Environmental Medicine News

The News Review:

- Spiritual Perspectives Navajo Wind Way Ceremony
- Local experts provide the latest information on Healthcare issues…
- SUNDAY DEBATE: Should ayurvedic docs be on par with allopaths? No
- The philosophy in Tristram Shandy
- Why Men Are More Aggressive: What A Mother Should Know
- Doctors continue to examine Maudhany
- Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. Phase II Study Shows Investigational…

Spiritual Perspectives Navajo Wind Way Ceremony
Gallup Independent - Jun 24, 2006
It is called Din Binilch’iji, the Navajo "Air Way" or the "Spirit
Way" ceremony. But I will use the term Wind Way Ceremony since most
of the written articles about this ceremony use the term Navajo Wind Way. The Wind Way Ceremony is conducted by the medicine man or woman for a
patient having a major problem with his or her breathing. It could be
asthma. The function of the ceremony is to restore harmony and balance
between the patient’s spirituality and the spirits of nature. The off
balance of spirituality is the illness. It could be physical or mental
illness resulting from disharmony among the various spirits in nature… The ceremony must
be recommended by a diagnostician. The process of the ceremony consists of purification, prayer services,
sand paintings, and sweat baths. A lot of natural herbs are used in this
ceremony. The herbs are gathered from various plants before the ceremony,
and these herbs are mixed together to make a strong bitter taste. When
one drinks the herb tea, he or she will start vomiting. That is the purpose
of drinking the tea so your body and soul will be cleansed. The patient
will drink boiled herb tea every morning for four days during the process
of the ceremony.

Local experts provide the latest information on Healthcare issues…
kgw.com - Jun 24, 2006
“We believe this was a good sighting in Everett,” she added. The mother had reportedly called KING-TV in recent days and said she wanted to try a naturopathic procedure on her child, but the state would not let her. The boy’s father, Todd Rogers, told KING that although he’s split with Carlsen, they were both raising Riley and mostly in agreement on his treatment plan, including “natural medicine. Rogers said their doctor at Children’s was strongly opposed and called state Child Protective Services. State Department of Social and Health Services officials told KING they took custody of the child earlier this month but wouldn’t say why. The hospital refused to discuss the nature of the boy’s ailment, citing privacy concerns, but Molteni said of the parents, “We heard their wishes to include alternative care treatments and we provided them alternative therapies in the hospital, including an offer to bring a naturopathic physician into Children’s to complement the traditional medical care.

SUNDAY DEBATE: Should ayurvedic docs be on par with allopaths? No
Times of India - Jun 24, 2006
All over the world, allopathy is the
mainstream system of healthcare delivery. That’s because alternative
systems of medicine like ayurveda lack standardisation. And unlike allopathy,
they do not have an evidence-based scientific approach backed by clinical
trials. Allopathy is touted as
the leader in management of infectious and surgical diseases. And when the
disease is of a severe nature, it can save life, relieve suffering and ‘buy
time’ until a holistic healer can be consulted. Ayurveda on the other hand,
can add years to a patient’s life, even improve his quality of health by routing
out chronic diseases… And unlike allopathy,
they do not have an evidence-based scientific approach backed by clinical
trials. Allopathy is touted as
the leader in management of infectious and surgical diseases. And when the
disease is of a severe nature, it can save life, relieve suffering and ‘buy
time’ until a holistic healer can be consulted. Ayurveda on the other hand,
can add years to a patient’s life, even improve his quality of health by routing
out chronic diseases. Yet, there is big difference between the two forms of
medicine and the way they are practised. The allopathic system depends
heavily on symptoms, evidence of disease and scientific diagnosis. An allopath
considers symptoms to be a manifestation of the disease and medicines are
administered to dampen or get rid of the symptom.

The philosophy in Tristram Shandy
abc.net.au - Jun 24, 2006
He had applied stimuli - aural, visual, tactile - to dogs and then fed them. After a while the association in their minds between the stimulus and food was so strong that they’d salivate at the application of the stimulus, even if there was no food around. This was a vivid demonstration of the theory of the association of ideas, but the association of ideas has been around a long time by Pavlov’s day. It turns up, for example, in John Locke’s great philosophical work, ‘Essay on Human Understanding’, first published in 1690… And when he says ‘historical plain method’, he’s alluding back to Francis Bacon, who proposed that when we examine nature, when we examine things in the natural world, we should write natural histories. Alan Saunders: So this is Francis Bacon, the English jurist and philosopher, and some people would say the author of Shakespeare’s plays as well, who’s writing at the beginning of the century, now there’s Locke writing at the end of the 17th century. Peter Anstey: Yes, and Bacon was a champion of the new natural philosophy, or what we’d call science, he was the person who wrote The New Atlantis, which became the model upon which the Royal Society was founded in 1660, and Locke became a Member of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was up to date on all developments in natural philosophy during the period. Now when Locke set about to write a book concerning the human understanding, he wrote it in this historical plain method, and when Sterne says this book’s a history, I believe that that’s what he’s alluding to. Now it’s quite interesting that one of the central ideas, and innovative ideas that came in the fourth edition of Locke’s Essay was this notion of the association of ideas, and later, in another work, in fact a posthumous work, The Conduct of the Understanding, when Locke talks about his discussion of the association of ideas in the Essay, he refers to it as being ‘an historical treatment’. So there again, we get this notion of the idea of writing a natural history, and that’s what Sterne’s picking up on, and that’s what, in a sense, became a kind of paradigm of the way that people should pursue the knowledge of nature. Alan Saunders: So history, in this use of the word, it means what - collecting case histories?Peter Anstey: It means gathering facts, ordering facts about particular qualities or particular events, or particular, we might say theories or hypotheses, ordering them, and then gleaning from them natural philosophy.

Why Men Are More Aggressive: What A Mother Should Know
Medical News Today - Jun 24, 2006
Maternal buffer can prevent aggressionIt can be a real jungle out there, and parents often do their best to shield their children from the worst of influences. According to new research, mothers can offer some added protection that fathers can’t: a buffer against the development of aggressive behavior. According to primate studies, those with a genetic susceptibility for hostile behavior can grow up to be docile in nature, provided they had loving and caring mothers as infants. Up to 10 percent of rhesus monkeys living in the wild are overly aggressive and react inappropriately even in the most benign situations, a trait they typically develop at a young age and seldom grow out of. Moreover, researchers have recently found, these aggressive animals have lower levels of the brain chemical serotonin, an observation noted through adulthood. Like their wild counterparts, monkeys studied in the laboratory that have a variation of a certain serotonin-related gene also make less serotonin and are more impulsive and aggressive, but only if they had mothers who did not bond with them as infants… Pfaff’s new results reveal some of the molecular and biophysical mechanisms that dictate when and how chemical messages for generalized arousal affect the neurons in the hypothalamus that control sexual arousal and sexual behaviors. Held in a different part of the world every four years under the auspices of the International Neuroendocrine Federation, this year’s congress - Bridging Neuroscience and Endocrinology - is being sponsored by the American Neuroendocrine Society and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The first full day of the program, June 20, was held in conjunction with the 10th Annual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. —————————-Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. —————————-Formerly the International Society of Neuroendocrinology, the International Neuroendocrine Federation consists of six member societies and seven regional groups, representing all parts of the world. The federation’s president is John A.

Doctors continue to examine Maudhany
Hindu - Jun 24, 2006
Palaniappan

Coimbatore:

A team of doctors is continuing examination of health condition and treatment of the Kerala-based People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader and the Coimbatore serial blasts case undertrial Abdul Nasser Maudhany in the Coimbatore Central Prison. The status of his health and nature of treatment provided are being reported to the Government on a daily basis. Maudhany was arrested on March 31, 1998 and was facing trial before the Special Court for Bomb Blast Cases here. He is said to be suffering from blood pressure, high blood sugar and disc prolapse. His right leg was amputated after he sustained injuries in a bomb blast in Kerala prior to his arrest and since then he is on an artificial limb… For the last one-week, doctors from the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) have been attending on Mr. Maudhany and a four member team of specialists from Chennai also visited Maudhany recently. Hospital sources said a doctor in the rank of Professor of Medicine was visiting the prison every day to extend treatment and a five-member team is attending on him on alternate days.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. Phase II Study Shows Investigational…
Medical News Today - Jun 24, 2006
Rajaratnam, Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women’sHospital, Harvard Medical School. A randomized, double-blind study of 37 healthy subjects was conductedto evaluate the efficacy of VEC-162 (10, 20, 50 and 100 mg) in a model oftransient insomnia. The primary objectives of the study were to evaluatethe efficacy of VEC-162 in shifting patients’ circadian rhythm as measuredby plasma melatonin and in improving time to persistent sleep as measuredby polysomnography (PSG) when compared with placebo in a model of transientinsomnia. Secondary objectives included wakefulness after sleep onset(WASO), safety and tolerability. On circadian rhythm, there was a statistically significant (p… Therewas a statistically significant dose response in both sleep measures. ” Treatment with VEC-162 was generally well tolerated in the study withthe adverse events mild to moderate in nature. Selected materials from the APSS presentation on the VEC-162 phase IIstudy will be made available on Vanda’s website,.