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Publications (95)
The droplet evaporation method (DEM) is based on the evaporation-induced pattern formation in droplets and is applied mainly for diagnosis [1]. Here, we present a series of experiments performed by our team showing DEMs potential also for homeopathy basic research, in particular, for the investigation of (i) low potencies, (ii) low potency complexe...
One of the major criticisms directed to basic research on high dilution effects is the lack of a steady statistical approach; therefore, it seems crucial to fix some milestones in statistical analysis of this kind of experimentation. Since plant research in homeopathy has been recently developed and one of the mostly used models is based on in vitr...
Background: Experimental research on the effects of treatments with homeopathic preparations on plants was last reviewed in 1990. Aims: The objective was to compile a systematic literature review on plant bioassays in homeopathic basic research using predefined criteria. Methods: Literature search was carried out on publications that reported exper...
Background: The mode of action of ultramolecular homeopathic preparations is still unknown. Interactions between objects or entities can be grouped in four main general scientific categories: material, force-/field-like, entanglement-like or informational. Should homeopathic preparations have a field-like mode of action, there is greater probabilit...
Background: The droplet evaporation method (DEM) has been recently proposed as a possible tool to test the efficacy of ultra high dilutions (UHDs) [1]. Here we applied the same methodology consisting in the evaporation of droplets from leakages obtained by placing wheat seeds in UHDs to test whether DEM patterns vary in function of the tested treat...
Background: The droplet evaporation method (DEM) is based on pattern formation in evaporating droplets. It has been shown that the local connected fractal dimension (LCFD; a complexity measure) of crystalline structures grown in evaporating droplets of wheat seed leakages depended upon whether the seeds were treated with an ultra-high dilution (UHD...
Objectives
The aim of this study is to investigate whether the number of succussion strokes applied after each dilution step when preparing the homeopathic treatments influences the effectiveness of ultra-high-diluted (UHD) arsenic trioxide at the 45th decimal dilution/dynamization (As2O3 45x).
Design
Wheat seeds, previously stressed with ponderal...
Um grande entrave no cultivo da couve-flor é a incidência do fungo Alternaria brassicicola, causador da mancha foliar escura em plantas da família Brassicaceae. A utilização de sais de cobre na agricultura é questionada. De fato, estes produtos apresentam desvantagens, principalmente relacionadas com os seus depósitos no solo e a sua fitotoxicidade...
Pfeiffer’s circular chromatography (PCC) is an analytical method relying on paper chromatography principles and applied mainly to test the quality of soils. The output of PCC are colored patterns formed on circular filter papers, pretreated with a photosensitive substance, and imbibed with a NaOH aqueous extract of the soil sample. In this study (...
Background:
Polycrystalline structures formed inside evaporating droplets of different biological fluids have been shown sensitive towards various influences, including ultra high dilutions (UHDs), representing so a new approach potentially useful for basic research in homeopathy. In the present study we tested on a wheat seed model Zincum metalli...
a review about the plant models used in our work, where we did begin to study the fundamental phenomenon of "decrease of variability" in all the models used . It could be the basis for a "theory of living systems", more specific and adequate than a theory based on quantum-mechanic" models.
Background: The droplet evaporation method (DEM) is based on pattern formation in evaporating droplets. It has been shown that the local connected fractal dimension (LCFD; a complexity measure) of crystalline structures grown in evaporating droplets of wheat seed leakages depended upon whether the seeds were treated with an ultra-high dilution (UHD...
Objectives:
The objective was to evaluate homeopathic basic research studies that use plant-based bioassays. With this in view, a compilation was made of the findings of three systematic literature reviews covering plant-based bioassays in the three fields of healthy, abiotically, or biotically stressed plants. This compilation focused on investig...
SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURENTUR
Plant systems are useful research tools to address basic questions in homeopathy as they make it possible to overcome some of the drawbacks encountered in clinical trials (placebo effect, ethical issues, duration of the experiment, and high costs). The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis whether 7-day-old wheat seedlings, grow...
Complete dataset of up- and down-regulated gene sequences, resulting from MapMan analysis, in the four pairwise comparisons. Table S1: poisoned versus control (P+0 vs C+0); Table S2: poisoned-treated versus control (P+T vs C+0); Table S3: treated control versus control (C+T vs C+0); Table S4: poisoned-treated versus poisoned (P+T vs P+0).
In this study the ability of the droplet evaporation method (DEM) to discriminate between organic and biodynamic Sangiovese red wines was attempted for the first time. The relationship between the sizing-parameters and shape-descriptors of the crystal structures and the chemical parameters of wines was evaluated, and the most significant correlatio...
Objective
This study sought to verify whether the droplet evaporation method (DEM) can be applied to assess the effectiveness of ultra-high dilutions (UHDs). We studied the shape characteristics of the polycrystalline structures formed during droplet evaporation of wheat seed leakages.
Methods
The experimental protocol tested both unstressed seeds...
In conventional agriculture strawberry plants are generally
treated with fungicides to control pathogens. However,
consumer concerns about possible risks associated with the
use of fungicides, along with development of pathogen
resistance, have resulted in an intensive search for safer,
more effective control options that pose minimal risk to human...
Background: In the preparation of ultra high dilutions (UHD) each dilution step is followed by a succussion. Whereas the physical basis of succussion have been well studied [1], there are only few papers regarding the effects of succussion number (NS) [2]. In previous studies [3, 4] we showed that arsenic at UHD applied on arsenic stressed wheat se...
Introduction:
This study deals with the effects of extremely low doses or high dilutions of pharmacological compounds on in vitro pollen germination of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa).
Material and methods:
The biological efficacy of As2O3 at the 5th and 45th decimal dilution/succussion level (As 5x and As 45x) was tested on pollen previously st...
This report summarises the latest research developments in the field of high dilutions and homeopathy, as presented at the GIRI symposium of the leading international organisation of scientists in this field, in Florence, Italy in September 2012. The scientific community's early scepticism concerning the possible biological and pharmacological acti...
Questa comunicazione riassume i recenti avanzamenti della ricerca nel campo delle alte diluizioni e dell’omeopatia, partendo dalle relazioni presentate ad un convegno della principale organizzazione internazionale di scienziati che lavorano in questo campo. L’iniziale scetticismo nel mondo scientifico a riguardo della possibile azione biologica e f...
The present paper reports on an observation that dendrite-like polycrystalline structures from evaporating droplets of wheat grain leakages exhibit bilateral symmetry. The exactness of this symmetry, measured by means of fluctuating asymmetry, varies depending on the cultivar and stress factor influence, and seems to correspond to the seed germinat...
The aim of this work is to confirm the theoretical possibility of an epigenetic mechanism shared between EMIT and UHD. The presentation will be divided in three sections:
1. Water aggregates with an electric dipole moment (UHD succussed solutions) as mediators of weak specific bioelectromagnetic signals on target stem cells.
Recent experimental wor...
Poisson distribution is a discrete-valued model often used in statistics when representing the number X of specific events (telephone calls, industrial machine failures, genetic mutations etc.) that occur in a fixed period of time, supposing that instant probability of occurrence of such events is constant. If we denote with the average number of...
In 1988, a Nature Editorial titled “When to believe the unbelievable†noted that the famous high-dilution experiments of the Benveniste group had no physical basis and suggested that “prudent people should, for the time being, suspend judgment.†In point of fact, judgment was not suspended and in the ensuing weeks the author...
The use of ultra-diluted preparations method in agriculture was introduced with agro-homeopathy, which allows to influence biological processes of plants by either accelerating or delaying growth. Moreover, it can contribute to the control of plagues and diseases, directly promoting an increase of the yield and an improvement of product qualitative...
Introduction: "Agro-homeopathy" plays an important role in sustainable agriculture providing cost-saving and residue-free plant treatments for the improvement of yield and the management of diseases and pests [1]. However, one of the main difficulties in "agro-homeopathy" is the exact choice of the right remedy and dilution, which requires the perf...
Introduction: This research aimed at verifying the effects of highly diluted (HD) treatments on cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.) plants both healthy and inoculated by the fungus Alternaria brassicicola, causing the dark leaf spot disease. In vitro spore germination assays (A), growth chamber experiments (B) and field trials (C) were performed.
M...
This study concerns the biological effects and physico-chemical variations of extremely diluted solutions (EDS) as a function
of aging-time. The biological efficacy of As2O3 at the 45th decimal dilution/succussion (As 45×) was tested in a wheat
germination model. Ten trials were carried out from 0 to 12 months after treatment preparation, using whe...
This study concerns the biological effects and physico-chemical variations of extremely diluted solutions (EDS) as a function of aging-time. The biological efficacy of As2O3 at the 45th decimal dilution/succussion (As 45×) was tested in a wheat germination model. Ten trials were carried out from 0 to 12 months after treatment preparation, using whe...
Academic Editor: Margaret Tzaphlidou We studied the evaporation-induced pattern formation in droplets of common wheat kernel leakages prepared out of ancient and modern wheat cultivars as a possible tool for wheat quality analysis. The experiments showed that the substances which passed into the water during the soaking of the kernels created cryst...
Experimental research on the effects of homeopathic treatments on impaired plants was last reviewed in 1990.
To compile a systematic review of the existing literature on basic research in homeopathy with abiotically stressed plants using predefined criteria.
The literature search was carried out on publications that reported experiments on homeopat...
This study concerns the effects of a weak static magnetic field (MF) at 10 µT oriented downward, combined with a 16-Hz sinusoidal MF (10 µT), on in vitro pollen germination of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa). Extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) exposure was carried out by a signal generator unit connected to a copper wire solenoid, insi...
The objective of this study was to develop a criteria catalogue serving as a guideline for authors to improve quality of reporting experiments in basic research in homeopathy. A Delphi Process was initiated including three rounds of adjusting and phrasing plus two consensus conferences. European researchers who published experimental work within th...
This study evaluates the effects of temperature and aging on the efficacy of As(2)O(3) at the 45th decimal potency in a wheat germination model, compared against a control and potentized H(2)O 45×. Each treatment-temperature combination was tested on seeds (Triticum aestivum L.) of Pandas variety, using six Petri dishes (33 seeds/dish) per trial, p...
In this paper, we review three simple plant models (wheat seed germination, wheat seedling growth, and infected tobacco plants) that we set up during a series of experiments carried out from 1991 to 2009 in order to study the effects of homeopathic treatments. We will also describe the set of statistical tools applied in the different models. The h...
In this paper we describe the set of statistical to ols applied for evaluating a series of experiments concerning the e ffects of homeopathic treatments in simple plant models, involving wheat seeds and seedlings and tobacco plants. The homeopathic treatment used in o ur experiments is arsenic trioxide, diluted in a decimal scale and dy namized k t...
Two experimental studies on wheat preintoxicated with Arsenic trioxide yielded a significant shoot growth increase after an isopathic application of Ars-alb 45x. One independent reproduction trial however, yielded an effect inversion: wheat shoot growth was significantly decreased after application of Ars-alb 45x.
In this study we investigated the...
The last comprehensive review of experimental research on effects of homeopathic treatments on plants was published in 1984, and lacked formal predefined criteria to assess study quality. Since then several new studies with more advanced methods have been published.
To compile a review of the literature on basic research in homeopathy with healthy...
The literature on the applications of homeopathy for controlling plant diseases in both plant pathological models and field trials was first reviewed by Scofield in 1984. No other review on homeopathy in plant pathology has been published since, though much new research has subsequently been carried out using more advanced methods.
To conduct an up...
Reporting experiments in basic research in homeopathy is an important issue as comprehensive description of what exactly was done is required. So far, there is no guideline for authors available, unlike criteria catalogues common in clinical research.
A Delphi Process was conducted, including a total of five rounds, three rounds of adjusting and ph...
The polyamine spermidine and the metalloid arsenic increased resistance responses in the well-known pathosystem NN tobacco/tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Both the hypersensitive response to TMV in a leaf disk model system (inoculated disks floating in the 0.1mM treatments) and systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in whole plants were significantly affec...
Abstract • Change is reported in the biosynthetic and oxidative activity of hypersensitive (NN) and susceptible (nn) tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants in response to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). • Mature leaves of nn and NN tobacco were collected over 0–72 h as uninoculated controls or after inoculation with TMV or phosphate buffer (mock-inoculatio...
The short-term polyamine response to inoculation, with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), of TMV-inoculated NN (hypersensitive) and nn (susceptible) plants of Nicotiana tabacum (L.) cv. Samsun was investigated. Free and conjugated polyamine concentrations, putrescine biosynthesis, evaluated through arginine decarboxylase (ADC) and ornithine decarboxylase...
The possible involvement of polyamines in the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-induced hypersensitive reaction (HR) in Nicotiana tabacum (L.) cv. Samsun NN, which bears the N resistance gene, was investigated. Concentrations of free and conjugated polyamines, as well as the activities of their biosynthetic enzymes ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and argini...
Most criticism about homeopathy concerns the lack of a scientific basis and theoretical models. In order to be accepted as a valid part of medical practice, a wellstructured research strategy for homeopathy is needed. This is often hampered by methodological problems as well as by gross underinvestment in the required academic resources. Fundamenta...
This research aimed at verifying the efficacy of some homeopathic and mineral treatments on Alternaria brassicicola/cauliflower interaction. Growth chamber experiments and a field trial were performed, using Brassica plants artificially inoculated with the fungus. In growth chamber experiments, infection was significantly reduced by arsenic trioxid...
The occurrence of glutamyl polyamines (PAs) and changes in activity and levels of transglutaminase (TGase, EC 2.3.2.13), the enzyme responsible for their synthesis, are reported during the progression of the hypersensitive reaction (HR) of resistant NN tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Samsun) to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Mature leaves of...
A series of experiments, performed on plant models with ultra high dilutions (UHD) of arsenic trioxide at 45th decimal potency has been reviewed with a particular focus on variability. The working variables considered are: the number of germinated seeds out of a fixed set of 33, the stem length of wheat seedlings and the number of necrotic lesions...
A series of experiments, performed on plant models with ultra high dilutions (UHD) of arsenic trioxide at 45th decimal potency has been reviewed with a particular focus on variability. The working variables considered are: the number of germinated seeds out of a fixed set of 33, the stem length of wheat seedlings and the number of necrotic lesions...
Increasing evidence has accumulated concerning the biological effects of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) in different plant models. In the present study, effects of ELF-MFs in tobacco plants reacting to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) with a hypersensitive response (HR) were evaluated. Plants were exposed for 8 or 24 h (either before o...
Most criticism of homeopathy concerns the lack of scientific bases and theoretical models. Fundamental research could make important contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of action of homeopathic treatments. Plant-based bioassays are suitable for basic research -- lacking the placebo effect and ensuring large data samples for structu...
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of nonthermal extremely high-frequency microwave radiations in a plant-based bioassay, represented by tobacco plants reacting to tobacco mosaic virus with a hypersensitive response leading to the appearance of necrotic lesions at the infection sites.
This study was performed blind and differe...
This research aimed at verifying the efficacy of homeopathic treatments by plant-based bioassays, which may be suitable for basic research, because they lack placebo effects and provide large datasets for statistical analyses.
To evaluate the effects of homeopathic treatments of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on tobacco plants subjected to tobacco mosaic...
a simple review about plant models and UHD
This study was designed to evaluate the effects of weak-intensity extremely high frequency (EHF) microwaves in a model system-the plant organism pollen grain-lacking the placebo effect, available in large populations, to ensure accurate statistical analysis, and whose sensitivity is closely relevant to animal and human biology.
This study was blind...
This paper deals with an experiment in which wheat seeds were stressed with a material dose of As2 O3, and then treated with ultra-molecolar dilutions of the same substance, with and without potentization. We focused our analysis on seedling stem length during 7 days of treatment, and tried to give a thorough statistical description of the data. We...
una sintesi molto chiara delle potenzialità delle UHD in agricoltura