Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from April 2002

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from April 2002

Letter from the Publisher.
April 1, 2002... A few months back all we could see in the news was the war on terrorism, fighting in Afghanistan and dealing with the scare of Anthrax. Now the front pages are filled with stories on the implosion of Enron and its abetting consort, Arthur...

Andrew Weil, MD, on Chinese Medicine for HIV & AIDS. (Interview with Andrew Weil).
April 1, 2002... Several years ago I had the opportunity to interview Andrew Weil, MD, about the use of Chinese medicine in the treatment of HIV disease and AIDS. While Dr. Weil acknowledged that his experience with these cases is not wide, at the same time,...

HIV & AIDS. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... In an article published in the Netherlands' medical journal Genetica, Professor Peter Duesberg and David Rasnick, PhD, criticize the generally-accepted hypothesis that AIDS is caused by HIV. They propose instead that the use of recreational...

Freedom of Information Act Restricted. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... Journalists, citizen watchdog groups, and historians have used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain information about government operations and decisions - including FDA decisions - since its passage in 1974. Access to public...

Heavy Metals & Resistant Infections. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... Y. Omura and S.L. Beckman at the Heart Disease Research Foundation in New York noticed that Chlamydia trachomatis, Herpes Simplex Types I & II, Cytomegalovirus, and other infectious micro-organisms often recurred despite "rigorous" antibiotic...

HIV Testing. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... Eleni Eleopulos, an expert on cell oxidation at Royal Perth Hospital in Western Australia, and colleagues have been studying HIV and AIDS since 1984. In his article "AIDS: Is Anyone Positive?", British medical science journalist Neville...

Immunity & Personality Traits. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... In an article for the Noetic Sciences Review (Autumn 1996), Henry Dreher focuses on the work of University of Arizona psychologist Gary E. Schwartz, PhD. Dr. Schwartz. is one of seven researchers whose work Henry Dreher presents in his book,...

Meat & Drug-Resistant Bacteria. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... J. Raloft in an article for Science News (October 20, 2001) reports that studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine (October 17, 2001) indicate that low doses of growth-producing antibiotics given to livestock animals result in...

HIV Vaccine. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... Scientists have found that creating an antibody-producing vaccine that will prevent HIV from entering cells, is very difficult. Some researchers are investigating partial-protection vaccines that keep HIV levels in check by stimulating killer...

Mycoplasmas. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... A paper on mycoplasmas by Joel B. Baseman (University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas) and Joseph G. Tully (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Frederick, Maryland) states that "...careful and...

Seacure[R] & Intestinal Integrity. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... A small, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that Seacure[R], a dietary supplement made from hydrolyzed white fish protein, can help people with gut hyperpermeability (leaky gut). Seacure's protein ratio is 60% bioactive...

Ethics, Patient Protection & Medical Research. (Shorts).
April 1, 2002... Medical research has its risks, as the family of Jesse Gelsinger well knows. Eighteen-year-old Jesse had ornithene transcarbamylase deficiency (OTC), a genetic liver disease in which ammonia, produced when protein is metabolized, builds up in...

Andrographis paniculata. (Shorts).(medicinal plant)
April 1, 2002... For over twenty years, the effectiveness, safety, and composition of the Asian medicinal herb Andrographis paniculata (Nees) has been the subject of scientific research. Traditionally, Chinese, Indian, and Thai practitioners have used this herb...

Washington Legislators to study Fluoridation in 2002.
April 1, 2002... According to the Washington State Dental Association newsletter, WSDA Update, of November 6,2001, the WSDA will propose legislation in Olympia in 2002 "to study the costs and benefits to the state budget of water fluoridation." The fluoridation...

FOIA Documents Reveal Dairy Industry's Ad Agency behind "Calcium Summit".(Freedom of Information Act)
April 1, 2002... Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal that a supposed health conference about calcium held 17 January 2002 in Washington, DC, was actually an industry promotion being orchestrated by BSMG Worldwide, the ad...

American Biologics' 14th International Symposium "Integrative Medicine" 2002 Rhodes, Greece Post-Conference Excursion to the Island of Crete.
April 1, 2002... Medically progressive health professionals are seizing the opportunity to join a truly advanced health care educational experience amidst resort hotel elegance in the Greek Isles -- specifically on the Island of Rhodes -- followed by an...

Doctors Sue NIH over Controversial Cat Experiments.(National Institutes of Health)
April 1, 2002... The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed a lawsuit on December 27, 2001 against the federal National Institutes of Health (NIH) for concealing information about a controversial experiment involving live cats at Ohio State...

Blue Poppy Celebrates its 20th Anniversary.(Blue Poppy Enterprises Inc.)
April 1, 2002... With the beginning of the new year, Blue Poppy enterprises, inc. celebrates its 20th year in business. Boulder acupuncturists Bob Flaws and Honora Wolfe began Blue Poppy Press in 1982 out of their tiny two room apartment by printing...

French Court awards Substantial Damages to CEP Horphag Violated Agreements and Misappropriated the Pycnogenol Trademark in Bad Faith.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The Court of Appeals in Bordeaux, France, has found that Horphag Research Ltd. of Guernsey acted in bad faith when, starting in 1990, it unfairly usurped the rights of the French company Centre d'Experimentation Pycnogenol (CEP), the original...

DHEA improves mood and energy in HIV-infected patients. (Literature Review & Commentary).
April 1, 2002... Forty-five HIV-infected men and women, unselected for baseline DHEA level, with depressed mood and fatigue, were treated with DHEA for 8 weeks. The initial dose was 100 mg/day for 1 week, then 200 mg/day for 2 weeks, then 300 mg/day; this was...

Gluten-free diet for AIDS-related diarrhea. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The effect of a gluten-free diet was studied in five men with AIDS-related enteropathy. Each patient had been suffering for 6-15 weeks with chronic diarrhea for which no cause could be found. The patients consumed a normal diet for one week,...

Selenium therapy for AIDS patients. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... This review article discusses the importance of selenium supplementation for AIDS patients. Low plasma concentrations of selenium have been reported in some patients in the early stages of HIV infection. In one study, 19 symptomatic...

Ignorance in the information age. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Letter to the editor: An individual suffering for months with severe acne happened upon a newspaper article indicating that acne can be one of the side effects of DHEA. The writer (name, age, and gender not stated) discontinued DHEA and the...

Sesame oil relieves dry nose. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Seventy-nine patients who were experiencing dryness of the nasal mucosa due to a dry winter climate were randomly assigned to receive intranasal applications of pure sesame oil (Nozoil; Pharmacure AB, V Frolunda, Sweden) or isotonic sodium...

Many reported herb-drug interactions are questionable. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The authors of this report searched four electronic databases and identified 108 case reports, case series, or clinical trials that reported interactions between herbs and conventional drugs. The reliability of each report was assessed, based...

Getting smart with soy. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Twenty-seven healthy volunteers (mean age, approximately 25 years) were randomly assigned to consume a high-soy diet (providing 100 mg of isoflavones per day) or a low-soy diet (providing 0.5 mg of isoflavones per day) for 10 weeks. The...

Shedding light on insomnia and melatonin. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Ten residents of a nursing home (mean age, 74.2 years) suffering from insomnia, 10 healthy residents of the same home without insomnia (elderly control) and 10 healthy young controls (mean age, 20.9 years) were studied. Compared with the young...

The Anthropology of HIV-AIDS. (Medical Anthropology).
April 1, 2002... HIV AIDS is a disease that has baffled the best scientific minds of the West. This is due in part to its incredible complexity. Factors such as culture, environment, nutrition and lifestyle all influence its incidence and progression. As a...

Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary.
April 1, 2002... Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology is the term describing the unity of mental, neurological, hormonal and immune functions with its many potential applications. PNIE addresses the influence of the cognitive images of the mind (whatever its elusive...

Codex Alimentarius. (Health Risks and Environmental Issues).
April 1, 2002... Natural approaches to AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and many other degenerative disorders often include supplementation with herbs, minerals, enzymes, and large doses of vitamins. These natural substances work to boost...

The War on Cancer.
April 1, 2002... Fair Through and Through On January 3, William R. Fair, Jr., MD, died at the age of 66. For 13 years, Bill Fair was chief of urology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in Manhattan. A past president of the American...

An Adolescent with PANDAS. (Healing with Homeopathy).(Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections)
April 1, 2002... Jim was a clean-cut 16 year-old from the Midwest sporting a crew cut. Suffering from a deathly fear of getting dirty, especially around his own house, he explained: "I feel like I'm not clean and I want to wash my hands. Almost every day my...

ABVA-1, Purified Phosphatidylcholine, and Immune Function.
April 1, 2002... Joseph J. Vitale (#) David M. Larson (+) Introduction We and our colleagues have long been interested in the effects of deficiencies of essential nutrients on the pathogenesis and progression of disease, particularly...

Why the "AIDS Test" doesn't work in Africa.
April 1, 2002... In light of the summer of 2000 events at the 13th International AIDS conference in Durban, and South African President Thabo Mbeki's refusal to adhere to the "conventional wisdom" on AIDS, it has become even more crucial to reevaluate all...

Nutrients and HIV: N-Acetylcysteine, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, L-Glutamine, and L-Carnitine.
April 1, 2002... Nutrients and HIV is a 3-part series written by Lyn Patrick, ND and published in the Alternative Medicine Review. Parts I and II are available for reading on the Alternative Medicine Review website: www.thorne.com/altmedrev or just use...

SANUM Therapy: Puzzling Medicine putting the pieces together.
April 1, 2002... Since the time that German Professor Dr. Guenther Enderlein stood behind the eyepiece of his darkfield microscope, much has changed in the world of Isopathic/Homeopathic medicine. Dr. Enderlein studied blood, live blood, via a darkfield...

How HIV-1 kills: Implications for the Treatment and Prevention of AIDS.
April 1, 2002... Abstract: HIV-1 is parasitic. Since it encodes for glutathione peroxidase, as it replicates, its genetic needs cause it to deprive HIV-1 seropositive individuals of selenium, cysteine, glutamine and tryptophan, the four basic components of...

An examination of Immune Response Modulation in humans by Antigen Infused Dialyzable Bovine Colostrum/Whey Extract Utilizing a Double Blind study.
April 1, 2002... Abstract Antigen Infused Dialyzable Bovine Colostrum/Whey Extract, a soluble extract dialyzed from the colostrum/whey of antigen infused dairy cows, is an orally absorbable immunomodulator that enhances leukocyte anti-infective and...

RM-10[TM]: The newest breakthrough in Immune System Enhancement -- Part 1. (Medical Journalist Report of Innovative Biologics).
April 1, 2002... (This Medical Journalist Report is the first of a three-part series about one of nature's most promising biologics against cancer and other degenerative diseases.) On Labor Day 2001 I lectured at Universal City, California before the...

Women's Health Risks associated with Orthodox Medicine -- Part 3.
April 1, 2002... With the third installment of this series, we conclude our examination of conventional medical practices and women's health. Part 3 looks at problems associated with the use of oral contraceptives; Parts 1 and 2 covered topics relating to...

New York State Assembly holds joint Hearing on Disciplinary Process for MDs.
April 1, 2002... Three New York State Assembly committees conducted a hearing on the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) in New York City on January 31st. Two of the committees, Health, and Higher Education, oversee the operation of the OPMC, the...

Jawbone Cavitations: Infarction, Infection & Systemic Disease.
April 1, 2002... About six years ago I made the eye-opening discovery that my chronic health problems, which had eluded resolution for many years, had their origin in -- of all places -- my jawbone. I would never have deduced this had it not been for a...

Anecdotal Stories and Inadequate Research on Soy. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: In response to Michael Babcock's letter, The Danger of Soy Advocacy, in the Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients, January 2002, I stand by all the comments I made in the October issue because these are supported by the...

Vitamin B6 & Tardive Dyskinesia: It's about time! (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: Recently, in the September issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, vitamin B6 (aka. pyridoxine) demonstrated significant benefit for the troublesome movement disorder, tardive dyskinesia (TD). (1) For those people unfamiliar...

Colorectal Cancer. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: I must commend Ralph Moss, PhD for his reports in your journal on what the orthodox medical establishment is doing or not getting done in new ways to treat cancer. I read his reports and then read them the second time. I would...

Medicine is Business! (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: In the January issue, Dr. Collin says, "Why would medicine steer students and doctors away from something so safe and simple? I never really have answered that question. Some have talked about money power, and politics. Perhaps...

A possible solution to AIDS in Africa. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: HIV-fighters worry about resistance to AIDS drugs. (1) Meanwhile, ten studies showed declining levels of the micronutrient selenium (Se) in blood plasma or serum of persons with HIY or AIDS. (2,3) In one such study of 125...

Drug Patent Abuse. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: In 1995 our US patent office gave Bristol Labs a patent for Metformin (glucophage), a drug developed in Europe and originally patented in 1929 for the treatment of diabetes. (Source WSJ Nov.21 page A20) The report states Bristol...

A perspective on Ciprofloxacin. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: Ciprofloxacin is currently being used for the treatment and prevention of anthrax in the wake of bioterrorism. Several aspects of serious reactions to this and related fluorinated quinolone antibiotics, especially the...

Thalidomide Beneficial Applications dependent on Safe Synthetic Form. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: Regarding the letter on thalidomide (Townsend Letter, December 2001) the writer, Robert S. Brown, ignores much development since the 1960s. Pharmaceutical companies have developed numerous chiral drugs as single enantiomers. Among...

AIDS defining Illnesses, their Causes and Treatment. (Letters to the Editors).
April 1, 2002... Editor: (Treatment recommendations based on the works of Dr. Heinrich Kremer, Hamburg, Prof. Alfred Hassig, Berne and Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, Royal Hospital, Perth available at www.virusmyth.com whistleblowers) and works of Leonore A....

Is Soy really safe? (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: The recent industry-funded study on adult outcomes of soy- and milk-fed infants reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association(1) was widely touted as a vindication of soy formula. However, it was not a double blind...

Ellagic Acid from Berries useful in Cancer Prevention. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: This letter is a response to Ralph W. Moss' column The War on Cancer in the November 2001 issue of Townsend Letter, the section titled "Black Raspberries Help Prevent Esophageal Cancer." Dr. Moss reports that when scientists at...

Media effort to disparage use of Antioxidants in Heart Patients. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: We are not entirely surprised by the coordinated media effort to disparage the use of antioxidants by heart patients. However, we are again shocked by how easily a minor study can make National news. The most recent story is based...

Electrodermal Testing prevails in Oregon. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: On January 14th the Oregon Department of Justice accepted a settlement with Pacific Health Center in West Linn, Oregon, ending a seven-month dispute over Electrodermal Testing. Pacific Health Center will continue Electrodermal...

Vegetarian Diet not necessarily more Loving and Humane. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: As a subscriber since 1996, I much enjoy your publication and your lack of fear of controversy. Let me then respond to a comment by Michael Blate that I found foolish and incorrect. In his column, "In Which I Argue Vigorously...

"Beef Bashing is Inappropriate". (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: I felt compelled to write because I found the tone of the author of this letter, Mr. Byrnes, inappropriately angry. Perhaps he feels threatened in a "politically correct" (as he puts it) age where people are beginning to question...

Beef Controversy. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: In response to Stephen Byrnes, PhD, RNCP, letter to the editor, TLfDP January 2002, #222, "Beef Bashing is Inappropriate," he is quite correct in stating that most of the criticism in my article, "What's In the Beef?" is directed...

Ewing's Sarcoma. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: We are looking for a practitioner with experience treating Ewing's Sarcoma. My 18 year old grandson started immediately after diagnosis with alternative docs, including several weeks in Mexico. However, they have now referred him...

"I've got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" Coconut holds promise for Immune-Suppressed People. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: One of the concerns of health professionals involved in the treatment of HIV+ individuals is finding safe, nontoxic, and effective therapies. Over the years, various practitioners have advocated a plethora of alternative remedies,...

Rye Grass Extract and HIV Disease: A report of five cases. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2002... Editor: The clinical utility of Rye Grass Extract or "RGE" (a patented extract of the young rye plant, Secale cereale from Australia*) has become increasingly clear. Controlled clinical trials have been completed regarding its...

Does Vitamin A cause Osteoporosis? (Editorial).(Editorial)
April 1, 2002... A recent epidemiological study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that long-term intake of a diet high in vitamin A may promote the development of osteoporotic hip fractures in postmenopausal women. That...

Essays on Immunity. (Book Corners).(Boosting Immunity: Balancing Your Body's Ecology for Maximum Health)
April 1, 2002... Boosting Immunity: Balancing Your Body's Ecology for Maximum Health edited by Len Saputo, MD and Nancy Faass, MSW, MPH New World Library, 14 Pamaron Way, Novato, California 94949 USA 2002, Trade Paper, $14.95, 256 pp. Boosting...

A Critical GAO report on Pesticide Monitoring. (Book Corners).(Pesticides, EPA's Efforts to Collect and Take Action on Exposure Incidence Data)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Pesticides, EPA's Efforts to Collect and Take Action on Exposure Incidence Data GAO/RCED-95-163 Single copy, gratis; additional copies, $2 each; Order free copy from US General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg,...

Genuine Preventive Dentistry. (Book Corners).(Healthy Teeth for Kids)
April 1, 2002... Healthy Teeth for Kids by Jerome S. Mittelman, DDS, Beverly D. Mittelman, BS, CNC, Jean Barilla, MS Kensington Publishing Corp., 850 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022 USA; www.kensingtonbooks.com Softbound, ISBN 1-57566-611-1, c....

Native American Medicine. (Book Corners).(Secrets of Native American Herbal Remedies)
April 1, 2002... Secrets of Native American Herbal Remedies by Anthony J. Cichoke, DC, PhD Avery - a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc. 375 Hudson St. New York, New York 10014 USA www.penguinputnam.com Large softcover, 2001, $17.95...

The Health Hazards of Lead. (Book Corners).(Getting the Lead Out: The Complete Resource for Preventing and Coping with Lead Poisoning)
April 1, 2002... Getting the Lead Out: The Complete Resource for Preventing and Coping with Lead Poisoning by Irene Kessel and John T. O'Connor Perseus Publishing, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142 Softcover, 270 pp., 2001, $18.00 Lead,...

An Allergy free Diet. (Book Corners).(Wheat Free, Sugar Free Gourmet Cooking)
April 1, 2002... Wheat Free, Sugar Free Gourmet Cooking by Sue O'Brien 4409 North 22nd St., Tacoma, Washington 98406 USA; 253-756-1616 Second Edition 2001, ISBN 0-9714410-0-6. "So Doctor, what do I feed him for breakfast if he's allergic to...

Kava and Liver damage. (Phytotherapy Review & Commentary).
April 1, 2002... The following press release was issued by Reuters in November 2001. "Germany is considering forbidding the sale of products containing more than tiny amounts of the herbal medicine kava (Piper methysticum) after 24 cases of liver damage linked...

Ginkgo and Colchicine: Curiouser and Curiouser, says Alice. (Phytotherapy Review).(colchicine in placental blood)
April 1, 2002... During my 20 years plus of reviewing the phytotherapy scientific literature I cannot recall coming across a more bizarre episode than the reported occurrence of coichicine in Ginkgo biloba. A group of US scientists, while investigating natural...

Ginkgo biloba and Alzheimer's disease. (Phytotherapy Review).
April 1, 2002... There is a steep rise in the incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with age (1) and due to people living longer, the incidence of AD in the general population is on the increase. (2) As the world population ages the economic impact of AD will...

Quality issues with Echinacea Products. (Phytotherapy Review).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... A survey of Echinacea products on the German market found wide variations in levels of tested phytochemical components. (1) The authors chose to use cichoric acid and the two main alkylamides in Echinacea purpurea as quality markers, since...

Effectiveness of St John's Wort in Major Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial. (Phytotherapy Review).
April 1, 2002... The effectiveness of St John's wort (SJW) in the treatment of major depression was assessed in a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind trial involving 200 adult outpatients which was recently published in JAMA. (1) Trial...

Impact of Glutamine-Rich Foods on Immune Function. (Medicinal Properties in Whole Foods).(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... "Functional foods," "nutraceuticals," "designer foods" and "medicinal foods" are terms that describe foods, and key ingredients isolated from foods, that have non-nutritive or tertiary functional properties. Researchers, healthcare...

The Cause & Treatment of AIDS according to Chinese Medicine. (Chinese Medicine Update).
April 1, 2002... There are not many articles being published on the treatment of AIDS in Chinese medical journals. There are a few books in Chinese devoted to AIDS and a number of Chinese books contain chapters on AIDS. For instance, AIDS is the topic of the...

In which I spend a (Very) small fortune on Health Care. (G-Jo Acupressure).
April 1, 2002... If you regularly read this column, you know that I traded my lifestyle of a South Florida natural health educator several years ago, for that of a farmer (sort of) in western North Carolina. No longer are there palm trees in my yard; now there...

Calendar.
April 1, 2002... MARCH-NOVEMBER: TRADITIONAL HERBAL DIAGNOSIS with Matthew Wood, AHG in Mid-Hudson Valley, New York. This certificate course for advanced students and practitioners will span 6 three-day weekend intensives. CONTACT: Dina Falconi, 845-687-8938;...

Menstrual Cramps, (Dysmenorrhea); An alternative approach. (Women's Health Update).
April 1, 2002... Professor, National College of Naturopathic Medicine Medical Director, A Woman's Time Author, Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine 11231 SE Market Street * Portland, Oregon 97216 USA 503-255-355 Overview Menstrual cramps...

How Vitamins influence Immune Function. (Nutritional Influences on Illness).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... A deficiency of most vitamins may impair immune system function. Also, an elevated intake of certain vitamins may have either immunostimulating or immunosuppressive effects. Vitamin A Vitamin A deficiency has been called an...