Studies and Progress Notes (Aug 2010)

* * * STUDIES and PROGRESS NOTES * * *

* *  SPIRITUAL AWARENESS AND WHOLISTIC HEALING * *

Using traditional spirituality to reduce domestic violence within Aboriginal communities

Abstract

Objectives: We report the results of involving traditional healing elders (THE) in the clinical care of aboriginal families who were involved in domestic violence in the context of a clinical case series of referrals made for domestic violence.

Methods: Psychiatric consultations were requested from senior author L.M.M. for 113 aboriginal individuals involved with domestic violence as recipients or perpetrators (or both) between July 2005 and October 2008. As part of their clinical care, all were encouraged to meet with a THE, with 69 agreeing to do so. The My Medical Outcomes Profile 2 scale was being used as a clinical instrument to document effectiveness. Elders used traditional cultural stories and aboriginal spirituality with individuals, couples, and families to transform the conditions underlying domestic violence.

Results: For those people who met with the THE, a statistically significant change (p < 0.0001) occurred in symptom severity from baseline to final interview of 4.6–1.52 on a scale of 0–6. The most common presenting symptom was being beaten (39 people), followed by drinking (37 people), drugs (13 people), grudges and anger (12 people), sadness (9 people), hates self (8 people), fear (7 people), sleep problems (6 people), anxiety (5 people), and lost spirituality (2 people). Each person chose two primary symptoms to rate.

Conclusions: Including elders in the care of people who are the recipients of domestic violence is effective. We speculate that it helps by providing traditional stories about relationships and roles that do not include violence. Spiritual approaches within aboriginal communities may be more effective than more secular, clinical approaches. Research is indicated to compare elder-based interventions with conventional clinical care.
Source: Chassidy Puchala, Sarah Paul, Carla Kennedy, Lewis Mehl-Madrona. Using Traditional Spirituality to Reduce Domestic Violence Within Aboriginal Communities. J. Alternative and Complementary Medicine 2010, 16(1): 89-96. doi:10.1089/acm.2009.0213.

IJHC – WHR Observations

Many people respond better to counseling when the counselor's approaches are congruent with their cultural and religious beliefs and practices.

* * FUTURE RESEARCH IN WHOLISTIC HEALING * * 

The IJHC/WHR E-Zine features monthly suggestions for future research in healing.
READERS ARE INVITED TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS FOR TOPICS TO STUDY
If your topic is chosen, you ill receive free access to the IJHC for a month, including the current issue and all back issues.

NEW CANCER CARE HEALING INITIATIVE, WITH A RESEARCH COMPONENT

Dear Dan

Thank you for asking about my current project.  We are starting the cancer charity on 13th September 2010, and need support.  Is it possible to send an email to persons you know who may be interested in
a) referring cancer patients to our charity
b) becoming a cancer therapist for the charity
c) helping with charity fundraising

Our start-up charity in formation will be based in East Kent at the residential clinic, 'Heaven-by-the-Sea'.  Therapists can also travel to patients' homes if needed.

The CREATE Program for Cancer Patients (CPCP) is an innovative 2-week program of chronologically structured therapies aimed to support cancer patients' physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs mainly during the period after doctors say they cannot help further, to before they need a hospice.

Seven features of CREATE
1. Chronological program to support patients' past, present and future
2. Tailor-made/customized adjustments for individual needs
3. 2-week program - Week 1 focuses on negatives. Week 2 focuses on positives
4. Support for questions, 'What if I die?', and 'What if I live?', and related issues
5. Before CREATE: research measures assess each patient
6. During CREATE: 168-steps structured for set aims and objectives
7. After CREATE: a CD is made of therapies a patient considers most helpful.
Patients play the CD at home as needed.
Follow-ups assess outcomes for research and report purposes.

Trial patients have benefited from CREATE.  For example:
1.  Tor states during his program voice recording, it was the happiest he'd felt for 10 years.
2.  Alyson said in an article she wrote, 'It has revealed to me my soul path and I now help others with cancer.'
3.  Under our name of CREST, Toni recorded on YouTube, she had more energy, was less fearful, and that for others, the program 'will improve the quality of whatever life they have left.'  See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylnoTNHbe1o

We really need help to start our charity more quickly to help more patients, and help get started in a positive way.

If anyone is free tomorrow, Sat 10th July at 1pm, (or on 31st July or 21st August at 1pm) we have a meeting in our therapy centre, (venue directions attached).  The meeting will introduce the program to potential patients, therapists, doctors, and fundraisers.

Interested persons can phone me in the UK on 01843 230377 or 07842 197731.

Thank you for your past support

Blessings

Allan Sweeney
Reiki Master
Honorary PhD in Alternative Medicine

* * WHOLISTIC APPROACHES * *

Promising strategies for the prevention of dementia

Abstract

The incidence and prevalence of dementia are expected to increase several-fold in the coming decades. Given that the current pharmaceutical treatment of dementia can only modestly improve symptoms, risk factor modification remains the cornerstone for dementia prevention. Some of the most promising strategies for the prevention of dementia include vascular risk factor control, cognitive activity, physical activity, social engagement, diet, and recognition of depression. In observational studies, vascular risk factors-including diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity-are fairly consistently associated with increased risk of dementia. In addition, people with depression are at high risk for cognitive impairment. Population studies have reported that intake of antioxidants or polyunsaturated fatty acids may be associated with a reduced incidence of dementia, and it has been reported that people who are cognitively, socially, and physically active have a reduced risk of cognitive impairment. However, results from randomized trials of risk factor modification have been mixed. Most promising, interventions of cognitive and physical activity improve cognitive performance and slow cognitive decline. Future studies should continue to examine the implication of risk factor modification in controlled trials, with particular focus on whether several simultaneous interventions may have additive or multiplicative effects.

Source: Middleton LE and Yaffe K. Promising strategies for the prevention of dementia. Archives of Neurology 2009, 66(10):1210-5   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19822776

IJHC – WHR Observations

People often take their physical and mental conditions to be 'givens' and do not realize that they themselves help to shape and improve their states of being. Many of the factors detailed above suggest simple ways we can all enhance our wellbeing and enjoy a long life with good mental health.

See another item in the next section on how Vitamin D can add to your mental health.

Mummy, can we meditate now? How relaxation exercises can help your child to sleep
MICHELLE TEASDALE - The Independent (U.K.)

Like most parents of small children, I was having major problems at bedtime. Things had gone from bad to worse: each night, my four-year-old refused to go to bed, and once she got there, was repeatedly getting up. The whole process could last as long as two hours, leaving us both frustrated and exhausted.

I tried everything: reading longer bedtime stories in an attempt to calm her down; a frog that played classical music. I tried extra trips to the park, trying to tire her out even more in the hope that she would collapse into bed at night. Nothing seemed to work. Until last Christmas, when I slipped a CD of guided meditations into her stocking, along with a bit of wishful thinking.

The CD promised to "help kids sleep more soundly and feel more confident and secure in their home and school life". I was dubious that a mere CD could help, but was willing to try anything. What does meditation consist of for a small child? The CD consisted of pairs of tracks: the first was a short relaxation, where listeners are told to tighten muscles in different parts of their body and then let go, followed by guided imagery where Elise could imagine herself swimming in the sea with dolphins, or living in her own fairy castle.

At first, I tried playing the CD during the day, but she was too busy playing to take notice of it. So I made it part of the bedtime routine: after the stories I would turn the light off, put the CD on, and leave the room. Elise seemed to enjoy it – when she got up the next morning, she announced she had been making new friends with the mermaids in the night. And five months later, our evenings are much calmer.
More…

Source: The Independent (UK)

IJHC – WHR Observations

Teaching children meditation is a blessing not only for sleep, but for a lifetime skill that will serve them in good stead in many ways. Meditations of many sorts have been shown in hundreds of studies to enhance physical and psychological health. Transcendental Meditation has been particularly diligent in documenting these results.

* * COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES * * 

Serum vitamin D and the risk of Parkinson Disease

Objective  To investigate whether serum vitamin D level predicts the risk of Parkinson disease.
Design  Cohort study.
Setting  The study was based on the Mini-Finland Health Survey, which was conducted from 1978 to 1980, with Parkinson disease occurrence follow-up through the end of 2007. During the 29-year follow-up period, 50 incident Parkinson disease cases occurred. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was determined from frozen samples stored at baseline. Estimates of the relationship between serum vitamin D concentration and Parkinson disease incidence were calculated using the Cox model.
Participants  Three thousand one hundred seventy-three men and women, aged 50 to 79 years and free of Parkinson disease at baseline.
Main Outcome Measure  Parkinson disease incidence.
Results  Individuals with higher serum vitamin D concentrations showed a reduced risk of Parkinson disease. The relative risk between the highest and lowest quartiles was 0.33 (95% confidence interval, 0.14-0.80) after adjustment for sex, age, marital status, education, alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical activity, smoking, body mass index, and month of blood draw.
Conclusions  The results are consistent with the suggestion that high vitamin D status provides protection against Parkinson disease. It cannot, however, be excluded that the finding is due to residual confounding and further studies are thus needed.

Source: Paul Knekt, et al. Serum vitamin D and the risk of Parkinson Disease.
Archives of Neurology 2010, 67(7):808-811. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2010.120

IJHC – WHR Observations

This is encouraging news on the one hand, and a caution on the other hand – to preserve and protect the rights of people to have access to purchasing high doses of vitamins and supplements. The medical and pharmaceutical industries are lobbying to restrict this access in other countries, as they have through CODEX in Europe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8367141.stm 

Alcohol 'protects men's hearts'

The type of drink did not appear to change the results
Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests.

The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men.

Female drinkers did not benefit to the same extent, the study in Heart found.

Small amounts of alcohol may protect men from heart disease
Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol could be better for you than drinking too much or none at all, according to the results of a new study.
The study found people who drank moderate levels of alcohol were more likely to have characteristics that lower heart disease risk when compared to heavy drinkers and non-drinkers.

Abstract
Background/Objectives:
Observational studies document the inverse relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and moderate alcohol intake. However, the causal role for alcohol in cardioprotection remains uncertain as such protection may be caused by confounders and misclassification. The aim of our study was to evaluate potential confounders, which may contribute to putative cardioprotection by alcohol.
 
Subjects/Methods:
We evaluated clinical and biological characteristics, including cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and health status, of 149,773 subjects undergoing examination at our Center for CVD Prevention (The Urban Paris-Ile-de-France Cohort). The subjects were divided into four groups according to alcohol consumption: never, low ( 10 g/day), moderate (10–30 g/day) and high (>30 g/day); former drinkers were analyzed as a separate group.

Results:
After adjustment for age, moderate male drinkers were more likely to display clinical and biological characteristics associated with lower CV risk, including low body mass index, heart rate, pulse pressure, fasting triglycerides, fasting glucose, stress and depression scores together with superior subjective health status, respiratory function, social status and physical activity. Moderate female drinkers equally displayed low waist circumference, blood pressure and fasting triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. Alcohol intake was strongly associated with plasma high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in both sexes. Multivariate analysis confirmed that moderate and low drinkers displayed better health status than did never drinkers. Importantly, few factors were causally related to alcohol intake.
 
Conclusions:
Moderate alcohol drinkers display a more favorable clinical and biological profile, consistent with lower CV risk as compared with nondrinkers and heavy drinkers. Therefore, moderate alcohol consumption may represent a marker of higher social level, superior health status and lower CV risk.

Source: B Hansel, et al. Relationship between alcohol intake, health and social status and cardiovascular risk factors in the urban Paris-Ile-De-France Cohort: is the cardioprotective action of alcohol a myth? European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2010, 64, 561–568; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2010.61

IJHC – WHR Observations

This is an example of 'reader beware of statistical analyses' !

It is unclear whether drinking moderate amounts of alcohol provides protection, or whether those who are 'mellow' to begin with (and therefore less prone to heart disease) are the ones who drink only moderate amounts of alcohol.

More CAM reviews at
http://www.naturalhealthvillage.com/
www.mdlinx.com/FamilyMDLinx 
 www.ucalgary.ca/~camig/litsearch.html
AMSA website
www.amsa.org/humed/camresources/camnews.cfm

* * TECHNOLOGY * *

Questions about breast cancer x-ray screening – possibly contributing to developing cancers

A new study led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has revealed another way in which radiation can promote cancer development. Working with cultures of human breast cells, the researchers discovered that radiation exposure can alter the environment surrounding the cells so that future cells are more likely to become cancerous.
“Our work shows that radiation can change the microenvironment of breast cells, and this in turn can allow the growth of abnormal cells with a long-lived phenotype that has a much greater potential to be cancerous,” says Paul Yaswen, a cell biologist and breast cancer research specialist with Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division.
Source: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2010/05/13/
new-concerns-about-radiation-and-breast-cancer/ 

For more about the research of Paul Yaswen visit his Website at http://www.lbl.gov/lsd/People_&_Organization/
Scientific_Staff_Directory/Yaswen_Lab.html

IJHC – WHR Observations

If you have a breast cancer that is detected early enough on mammograms, you have been helped by the x-rays. If you have annual mammograms, we do not know the degrees of risks involved in the x-ray exposure.

Promising wholistic approaches could include low-tech methods such as muscle testing oneself or having medical sensitives who see auras or sense bioenergy fields do screenings for cancer. These have yet to be explored.

* *  ENVIRONMENT (HEALING OUR PLANET) * *

Climate change displaces more than local conflicts

Reuters: There's been plenty of talk about how climate change will cause mass displacements, and now for the first time there are some comprehensive figures to show where and how that's happening. Over  20 million people  were forced to flee their homes by climate-related natural disasters in 2008 - more than four times the number displaced by conflict. The figures - which don't include earthquakes or slow-onset disasters like drought or rises in sea levels - are the result of research carried out by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It's a first attempt at producing reliable figures on this form of displacement and to find a way to monitor it in the long term.
More…

IJHC – WHR Observations

Environmental disasters are increasing – with global heating, diminishing water supplies, rising food prices. Bigger changes yet are coming, as global disasters in economics, environment and resources march towards inevitable tipping points.

The national Chamber of Commerce: now a tool of the Radical Right

Once a sane advocate and even community-minded organization, the Chamber of Commerce has been captured by the Republican Party.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is often seen as an extension of the local Chambers of Commerce with which many of us grew up -- the staid, nonpartisan organizations that not only advocated for local businesses, but were also a part of the broader fabric of communities across America. They lobbied local governments, but they also promoted small towns' business districts, sponsored local parades and outfitted Little League teams.

But that image couldn't be further out of date. The organization was formed some 90 years ago to represent an umbrella group of American businesses' diverse interests. But under the leadership of Thomas J. Donahue, it has become increasingly partisan, even reactionary, in its steadfast opposition to even modestly progressive proposals in Congress, including those that are in the apparent interests of some of its member firms.

Matt Stoller noted in 2006, "the national Chamber of Commerce isn't pro-business … it's just a fully captured right-wing organization that has been taken over by the Republican Party."

What distinguishes it from other conservative lobbying shops is its massive resources; the CoC has a budget of upwards of $150 million per year, and it throws that into a wide array of affiliate organizations that influence public policy in myriad ways and at every level of government.

Given its reach and impact on our public-policy debates, the CoC has operated under the radar to some degree. But its claim to represent a consensus of American businesses -- presumably a pragmatic role, given the diversity of its members' interests -- took a hit last week with the high-profile defection of a number of major firms because of the CoC's unyielding opposition to the very moderate and distinctly business-friendly climate-change bills wending through Congress.

Such corporate heavyweights as Nike, GE and Apple - and energy giants like Exelon and Pacific Energy and Gas - have recently either distanced themselves from the Chamber, resigned their seats on its board of directors or quit the organization altogether in protest of what PG&E CEO Peter Darby called the CoC's "extreme position" on global warming and "disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality of [the] challenges [it poses]."

Read more…

Source: http://www.alternet.org/politics/143263/not_your_father's_chamber_of_commerce
%3A_national_organization_is_now_a_tool_of_the_radical_right/?page=entire

IJHC – WHR Observations

The selfish, self-centered approaches of many businesses and corporations cannot be allowed to continue. Our lives and the life of our planet depend on our being aware, alert and active in promoting environmental consciousness.

 

* * HUMAN ECOLOGY * * 

Low-wage workers are often cheated according to a recent study

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: September 1, 2009
Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 percent of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week.

“We were all surprised by the high prevalence rate,” said Ruth Milkman, one of the study’s authors and a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the City University of New York. The study, to be released on Wednesday, was financed by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes and Russell Sage Foundations.

In surveying 4,387 workers in various low-wage industries, including apparel manufacturing, child care and discount retailing, the researchers found that the typical worker had lost $51 the previous week through wage violations, out of average weekly earnings of $339. That translates into a 15 percent loss in pay.

The researchers said one of the most surprising findings was how successful low-wage employers were in pressuring workers not to file for workers’ compensation. Only 8 percent of those who suffered serious injuries on the job filed for compensation to pay for medical care and missed days at work stemming from those injuries.

“The conventional wisdom has been that to the extent there were violations, it was confined to a few rogue employers or to especially disadvantaged workers, like undocumented immigrants,” said Nik Theodore, an author of the study and a professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois, Chicago. “What our study shows is that this is a widespread phenomenon across the low-wage labor market in the United States.”

According to the study, 39 percent of those surveyed were illegal immigrants, 31 percent legal immigrants and 30 percent native-born Americans.

The study found that 26 percent of the workers had been paid less than the minimum wage the week before being surveyed and that one in seven had worked off the clock the previous week. In addition, 76 percent of those who had worked overtime the week before were not paid their proper overtime, the researchers found.

The new study, “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers,” was conducted in the first half of 2008, before the brunt of the recession hit. The median wage of the workers surveyed was $8.02 an hour — supervisors were not surveyed — with more than three-quarters of those interviewed earning less than $10 an hour. When the survey was conducted, the minimum wage was $7.15 in New York State, $7.50 in Illinois and $8 in California.

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis responded to the report with an e-mail statement, saying, “There is no excuse for the disregard of federal labor standards — especially those designed to protect the neediest among us.” Ms. Solis said she was in the process of hiring 250 more wage-and-hour investigators. “Today’s report clearly shows we still have a major task before us,” she said.

The study’s authors noted that many low-wage employers comply with wage and labor laws. The National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small-business owners, said it encouraged members “to stay in compliance with state and federal labor laws.”

But many small businesses say they are forced to violate wage laws to remain competitive.

The study found that women were far more likely to suffer minimum wage violations than men, with the highest prevalence among women who were illegal immigrants. Among American-born workers, African-Americans had a violation rate nearly triple that for whites.

“These practices are not just morally reprehensible, but they’re bad for the economy,” said Annette Bernhardt, an author of the study and policy co-director of the National Employment Law Project. “When unscrupulous employers break the law, they’re robbing families of money to put food on the table, they’re robbing communities of spending power and they’re robbing governments of vital tax revenues.”

When the Russell Sage Foundation announced a grant to help finance the survey, it said that low-wage workers were “hard to find” for interviews and that “government compliance surveys shy away from the difficult task of measuring workplace practices beyond the standard wage, benefits and hours questions.”

The report found that 57 percent of workers sampled had not received mandatory pay documents the previous week, which are intended to help make sure pay is legal and accurate. Of workers who receive tips, 12 percent said their employer had stolen some of the tips.

One in five workers reported having lodged a complaint about wages to their employer or trying to form a union in the previous year, and 43 percent of them said they had experienced some form of illegal retaliation, like firing or suspension, the study said.

In instances when workers’ compensation should have been used, the study found, one third of workers injured on the job paid the bills for treatment out of their own pocket and 22 percent used their health insurance. Workers’ compensation insurance paid medical expenses for only 6 percent of the injured workers surveyed, the researchers found.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/us/02wage.html?_r=2

IJHC – WHR Observations

The capitalist system is a good one – for those who sit on the top of the pile. For those at the bottom, the system looks very much in need of reform.

IJHC – WHR Observations