is not an entity or a

property of an entity” (Maturana, 1997, O.R., pg. 214).

In other words, the mind is the way the NS operates

in us, humans, that uses the language as a dynamic

interaction, allowing us to live the experience of

awareness and self-awareness. It is because of this self-

distinction condition that we experience the ego as

located in our body as a whole. On the other hand, the

maintenance of our body as a whole is closely related to

the awareness and to the language as an experiencing

human mode. “What we do in our language and in our

awareness has consequences in our body dynamics and

what happens in our body dynamics has consequences

in our language” (Maturana, 1997, O.R. pg. 168).

Actually it is about a unit and totality conception of the

human being in the action, in the cognitive act we

execute all the time we distinguish anything in acting,

doing and speaking.

Life phenomenon, loaded with its entire blemish,

according to this systemic biology purpose, is the

distinction of a single existential dynamics, autopoietic

in a domain of cognitive actions. Everything is born

from this come-to-be movement of acting, constituting a

world when self-constituting.

So, from this point of view, the emerging of the

illness in the interior of our body as a whole is a

contingent and mutually generative phenomenon with

the totality of our existential dynamics, in the living of

the language and in the emotion as an expression of an

operationally closed structural dynamics, and any

attempt to reduce the illness phenomenon to the level of

the cellular and molecular components of the organism,

or separate what is physic and what is psychic, becomes

a perspective of losing this dynamic totality that is so

expensive and important for a living being unit in the

acting of its existence.

The ontology of the objectivity

According to Humberto Maturana, any observer

follows an explanatory way which depends, basically,

on his preferences, on his internal disposition to implicit

or explicitly accept and choose one of the following two

initial conditions in his observation of the reality: 1) the

.

properties of the observer and of the reality are

independent data existing in themselves, not dependent

on the observer and 2) the occurrence of the observer’s

living in the language distinguishes and designs a reality

that depends on the observer’s experience. He calls the

first case “objectivity without parenthesis” and the

second one “objectivity in parenthesis”.

Our author adopts the defense of the second,

because he refers that “the reality we live in as a domain

of explanatory propositions always reflects, all the time,

the flow of our interpersonal relationships, a

characteristic that does not depend on us being aware of

it or not, while a constituent characteristic of our

operation in the human biology of observing”

(Maturana, 1997, O.R., pg 265).

Therefore, any cognitive domain represents a

behavioral domain of the organism, in genuine actions

of the individual in its praxis of living, and there are as

many domains as possible, either in the sphere of

behavioral patterns of the animal species or in the

sphere among humans. Every cognitive domain

generates an explanatory domain of the living and the

knowing of a world and every domain of reality is a

way of living, falling ill and dying. There is no

invariable reality itself which is independent from the

one who knows and builds it. Maturana discusses this

unmistakable objectivity of things we are used to and of

the thinking as a symbolic representative of this

supposed “independent” nature. He substitutes this for

his understanding that reality is constituted, all the time,

of the observer in his operation of the knowing. “We

cannot separate our history of actions from how [the

world] seems to be” (A Árvore do Conhecimento, Ed

Psy II, 1995, pg 66). The extreme regularity of

operations of the living being, with the continuity in

time, offers us the concrete impression of the existence

of ourselves and all the other things.

This also happens in the domain of human illness

according to the autopoietic concept of life. It is in the

essence of the illness knowledge from the observer, the

purpose that his genesis happens in the praxis of his

living and not as an isolated structural data, objective

and independent from the ones who live and build their

own state. What we do and feel, being healthy or ill, is

inseparable from our world experience.

MATURANA offers an explanation to show the

great stability that reality offers to the cognitive process.

In the movement of language communication, it is

possible to establish certain agreed domains of behavior,

giving agreement and regularity to reality, that supply

the unprepared observer with the impression of an

independent objectivity. This agreement is, in short, a

result from cognitive interactions, that are generated by

a system determined by its internal structural dynamics,

and whose sense-effective organization is common to

the species in their phylogenetic evolution. It is in the

recurrence of these generative recurrent interactions that

a regularity of the world seen and lived is intensified, so

that we can speak and experience this reality being

understood by the fellow creature. But for us, attentive

readers to the autopoietic theory of life, we never lose

the notion that the experience and constitution of reality

is unique for each living being to carry it out. It is the

pattern of recursive and agreed meetings that brings to

perception the stability of the created reality, being this

in health conditions in a structural coupling or not.

Conclusion

Our goal, with this article, was to show how recent

research in the biology of knowing and scientific

epistemology can support a concept of systemic illness

that differs from the one practiced by the medicine

accepted as scientific in our western world so far. We

fundamentally are able to characterize eight basic

principles, which could establish this conceptual

difference of the illness:

It is clear that living systems are systems

determined by their structural dynamics in operational

cloister. We characterize, this way, a kind of “internal

command” that, inside its operational closing that

produces the elements which produce themselves, is

blind and automatic towards the behavior. That is, its

operating is autonomous, despite being contingent, from

the living being behavior. This so called internal

command is characterized by changes in the relationship

changes between the totality of components of the

organism in a closed net of relationships which produce

themselves. “The characterization of the minimum

living unit can not happen only over the base of material

components. The description of the organization of the

living as a configuration or pattern is also essential.”

(De Máquinas e Seres Vivos, Ed Artes Médicas, 1997,

pg 47) Patterns, operational cloister, autonomy and

totality are fundamental characteristics of the

autopoietic concept of life.

That behavior, by definition, is something that is

observed by an observer in the relationship changes as

a way of acting of an organism facing a distress. This

distress does not specify anything happening inside the

organism, since this one operates in operational cloister.

The behavior, then, is characterized by an observer’s

description of the changes of position/action and of

sensation/function of the organism facing such distress.

The notion of illness as an observable phenomenon, can

therefore be fit very well in this concept of behavior:

while altered sensations and functions, observed by the

ill person himself, his relatives and the attentive doctor.

From this point of view, it is the acting while behavior

in the illness that characterizes the illness, in a domain

of structural coupling with the partially well succeeded

medium, reported in the language by the patient and not

.

its reduction and exclusive physiologic manifestation

level with its material components.

It is clear that the illness needs a physiology in

order to happen, but the organism in its operational

cloister does not admit any kind of exterior information

that determines its operation, even if this is in the

illness, because its operation is determined by its

condition of autopoietic internal structural dynamics.

What is important to understand about this dynamic

concept, is that the illness as an observable event is only

possible to happen level with the behavior, the

individual action in illness and as such has to be

considered in the individual language, and not as a

direct consequence of the molecular alterations of its

structure. At the moment we use the language to express

any event we are already in the domain of the behavior.

Thinking, language, emotions are all phenomenon of the

human behavior in the reality acting and it is for them,

while observable events, that the conditions of the

internal structural dynamics are expressed.

That, therefore, these two phenomenal domains,

structural determination and behavior, cannot be

reduced to each other. That means, what occurs level

with the behavior does not have as the cause factor the

local alteration of the components of its physiology,

even if it needs this one to happen. Such domains have a

contingent relationship and are mutually generative in

their happenings in the praxis of living, while an

indissoluble unit in the dynamic observation. There is

no way how to separate the illness from the living, the

speaking and the thrilling of each unit in the living

being as totality, placing it as a pure and simple

manifestation of the physiologic.

That the perception of the altered states of the

internal economy of the organism during an illness can

only be perceived in the domain of the behavior, where

the language and the thrilling are emerging

phenomenon. In this domain of behavior, the events are

expressed in terms of the living being unit. Therefore,

developing medical practices that give value and

operate the indissoluble totality of the individual’s

symptoms, clinic and at the same time psychic, both

from the points of view of semiology and therapeutics,

exactly the way they occur in the individual’s language,

match the most modern theories of the living beings

organization.

That, in the operating of human beings, the

language is their main existential mode at the behavior

level. For us humans, all reality is distinguished in the

language. Therefore, the way of reporting what the ill

person feels altered in his sensations and functions is,

for the autopoiese theory, the main investigative method

for the distinction of an illness state and it is on it that

we have to base, mainly, any therapeutic form.

That the language occurs in a relational psychic

space, as well as the mind, the awareness (and the

selfawareness) and the emotions. All this cognitive

phenomenon group is a unit of come-to-be, in constant

dynamics and movement. In this case, there is no

interaction between mind and body; there is, on the

contrary, a unit in permanent action in the existence,

where every behavior is distinguished through the

observer’s language, that can be his own. This means

that, despite all the technological benefits modern

medicine has to offer in diagnosis and treatment of

alterations in the biological components of the human

body, in the autopoiese theory, it is still in the language,

through the reporting of the direct and empiric

experience of the sick person with his illness, that we

find the real vitality and meaning of the illness

dynamics in the individual who lives his own praxis.

That, at last, the approach of the illness as

objectivity in itself does not depend on the subject,

disguises and mixes up the understanding of the

dynamic totality of being and doing, in the domains of

behavior and language. As Maturana questions the

notion of reality itself, objective and not variable, we

can also question the illness as infallible and exclusive

data of the cellular and molecular objective alterations,

since its distinction occurs in the language, even when

we face information considered to be objective, because

even these ones are distinguished in the language. This

way, the illness can, in every moment, be modulated by

the individual experience of the subject who lives his

blemish. The epistemological development of an illness

understanding linked to the subject in his direct

experience of the living and falling ill is, therefore,

more and more necessary.

I believe, so, that such definitions are not only

theoretical and epistemological. They surely can, along

with the practices which involve the modern systemic

theory of medicine and biology, practiced by doctors

and having experimental systems established within this

systemic framework, lead the scientific thinking of the

21st century about the living systems to unusual

practical consequences, either in the individual or the

collective health field, representing a turning in the

paradigms of the understanding of what we call illness.

This way, we are before two paths to follow, two

systems of medical thinking: the traditional one that we

call medicine of the biological components and this new

and revolutionary one that I call medicine of the

dynamic unit of the living being.

=======================================

2. Some remarks concerning homeopathic symptoms

ROSENBAUM, Paulo & WAISSE DE PRIVEN

Silvia I (IJHDR. VOL. 3, No. 9/2004)

.

Within the lack of a consensus regarding most of

homeopathic theory and practice, there’s a feature of

absolute agreement: our essential working tool are

symptoms. Clinical interview is designed as to harvest

the patient’s symptoms. The effects of potentially

medicinal substances are assessed through the

symptoms they elicit in healthy provers. The choice of

the most suitable remedy for a particular case is

grounded on the comparison of the patient’s symptoms

and pathogenetic symptoms.

Yet, our clinical and teaching experience taught us

that it’s quite difficult to interpret symptoms. Since

Hahnemann’s times, it is axiomatic that the symptoms

of the highest value are those that individualize the

patients, the so-called “rare, peculiar and characteristic

symptoms”.

What is it so hard to grasp? To Biomedicine, the

value of symptoms is clear-cut: symptoms are valuable

as they point to their underlying pathological cause. No

problem here. To Homeopathy, as mentioned above, the

most valuable symptoms are, on the opposite, those to

point to the patient’s uniqueness. Now things are not so

clear. What does “individualization” precisely mean?

It seems we have inherited Boenninghausen’s

worries. Aware that HAHNEMANN hadn’t set criteria

to define a symptom as characteristic, he launched a

prize-question to solve the problem. As he received

absolutely no answers, he felt he had the duty to provide

a solution, which he did by invoking a medieval classic

notion: Quis? Quid? Ubi? Quibus auxiliis? Cur?

Quomodo? Quando? - Who? What? Where? Under

what circumstances? Why? How? When?

(BOENNINGHAUSEN, 1860).

Thus, a symptom was to be qualified regarding its

localization, sensations, modalities of amelioration and

aggravation, and concomitant features.

The problem seemed to be basically solved until

James T. KENT entered the homeopathic scene. His

new proposals were extremely seductive and elicited a

true revolution in homeopathic thinking. Grounded on

his peculiar anthropologic framework - which drew

heavily from Immanuel Swedenborg’s ideas - KENT

reduced the whole of human experience to the powers

of Understanding and Will. The necessary consequence

was the hermeneutic priority of mental symptoms.

As an example, Boenninghausen might have taken

into account “conscientious, at twilight, sitting

ameliorates, accompanied by palpitations”. KENT

would have picked merely “conscientious”, if it were

an essential character trait of the patient’s.

This approach leads, once again, to the same age-

old question: when may we be sure that “conscientious”

is a “symptom”? Is it a trait that ought to disappear, as

all symptoms are according to Hahnemann? If it’s the

symptom of some disease: what would be such disease?

How can we know if someone is “pathologically

conscientious”?

This mode of reflection applies to each and every

characteristic rubric in the repertories: “sympathetic”,

“dictatorial”, “docile” etc., and to most general rubrics,

especially desires and aversions and the modalities of

amelioration and aggravation.

All issues above are very far from being perfectly

elucidated, as every practicing homeopath knows, and

are the cause of heated debate in any homeopathic

community. Paraphrasing a well-known joke, “Two

homeopaths, three different opinions concerning the

value of a given symptom”.

Moreover, the lack of sound criteria to establish

what a homeopathic symptom is may constitute the

main cause of the prevalence of subjectivity when

symptoms and remedies are to be selected. It seems that

the building up of the Inbegriff - the minimal

semiologic picture that holographically represents the

patient as a whole (HAHNEMANN) - will always

remain a hostage of the arbitrary preferences of each

homeopathic practitioner.

“Intuition” is even more controversial than the

status of the homeopathic symptom. Moreover,

“intuition” cannot be taught nor learned. No instructor

aims to teach intuition. What the 21st century

homeopath looks for is to teach and practice a scientific

medicine, grounded on sound knowledge and ruled by

precise technical principles.

Grounded on these considerations, we led a series

of debates at Escola de Homeopatia in order to try to

establish consensual bases concerning the value of

symptoms in Homeopathy and objective criteria to

define a symptom as “characteristic”.

To our general amazement - even more surprising

as participants were all very experienced practitioners -

it was immediately evident that no two physicians

shared the same notion regarding what it is that

individualizes patients. Obviously, everybody had some

vague hunches, but no one was able to formulate them

in objective terms.

Yet, this led to a first positive result: the polisemy

of the term “symptom” became evident to everyone.

Homeopathy - and any other kind of Medicine - has no

reason to be able to account for all its epistemological

dilemmas. An extensive bibliographical survey showed

that no single homeopathic author has ever been able to

evade some degree of subjectivity concerning the value

of symptoms2.This is the reason why we searched also

in non homeopathic sources for methodological and

theoretical tools that may help us to build a univocal

meaning for the term “homeopathic symptom”.

The symptom according to Hahnemann

HAHNEMANN established a clear-cut

demarcation between “healthy states” and “diseased

states”. The aim of Therapeutics was to heal acute and

.

chronic diseases, turning them into perfect health

(HAHNEMANN, 1995, #1).3

How can the physician distinguish between health

and disease? Exclusively through symptoms:

manifestations available to sense-perception (the

patient’s, his/her friends and relatives’, the doctor’s).

In this context, HAHNEMANN states that he’s not

interested in discovering the ultimate cause of disease,

moreover, that the latter is absolutely unknowable.

We’d like to emphasize the following notion:

Hahnemann didn’t state that the cause of disease was

inaccessible due to the state of knowledge at his time.

But he said that the “how” and “what” are eternally

concealed (ewig verborgnen). (HAHNEMANN, 1995,

note to #12 ).

The same principle applies to remedies: “... the

curative essence of remedies isn’t recognizable by itself

(an sich). (HAHNEMANN, 1995, #20).

In short: to Hahnemann, diseased states may only

be distinguished through manifestations perceived by

the senses, which represent deviations from the usual

condition.

This brings up a problem: how could

HAHNEMANN be so positive when stating that we’ll

never be able to transcend the plane of sense-

perception?

We have a hint. Hahnemann distinguishes between

(unknowable) essences and (perceptible, knowable)

manifestations. What did Hahnemann’s environment

had to say about essences, manifestations and

knowledge?

Actually, these were the main subjects discussed at

the time. And it’s Hahnemann himself who provides us

with the next clue: the answer lies in Immanuel KANT.

(apud HAEHL, 1993).

In his Critique of Pure Reason, KANT states that:

* Things have actual existence in reality.

* All human knowledge begins by and through

experience.

* Yet, sense-perception (which he calls “intuition”)

is not enough: “Intuitions without concep