Complementary & Alternative Medicine - Science topic

Complementary and Alternative Medicine is itself typically based on energy medicine and includes many various energy-based modes of therapies. See attached link. Well-known modes include HeartMath, yoga, chi-gong, Johrei, Reiki, Acapuncture,

Ayurveda has many medicines for PCOD. Among them, Pushpadhanwa Rasa is a very effective Ayurveda medicine for PCOD. Kindly find the research paper on PCOD.

Yes!

Please take a look at these RG links.

Nice answer by Taifa....

OR

If you want to find an alternative, you can use Journal Finder (https://journalfinder.elsevier.com/) to search for other journals that could be better suited for publishing your manuscript.

Elsevier B.V. | Privacy Policy Elsevier B.V., Radarweg 29, 1043 NX Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Reg. No. 33156677.

The "Gold Standard" is fMRI imaging.  Eg, if you stimulate a point near the 5th toe, areas in the occipital lobe "light up",  or stimulate a point on the ventral wrist between flexor carpi radialis and palmaris longus, near where your wrist watch might sit, and multiple centres in the cerebellum "light up". You need large sums of money, even in a small pilot study. Costs range from a low of AUD$360 per 1/2 hour at University of Melbourne, Australia through USD$621 per hour at University of Michigan to up to USD$800 per 1/2 hour at Indiana University.

Thank you both for your replies.

Dear Vijitha, 

check these papers and their references out: 

HPA (Hypothalamo-pituitary adernal cortex) axis in the body is some thing like akash ganga in the universe of human body. As the name suggests , It starts from bottom of the body means adernal cortex controlling corticosteroids, mineralocorticoids, etc through cortisone-cortisol interconversion system and return back from top hypothalamus-pituitary glands in a negative-positive feedback system..... anyways let me tell you one important thing about herbals....... select polyphenolic compounds with similarity to cortisol and cortisone...they will 100% have the interactions through hydrogen bondings at any receptor or ion channel level in tha HPA axis...... this is the key to HPA system...... Read Bhagyashree's PhD. Thesis for HPA and its inhibitors/activators... all the best!!!!

I don't know much about the ayurvedic AVASTHHA -PAK and NISTHAA-PAK as much in detail but to my limited knowledge Avastha-pak is some thing like a passage of drugs or eatables after eating, churning from mouth to large intestine during which absorption takes place... this is not Phase I metabolism as Phases of metabolism starts in liver only and avastha-pak has nothing to do with liver... now coming to nishtha-pak which seems final metabolism of the absorbed juices after which the drug action or nutrition starts... This seems to me like the real metabolic phases in liver classified under single name nishtha-pak. Correct me if am wrong. !!!!

If you consider the 5 major progressive myoclonic epilpesies including: Unverricht-Lundborg disease, myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibers (MERRF), Lafora disease, the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses, and sialidoses, then I would say that neither KD nor VNS were efficient in significantly controlling the seizures apart from some amelioration which is variable in duration of  response.

Other syndromes including myoclonic seizures e.g. Dravet or Doose: the ketogenic diet is superior to VNS . Sometimes the combination of the 2 is beneficial.

Dear Dr Posadzki

I sent this email to your email address but failure delivery.

Sara sent me the chapter of version of 36 and 37 which I must thank her.

I had a look at them very briefly. I have an new idea for new version. In fact I think that this time is the turn of Traditional Persian-Iranian Medicine (TPIM) to be presented. In two previous version the TCM has been presented very good and this is good idea to present another school of Asian Medicine (TPIM).

In this manuscript I can present and introduce about the :

Ghamz Therapy In TPIM or reflexology

Phelebotomy or blood letting

Hijamat in TPIM

Aromatherapy

Cupping

Surgery in TPIM

Food =C2=A0in TPIM

Herbal and plants of TPIM

Animal materia and medica

Acupuncture

Embedding and complication

Moxibustion and side effects

Now I would like to know in details what should I do and what is your expec=

tation?

Thank you

There is some evidence for Ginkgo biloba extract. Refer to 2005 Cochrane review CD003691 by Zeng, Liu, Yang et al. 

Also some early trials found benefit in recent stroke victims. References can be found in Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy, 2013 by Bone and Mills p605

Thank you. 

I will check now...

In Maidstone there is the Blackthorn Trust which provides CAM therapies (anthroposophic medicine) and social and work rehabilitation therapy through craft work and work in a bakery and garden. They mainly work with people with chronic pain and mental illness. They have NHS funding. See the website below.

In greenwich there is a project that works along similar lines which is still in the set up stage and has just got or is in the process of getting NHS funding for patients who have failed with secondary care pain management services. They became a charity last year. It was founded by the same GP who founded Blackthorn. They work as part of the Greenwich PCT pain service.

Let me know if you need any further information or help on this.

Make 'two (double) standards' evaluation system.  Try two sets of standards (base element) comparable say C1 and C2. experiment with a set using C1+Aromatic 1,  C2 + Aromatic 1.  C1 + Aromatic 2 and C2 + Aromatic 2. Compare.

Treatment options from CAM (depending on the severeritiy grade of the neuropathy): 1. intravenous ascorbic acid according to our published protocol (see my references) 2. high dose boswellia acid ( up to 2400 mg bosewllia serrata/ 24 h) 3. alternate thigh affusions according to Kneipps`hydrotherapy has special influence especially on the combined nociceptive and neuropathic pain (see my literature) 4. tong accupuncture might improve the symptoms 4. herbal/phytotherapy: all externas with a combination of menthol and capsaicin. Kind regards- Martin Schencking, University o Witten/Herdecke, Germany.

Yes, it will be my pleasure.

IRR for 45 mins will be too long as it can cause burns. Usually it is given for 10 mins, to the max 15 mins and it is very good combination after massage espicially in palliative care

Dear Spencer Muthoka

The use of certain types of basils to adsorb water to form mucilages has been explored by several local communities. In India, seeds of Ocimum basilicum chemotype rich in methylcinnamate (the essential oil recovered from the herb is rich in this compound and not the seeds) are traditionally added to water and after the seeds swell, the water is consumed. This seed-water is believed to cool the body during hot summer months (when temperatures cross 40^oC). I have not come across any reference where this property of basil seeds has been explored to make available the water adsorbed by them to plants. There are synthetic chemical water adsorbents that have been used as soil conditioners for supplying water to plants under water-stress conditions. CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India has done research on such chemical compounds. You may check with the Institute by contacting the concerned authorities.

Best wishes

David:

1. Yoga is not ancient Indian philosophy. It does not belong to anyone, or to Hinduism. It is the heritage of all mankind who have arose from a single source. The geographical, cultural, political and demographical entity known as India now, received it & practiced it to preserve the science of Yoga faithfully. Other inheritors lost it, while India preserved it as a sacred science, recognizing its essentiality. But all mankind are the inheritors. You have the same right as anyone from India has over Yoga. This is probably difficult for Americans to comprehend in the times of cutthroat copyrights, intellectual property rights and patents. The ancient seers of Yoga never claimed patents(not even signing their names, preferring to remain anonymous)and gave the science to all the children of mankind, saying that they themselves received it, proclaiming 'Loka Samastha Sukhinoh Bhavanthu"! May All Worlds be Happy! This is long before any religion even came into the picture.

Yoga is 'open source', but please don't misinterpret and use it to misguide humanity to make your own living. Using wisely, responsibly, remaining true to its actual content is a way of showing respect to the 'original' giver.

2. It is not based on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Patanjali is a seer who organised & codified the science into sutras, terse aphorsims, in the recent past, recognising that in the age of Kali, man's limited intelligence is liable to lose the science altogether. It is not even known if he is a human being as he is usually depicted with the lower half of his body coiled like a snake(pic). The snake is a representation of Time in Yoga. He is also known as the Lord of Time. In the Bhagavad Gita(circa 3200 BC), Krishna states that the ancient science was lost many times in the hoary past and every time He descends to deliver the same science to Man to subjugate evil. The science of Yoga is the original 'Operations manual' of man. It is the 'Science of Man'. We descended from a source and the way back to the source is Yoga. The path and the goal is Yoga. 

Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a recent (15th century )abridged work that lays emphasis on the physical posture part so that the main goal of Yoga is achieved without bodily interference.

3. I would rather not comment on the level of absurdity Yoga has been misinterpreted by commercial interests in America. Cherry-picking is both harmful and counterproductive. What would happen if the government let people cherry pick the American constitution and interpret it according to their own comfort zone?

4. There's no mud slinging going on here, only concern that the 'adulterated ' version may become 'mainstream' and the truth lost forever. Blowback effect ?

5.On the contrary, this is an attempt to prevent people from getting hurt by clearing the air. Are you stating that the "Ignorance is Bliss" mode, status quo, is Ok? Am I throwing a spanner in the well oiled sham?

Regards

Some good potential sources have already been cited above. What I add here is a summary of my findings from a recent internal review I completed on the issue of natural interventions for alopecia. Note that I deliberately confine my attention solely to human clinical studies. What's important to note is that we have several natural agents that have a plausible degree of evidentiary support through based on human clinical data, and my own observation is that these may on their own provide clinically significant relief from alopecia, and they may also provide a synergistic or at least additive benefit to current conventional treatments (note; several other interventions - like millet seeds, among others - have shown some preliminary promise, but I focus on the more robust of the studies, to be updated as new evidence appears].

A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial¹ found efficacy for a treatment oil containing essential oils of thyme, rosemary, lavender, and cedarwood in a grape seed and jojoba oil base. The clinical significant benefit of essential oils in the treatment of alopecia was further confirmed in a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study of a pulsed electromagnetic field in combination with essential oils².

Biotin/Zinc/Silicon: High - and potentially dangerous - dose zinc aspartate and biotin in combination showed preliminary benefit³ for alopecia areata in children, but I note that this was in conjunction with the ultrapotent corticosteroid clobetasol, a problematic deployment in children. In addition, biotin and niacin appear to have some preliminary positive activity^4,5. And a proprietary form of silicon (choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid) has shown some promise^6,7.

Cysteine: A combination oral supplement of cysteine, histidine, copper and zinc induced a significant mean change in total hair count in male and female patients⁸.

One double-blind study found that the pineal hormone melatonin, applied topically to the scalp as a 0.1% solution, may be helpful for women with diffuse hair loss⁹.

Topical Onion/Garlic Extracts: Topical crude onion juice in the treatment of patchy alopecia areata was tested single-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study, hair regrowth being observed in 87% of patients treated with onion juice compared to only 13% of the control group¹⁰. And topical garlic gel was tested in conjunction with a corticosteroid, a beneficial effect being observed for the garlic gel on the therapeutic efficacy of topical corticosteroid therapy in patients with alopecia areata¹¹.

Preliminary data¹² also has found that topical khellin, an extract derived from the fruit of the Mediterranean plant khella ( Ammi visnaga) may promote new hair growth in combination therapy with ultraviolet light for alopecia areata.

A combination of two herbals, peony-derived glucosides and licorice-dreived glycyrrhizin was tested in pediatric alopecia in a randomized controlled trial¹³ and found both safe and effective and an earlier RCT also confirmed efficacy in adults¹⁴. And the proanthocyanidine flavonoid procyanidine B induced significant mean changes from total hair count in male patients¹⁵.

One of the most extensively researched - and clinical successful - arenas of potential benefit dervies from natural 5-α reductase (5AR) inhibitors, given the fact that he conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) via the enzyme 5-α reductase (5AR) is a well-documented major contributing factor of alopecia disorders, and the same mechanisms is of course also implicated in the onset and progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Curcumin: It is known that curcumin behaves as a natural 5-α reductase (5AR) inhibitor, and this activity was exploited in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study¹⁶ which tested the efficacy of 5% hexane extract of Curcuma aeruginosa when added to 5% minoxidil, the combination inducing slowed hair loss and increased hair growth.

Saw Palmetto/Beta-sitosterol: A liposterolic extract of Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens) and the plant sterol beta-sitosterol (found in Nigella sativa, Serenoa repens, Pygeum africanum, and sea-buckthorn, among other plant sources), both botanically derived 5AR inhibitors, were tested in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial⁵ and found to induce a highly positive response.

A search of the PUBMED, Cochrane Library / Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED (Allied and Complimentary Medicine Database), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), PsycINFO, ISI Web of Science (WoS), BIOSIS, LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature), ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts), and SCEH (NHS Evidence Specialist Collection for Ethnicity and Health) was conducted without language or date restrictions, and updated again current as of date of publication, with systematic reviews and meta-analyses extracted separately. Search was expanded in parallel to include just-in-time (JIT) medical feed sources as returned from Terkko (provided by the National Library of Health Sciences - Terkko at the University of Helsinki). Unpublished studies were located via contextual search, and relevant dissertations were located via NTLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) and OpenThesis. Sources in languages foreign to this reviewer were translated by language translation software.

This is such an interesting and important question. I believe that it is a combination of both – lack of appropriate technology/method and interest (or more precisely financial interest). On the other hand, there is more research out there than you probably realize due to a lack of common language. This research can sometimes fall under non-local healing, prayer effects, shamanism, energy healing, healing touch, qi gong, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Reiki, etc. These studies may or may not specifically address measured frequencies but they certainly do address the existence, use and effects of the human bio-field. There are also studies that attempt to understand the bio-field through triangulation using physiological bio-markers.

As for prominent researchers, I would definitely recommend checking out Beverly Rubik. There is a profile on her and discussion of research in this area here: http://www.faim.org/energymedicine/measurement-human-biofield.html

Here are links to a couple articles as well:

You might do a search for dissertations on the subject as this would, ideally, provide some current research and a thorough literature review.

I think that the problem of different methodological considerations with conventional medicine is not unique for Iranian Traditional Medicine. All traditional medical systems such as TCM, Homeopathy, Ayurveda and others have faced this problem and tried to make solutions for it. The concept of Whole System Research (WSR) has multiple dimensions that can solve some methodological issues in CAM and traditional medicine researchers. However there are many non solved methodological problems that should be worked on in future.

Recent work presented at the European College of Sports Science conference in Amsterdam evaluated the reliability of the new Lactate Pro handheld device. The newer module uses 1/5 of the sample size of the older model. Test re-test reliability was good but there was a lack oa agreement between models at higher lactate concentrations. This is an argument that has been presented in the literature (Int J Sport Med). So the question to consider for you is are you looking for good internal reliability and limited variability or good external reliability? If the later you should perhaps consider devices such as the Analox system.

The concept of community acupuncture clinics seems to be gaining in popularity. These operate with a sliding scale, dependent on income. Patients are treated in one large room, rather than individual treatment rooms. I assume the consultation is done privately, but the larger treatment room allows the practitioner to treat several people at once and keeps overhead low. This type of set up could work for other therapies that don't require patients to disrobe such as shiatsu or acupressure, the difference being that one therapist could only work on one patient at a time. But the overhead of the clinic would still be lower and the sliding scale would allow access by fixed income individuals.

These are 2 very different questions:

Hypnosis: there is a large individual variability in the "propension" to be hynotized. Most of this variability is inter-individual variability (some individuals can be hypnotized very easily others never)  but there is probably also some degree of intra-individual variability on this propension, based on "context' and other unknown factors. Albeit we all know intuitively what hyposis is, we also lack an operational definition for hpnosis and to a similar point, there are different degrees or "depths" of hypnosis which is an important facotr if one wants to use hyposis as a substitution or an adjuvant for deep sedation.  With all these caveats and unsolved issues, hyposis may be a safe and effective tool  in the hands of a qualified health professional for selected subset subjects.

Meditation: there are several studies (of varying quality) showing beneficial effects of meditation in subjects with hypertension, migraine and many other medical conditions. It is not as easy as swallowing a pill, it requires training, predisposition, and the right environment ( a quiet room and undisturbed time). Those who need meditation the most sadly are also those less likely to be able to practice it on a regular basis (think of the type A, goal-driven mid-age executive suffering from blood pressure, or the anxious mother of 3 children suffering of recurring migraine).

Any injury can be treated with yoga and CAM effectively. Time and nature of intervention, would depend on the type of injury. Divine association can also make the patient feel comfortable.  Yoga and Asanas may be correctly practiced with concurrent use of other CAM medicines also. Surgery may be an aided requirement. Diseases may be treated with multidisciplinary approach, all that is required is a perfect coordination between them.

yes, the NSAID effect of Glucosamine sulfate is there, but it is of other class/chondroprotective  when we see it as a NUETRACEUTICAL promotion....But i would like to ask why plain glucosamine sulfate with 1500 mg is not acceptable by the doctors in Grade I osteoarthritis.. 

Considerable numbers of research papers/reports are available regarding Antitrypanosomal Activity of traditionally and ethno-pharmacologically important medicinal plants. Following are some of the links through which you can find research papers on this aspect:

http://www.farm.ucl.ac.be/Full-texts-FARM/Hoet-2004-1.pdf http://www.uclouvain.be/cps/ucl/doc/ir-ldri/images/BEROJETHN2011.pdf http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3349134/ http://jjbs.hu.edu.jo/files/v6n2/Paper%20Number%201m.pdf

Best Wishes

Thank you very much for your replies. If "prevailing scientific evidence does not support claims" but practitioners of alternative medicine believe ozone has therapeutic benefits, should more extensive research be funded?

A classical RCT design seeks to determine the cause and effect of one variable only, and traditionally has been applied to drug efficacy studies. This design doesn't suit CAM so well, as there are many known elements to CAM which can influence a health outcome such as the therapeutic relationship, the setting, the patient expectations, on top of the actual complementary therapy being practiced. Furthermore when you assess the effectiveness of a CAM approach to health, you are acknowleding that all aspects of the person are important and affect how they feel. How a person feels is measured often with Health Related Quality of LIfe Questionnaires, however these questionnaires do not always contain all the items that are deemed important to a patient. Thus you can incorporate tools that allow a patient to nominate items that concern them (see MYMOP and MYCaW). When you analyse these types of data you can see that there are many elements that patients consider important in relation to their health. A whole system approach to health research seeks to incorporate the evaluation of the whole person, on the understanding that total quality of life is contributed to by all aspects such as physical, social, functional, emotional, psychological and spiritual health. This means you have more variables to consider when carrying out statistical analysis in comparison to a straightforward analysis that you would carry out in an RCT. For the CAM field specifically thisWSR approach can acknowledge the broader effects of holistic healthcare in a way that RCT designs do not. It can also identify variables that should be incorporated into comparative effectiveness research design

If people think that alternative medicine is rubbish because it has not undergone bench mark trials than I say, stop eating because true 'alternative medicine' has been around for centuries, is mostly food based and many of our pharmacueticals are based on 'alternative medicines' eg lipator.

Dear Maureen

It was a pleasure

Regards

Meant to add that the letter we published can be found at:

Constipation: patient perceptions compared to diagnostic tools.

Liz Brown, Iain Lawrie, Viv Barros D'Sa, Sarah Wilcox, Mike Bennett

Palliative Medicine 11/2006; 20(7):717-8.

It is depends on the journal you are submitting your paper and is described in "instructions for author" however most journals receive the figures in separate files and they themselves embed it in result part in publication format.

I think your clinical experience is valid source. Of course it is better to be more validated with different designs of clinical researches. However the Ayurveda and other traditional medical recommendations can be used in clinical settings if there were no side effect or interaction in current literature against their use.

Hello Faraidoon Haghdoost

Really, it is difficult to get similar wounds , particularly in the case of excisional wounds. But some research teams use an electric ablation system (discoid) to obtain identical wounds. For our case (burns), we usually use more animals and after experimental procedure, we choose animals that have the most similar wounds (no significant differences) to implicate them in the study.

Best regards!

I suggest Vaseline, or olive oil

Anything that is rigid doesn't last too long generally. Acceptance, modifications and adaptations are the pillars of innovation and success. Lots of time tested remedies for various conditions are present in alternate systems. Also there are certain theories beyond known in conventional medicine. They can form basis of further research for basis and validity. These will nothing but enrich the conventional healthcare and no wrongs with it.

The reproductive function in female (represented by Artava and stanya ) are special functions in female. Apart from these certain Stri kara bhavas are mentioned in Ayurveda such as Klaibya, Bhirutvam, Avaisharadyam, Moha, Anavasthana, Shaithilya, Mardavam which are seen especially in female.

I am not sure why I was sent this question. There are many who have far more experience than I in this area. One person that comes to mind is Prof. Patricia Carpenter of the Psychology Department at CMU in Pittsburgh..

That being said, my own 'intuitions' in this area are as follows:

I believe that the fundamental cause of many types of cancer is stress - both metabolic and psychological.. Techniques are now being developed by which we may quantify the health of a single cell. Quantities derived from our new understanding of dynamical systems (living systems are dynamical systems), are being applied such that we may now have an objective measure as to what it means to be healthy or diseased (see reference below).

One may argue that such approaches are limited to the metabolic domain and are not relevant to the psychological. However, recent theoretical work (and I include my own contribution) suggests the possibility that function and metabolism may actually be the same thing in ALL biological processes - including the brain. Such unified theories offer a means by which the psychological and the physiological may be more closely aligned. Although, perhaps, counter intuitive, such approaches greatly simplify the relationship between the emotional and the biological.

Within such a theoretical context, there is a necessary relationship between the metabolic state of the body and the metabolic state of the brain that equates to a 'logical sympathy'. The mind/body relationship becomes less of a dualistic problem and more of a complimentary dichotomy.

If these advances prove to be useful and relevant then it comes as no surprise that the stress relieving techniques that you have mentioned in your question would have a positive effect with respect to oncogenesis.

Davia, C.J (June 2006), "Life, Catalysis and Excitable Media: A Dynamic Systems Approach to Metabolism and Cognition", in Tuszynski, J.A, The Emerging Physics of Consciousness (The Frontiers Collection), Springer, pp. 255–292, ISBN 978-3540238904

Villorba, F; Van Piaggio, V.E (2010). "The role of mitochondria and mit-DNA in Oncogenesis". Quantum Biosystems 2 (1): 250–281.

A wide spectrum of phyto-chemicals belonging to a number of chemical classes or taxonomic affiliations (genus/species/family/class) have so far been attributed with medicinal properties. This thread is almost one year old. I feel that some one having access to CAS/SciFinder, can search chemical abstract database for "plant derived chemicals" OR 'natural products" and then analyse the search results employing their data-mining tools. One can create a matrix of compounds on one axis and medicinal property on the other. SciFinder is a very good but a paid tool available with Chemical Abstract people. Any one who knows to use a computer can accomplish the job and publish areview paper to help the entire research community.