* *  SPIRITUAL AWARENESS AND WHOLISTIC HEALING * *       

DNA strands with similar protein sequences congregate together     

Double-stranded DNA in a protein-free liquid appears to 'recognize' similar strands of DNA from a distance. Through mechanisms that have yet to be identified, these pieces of genetic material gravitate towards each other to form clumps. There is no known mechanism to account for this observation.     

Source: Baldwin, Geoff S. et al. DNA Double Helices Recognize Mutual Sequence Homology in a Protein Free Environment, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2008, 112(4), 1060–1064

IJHC – WHR Observations

While no conventional explanation is proposed, the bioenergy field identified by spiritual healers in living organisms would suggest a mechanism that could explain these interactions. The mutual 'recognition' of separate strands and their attraction to each other could be facilitated through a matching of their bioenergy fields.

**  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.
 
Can spiritual healing influence DNA?

An earlier study noted that spiritual healers could influence the winding and unwinding of DNA pairs (Rein and McCraty). It would be interesting to see whether a healer could influence the rate or other parameters of the process described in the study of Baldwin and colleagues.

Reference: Rein, Glen/ McCraty, Rollin. Modulation of DNA By Coherent Heart Frequencies, Unpublished Paper.
In Benor, Daniel J. Healing Research: Volume I, Spiritual Healing: Scientific Validation of a Healing Revolution, Southfield, MI: Vision Publications, 2001; 2nd Ed Bellmawr, NJ: Wholistic Healing Publications 2007.

* *  WHOLISTIC APPROACHES * *

Heart hazards of woeful wives

"Women in strained marriages are more likely to feel depressed and suffer high blood pressure, obesity and other signs of "metabolic syndrome," a group of risk factors for heart disease, stroke and diabetes, University of Utah psychologists found.

The same study found men in strained marriages also are more likely to feel depressed, yet " unlike women " do not face an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by five symptoms: hypertension, obesity around the waistline, high blood sugar, high triglycerides and low levels of HDL, which is "good cholesterol."

http://www.newswise.com/articles/heart-hazards-of-woeful-wives

IJHC – WHR Observations

This study confirms the common observation that preventive attention to stress factors is good for your health. Hopefully we will one day have a health care system rather than a disease care system and will see wholistic approaches available and recommended more often for prevention and treatment of illness.

My kingdom for contentment

It's a country whose reputation precedes it, where people live in harmony with nature, and material goods are valued less than spiritual fulfillment. Spending just a few days in Bhutan affords a whole new perspective on the state of well-being.
by Trey Popp

"…gold is not what primarily concerns Bhutan’s government, a hereditary monarchy that’s steadily introducing democratic reforms at the behest of its king and on behalf of its estimated 2.2 million residents. Since the 1970s, the country’s leaders have been less interested in the gross national product than in what they call the Gross National Happiness, or GNH. This is the metric that counts, they say, and they claim to steer the ship of state in whichever direction they think will increase the well-being of the greatest number of people.

It’s a strategy that’s gained a lot of attention in the West over the past few years. Bhutan’s government ministers have aired their ideas on “60 Minutes” and at a number of academic conferences dedicated to the notion of treating happiness as a policy goal. Some governments have followed Bhutan’s lead: Last March, for instance, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that a well-being index would join his nation’s list of government-compiled statistics later this year. It’s easy to understand the conceptual appeal of all this, but sorting out what it means in practical terms is harder. After all, a well-being index is no more a guarantor of widespread contentment than a federal mortgage rate is of turning everyone into a homeowner. Can happiness really trickle down from government policy? I had come to Bhutan to find out whether the king’s subjects were truly as content as he wants them to be and, if so, why…

… Kinley gave me a unique chance to discover the place for myself. A small group was returning to his native village in the southern foothills—Kinley was hosting not guests, but “sisters” and “cousins”—and he arranged to send me covertly along with them. Since Bhutan permits only overnight visitors who participate in officially chaperoned tours that cost more than 200 dollars a day, his offer was extraordinary. Yet he wanted nothing in return. Regretting that he could not come along, he insisted on quartering me in the house he maintained there.

It was a full day’s walk at the villagers’ pace, which was set by the women. At times, the men swaddled babies in long, brightly striped cloths and tied them to their backs, hanging their flip-flops from their sickles to navigate tricky stretches with bare feet. We climbed from a river basin through forested hills teeming with butterflies. At twilight, we reached a hamlet of four dozen wood and stone houses spread across a broad slope. At Kinley’s house, the housekeeper overcame his initial petrifaction and showed me to a room with enough floor space to roll out a sleeping bag and spread out my things.

I stayed for five days. Aside from the handsome school at the top of the hill, where I ultimately delivered a daylong lesson in world geography to about 150 children and young adolescents, there was little activity. There was no electricity and no connection to the country’s sparse network of roads. The village derived its livelihood from its orange trees, which, at this time of year, were not yet bearing fruit, so there was little work to do. Accordingly, it was not a place where anyone was likely to make a fortune. Yet in contrast to so many other parts of Asia and the developing world, its working-age population had not fled. And despite a subsistence lifestyle that placed its inhabitants among the poorest on earth, their ruddy cheeks and visibly healthy bodies testified to a high quality of life. Land was distributed in an egalitarian fashion. No family was homeless or lived in a shanty. Theft appeared to be a foreign notion, and violence was unimaginable in the context of so much gentleness.

These are exactly the conditions Bhutan’s new draft constitution aims to support and engender. Envisioning the state as an instrument of maximizing the GNH, it lays out a vision of equitable wealth distribution, free access to modern and traditional medicine, and the primacy of the extended family structure. If approved, the constitution will be one of a precious few in the world that endow citizens with “the right to rest and leisure...”

© 2002 Science & Spirit Magazine. All rights reserved.
http://www.science-spirit.org/article_detail.php?article_id=595

IJHC – WHR Observations

Taking a lesson from Bhutan, contentment is clearly within our reach if we hold the right attitude towards our lives, each other and our environment.

 * *  COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES * * 

Chocolate therapy

Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported. Smaller quantities confer less protection, but are still better than none, according to the study, which appears in the September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Earlier research had established a strong link between cocoa-based confections and lowered blood pressure or improvement in blood flow. It had also shown that chocolate cuts the rate of heart-related mortality in healthy older men, along with post-menopausal women.

But the new study, led by Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, is the first to demonstrate that consuming chocolate can help ward off the grim reaper if one has suffered acute myocardial infarction -- otherwise known as a heart attack. "It was specific to chocolate -- we found no benefit to sweets in general," said Kenneth Mukamal, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a co-author of the study. "It seems that antioxidants in cocoa are a likely candidate" for explaining the live-saving properties, he told AFP in an exchange of e-mails.

Antioxidants are compounds that protect against so-called free radicals, molecules which accumulate in the body over time that can damage cells and are thought to play a role in heart disease, cancer and the aging process.

In the study, Janszky and colleagues tracked 1,169 non-diabetic men and women, 45-to-70 years old, in Stockholm County during the early 1990s from the time they were hospitalised with their first-ever heart attack…"

Source: Chocolate 'cuts death rate' in heart attack survivors, by Marlowe Hood Marlowe Hood – http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090813/ts_afp/
healthdiseaseheartchocolate_20090813110330

IJHC – WHR Observations

I have not seen recommendations for the proper dose of chocolate, but leave it to readers' intuitive awareness to sort this out. If anyone finds a study with chocolate RDA (recommended daily allowance) I'd be grateful for the feedback.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Rising Among U.S. Women

Study shows cases have increased since the mid-1990s. The number of American women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is growing again after four decades of decline, according to a Mayo Clinic study.

The researchers tracked 350 adult patients, averaging 56.5 years of age, from Olmsted County, Minn. Of those patients, 69 percent were women. The Mayo researchers' analysis of data from early 1995 to the start of 2005 revealed that both the incidence and prevalence of RA were rising. During those 10 years, the incidence of RA among women increased to 54 per 100,000, compared to 36 per 100,000 in the previous 10 years. The incidence of RA among men remained at about 29 per 100,000.

The rate of RA in the overall population increased from 0.85 percent to 0.95 percent. The reason for the increase isn't clear, but environmental factors may play a role in the rise of the joint disease among women, the researchers suggested.

The study was to be presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals, in San Francisco.

Source:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/10/27/
rheumatoid-arthritis-rising-among-us-women.html

IJHC – WHR Observations

As with many other chronic diseases, conventional medicine is at a loss to offer cures. Symptomatic treatments are primarily through medications, which carry risks of side effects and fatalities. For instance, the NSAIDS that are commonly prescribed for arthritis cause an estimated 16,000 deaths annually in the US when properly prescribed and used.

Doctors and the pharmaceutical companies compound the injuries with prescriptions of further medications to handle the side effects of another medication. Add another bullet with each medication to the chamber of your pistol as you play medical Russian roulette!

There are many complementary therapies that can relieve pains of arthritis and of all sorts of other medical problems. WHEE is among the easiest self-treatment – easily learned, yet rapidly and deeply effective.

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 * *

Sophisticated phishing

Beware of pop-ups that warn you about your computer security being compromised. These are often phishing scams – seeking to obtain your credit card details and other efforts to achieve identity theft.

"Online criminals are making millions of pounds by convincing computer users to download fake anti-virus software, internet security experts claim.

Symantec says more than 40 million people have fallen victim to the 'scareware' scam in the past 12 months.
The download is usually harmful and criminals can sometimes use it to get the victim's credit card details. "

Read more at:
Millions tricked by 'scareware'

Get safe on line
 

IJHC – WHR Observations

In addition , be cautious with requests from addresses such as PayPal and eBay regarding your details.

Governmental information - digitalization

Masses of data are available.

Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects
The Registry contains records for projects that include digitized copies of publications originating from the U.S. Government. It serves as a locator tool for publicly accessible collections of digitized U.S. Government publications; increases awareness of U.S. Government publication digitization projects that are planned, in progress, or completed; fosters collaboration for digitization projects; and provides models for future digitization projects.

Browse By Category
Arts & Humanities (20)
Includes communications, education, languages, literature, philosophy, religion, music, art, and other cultural aspects of humanity.
Business & Economy (21)
Includes manufacturing, transportation, acquiring, supplying services, production, distribution, and consumption.
General Interest (21)
Includes current events, newsworthy topics, and reference materials that may not fit in any of the other established categories.
Legal & Regulatory (23)
Includes governing actions controlled by the law, as well as congressional documents, the Federal Register, nuclear regulations, et cetera.
Natural Sciences & Mathematics (47)
Includes botany, chemistry, zoology, mathematics, and other topics involving the study of the physical world and its phenomena.
Social Sciences (27)
Includes documents and collections on American History, geography, political science, psychology, and sociology.
Technology & Applied Sciences (11)
Includes aerospace, aviation, engineering (physics, materials, ceramics, opticals) electronics, artificial intelligence, and computer science.

IJHC – WHR Observations

This provides greater availability to anyone with on line access. Those without personal access can usually find these resources through their public libraries.

* *  ENVIRONMENT (HEALING OUR PLANET) * *

National Cancer Institute study links aspartame to leukemia and lymphoma

" On May 14, 2009, the National Cancer Institute confirmed the link between formaldehyde and cancer.  The NCI's Laura E. Beane Freeman, Ph.D. reported that an extended analysis of workers exposed to formaldehyde was associated with a 37 percent increased death-risk from lymphoma and leukemia.  "The overall patterns of risk seen in this extended follow-up of industrial workers are consistent with a causal association between formaldehyde exposure and cancers of the blood and lymphatic system and warrant continued concern," Online: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

According to Kristina Fiore of MedPage Today, "Since the 1980s, the Institute has studied a cohort of 25,619 workers employed before Jan. 1, 1966 in 10 industrial plants that produced formaldehyde in molded-plastic products, photographic film, decorative laminates and plywood. The formaldehyde cohort, originally assessed through Dec. 31, 1979, was then updated through Dec. 31, 1994."

Researchers have not yet identified the mechanism by which formaldehyde causes leukemia but the pattern is consistent with "a possible causal association, with the largest risks occurring closer in time to relevant exposure." She called for further study to "evaluate risks of these cancers in other formaldehyde-exposed populations and to assess possible biological mechanisms."

It is absolutely established formaldehyde converted from the methyl ester in aspartame embalms living tissue and damages DNA.

EPA listed formaldehyde as a probable human carcinogen in 1987.  In 2004 the International Agency for Research on Cancer went further classifying formaldehyde as a "known human carcinogen" based partly on research suggesting a link to leukemia.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced April 20, 2009: ..."on the basis of all the evidence currently available including the [second] published ERF study there is no indication of any genotoxic or carcinogenic potential of aspartame and that there is no reason to revise the previously established ADI (allowable daily intake) for aspartame of 40mg/kg bw/day."   Truth be told:  aspartame is an addictive excitoneurotoxic, genetically engineered, carcinogenic that interacts with virtually all medications.

EFSA is blinded by allegiance to commercial interests so it invents objections to acclaimed medical research, disregarding the suffering, ruined lives and death their cupidity brings to Europe.

In 2005 the renowned Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences reported a rigorous three years study on 1,800 rats, concluding: aspartame causes significant increases in lympomas/leukemias and is a multi-potential carcinogen.  EFSA invented "deficiencies" in the study to protect manufacturers pet poison.  The second study, ERF 2007, entirely verified the first.  Dr. Morando Soffritti, who led both projects, noted that so much formaldehyde developed in aspartame-exposed rats that their skin turned yellow.

Who is the European Food Safety Authority?  In 2002 a review of aspartame a review of aspartame y the European commission, Scientific Committee on Food attempted to pass off this deadly addictive drug as safe.  An assessment by the European Anti-Fraud Agency (OLAF) revealed the opinion was written by a single person and not by the entire Scientific Committee on Food.  OLAF did not reveal the name of this individual or any scientific expertise or conflict of interest he/she had.

Astonishingly, one unnamed individual writes each opinion of the committees.  Next, persons, often industry consultants, review the draft. What is clear: neither the author nor the Committee (including industry consultants) considered or had familiarity with the scientific research detailed in the 2002 analysis.

The European Commission, Scientific Committee on Food is defunct and reviews are now conducted by EFSA, which is composed of many of the same scientists with conflicts of interest who were on the earlier bureaucracy.

America's FDA approved aspartame as a synthetic sweetener in 1981. However, studies given the FDA by the manufacturer hide the fact the poison caused tumors in lab rats.

Source:
http://www.mpwhi.com/formaldehyde_from_aspartame.pdfwww.mpwhi.com/
formaldehyde_from_aspartame.pdf
 

IJHC – WHR Observations

AVOID ANY FOOD OR DRINK CONTAINING ASPARTAME!!!

THINK OF THIS WHEN YOU REACH FOR A DIET COKE!

Many diet and 'Light' foods have been sweetened with aspartame for years.

Manpollo

Our mission is to provide a risk-management perspective to the often political debate of global warming. We aim to quantify the possible consequences of various international, national, statewide, and personal actions (or inaction), based upon economic and climate models provided by top scientists in their respective fields.

Furthermore, we wish to shift the question often asked in popular culture from "Are we certain we're responsible for global warming?" to "Given the risks and uncertainties of global warming, what is the best action to take?"
http://manpollo.org/

IJHC – WHR Observations

See the outstandingly argued video discussion of the risks of
1. assuming global heating is a real and imminent threat, vs
2. assuming global heating is not a real and imminent threat.

 * *  HUMAN ECOLOGY* * 

Mind-set converts normal work into beneficial exercise

Abstract: In a study testing whether the relationship between exercise and health is moderated by one's mind-set, 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels were measured on physiological health variables affected by exercise. Those in the informed condition were told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General's recommendations for an active lifestyle. Examples of how their work was exercise were provided. Subjects in the control group were not given this information. Although actual behavior did not change, 4 weeks after the intervention, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. These results support the hypothesis that exercise affects health in part or in whole via the placebo effect.

Crum, Alia J and Langer, Ellen J. Mind-set matters: exercise and the placebo effect, Psychological Science 2009, 18(2), 165 - 171
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/
118505496/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

IJHC – WHR Observations

The implications of this study go well beyond placebo suggestions around exercise. By creating a positive attitude, we can change our life experiences in many domains of our existence, for instance: in how we relate to our work, to each other, and to our local and planetary environment.

Pharmaceutical advertising biases journals against vitamin supplements
It may be the worst-kept secret in medicine: pharmaceutical money buys journal influence. What the public has so long suspected has now been demonstrated in a recently published peer-reviewed study. (1) Researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Florida found that "in major medical journals, more pharmaceutical advertising is associated with publishing fewer articles about dietary supplements." Furthermore, they found that more pharmaceutical company advertising resulted in the journal having more articles with "negative conclusions about dietary supplement safety."

This new study, the first of its kind, specifically looked at pharmaceutical advertising as compared with journal text about dietary supplements. The authors reviewed a year's worth of issues from each of eleven of the largest medical journals: the Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine, Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Pediatrics and Pediatric Research, and American Family Physician.

The results were statistically significant. . . and embarrassing. Medical journals carrying the most pharmaceutical ads "published significantly fewer major articles about dietary supplements per issue than journals with the fewest pharmads (P < 0.01). Journals with the most pharmads published no clinical trials or cohort studies about supplements. The percentage of major articles concluding that supplements were unsafe was 4% in journals with fewest and 67% among those with the most pharmads (P = 0.02)." The authors concluded that "the impact of advertising on publications" is real, and said that "the ultimate impact of this bias on professional guidelines, health care, and health policy is a matter of great public concern."

When patients ask about nutritional treatments, many a family physician has replied, "I've never seen any studies supporting the safety or efficacy of vitamin supplements in my professional journals. The research is simply not there."

Sadly, they are right. And now we know why.

Major medical journals, their editors, and their authors appear to be on the take. Harsh words? Perhaps, but only because the truth is harsh. "On the take" refers to receiving cash in exchange for influence. It is naive to assume that money does not corrupt. Promoting vested interests masquerading as science is wrong and it must be stopped. At the very least, accepting money carries an obligation to account for the source of that money. All medical journals should be compelled to print a full disclosure in every issue itemizing exactly how much money comes from exactly which sources.

Any medical journal that won't disclose has a reason to not disclose. And that reason has nothing to do with public health. It's about private cash. The cash that induces the journals to sway the doctors to persuade the public.

Source:  Kemper KJ and Hood KL. Does pharmaceutical advertising affect journal publication about dietary supplements? BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2008 Apr 9;8:11.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/8/11 or
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18400092
http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n02.shtml

IJHC – WHR Observations

Publication biases are obvious to anyone who has submitted articles on wholistic healing – not just on vitamins – to conventional medical journals. It is very rare for articles on wholistic healing to be published in such journals.