Homeopathic vaccine given to 200,000 people in India to help stem dengue fever.

Ongoing Story: With the outbreak of dengue fever in India, the homopathic vaccine Eupatorium Perfoliatum has continued to be distributed and has shown positive results in treatment, and preventing the ailment. 

Two hundred thousand people have been administered homoeopathy medicine free of charge so far as part of a drive to prevent the outbreak of dengue fever in the district. The Government Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital at Thirumangalam near here has been conducting special camps to distribute homeopathy pills following the spread of dengue in the district last year. Apart from holding free camps in urban and rural areas with the consent of the Corporation and local bodies, doctors from the homoeopathic college distributed medicines in Sivaganga and Tuticorin districts as well.

“Dengue preventive medicine was given to 240,000 persons in three districts put together through our college. In Madurai district alone, 47 homoeopathy camps were conducted,” A. Gopalakrishnan, Principal in-charge, Government Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital, toldThe Hindu on Wednesday.

Doctors have been distributing ‘Eupatorium Perfoliatum’ medicine for adults and children in the prescribed dosage. Dr. Gopalalakrishnan said camps were not conducted since December 22 because of the festival holidays. The camps will resume shortly. “A special camp is planned on January 18 and 19 in TVS Group companies for the benefit of 4,500 employees and their families,” the Principal added. A homoeopathy dispensary is likely to come up in the Government Rajaji Hospital, sources said. During the recent visit of the Tamil Nadu Assembly Assurance Committee, the issue was raised by Thirumangalam MLA M. Muthuramalingam, who sought a dispensary in the GRH.

“There is a Siddha dispensary and it is quite appropriate to request for a homoeopathy facility as well. It is being considered and the Government is likely to sanction it after a consultation with the dean,” an official said.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/homoeopathy-medicine-given-to-two-lakh-people/article4315617.ece

New study reveals exactly how herbal remedies can work.

From Huffpo

Science has confirmed just why an herb used in Chinese medicine possesses its healing properties.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, show that the herbal medicine Chang Shan, which is used to treat fever from malaria in Chinese medicine, works because of a derived compound in it called halofuginone.

The scientists from the Scripps Research Institute were able to find just how halofuginone works to suppress the immune system (since an immune response is generally what causes fevers) by creating a high-res molecular structure of the compound.

The university explained in a statement how exactly halofuginone may work in helping with malarial fever:

The new structure shows that, like a wrench in the works, halofuginone jams the gears of a molecular machine that carries out "aminoacylation," a crucial biological process that allows organisms to synthesize the proteins they need to live. Chang Shan, also known as Dichroa febrifuga Lour, probably helps with malarial fevers because traces of a halofuginone-like chemical in the herb interfere with this same process in malaria parasites, killing them in an infected person's bloodstream.

Halofuginone has been the focus of many other studies in the past, too. In a previous one, scientists from Harvard University School of Dental Medicine found thathalofuginone could block harmful immune cells from developing, which could be promising in treating autoimmune disorders.

Click to read more ...

New Report: USA spends more on health care; lags behind competition in preventing death.

While the United States spends more on health care than other developed countries, the medical system is doing a worse of job of keeping its residents from dying.

from Huffington Post / theHill.com

The U.S. lags behind European countries such as France and the United Kingdom when it comes to the rate of people lost to "potentially preventable" deaths, or those occurring before the age of 75 that might have been avoided with timely and effective health care, according to a new study.

"Measuring The Health Of Nations," published in Health Affairs, found that for every 100,000 deaths occurring for people under age 65 in the U.S. between 1999 and 2007, 69 were preventable, compared to 53 in the U.K. and 37 in France.

Likewise, the rate of preventable deaths, whose causes include cancer, heart disease and diabetes, has declined more slowly in the U.S. than it has in other countries. The numbers show there’s certainly room for improvement in American health care, according to the report’s authors.

"These findings strengthen the case for reforms that will enable all Americans to receive timely and effective health care,” said lead author Ellen Nolte, according to The Hill.

There were an estimated 502 preventable deaths per week in the U.S. in 2010, according to a separate study, 24/7 Wall St. reports. Meanwhile, half of cancer deaths are preventable, a study by the American Association for Cancer Research has found. The U.S. is also worst at preventing deaths related to asthma for people between the ages of five to 39, compared to 12 other top industrialized countries.

Preventable deaths aren’t for lack of spending on health care. In fact, the U.S. spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation, at $7,960 per capita in 2009. France, meanwhile, spends about half that.

Swiss Government's Conclusive Report Findings on Homeopathic Medicine: Effective & Affordable

In late 2011, the Swiss government's report on homeopathic medicine represents the most comprehensive evaluation of homeopathic medicine ever written by a government and was just published in book form in English (Bornhoft and Matthiessen, 2011). This breakthrough report affirmed that homeopathic treatment is both effective and cost-effective and that homeopathic treatment should be reimbursed by Switzerland's national health insurance program. 

The Swiss government's inquiry into homeopathy and complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments resulted from the high demand and widespread use of alternatives to conventional medicine in Switzerland, not only from consumers but from physicians as well. Approximately half of the Swiss population have used CAM treatments and value them. Further, about half of Swiss physicians consider CAM treatments to be effective. Perhaps most significantly, 85 percent of the Swiss population wants CAM therapies to be a part of their country's health insurance program.

It is therefore not surprising that more than 50 percent of the Swiss population surveyed prefer a hospital that provides CAM treatments rather to one that is limited to conventional medical care.

Beginning in 1998, the government of Switzerland decided to broaden its national health insurance to include certain complementary and alternative medicines, including homeopathic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, anthroposophic medicine, and neural therapy. This reimbursement was provisional while the Swiss government commissioned an extensive study on these treatments to determine if they were effective and cost-effective. The provisional reimbursement for these alternative treatments ended in 2005, but as a result of this new study, the Swiss government's health insurance program once again began to reimburse for homeopathy and select alternative treatments. In fact, as a result of a national referendum in which more than two-thirds of voters supported the inclusion of homeopathic and select alternative medicines in Switzerland's national health care insurance program, the field of complementary and alternative medicine has become a part of this government's constitution (Dacey, 2009; Rist, Schwabl, 2009).

Read the full article by Dana Ullman here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/homeopathic-medicine-_b_1258607.html

Marijuana derived painkiller seeks FDA approval.

from Everyday Health 

MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2012 — A British company has submitted the first drug developed from marijuana to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval. Called Sativex and administered in oral spray form, the drug contains two of the best-known components of marijuana, delta-9-THC (better known as just THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) and cannabidiol, which has been found to have pain-fighting properties.

Sativex has already been approved in Canada, New Zealand, and eight European nations (including the United Kingdom) for relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis. According to the Associated Press, the developers of the drug, GW Pharmaceuticals, are hoping to have the drug on the U.S. market by 2013, with an indication for treating cancer pain.

If Sativex is approved in the United States, it could increase pressure on the government to encourage American companies to develop other drugs based on marijuana. A synthetic version of THC, Marinol (dronabinol), is FDA-approved to treatchemotherapy side effects like nausea and vomiting, as well as loss of appetite and weight loss in people with AIDS.

But medical marijuana advocates, like the group Americans for Safe Access (ASA), are worried that having more prescription products available will give the government justification to prohibit marijuana use. Speaking to the Associated Press, Kris Hermes of the ASA said, "To the extent that companies can produce effective medication that utilizes the components of the plant, that's great. But that should not be the exclusive access for people who want to be able to use medical marijuana."

According to a 2011 Institute of Medicine report, about a third of all Americans, or more than 116 million people, are currently living with chronic pain. But despite many studies showing the benefits of medical marijuana in helping pain patients, its use is still a hot topic in the United States — most recently in California, where the state's supreme court will review whether cities and counties can ban medical marijuana stores, despite the drug's legalization there.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/ pain-management/0123/a-marijuana-based-spray-for-pain-treatment-seeks-fda-approval.aspx

PET / Proton Therapy confirmed effective for Prostate Cancer.

U.S. researchers suggest proton therapy -- a type of external beam radiation -- is effective for localized prostate cancer with minimal side effects.

In one study, researchers at the University of Florida in Jacksonville studied 211 men with low-, intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer. The men were treated with proton therapy, a specialized type of external beam radiation that uses protons instead of X-rays.

Nancy Mendenhall of the university's Proton Therapy Institute said the treatment was effective and the gastrointestinal and genitourinary -- reproductive organs and the urinary system -- side effects were generally minimal.

In a second study, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif., and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group in Philadelphia performed a case-matched analysis comparing high-dose external beam radiation therapy using a combination of photons (X-rays) and protons with brachytherapy (radioactive seed implants).

Over three years, 196 patients received the external beam treatments. Their data was compared to 203 men of similar stages who received brachytherapy over the same time period.

"For men with prostate cancer, brachytherapy and external beam radiation therapy using photons and protons are both highly effective treatments with similar relapse rates," said Dr. John J. Coen, a radiation oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "Based on this data, it is our belief that men with prostate cancer can reasonably choose either treatment for localized prostate cancer based on their own concerns about quality of life without fearing they are compromising their chance for a cure."

The findings were published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology

Acupuncture used as a relief of cancer treatment side effect: dry mouth.

An ancient therapy could prove effective at relieving a common side effect of cancer treatment, a small, new study shows.

Acupuncture was able to reduce dry mouth in people who were receiving radiation therapy to treat their head and neck cancers, reported researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center.

Dry mouth, also known as xerostomia, occurs when there is not enough saliva in the mouth.

"The medical implications are quite profound in terms of quality of life, because while chronic dry mouth may sound benign, it has a significant impact on sleeping, eating and speaking," study researcher Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of MD Anderson's Integrative Medicine Program, said in a statement. "Without saliva, there can be an increase in microbial growth, possible bone infection and irreversible nutritional deficits."

Researchers examined 86 people with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were undergoing radiotherapy for their cancer. Forty of the patients received acupuncture three times a week while they received their radiotherapy over seven weeks, while 46 just had regular care.

Researchers monitored the study participants' saliva flow using a Xerostomia Questionnaire -- a score under 30 meant that dry mouth was mild or completely gone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/13/acupuncture-dry-mouth-xerostomia-cancer-radiation_n_1087017.html

Super Broccoli, now available courtesy of natural science and study.

British scientists unveiled a new breed of the vegetable that experts say packs a big nutritional punch.

The new broccoli was specially grown to contain two to three times the normal amount of glucoraphanin, a nutrient believed to help ward off heart disease.

"Vegetables are a medicine cabinet already," said Richard Mithen, who led the team of scientists at the Institute for Food Research in Norwich, England, that developed the new broccoli. "When you eat this broccoli ... you get a reduction in cholesterol in your blood stream," he told Associated Press Television.

An AP reporter who tasted the new broccoli found it was the same as the regular broccoli. Scientists, however, said it should taste slightly sweeter because it contains less sulphur.

Glucoraphanin works by breaking fat down in the body, preventing it from clogging the arteries. It is only found in broccoli in significant amounts.

Super Broccoli: higher in special nutrients that fight heart disease and lower cholesterol levels is now becoming available in stores.To create the vegetable, sold as "super broccoli," Mithen and colleagues cross-bred a traditional British broccoli with a wild, bitter Sicilian variety that has no flowery head, and a big dose of glucoraphanin. After 14 years, the enhanced hybrid was produced, which has been granted a patent by European authorities. No genetic modification was used.

It's been on sale as Beneforte in select stores in California and Texas for the last year, and hit British shelves this month. Later this fall, the broccoli will be rolled out across the U.S.

The super vegetable is part of an increasing tendency among producers to inject extra nutrients into foods, ranging from calcium-enriched orange juice to fortified sugary cereals and milk with added omega 3 fatty acids. In Britain, the new broccoli is sold as part of a line of vegetables that includes mushrooms with extra vitamin D, and tomatoes and potatoes with added selenium.

Not enough data exists to know if anyone could overdose on glucoraphanin, but vitamin D and selenium in very high quantities can be toxic.

Mithen and colleagues are conducting human trials comparing the heart health of people eating the super broccoli to those who eat regular broccoli or no broccoli. They plan to submit the data to the European Food Safety Agency next year so they can claim in advertisements the broccoli has proven health benefits.

"There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that points to (glucoraphanin and related compounds) as the most important preventive agents for (heart attacks) and certain cancers, so it's a reasonable thing to do," said Lars Ove Dragsted, a professor in the department of human nutrition at the University of Copenhagen. He previously sat on panels at the International Agency for Research on Cancer examining the link between vegetables and cancer.

Dragsted said glucoraphanin is a mildly toxic compound used by plants to fight insects. In humans, glucoraphanin may stimulate our bodies' natural chemical defences, potentially making the body stronger at removing dangerous compounds.

Other experts said eating foods packed with extra nutrients would probably only have a minimal impact compared with other lifestyle choices, like not smoking and exercising.

"Eating this new broccoli is not going to counteract your bad habits," said Glenys Jones, a nutritionist at Britain's Medical Research Council. She doubted whether adding the nutrients in broccoli to more popular foods would work to improve people's overall health.

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=11803&Section=NUTRITION