Studies and Progress Notes (Feb 2010)

* * * STUDIES and PROGRESS NOTES * * *       

* *  SPIRITUAL AWARENESS AND WHOLISTIC HEALING * *       

Investigating Adaptability, Cohesion, and Human Energy Fields in Family Interactions       
By Geoffrey Leigh, PhD and Jean Metzker, PhD     

Abstract
Context:  The study of family interactions has a long tradition within various disciplines and methodologies, but one area ignored is the investigation of the human energy fields (HEF).  While the HEF concept has been around for centuries, only recently has it been explored. 
Objective:  Combining emotional expression, family processes, and HEF perspectives, this study was developed to investigate the relationship between emotional expression and HEF interactions in relation to reported and formally assessed family cohesion and adaptability.
Design:  The methodology was designed to analyze self-report and observational data on 56 dyads and triads within two-parent families with a high school adolescent.  Assessment instruments included FACES III, the Family Expressiveness Questionnaire (FEQ), the Affective Communications Test, the Emotional Self-Disclosure Scale, the Family Assessment Device, and an observational coding scheme for HEF.  The data were analyzed with Pearson Correlations.
Results:  The HEF codings were significantly correlated with family adaptability and cohesion in addition to parts of the family emotional expressiveness scales of the FEQ, ACT, ESDS, and FAD.
Conclusion:  The inclusion of HEF assessment in research on family dynamics helps identify aspects of family interactions that previously have been ignored but hold promise of adding to our understanding of family dynamics and have important implications in family therapy.

Read more

IJHC – WHR Observations

The human energy field (aura) has been reported by decades to be an aspect of wholistic healing that provides diagnostic information and therapeutic access for healing.

* * 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.
 

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED:
Developing a standard psychometric measure to assess the breadth of one's spirituality

Hi,
I am an undergraduate student from the University of Toronto and would like to invite you to participate in an online study. We are working on developing a standard psychometric measure to assess the breadth of one's spirituality, as well as constructing a tool to support investigations of spirituality (and healing) and its relationship to various health outcomes. The study can be completed online and takes approximately 1 hour. Upon completion you have the opportunity to obtain a free comprehensive personality report and can enter the draw to win a $100 gift certificate for Amazon.com. The following link will take you directly to the study:
http://www.jbplab.net/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=94KH4m2  
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Megan
 
 P.S. If you know of others who would be willing to complete this survey, please feel free to pass it on to them, as over 1000 participants are needed before the end of February 2010. Thanks!

* *  WHOLISTIC APPROACHES * * 

Long-term physical activity has an anti-ageing effect at the cellular level
Researchers in Saarland University, Germany focused on telomeres, the protective caps on the chromosomes that keep a cell's DNA stable but shorten with age. They found telomeres shortened less quickly in key immune cells of athletes with a long history of endurance training.
Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8385700.stm
Scharhag, Jürgen et al.  Physical Exercise Prevents Cellular Senescence in Circulating Leukocytes and in the Vessel Wall , Circulation. 2009;120:2438-2447. http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/
120/24/2438?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10
&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=ulrich+laufs&searchid=1
&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

IJHC – WHR Observations

It is fascinating to find cellular evidence validating clinical studies which have also shown health benefits of fitness.

Hospital 'Super-infections' find a solution in Norway

Dangerous and contagious staph infection are killing tens of thousands of patients in the most sophisticated hospitals of Europe, North America and Asia, soaring virtually unchecked.

Not so in Norway! The reason: Norwegians limited the uses of antibiotics.

"Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway's public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics.

Now a spate of new studies from around the world prove that Norway's model can be replicated with extraordinary success, and public health experts are saying these deaths -- 19,000 in the U.S. each year alone, more than from AIDS -- are unnecessary…

Read more 

IJHC – WHR Observations

Paradoxically, the great fears of death in the US and many other Western countries leads to more deaths than would otherwise occur. People pressure their doctors to give them antibiotics when they have viral infections, earaches, etc. The over-uses of antibiotics produce super-infective bacteria through selection of the fittest germs that survive despite the antibiotics.

While this article focuses on simple reductions in the uses of antibiotics, homeopathy offers another demonstrated alternative.
See: van der Zee, Harry. Healing humanity with homeopathy: homeopathy for epidemics, collective trauma and endemic diseases, International J. of Healing and Caring 2009, 9(2), 1-21.   http://www.wholistichealingresearch.com/92vanderzee

 
* *  COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES * * 

Adverse effects in Ayurvedic medicine and homeopathy

Design: A targeted approach was taken in increasing the ADR reporting to CAM in a tertiary care hospital in South India. Suspected ADRs to CAM spontaneously reported over a period of 24 months were selected for evaluation. Reported ADRs were evaluated for patient demographics, reaction and drug characteristics, causality, severity, and outcome.

Results: A total of 12 ADRs to CAM were reported, which included 9 to Ayurvedic and 3 to homeopathic medicines, which accounted for 1.5% of the ADRs reported to the ADR reporting unit. ADR resulted in hospitalization in 5 patients. The system organ class most commonly involved included skin and appendage disorders (58.3%). Only four of the reactions were previously reported in the literature. The mean time for onset of the ADR after the administration of the drug was 27.8±36.1 days. The suspected drug was withdrawn in all the reports that resulted in recovery, with mean time for recovery 5.9±3.6 days. The majority (66.6%) were moderate in severity and 2 were severe in nature. On causality assessment, 6 were probable in nature and the remaining were possible.

Conclusions: Even though there were fewer ADRs reported by this spontaneous reporting system, it gave valuable information regarding the potential for adverse effects with these agents. The study has reinstated the potential role of spontaneous reporting in identifying lesser reported ADRs, including those to CAM. Such hospital-based programs can contribute much in increasing the safety-related data of these agents.

Source: Jimmy Jose, et al. Drug safety reports on complementary and alternative medicines (Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines) by a spontaneous reporting program in a Tertiary Care Hospital. J Alternative and Complementary Medicine.  2009, 15(7): 793-797.
Full Text:    • PDF for printing <http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/acm.2008.0128>  (74.6 KB)  

IJHC – WHR Observations

Complementary therapies have far fewer side effects that conventional medical care, which is now the third leading cause of death in the US, and almost certainly of similar lethality globally. This may be the reason that users of complementary therapies have not noted serious side effects with their approaches. It may also be that doctors do not inquire about the uses of these therapies in their patients, and people who use them do not tell their doctors because the doctors are often unfamiliar with CAM and some are actually hostile towards people who use them.

Multivitamins appear to prolong life with intra-cellular effects

A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that multivitamins can keep you younger, longer. The study found that those who took a multivitamin daily had 5.1 percent longer telomeres than non-users. Telomeres are segments of DNA associated with aging. And it’s not just your life span that’s affected... Short telomeres dramatically boost your risk of serious diseases.
Source: Xu, Qun, et al. Multivitamin use and telomere length in women, Am J Clin Nutr 89: 1857-1863, 2009
Forwarded by Ira Moscowitz, PhD

IJHC – WHR Observations

It is helpful to have microscopic evidence of the effects of vitamins on health – both as a confirmation of their benefits, and as early suggestions of possible mechanisms to explain how vitamins can prolong life.

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 * *

Global local news
Just put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and the day's newspaper headlines will pop up... Double click and it will show the entire front page...Click web site to read complete paper.
About 580 newspapers from over 80 countries.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/ 
 


IJHC – WHR Observations

The internet is bringing our global village closer together.

New wound dressing mimics skin, dissolves when finished

A revolutionary, dissolvable wound dressing developed at Tel Aviv University could help reduce deaths caused by burn-related infections. ScienceDaily.com reports that currently, 70% of those with severe burns die from related infections. Prof. Meital Zilberman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Biomedical Engineering has developed a new wound dressing that is filled with antibiotics and other healing agents, and that dissolves when the wound is healed.

The dressing is based on fibers that Prof. Zilberman engineered. A study published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research shows that the new dressing can eradicate infection-causing bacteria after only two days.

Source:ScienceDaily.com   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117124015.htm

IJHC – WHR Observations

Skin wounds from extensive burns have been difficult to heal, largely due to infections. This invention has the potential to truly be a life-saver.

* * ENVIRONMENT (HEALING OUR PLANET) * *

Autism increases by 57% in just 4 years, per report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Catherine Rice, PhD, of the CDC reports that in 2006, one in 110 U.S. kids had an autism disorder diagnosed by age 8: one in 70 boys and one in 315 girls, reflecting a nearly fivefold higher risk for males.

The new CDC estimate of autism prevalence, obtained from analysis of child evaluation records in 11 states, is virtually identical to autism numbers reported for 2007 from a huge telephone survey.
 
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20091218/
autism-jumps-57percent-in-just-4-years

IJHC – WHR Observations

The worrisome, dramatic increase in childhood autism remains unexplained. People are suspicious this may be caused by the increasing numbers or combinations of immunizations or by toxic chemicals in the environment or in foods. There appears to be a steady acceleration in the numbers of cases of autism over the last two decades

2009 European Solar Prizes Awards

Extraordinary projects, initiatives and individuals were honored for work for renewable energy

EUROSOLAR, the registered European Association for Renewable Energy awards the 2009 European Solar Prize in Berlin in December 2009.

The 2009 European Solar Prize is given in seven subject categories. The recipients are:

Cities, municipalities and municipal utilities
- Morbach / Germany
- Geovest S.r.l. / Italy

Industrial and commercial companies or farmers
- KWB – Kraft und Wärme aus Biomasse GmbH / Austria

Owners or users of installations utilizing renewable energy
- grab architekten ag / Switzerland

Local or regional associations promoting renewable energy projects
- Terra Foundation / Spain
- DAÇE – East Mediterranean Environmental Association / Turkey

Media
- “Here comes the Sun” – Rob van Hattum / Netherlands

One-world cooperation
- Solar taxi / Switzerland
- INFORSE-Europe / Denmark

Special achievement prize for outstanding individual commitment
- Claude Turmes / Luxembourg
- Dr Wolfhart Dürrschmidt / Germany

Created by EUROSOLAR in 1994, the European Solar Prizes have since rewarded towns, companies, individuals and organisations every year for outstanding service rendered to the utilization and applications of renewable energy in all its available forms. The recipients are celebrated for outstanding projects, initiatives and innovation.

For more information, including films about the prizewinners see http://www.eurosolar.org/

IJHC – WHR Observations

We need more incouragements and acknowledgments such as these for ecological innovations!

 * *  HUMAN ECOLOGY * * 

US Cult of Greed is Now a Global Environmental Threat
by Suzanne Goldenberg
The Guardian

The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fuelling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet, according to a report published today. In its annual report, Worldwatch Institute says the cult of consumption and greed could wipe out any gains from government action on climate change or a shift to a clean energy economy.

Erik Assadourian, the project director who led a team of 35 behind the report, said: "Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilisation."

The world's population is burning through the planet's resources at a reckless rate, the US thinktank said. In the last decade, consumption of goods and services rose 28% to $30.5 trillion (£18.8tn).

The consumer culture is no longer a mostly American habit but is spreading across the planet. Over the last 50 years, excess has been adopted as a symbol of success in developing countries from Brazil to India to China, the report said. China this week overtook the US as the world's top car market. It is already the biggest producer of greenhouse gas emissions.

Read more

IJHC – WHR Observations

Western civilization has promoted a lifestyle that was developed and continues to be sustained at the expense of less developed countries. This exploitation is reaching the end of its viability. Resources are being exhausted and developing countries are working hard to attain Western standards of living – which is an impossible achievement because we do not have the global resources to make this a viable goal.

WE MUST DEVELOP WAYS TO MODERATE OUR LIFESTYLES AND LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS. If we do not manage to do this in planned ways, this will happen by default when we reach as-yet unknown tipping points of exhaustion of resources

Exploitation of low-paid workers

"Further evidence of what has happened to our economic model, and its assault on the poor. Contrast this with the multi-hundreds of millions paid to CEOs.

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."

Read more 

IJHC – WHR Observations

The 'robber barons' have surfaced again. The industrial world has cycled back to the conditions at the start of the 20th century. Businesses have become powerful and exploitative. For a good view of how this works to their great advantage see the video WalMart. We are sorely in need of healing for these gross and injust imbalances.