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It was an ordinary evening, when Grace watched TV and her young tenant roamed around trying to find some pastime. Suddenly he approached her from behind and pushed his hand into her bra trying to touch her nipple with the tip of his pointer. Grace tried to resist him, but she was too weak to overpower the ruggedly built fucker so soon he stripped her off and banged her snatch yelling with pleasure.
This site can ONLY be accessed by legal adults (over 18 or 21). This site MUST NOT be viewed by minors!
All models are 18 years old or older. USC title 18, #2257
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We do not condone non-Consensual sex.
This site is about ROLE PLAYING FANTASY only and performed by professional actors and models.
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emedcareers > Jobs > Pharmacy > Pharmaceutical Pharmacist > Europe
Pharmacy Jobs in Europe
Find Pharmaceutical Pharmacist jobs in Europe within the Pharmacy industry. Search and apply today.
Alternatively, register with emedcareers, upload your CV and let Pharmacy recruiters in Europe find you. Once registered, we can send you an email job alert each time a new Pharmaceutical Pharmacist job becomes available.
Sort by
Senior Medical Information Scientist or Pharmacist - Herts
Senior Medical Information Scientist or Pharmacist - Permanent, Hertfordshire This global Pharmaceutical organisation are exclusively focused on the secondary care sector and specialise in ground breaking treatments including Oncology and Neurology. They pride themselves on their strong patient centred ethic and boast a very flat management structure in tandem with a low staff turnover. A new, permanent, opportunity has arisen...
- Salary:
- Competitive Salary & Bonus
- Location:
- Hertfordshire
- Date Posted:
- 24-Jun-2016
- Job Type:
- Permanent
Calling All Pharmacists
We are currently recruiting for a market leading pharmaceutical organisation with an exciting new opportunity working as a Medical Science Liaison within the Pain Management market. This exciting role will be working across the Scotland and Northern Ireland territory. Essential Requirements: A relevant scientific/medical university degree/qualification and post graduate qualification(s) Pharmacy degree or PhD - preferable Understanding of pain physiology...
- Salary:
- Highly competitive package + bonus/bens
- Location:
- Edinburgh, Glasgow
- Date Posted:
- 21-Jun-2016
- Job Type:
- Permanent
Production Support Contractor with Pharmacist Background
I am currently looking for a Production Support Individual to provide technical support to product teams, formulation and process development. The role is for a client based in Devon and the contract is initially for 6 months. They are looking for someone to start immediately. The ideal candidate would have a Pharmacist / Pharmacy Technician background. Key Responsibilities: * Dealing...
- Salary:
- Market related
- Location:
- Torquay
- Date Posted:
- 21-Jun-2016
- Job Type:
- Contract/Interim

subset: commoncrawl


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is still very sexy even at her age. She got divorced long ago and George is the
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Amanda�s sons grew up it was very painful for her to watch them having fun at
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This site can ONLY be accessed by legal adults (over 18 or 21). This site MUST NOT be viewed by minors!
All models are 18 years old or older. USC title 18, #2257
Proof on the file with custodian of records
We do not condone non-Consensual sex.
This site is about ROLE PLAYING FANTASY only and performed by professional actors and models.


text:
Please remember to follow the manual of style and code of conduct at all times.
Check BNN and Bulbanews for up-to-date Pokémon news and discuss it on the forums or in our IRC channel #bulbagarden on irc.systemnet.info.
Check BNN and Bulbanews for up-to-date Pokémon news and discuss it on the forums or in our IRC channel #bulbagarden on irc.systemnet.info.
POP Series 4 (TCG)
From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
POP Series 4 is the name given to a special set of cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It was released through Pokémon Organized Play events or affiliated products.
POP Series 4 was the second of the POP Series promotional sets to be available at the Pokémon TCG World Championships, with POP Series 2 previously being available in 2005. In order for players to obtain a booster pack from the set, they were required to challenge and beat the 15-and-over champion, Tsuguyoshi Yamato, from the previous championships. The set saw mainstream release in sanctioned tournaments in September, being available until March.
- The booster design for the set features Deoxys.
- The rare cards Deoxys δ, Flygon and Mew have holographic versions and were available in Value Packs. In an unusual occurrence, Mudkip, Pikachu, Wobbuffet (all common) and Combusken (uncommon) were printed with holographic variants.
- The holographic Deoxys δ is also unique among holographic δ Delta Species cards, as it features the "cosmic" holographic design as opposed to the plain holographic treatment every other δ Delta Species card features.
Set list
|This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Latest Pokemon News
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Relevant offers
National News
Two-year-old JJ Lawrence was killed despite a worried aunt contacting Child, Youth and Family just a month before his death.
Yesterday, on the first anniversary of the boy's death, Joel Loffley was found guilty of murdering JJ at their Orakei home by striking him so hard in the abdomen that he split his liver and pancreas in two.
Child, Youth and Family disclosed details of their involvement with the family after the verdict.
Operations general manager Marama Edwards said JJ's aunt, Katie Lawrence, contacted the agency after JJ suffered a second broken arm a month before his death.
Ms Lawrence raised "concerns about supervision of JJ and possible neglect".
However, the agency said the report did not indicate JJ was at "immediate risk" and medical professionals said the broken arms were "consistent" with the explanations given by JJ's mother, Josephine Lawrence.
Paediatric expert Patrick Kelly testified at trial that after his death JJ had the tell-tale signs of abuse - clusters of numerous bruises in areas other than the extremities where toddlers normally bruised themselves.
Ms Edwards said a social worker visited the house several times over the next couple of weeks but could not find JJ or his mother.
"We now know adults in the home were lying to agencies about people's identities, the relationships between people in the house, and who was living there."
She said CYF only learned that Joel Loffley - a known criminal who was then on a community detention bracelet - went by that name three days before JJ's death.
"JJ died days later while our investigation was still under way."
Josephine Lawrence was pregnant to Loffley at the time of JJ's murder.
It is understood the new baby has been put into care.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett declined to comment on the case because Loffley had not been sentenced.
She issued a statement last night saying: "The suffering of any child is heart-wrenching. I am pleased that someone has been held to account for the brutal murder of Baby JJ."
Police investigation head Detective Senior Sergeant Kevin Hooper said outside court that the family did the right thing in alerting authorities.
"Unfortunately, time ran out for JJ," he said. "It's sad, we didn't get there in time."
The Lawrence family burst into tears and gripped one another's hands but then ran from the court almost immediately after the foreman announced the verdict.
JJ's uncle, Richard Lawrence, later said the family were happy that the jury had reached a decision but it was "sad for all the families involved".
He said the whanau were having a memorial for JJ on Monday, probably near where he is buried at Whatuwhiwhi in Northland.
They were having a "debrief" last night and would comment after the sentencing on February 14.
The CYF revelations showed that, despite their good intentions, the family were unable to overcome a mother's desire to stay with her son.
The wider Lawrence family recognised something was wrong after Loffley moved in and JJ started suffering mysterious injuries.
He had bruises and suffered two broken arms. Loffley told Lawrence he "may have" fallen on the boy when they were "playing rough".
Friends spoke of seeing JJ, once a happy and outgoing little boy, now fearful and reserved in Loffley's presence.
Family had already tried to separate JJ from the harmful environment in Auckland.
He had been taken to live with aunt Katie Lawrence in Tauranga after his first broken arm, but Josephine brought him back to live in Orakei. The second broken arm was allegedly from a fall down some stairs.
As in the Kahui case before it, the JJ defence rested on casting suspicion on the mother to create doubt that it could have been her that murdered her son.
Josephine Lawrence admitted she was an alcoholic who smoked P and cannabis and had not taken JJ to hospital for eight days after he broke his arm.
She said she was "wasted" and did not want her son taken from her.
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text:
Uptown Marion is committed to driving continued revitalization, growth and preservation of historic character through appropriate design, promotion, and economic strategies that improve our community.
Uptown in the Media
24 Jun 16
Marion business owners investing millions to upgrade buildings
By Makayla Tendall | The Gazette | June 20, 2016 MARION — There's a renaissance of sorts taking place in the streets of Marion. Since 2013, private business and building owners…
23 Jun 16
Uptown Snug opens in historic Marion building
Corridor Business Journal | June 25, 2016 Marion's newest Irish pub, Uptown Snug, has opened its doors on the first floor of Memorial Hall, one of the city's historic Uptown…
16 Jun 16
Marion soars above at annual High Five!
By Deirdre Ryan | Marion Times | June 16th, 2016 On Wednesday, June 8, the Marion Chamber of Commerce, the Marion Economic Development Corp (MEDCO), Uptown Marion, and a variety…
Featured Upcoming Programs and Events


text:
A federal judge has overturned his earlier decision in a Fair Labor Standards Act case involving several women who had been hired to sell houses in a new subdivision. The women claimed Brayson Homes owed them overtime and minimum wages.
Brayson Homes had classified them as exempt outside salespersons, but the judge disagreed. He ordered that the case go to trial. (Billingslea, et al., v. Brayson Homes, No. 1:04-CV-00962, ND GA, 2007)
Meanwhile, the folks at the U.S. Labor Department published an opinion letter addressing exactly the situation in the case. The letter said those selling real estate in a subdivision, who also regularly work outside the model home they are assigned to, are outside salespersons exempt from the overtime and minimum wage provisions.
So the judge overturned his earlier decision and dismissed the case.
Final note: It's a good idea to check Labor's opinion letters regularly. Go to www.dol.gov/esa/whd/opinion/opinion.htm.
Related Articles...
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- Turn to legal or immigration experts when facing wage-and-hour complexities


text:
Posted: 7/27/2009Provided by Citysearch -
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The ACUPUNCTURE NOW FOUNDATION (ANF) have recently published a document that is worth drawing your attention to. But first I should perhaps explain who the ANF are. They state that "The Acupuncture Now Foundation (ANF) was founded in 2014 by a diverse group of people from around the world who were concerned about common misunderstandings regarding acupuncture and wanted to help acupuncture reach its full potential. Our goal is to become recognized as a leader in the collection and dissemination of unbiased and authoritative information about all aspects of the practice of acupuncture."
This, I have to admit, sounds like music to my ears! So, I studied the document in some detail – and the music quickly turned into musac.
The document which they call a 'white paper' promises 'a review of the research'. Reading even just the very first sentence, my initial enthusiasm turned into bewilderment: "It is now widely accepted across health care disciplines throughout the world that acupuncture can be effective in treating such painful conditions as migraine headaches, and low back, neck and knee pain, as well as a range of painful musculoskeletal conditions." Any review of research that starts with such a deeply uncritical and overtly promotional statement, must be peculiar (quite apart from the fact that the ANF do not seem to appreciate that back and neck pain are musculoskeletal by nature).
As I read on, my amazement grew into bewilderment. Allow me to present a few further statements from this review (together with a link to the article provided by the ANF in support and a very brief comment by myself) which I found more than a little over-optimistic, far-fetched or plainly wrong:
"Male fertility, especially sperm production and motility, has also been shown to improve with acupuncture. In a recent animal study, electro-acupuncture was found to enhance germ cell proliferation. This action is believed to facilitate the recovery of sperm production (spermatogenesis) and may restore normal semen parameters in subfertile patients."
The article supplied as evidence for this statement refers to an animal experiment using a model where sperm are exposed to heat. This has almost no bearing on the clinical situation in humans and does not lend itself to any clinical conclusions regarding the treatment of sub-fertile men.
"In a recent meta-analysis, researchers concluded that the efficacy of acupuncture as a stand-alone therapy was comparable to antidepressants in improving clinical response and alleviating symptom severity of major depressive disorder (MDD). Also, acupuncture was superior to antidepressants and waitlist controls in improving both response and symptom severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The incidence of adverse events with acupuncture was significantly lower than antidepressants."
The review provided as evidence is wide open to bias; it was criticised thus: "the authors' findings did not reflect the evidence presented and limitations in study numbers, sample sizes and study pooling, particularly in some subgroup analyses, suggested that the conclusions are not reliable". Moreover, we need to know that by no means all reviews of the subject confirm this positive conclusion, for instance, this, this, or this one; all of the latter reviews are more up-to-date than the one provided by ANF. Crucially, a Cochrane review concluded that "the evidence is inconclusive to allow us to make any recommendations for depression-specific acupuncture".
"A randomized controlled trial of acupuncture and counseling for patients presenting with depression, after having consulted their general practitioner in primary care, showed that both interventions were associated with significantly reduced depression at three months when compared to usual care alone."
We have discussed the trial in question on this blog. It follows the infamous 'A+B versus B' design which cannot possibly produce a negative result.
Now, please re-read the first paragraph of this post; but be careful not to fall off your chair laughing.
There would be more (much more) to criticise in the ANF report but, I think, these examples are ENOUGH!
Let me finish by quoting from the ANF's view on the future as cited in their new 'white paper': "Looking ahead, it is clear that acupuncture is poised to make significant inroads into conventional medicine. It has the potential to become a part of every hospital's standard of care and, in fact, this is already starting to take place not only in the U.S., but internationally. The treatment is a cost-effective and safe method of relieving pain in emergency rooms, during in-patient stays and after surgery. It can lessen post-operative nausea, constipation and urinary difficulties, and have a positive impact on conditions like hypertension, anxiety and insomnia…
Driven by popular demand and a growing body of scientific evidence, acupuncture is beginning to be taken seriously by mainstream conventional medicine, which is incorporating it into holistic health programs for the good of patients and the future of health care. In order for this transition to take place most effectively, misunderstandings about acupuncture need to be addressed. We hope this white paper has helped to clarify some of those misunderstandings and encourage anyone with questions to contact the Acupuncture Now Foundation."
My question is short and simple: IGNORANCE OR FRAUD?
Yes, yes, yes, I know: we have too few women in our 'ALT MED HALL OF FAME'. This is not because I have anything against them (quite the contrary) but, in alternative medicine research, the boys by far outnumber the girls, I am afraid.
You do remember, of course, you has previously been admitted to this austere club of excellence; only two women so far. Here is the current list of members to remind you:
David Peters (osteopathy, homeopathy, UK)
Nicola Robinson (TCM, UK)
Peter Fisher (homeopathy, UK)
Simon Mills (herbal medicine, UK)
Gustav Dobos (various, Germany)
Claudia Witt (homeopathy, Germany and Switzerland)
George Lewith (acupuncture, UK)
John Licciardone (osteopathy, US)
If you study the list carefully, you will also notice that, until now, I have totally ignored the chiropractic profession. This is a truly embarrassing omission! When it comes to excellence in research, who could possibly bypass our friends, the chiropractors?
Today we are going to correct these mistakes. Specifically, we are going to increase the number of women by 50% (adding one more to the previous two) and, at the same time, admit a deserving chiropractor to the ALT MED HALL OF FAME.
Cheryl Hawk is currently the Executive Director of Northwest Center for Lifestyle and Functional Medicine, University of Western States, Portland, USA. Previously she worked as Director of Clinical Research at the Logan University College of Chiropractic, Chesterfield, USA, and prior to that she was employed at various other institutions. Since many years she has been a shining light of chiropractic research. She is certainly not 'small fry' when it comes to the promotion of chiropractic.
Cheryl seems to prefer surveys as a research tool over clinical trials, and it was therefore not always easy to identify those of her 67 Medline-listed articles that reported some kind of evaluation of the value of chiropractic. Here are, as always, the 10 most recent papers where I could extract something like a data-based conclusion (in bold) from the abstract.
Best Practices for Chiropractic Care of Children: A Consensus Update.
Hawk C, Schneider MJ, Vallone S, Hewitt EG.
J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2016 Mar-Apr;39(3):158-68
All of the seed statements in this best practices document achieved a high level of consensus and thus represent a general framework for what constitutes an evidence-based and reasonable approach to the chiropractic management of infants, children, and adolescents.
Clinical Practice Guideline: Chiropractic Care for Low Back Pain.
Globe G, Farabaugh RJ, Hawk C, Morris CE, Baker G, Whalen WM, Walters S, Kaeser M, Dehen M, Augat T.
J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2016 Jan;39(1):1-22
The evidence supports that doctors of chiropractic are well suited to diagnose, treat, co-manage, and manage the treatment of patients with low back pain disorders.
The Role of Chiropractic Care in the Treatment of Dizziness or Balance Disorders: Analysis of National Health Interview Survey Data.
Ndetan H, Hawk C, Sekhon VK, Chiusano M.
J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2016 Apr;21(2):138-42.
The odds ratio for perceiving being helped by a chiropractor was 4.36 (95% CI, 1.17-16.31) for respondents aged 65 years or older; 9.5 (95% CI, 7.92-11.40) for respondents reporting head or neck trauma; and 13.78 (95% CI, 5.59-33.99) for those reporting neurological or muscular conditions as the cause of their balance or dizziness.
US chiropractors' attitudes, skills and use of evidence-based practice: A cross-sectional national survey.
Schneider MJ, Evans R, Haas M, Leach M, Hawk C, Long C, Cramer GD, Walters O, Vihstadt C, Terhorst L.
Chiropr Man Therap. 2015 May 4;23:16.
American chiropractors appear similar to chiropractors in other countries, and other health professionals regarding their favorable attitudes towards EBP, while expressing barriers related to EBP skills such as research relevance and lack of time. This suggests that the design of future EBP educational interventions should capitalize on the growing body of EBP implementation research developing in other health disciplines. This will likely include broadening the approach beyond a sole focus on EBP education, and taking a multilevel approach that also targets professional, organizational and health policy domains.
Chiropractic identity, role and future: a survey of North American chiropractic students.
Gliedt JA, Hawk C, Anderson M, Ahmad K, Bunn D, Cambron J, Gleberzon B, Hart J, Kizhakkeveettil A, Perle SM, Ramcharan M, Sullivan S, Zhang L.
Chiropr Man Therap. 2015 Feb 2;23(1):4
The chiropractic students in this study showed a preference for participating in mainstream health care, report an exposure to evidence-based practice, and desire to hold to traditional chiropractic theories and practices. The majority of students would like to see an emphasis on correction of vertebral subluxation, while a larger percent found it is important to learn about evidence-based practice. These two key points may seem contradictory, suggesting cognitive dissonance. Or perhaps some students want to hold on to traditional theory (e.g., subluxation-centered practice) while recognizing the need for further research to fully explore these theories. Further research on this topic is needed.
Do informed consent documents for chiropractic clinical research studies meet readability level recommendations and contain required elements: a descriptive study.
Twist E, Lawrence DJ, Salsbury SA, Hawk C.
Chiropr Man Therap. 2014 Dec 10;22(1):40
These results strongly suggest that chiropractic clinical researchers are not developing ICDs at a readability level congruent with the national average acceptable level. The low number of elements in some of the informed consent documents raises concern that not all research participants were fully informed when given the informed consent, and it may suggest that some documents may not be in compliance with federal requirements. Risk varies among institutions and even within institutions for the same intervention.
Feasibility of using a standardized patient encounter for training chiropractic students in tobacco cessation counseling.
Hawk C, Kaeser MA, Beavers DV.
J Chiropr Educ. 2013 Fall;27(2):135-40.
This active learning exercise appeared to be a feasible way to introduce tobacco counseling into the curriculum.
Consensus process to develop a best-practice document on the role of chiropractic care in health promotion, disease prevention, and wellness.
Hawk C, Schneider M, Evans MW Jr, Redwood D.
J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2012 Sep;35(7):556-67
This living document provides a general framework for an evidence-based approach to chiropractic wellness care.
Chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation for children in the United States: an analysis of data from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey.
Ndetan H, Evans MW Jr, Hawk C, Walker C.
J Altern Complement Med. 2012 Apr;18(4):347-53.
C/OM is primarily used for back and neck pain, which is increasing in prevalence in children. Teens are more likely to use it than are younger children.
The role of chiropractic care in older adults.
Dougherty PE, Hawk C, Weiner DK, Gleberzon B, Andrew K, Killinger L.
Chiropr Man Therap. 2012 Feb 21;20(1):3.
Given the utilization of chiropractic services by the older adult, it is imperative that providers be familiar with the evidence for and the prudent use of different management strategies for older adults.
I am pleased to say that Prof Hawk gave me no problems at all; her case is clear: she is a champion of using research as a means for promoting chiropractic, has published many papers in this vein, clearly prefers the journals of chiropractic that nobody other than chiropractors ever access, and has an impeccable track record when it comes to avoiding negative conclusions which could harm chiropractic in any way.
Very well done indeed!
You have to excuse me, if I keep coming back to this theme: so-called 'alternative cancer cures' are truly dangerous. I have tried to explain this already many times, for instance here, here and here. And it is by no means just alternative therapists who make a living of such quackery. Sadly qualified medical doctors are often involved as well. As to prove my point, here is a tragic story that broke yesterday:
Former Miss New Hampshire, Rachel Petz Dowd, lost her battle with cancer on Sunday 12 June 2016 — a battle she fought publicly through personal writings in a blog in hopes of helping others on a similar journey toward healing. The singer/songwriter and mother of three from Auburn died about a month after traveling to Mexico for an aggressive form of alternative cancer treatment. She turned 47 last week. Dowd was diagnosed with stage 2 triple negative breast cancer in May 2014. The diagnosis led her to create a blog called "Rachel's Healing" to document what she hoped would be a journey back to health. "I hope my readers can gain something from my journey and that they find their own personal way to combat this disease impacting too many women today," she wrote. Dowd used the blog to share her experiences with traditional and natural medicine during her cancer fight.
On 5/3/16 Mrs Dowd wrote on her blog: "Well after some careful consideration and looking at different clinics and hospitals we've made a decision. Will be going to the CMN Hospital on the Yuma, Arizona border*. For 28 days of treatments. It's not a day clinic but a full hospital servicing over the past 30 years. There's a special wing dedicated to alternative cancer care and the treatment list is impressive. Many treatments that are not available in this country. We feel this would be the best course of care daily for 28 days and then at the end of the 4 weeks I intend my immune system to be back on-line. I will be doing a stem cell boost of my bone marrow the last week. I know of a women, Shannon Knight, from The Truth About Cancer documentary, who had stage 4 metastasized into locations of her bones and her lungs and she came out of there completely cured. Her oncologist said it was nothing short of a miracle, but she said no it was just clean hard work! She said no it was just clean the hard, aggressive treatments that only attack cancer, boost and prime your immune system, become a whole, healthy being once again:) It is possible and I am planning on being one of the exceptions like Shannon!"
- The hospital is across the US border in Mexico; it is run by medically qualified personnel.
The hospital ["CMN Hospital's facility is only 14 blocks away once you cross the border to begin your alternative cancer treatment"] has a website where they tell a somewhat confusing story about their treatment plans; here is a short but telling excerpt:
"CMN's protocols are individualized and comprehensive. You will benefit from oxidative therapies, IV minerals selenium and bicarbonate IV vitamins such as vitamin B-17 and IV vitamin C. Far infrared and others including MAHT, Cold Laser Therapy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Ozone Therapy are a daily part of your protocol. Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation is effective in destroying pathogens in your blood and slows the growth of cancer cell growth. CMN's Stem cell therapy and Dendritic cell therapy are just two of the advanced cancer treatments applied to patients."
And here is what they say about three therapies as examples of treatments that have discussed before on this blog: vitamin C, Laetrile and Essiac.
IV Vitamin C If large amounts of vitamin C are presented to cancer cells, large amounts will be absorbed. In these unusually large concentrations, the antioxidant vitamin C will start behaving as a pro-oxidant as it interacts with intracellular copper and iron. This chemical interaction produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide. Because cancer cells are relatively low in an intracellular anti-oxidant enzyme called catalase, the high dose vitamin C induction of peroxide will continue to build up until it eventually lyses the cancer cell from the inside out!
IV Vitamin B17 / Laetrile Also known as amygdaline, Vitamin B-17 is a molecule made up of four parts: -2 parts Glucose -1 part Benzaldahyde-1 part Hydrogen Cyanide. Laetrile is found in at least 1200 different plants, including apricots, peaches, apple seeds, lentils, cashews, brown rice, millet, and alfalfa. Commercial preparations of laetrile are obtained from the kernels of apricots, peaches and bitter almonds. The body requires an enzyme called beta-glucosidase in order to process laetrile and release the cyanide. Studies have shown that cancer cells contain more of this enzyme than normal cells, which allows for a higher release of cyanide at tumor sites. Another enzyme known as rhodanese is important in this process. Normal healthy cells contain rhodanese which protects them from the activated cyanide. Most cancer cells are deficient in this enzyme, leaving them vulnerable to the poison. Tumor destruction begins once the cyanide is released within the malignancies, meaning laetrile therapy is selectively toxic to cancer cells while remaining non-toxic to normal cells.
Essiac Tea / Order Original Essiac Tea Essiac, given its name by Rene Caisse ("caisse" spelt backwards), consists of four main herbs that grow in the wilderness of Ontario, Canada. The original formula is believed to have its roots from the native Canadian Ojibway Indians. The four main herbs that make up Essiac are Burdock Root, Slippery Elm Inner Bark, Sheep Sorrel and Indian Rhubarb Root. Essiac tea helps release toxins that build up in fat and tissues into the blood stream where they can be filtered and excreted by the liver and kidneys. Cleaning the body of toxins and impurities frees up the immune system to focus on killing cancer cells and protecting the body.
I think I will abstain from further comments, firstly because I want to avoid getting sued by these people and secondly because it seems all too depressingly obvious.
Britt Marie Hermes is a most remarkable woman. She is an ex-naturopath who has the courage to speak out against all that is wrong with naturopathy. On her website she writes:
I used to be a naturopathic doctor. For 3 years, I practiced naturopathic medicine, licensed in Washington and Arizona. I earned my degree at Bastyr University and then completed a one-year naturopathic residency in a private clinic. I stayed at this clinic until I moved to Tucson.
Naturopathic medicine is not what I was led to believe. I discovered that the profession functions as a system of indoctrination based on discredited ideas about health and medicine, full of anti-science rhetoric with many ineffective and dangerous practices.
I left the profession of naturopathic medicine to pursue an education in biomedical research. Since my departure, I have been working to understand my former biases within naturopathic medicine. I am now exploring the ethics and evidence, or lack thereof, of naturopathic education and practice. I hope I can convey the message that naturopathy must be highly scrutinized, as its proponents have a seemingly on-going history of deceit, exploitation, and medical fraud.
Her articles are a rich source of fascinating material about naturopathy, and I warmly recommend you read her criticisms; you will not find better-informed comments easily. Recently, she went one step further and started a petition against US naturopaths' plight to call themselves 'doctors'. It seems that this was one step too far for the mighty 'BIG NATUROPATHY'.
Forbes Magazine reported that, on May 26th, 5 days after Hermes launched her petition, the AANP retaliated [the AANP is the leading naturopaths' organization in the U.S., the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians]. The subject line of an email sent to all AANP membership: "AANP Needs Your Help – Stop Britt's Change.org Petition."
"We need your help to stop this petition… This petition violates these [Change.org] policies:
- Breaks the law – this is defamatory and libelous content
- Impersonates others; Britt Marie Hermes is not from the United States
- Terms of service – does not abide by the law or respect the rights of others
Naturopaths found Britt Marie so threatening that they started a website entitled 'BRITT MARIE HERMES FACT CHECK. Here they indulge in blatant character assassination:
Britt Marie Hermes Fact Check was established to provide an unbiased analysis of the claims that Britt Marie Hermes (Britt Marie Deegan) has made, and is making, about Naturopathic Medicine, its educational system, and its practitioners. For the past year she promoted herself as an expert on Naturopathic Medicine, having left the profession because of her unsuccessful time as a practitioner. It's clear that she has an agenda against the profession while claiming to be an expert. She has consistently lied, and left out important facts when discussing aspects of the Naturopathic Medicine, its educational system and its practitioners. Accusations have been made that she is being paid by the pharmaceutical industry, although they haven't been substantiated. What is clear, is that she was unsuccessful during her short time as a practitioner and now has an agenda against the profession.
This looks suspiciously like the dirt some alternative medicine fans have been throwing at me, I thought, and I asked Britt Marie (who I once had the pleasure of meeting in person) to comment – and she very kindly did:
I find it amusing to be accused of being an unsuccessful practitioner of naturopathic medicine. I graduated with high grades from Bastyr. I landed a highly competitive naturopathic residency. Had I remained in practice, I would currently be eligible to take the naturopathic pediatrics "board-certification" exam offered by the American Association of Naturopathic Pediatrics.
I walked away from my practice because my boss was committing a federal crime by importing and administering a non-FDA approved medication to his cancer patients. I decided to leave naturopathic medicine for good after a former president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians urged me not to report my boss's criminal activity to the authorities.
These wounds still hurt. I lost dozens of friends. I lost eight years of my life. I lost my livelihood. The ND degree does not have any value in the academic community. It is a tarnish on my permanent record. It would have been in my financial interest to move to another practice and continue being a "successful" naturopath.
The problem with naturopaths is that they measure success by how much money one collects from patients, yet they fail to understand that naturopathic services are quackery. So by their logic, being a successful naturopath is dependent upon profiting by fooling patients and fooling oneself. If others want to describe me as an unsuccessful naturopath, then the term "success" has no useful meaning.
I am not employed to write about anything in particular about naturopathic medicine or with any particular tone. I am an independent blogger who wants to share my insights. I created my own opinions on naturopathic medicine by looking at the profession critically. This kind of task is fundamental to the scientific process that I only learned after leaving naturopathy and engaging with the academic community.
Naturopaths want to be recognized as primary care physicians in the U.S. and Canada. This is a big deal, and we all should be skeptical. This profession is claiming to have established a comprehensive medical education that trains competent medical practitioners, who somehow predominately rely upon unproven methods at best and debunked ones at worst.
Naturopaths essentially want to be allowed to take shortcuts in medical training. Instead of attending medical school, naturopaths attend naturopathic programs with low acceptance standards and faculty who are not qualified to teach medical topics. Instead of passing a standardized and peer-reviewed medical licensing exam, naturopaths have created their own secretive licensing exam that tests on homeopathy and other dubious treatments. What little real medical standards that seem to be tested on the exam have been botched, like the one question in which a child is gasping for air and the correct answer on how to treat is to give a homeopathic remedy.
Naturopaths have called me a liar, but have been unable to identify any specific fabrications. They say I am omitting facts and evidence, but they cannot show what information I allegedly missed. It seems that for naturopaths the only way to deal with legitimate criticism, is to undermine my integrity.
My blog harbors no hidden agenda. I write to prevent students from being duped into thinking they are being adequately trained as a primary care physicians in naturopathic programs. I write to protect patients from the poorly trained practitioners that these programs produce. I write because I have seen both worlds, and the naturopathic one is terrifying.
To this, I have nothing to add – except a big THANK YOU to Britt Marie for her courage, honesty and tenacity.
The queue outside my 'ALT MED HALL OF FAME' was getting restless because I did not admit any new members for some time. So, I better get cracking!
You remember, of course, who has been honoured so far; the list of members (main research interest, country) is as follows:
Nicola Robinson (TCM, UK)
Peter Fisher (homeopathy, UK)
Simon Mills (herbal medicine, UK)
Gustav Dobos (various, Germany)
Claudia Witt (homeopathy, Germany and Switzerland)
George Lewith (acupuncture, UK)
John Licciardone (osteopathy, US)
Today, we are going to have a look at Prof David Peters. This is what our friends from the 'COLLEGE OF MEDICINE' say about him:
"David Peters MB, ChB, DRCOG, DMSMed MFHom FLCOM trained as a GP, a musculoskeletal physician and also as a homeopathic and osteopathic practitioner. For fifteen years he directed the complementary therapies development programme at Marylebone Health Centre. Professor Peters is one of the founding faculty of the University of Westminster's School of Life Sciences, where he is Clinical Director. Professor Peters is a member of the Council and former chair of the British Holistic Medical Association and Editor of its Journal of Holistic Healthcare. He has co-authored or edited six books about integrated healthcare. His research interests include the role of non-pharmaceutical treatments in mainstream medicine, wellbeing in long-term conditions and the development of integrated practitioners."
I did my usual Medline search but found only 16 Medline-listed articles authored by David Peters. This is amazing because he has been involved in UK alt med much longer than I have. Even more amazing is that none of these papers seem to refer to clinical trials. Perhaps he is not convinced of this type of research?
In order to evaluate his output, I took the sentence that came nearest to a conclusion from the most recent 10 articles. Below you find first the titles of each paper (with the link to it), second the list of its authors and third the sentence that formulated a conclusion (in bold).
Patient outcomes and experiences of an acupuncture and self-care service for persistent low back pain in the NHS: a mixed methods approach.
Cheshire A, Polley M, Peters D, Ridge D.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2013 Nov 1;13:300. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-13-300.
The BBPS provided a MSK pain management service that many patients found effective and valuable. Combining self-management with acupuncture was found to be particularly effective, although further consideration is required regarding how best to engage patients in self-management.
Is it feasible and effective to provide osteopathy and acupuncture for patients with musculoskeletal problems in a GP setting? A service evaluation.
Cheshire A, Polley M, Peters D, Ridge D.
BMC Fam Pract. 2011 Jun 13;12:49. doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-12-49.
Provision of acupuncture and osteopathy for MSK pain is achievable in General Practice. A GP surgery can quickly adapt to incorporate complementary therapy provided key principles are followed.
Gatekeepers and the Gateway–a mixed-methods inquiry into practitioners' referral behaviour to the Gateway Clinic.
Unwin J, Peters D.
Acupunct Med. 2009 Mar;27(1):21-5. doi: 10.1136/aim.2008.000083.
The Gateway Clinic has become an increasingly popular referral resource. The influences that drive referral to the clinic are multiple and follow "tacit guidelines". GPs select patients on the basis of their individual clinical experience, informed by positive patient feedback and often only after more conventional medical treatment options have been exhausted.
Complementary medicine: evidence base, competence to practice and regulation.
Lewith GT, Breen A, Filshie J, Fisher P, McIntyre M, Mathie RT, Peters D.
Clin Med (Lond). 2003 May-Jun;3(3):235-40. Review.
This paper describes the current status and evidence base for acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal and manipulative medicine, as well as the regulatory framework within which these therapies are provided. It also explores the present role of the Royal College of Physicians' Subcommittee on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in relation to these developments. A number of CAM professions have encouraged the Royal College of Physicians Subcommittee to act as a reference point for their discussions with the conventional medical profession and the subcomittee believes that they are able to fulfil this function.
Using a computer-based clinical management system to improve effectiveness of a homeopathic service in a fundholding general practice.
Peters D, Pinto GJ, Harris G.
Br Homeopath J. 2000 Jul;89 Suppl 1:S14-9
It is possible to introduce rigour and reflectiveness when providing a homeopathic service in general practice by assessing the needs of patient and practitioners, agreeing intake guidelines, developing referral processes, implementing audit cycles. Clear lines of communication can be established and a patient-centred outcome measure can be introduced into the treatment cycle.
I could not find any further articles that I could classify as providing data; so I stopped well short of the envisaged 10 papers. I have to admit, I was hesitant: does David deserve to be in the ALT MED HALL OF FAME? In the end, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Why? Mainly because I am impressed with his scope of practice. Here is what he himself wrote about this aspect:
"I use a range of approaches: osteopathy and medical acupuncture, as well as nutrition and mind-body medicine – meditation, relaxation techniques, breath-work, self-hypnosis, biofeedback, and simple yoga-based exercises. Sometimes herbal medicines, complex homeopathy, nutritional supplements, trigger-point or joint injections can be a valuable too. Somatic Experiencing is a gentle form of body-centred psychotherapy for problems that have come on after traumatic incidents. When I want to assess the impact of stress on the body I use a painless approach involving computer-based heart rate variability testing and breath analysis; sometimes salivary cortisol profiling too. Where required I can prescribe conventional medicine and were they are needed I might suggest scans, X-rays or blood tests."
Peter is perhaps not the most industrious researcher when it comes to publishing papers, but he fulfils the criterion of not ever publishing anything negative that might rock the boat or distract from the true value of alternative medicine.
Yesterday, I wrote about a new acupuncture trial. Amongst other things, I wanted to find out whether the author who had previously insisted I answer his questions about my view on the new NICE guideline would himself answer a few questions when asked politely. To remind you, this is what I wrote:
This new study was designed as a randomized, sham-controlled trial of acupuncture for persistent allergic rhinitis in adults investigated possible modulation of mucosal immune responses. A total of 151 individuals were randomized into real and sham acupuncture groups (who received twice-weekly treatments for 8 weeks) and a no acupuncture group. Various cytokines, neurotrophins, proinflammatory neuropeptides, and immunoglobulins were measured in saliva or plasma from baseline to 4-week follow-up.
Statistically significant reduction in allergen specific IgE for house dust mite was seen only in the real acupuncture group. A mean (SE) statistically significant down-regulation was also seen in pro-inflammatory neuropeptide substance P (SP) 18 to 24 hours after the first treatment. No significant changes were seen in the other neuropeptides, neurotrophins, or cytokines tested. Nasal obstruction, nasal itch, sneezing, runny nose, eye itch, and unrefreshed sleep improved significantly in the real acupuncture group (post-nasal drip and sinus pain did not) and continued to improve up to 4-week follow-up.
The authors concluded that acupuncture modulated mucosal immune response in the upper airway in adults with persistent allergic rhinitis. This modulation appears to be associated with down-regulation of allergen specific IgE for house dust mite, which this study is the first to report. Improvements in nasal itch, eye itch, and sneezing after acupuncture are suggestive of down-regulation of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1.
…Anyway, the trial itself raises a number of questions – unfortunately I have no access to the full paper – which I will post here in the hope that my acupuncture friend, who are clearly impressed by this paper, might provide the answers in the comments section below:
- Which was the primary outcome measure of this trial?
- What was the power of the study, and how was it calculated?
- For which outcome measures was the power calculated?
- How were the subjective endpoints quantified?
- Were validated instruments used for the subjective endpoints?
- What type of sham was used?
- Are the reported results the findings of comparisons between verum and sham, or verum and no acupuncture, or intra-group changes in the verum group?
- What other treatments did each group of patients receive?
- Does anyone really think that this trial shows that "acupuncture is a safe, effective and cost-effective treatment for allergic rhinitis"?
In the comments section, the author wrote: "after you have read the full text and answered most of your questions for yourself, it might then be a more appropriate time to engage in any meaningful discussion, if that is in fact your intent", and I asked him to send me his paper. As he does not seem to have the intention to do so, I will answer the questions myself and encourage everyone to have a close look at the full paper [which I can supply on request].
- The myriad of lab tests were defined as primary outcome measures.
- Two sentences are offered, but they do not allow me to reconstruct how this was done.
- No details are provided.
- Most were quantified with a 3 point scale.
- Mostly not.
- Needle insertion at non-acupoints.
- The results are a mixture of inter- and intra-group differences.
- Patients were allowed to use conventional treatments and the frequency of this use was reported in patient diaries.
- I don't think so.
So, here is my interpretation of this study:
- It lacked power for many outcome measures, certainly the clinical ones.
- There were hardly any differences between the real and the sham acupuncture group.
- Most of the relevant results were based on intra-group changes, rather than comparing sham with real acupuncture, a fact, which is obfuscated in the abstract.
- In a controlled trial fluctuations within one group must never be interpreted as caused by the treatment.
- There were dozens of tests for statistical significance, and there seems to be no correction for multiple testing.
- Thus the few significant results that emerged when comparing sham with real acupuncture might easily be false positives.
- Patient-blinding seems questionable.
- McDonald as the only therapist of the study might be suspected to have influenced his patients through verbal and non-verbal communications.
I am sure there are many more flaws, particularly in the stats, and I leave it to others to identify them. The ones I found are, however, already serious enough, in my view, to call for a withdrawal of this paper. Essentially, the authors seem to have presented a study with largely negative findings as a trial with positive results showing that acupuncture is an effective therapy for allergic rhinitis. Subsequently, McDonald went on social media to inflate his findings even more. One might easily ask: is this scientific misconduct or just poor science?
I would be most interested to hear what you think about it [if you want to see the full article, please send me an email].
On this blog, I have repeatedly tried to explain why integrative (or integrated) medicine is such a deceptive nonsense; see for instance here, here and here. Today, I have reason to make another attempt: The International Congress on Integrative Medicine & Health.
In 2012, I published an analysis of the '3rd European Congress of Integrated Medicine' which had taken place in December 2010 in Berlin (in Europe they call it 'integrated' and in the US 'integrative' medicine). For this purpose, I simply read all the 222 abstracts and labelled them according to their contents. The results showed that the vast majority were on unproven alternative therapies and none on conventional treatments.
The abstracts from the International Congress on Integrative Medicine & Health (ICIMH, Green Valley Ranch Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, May 17–20, 2016) which were just published provide me with the opportunity to check whether this situation has changed. There were around 400 abstracts, and I did essentially the same type of analysis (attributing one subject area to each abstract). And what a tedious task this was! I spotted just two articles of interest, and will report about them shortly.
This time I also assessed whether the conclusions of each paper were positive (expressing something favourable about the subject at hand), negative (expressing something negative about the subject at hand) or neither of the two (surveys, for instance, rarely show positive or negative results).
Here are the results: mind-body therapies were the top subject with 49 papers, followed by acupuncture (44), herbal medicine (37), integrative medicine (36), chiropractic and other manual therapies (26), TCM (19), methodological issues (16), animal and other pre-clinical investigations (15) and Tai Chi (5). The rest of the abstracts were on a diverse array of other subjects. There was not a single paper on a conventional therapy and only 4 focussed on risk assessments.
The 36 articles on integrative medicine deserve perhaps a special mention. The majority of these papers were about using alternative therapies as an add-on to conventional care. They focussed on the alternative therapies used and usually concluded that this 'integration' was followed by good results. None of these papers discussed integrative medicine and its assumptions critically, and none of these investigations cast any doubt about the assumption that integrative medicine is a positive thing.
I should also mention that my attributions of the subject areas were not always straight forward. I allowed myself only one subject per paper, but there were, of course, many that could be categorised in more than one subject area ( for instance, a paper on an herbal medicine might be in that category, or in TCM or in pre-clinical). So I tried to attribute the subject that seemed to dominate the abstract in question.
My analysis according to the direction of the conclusions was equally revealing: I categorised 260 papers as positive, 5 as negative and 116 as neither of the two. That means for every negative result there were 52 positive ones. I find this most remarkable.
Essentially, my two analyses of conference abstracts published 6 years apart show the same phenomenon: on the 'scientific level', integrative medicine is not about the 'best of both worlds' (i. e. the best alternative medicine has to offer integrated with the best conventional medicine offers) – the slogan by which advocates of integrative medicine usually try to 'sell' their dubious approach to us. It is almost exclusively about alternative therapies which advocates of integrative medicine aim to smuggle into mainstream healthcare. Critical analysis seems to be unwelcome in this area, and – perhaps worse of all – in the last 6 years, there does not seem to have been any improvement.
And that's just on the 'scientific level', as I said. If you wonder what is happening on the 'practical level', you will find that, in the realm of integrative medicine, every quackery under the sun is being promoted at often exorbitant prices to the often gullible and always unsuspecting public. If you don't believe me, search for 'integrative medicine clinic' on the Internet; I promise, you will be surprised!
Personally, I am sometimes amused by the sheer idiocy of all this, but more often I am enraged and ask myself:
- Why are we allowing quackery to make such a spectacular come-back?
- Why is hardly anyone voicing strong objections?
- Is it not our ethical duty to do something about it and try to prevent the worse?
In 2008, I published a paper entitled 'CHIROPRACTIC, A CRITICAL EVALUATION' where I reviewed most aspects of this subject, including the historical context. Here is the passage about the history of chiropractic. I believe it is relevant to much of the current discussions about the value or otherwise of chiropractic.
The history of chiropractic is "rooted in quasi-mystical concepts." Bone-setters of various types are part of the folk medicine of most cultures, and bone-setting also formed the basis on which chiropractic developed.
The birthday of chiropractic is said to be September 18, 1895. On this day, D.D. Palmer manipulated the spine of a deaf janitor by the name of Harvey Lillard, allegedly curing him of his deafness. Palmer's second patient, a man suffering from heart disease, was also cured. About one year later, Palmer opened the first school of chiropractic. There is evidence to suggest that D.D. Palmer had learned manipulative techniques from Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathy. He combined the skills of a bone-setter with the background of a magnetic healer and claimed that "chiropractic was not evolved from medicine or any other method, except that of magnetic." He coined the term "innate intelligence" (or "innate") for the assumed "energy" or "vital force," which, according to the magnetic healers of that time, enables the body to heal itself. The "innate" defies quantification. "Chiropractic is based on a metaphysical epistemology that is not amenable to positivist research or experiment."
The "innate" is said to regulate all body functions but, in the presence of "vertebral subluxation," it cannot function adequately. Chiropractors therefore developed spinal manipulations to correct such subluxations, which, in their view, block the flow of the "innate." Chiropractic is "a system of healing based on the premise that the body requires unobstructed flow through the nervous system of innate intelligence." Anyone who did not believe in the "innate" or in "subluxations" was said to have no legitimate role in chiropractic.
"Innate intelligence" evolved as a theological concept, the representative of Universal Intelligence ( = God) within each person. D.D. Palmer was convinced he had discovered a natural law that pertained to human health in the most general terms. Originally, manipulation was not a technique for treating spinal or musculoskeletal problems, it was a cure for all human illness: "95% of all diseases are caused by displaced vertebrae, the remainder by luxations of other joints." Early chiropractic pamphlets hardly mention back pain or neck pain, but assert that, "chiropractic could address ailments such as insanity, sexual dysfunction, measles and influenza." D.D. Palmer was convinced that he had "created a science of principles that has existed as long as the vertebra." Chiropractors envision man as a microcosm of the universe where "innate intelligence" determines human health as much as "universal intelligence" governs the cosmos; the discovery of the "innate intelligence" represents a discovery of the first order, "a reflection of a critical law that God used to govern natural phenomena."
Early chiropractic displayed many characteristics of a religion. Both D.D. Palmer and his son, B.J. Palmer, seriously considered establishing chiropractic as a religion. Chiropractic "incorporated vitalistic concepts of an innate intelligence with religious concepts of universal intelligence," which substituted for science. D.D. Palmer declared that he had discovered the answer to the timeworn question, "What is life?" and added that chiropractic made "this stage of existence much more efficient in its preparation for the next step – the life beyond."
Most early and many of today's chiropractors agree: "Men do not cure. It is that inherent power (derived from the creator) that causes wounds to heal, or a part to be repaired. The Creator…uses the chiropractor as a tool…chiropractic philosophy is truly the missing link between Religion or Power of the various religions." Today, some chiropractors continue to relate the "innate" to God. Others, however, warn not to "dwindle or dwarf chiropractic by making a religion out of a technique."
Initially, the success of chiropractic was considerable. By 1925, more than 80 chiropractic schools had been established in the United States. Most were "diploma mills" offering an "easy way to make money," and many "were at one another's throats." Chiropractors believed they had established their own form of science, which emphasized observation rather than experimentation, a vitalistic rather than mechanistic philosophy, and a mutually supportive rather than antagonist relationship between science and religion. The gap between conventional medicine and chiropractic thus widened "from a fissure into a canyon." The rivalry was not confined to conventional medicine; "many osteopaths asserted that chiropractic was a bastardized version of osteopathy."
Rather than arguing over issues such as efficacy, education, or professional authority, the American Medical Association insisted that all competent health care providers must have adequate knowledge of the essential subjects such as anatomy, physiology, pathology, chemistry, and bacteriology. By that token, the American Medical Association claimed, chiropractors were not fit for practice. Some "martyrs," including D.D. Palmer himself, went to jail for practicing medicine without a licence.
Chiropractors countered that doctors were merely defending their patch for obvious financial reasons (ironically, chiropractors today often earn more than conventional doctors), that orthodox science was morally corrupt and lacked open-mindedness. They attacked the "germo-anti-toxins-vaxiradi-electro-microbioslush death producers" and promised a medicine "destined to the grandest and greatest of this or any age."
Eventually, the escalating battle against the medical establishment was won in "the trial of the century." In 1987, sections of the U.S. medical establishment were found "guilty of conspiracy against chiropractors," a decision which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990. In other countries, similar legal battles were fought, usually with similar outcomes. Only rarely did they not result in the defeat of the "establishment:" In 1990, a Japanese Ministry of Health report found that chiropractic is "not based on the knowledge of human anatomy but subjective and unscientific."
These victories came at the price of "taming" and "medicalizing" chiropractic. In turn, this formed the basis of a conflict within the chiropractic profession – the dispute between "mixers" and "straights" – a conflict which continues to the present day.
The "straights" religiously adhere to D.D. Palmer's notions of the "innate intelligence" and view subluxation as the sole cause and manipulation as the sole cure of all human disease. They do not mix any non-chiropractic techniques into their therapeutic repertoire, dismiss physical examination (beyond searching for subluxations) and think medical diagnosis is irrelevant for chiropractic. The "mixers" are somewhat more open to science and conventional medicine, use treatments other than spinal manipulation, and tend to see chiropractors as back pain specialists. Father and son Palmer warned that the "mixers" were "polluting and diluting the sacred teachings" of chiropractic. Many chiropractors agreed that the mixers were "bringing discredit to the chiropractic."
The "straights" are now in the minority but nevertheless exert an important influence. They have, for instance, recently achieved election victories within the British General Chiropractic Council. Today, two different chiropractic professions exist side by sided "one that wishes to preserve the non-empirical, non-positivist, vitalist foundations (the straights) and the other that wishes to be reckoned as medical physicians and wishes to utilize the techniques and mechanistic viewpoint of orthodox medicine (the mixers)." The International Chiropractic Association represents the "straights" and the American Chiropractic Association the "mixers."
(for references, see the original article)
Anyone who really wants to get an insight into the 'homeopathic mind-set' should read the regular newsletter 'HOMEOPATHY 4 EVERYONE'. Its current issue is focussed on cardiology. An article on coronary heart disease, a condition that kills about 40% of the population, informs us how homeopaths tackle this killer-disease:
If anything permanent is to be accomplished by treatment, a most careful examination of the individual case must be made. Not the attack alone, but the habits of the patient, his family history and environments must all be studied in every possible light. In the management, each case must be considered separately and the causes that excite an attack sought after. Many of these patients already have recognized the cause in their own case and often it is some irregularity of diet, exercise or mental condition. Many times it is not an easy matter to control the mental state, as the worry and strain of business life presses upon many of these patients, and is responsible for many cases of arterial degeneration that give rise to apoplexy, Bright 's disease, aneurysm or angina pectoris. The age and occupation of the patient, and the condition of the vascular system should be taken into consideration.
Following an attack the condition of the heart may require absolute rest, from a day to a week or more; this is especially true if the attacks are precipitated by a slight degree of exercise, which shows that the heart is not able to propel the blood under anything but normal conditions. Under no condition should quick movements and strong emotions be associated. Steady quiet exercise as walking upon level ground is beneficial. If the cardiac weakness is such as to forbid this, massage, or the resistance exercise of the Schott's method may be tried. This exercise should not follow immediately after a meal.
But this is not all. There are plenty more papers on life-threatening cardiac conditions. Take the article on pericarditis for instance. This is how homeopaths are told how to treat this medical emergency:
Remedies that may be indicated are as follows: If traumatic, Arnica. For the inflammatory outset, Aconite or Vera- trum viride. The anguish of Aconite distinguishes its inflammation from that attending the stupor of Veratrum. For the pain Bryonia or Spigelia. They may be indicated in this order, Bryonia for the first stage and Spigelia for the subsequent myalgia. In these cases there may be met with indications for Belladonna (its flushed face), Arsenicum (dyspnoea on lying down), Digitalis (its weak pulse), Cactus (severe myalgia) or Kali carb (stitching pains). General symptoms may call for Colchicum, Aesculus, Kali iod., Cimicifuga, Kahnia, Squilla
A further article tackles diseases of the blood vessels. The article on thrombosis informs the homeopath that
Thrombosis is a blocking of the local circulation either spontaneously, after injuries or from slow and imperfect circulation forming a clot. In thrombosis the part becomes pale and edematous. The remedies are Aconite for first stage. Hamamelis, Lachesis or Lycopodium may be indicated. If suppuration threatens Sulphur or Hepar. Rest and a supporting diet.
The same article also tells us how to treat aneurysms:
Select the remedy carefully. Lycopodium 12 has cured aneurism of the carotid (Hughes). If the attack is due to a sudden strain or injury, Arnica; if from fear or fright, Aconite; if from syphilis, Mercurius, Kali hydr. or Nitric acid; if from alcoholism, Arsenicum or Nux vomica; if from fatty degeneration, Phosphorus; if from fibrous inflammation and degeneration, Bryonia; if there is great arterial excitement and delirium, Veratrum viride; if circulation sluggish, Digitalis. Secale has cured aneurism. Consult Carbo veg., Spigelia. See Heart Therapeutics.
After reading the entire issue, I was not sure whether this wasn't a hoax. Are we supposed to laugh or to cry? Personally I did giggle a lot while reading this. But if I imagine for a minute that some homeopaths might take this seriously, I am not far from crying.
Yes, I think he does deserve to join this fast-expanding club which, so far, consists of the following people:
They have been admitted mostly because they have demonstrated that they exclusively or mostly publish positive results about alternative medicine. Therefore, their 'TRUSTWORTHYNESS INDEX' is remarkable.
With Peter Fisher, things are a little different, and in a way much more convincing. He also has a remarkable publication record, of course. As the Queen's homeopath, he is a stark defender of homeopathy. He has just under 100 Medline-listed articles in this area, and, if I am not mistaken, only one of them cast any doubt on the effectiveness of homeopathy.
Peter is also the long-term editor of the journal HOMEOPATHY, and he used this position to fire me from its editorial board. Furthermore, he has been shown to have an unusual attitude towards telling the truth. But the decider for his admission to THE ALT MED HALL OF FAME was the following recent interview for NATURALLYSAVVY where he shows himself as a fierce defender of science, evidence-based medicine and critical thinking:
Andrea Donsky: I understand you arrived yesterday from England. I'm curious what you take for jetlag?
Peter Fisher: We have a traditional combination that we use for jetlag, which is arnica montana, and cocculus indicus. So arnica is something that is traditionally used for bruises, and cocculus is used for sleep problems. So arnica and cocculus combined, 6CH every hour or two, helps with jetlag.
Andrea Donsky: I read about the incredible work you do as an Integrative Medicine Doctor so I thought we would start today's interview with having you explain what that means.
Peter Fisher: Simply put, it means the best of both worlds: the best of conventional, and the best of complementary medicine. There is also a much longer and more complicated definition, but essentially it's integrating complementary medicine in care packages to avoid some of the worst excesses of conventional medicines, like over-drugging, and excess use of medication.
Andrea Donsky: I know you don't see patients with the common cold or flu, but if you did, what would be your protocol?
Peter Fisher: I've done quite a lot of research on the flu. It's quite clear that conventional treatments don't work all that well, and may even prolong the flu. Most of the conventional treatments push the symptoms down [suppress them] and actually prolong the illness.
Andrea Donsky: So something like Oscillococcinum would be a perfect thing to recommend to people.
Peter Fisher: Yes, and other homeopathic combinations that can speed up the resolution, relieve the symptoms, and make the flu go away quicker.
Andrea Donsky: Tell me a little bit about the European way of practicing medicine. I remember hearing that in Europe doctors prescribe homeopathy alongside medication. Is this true?
Peter Fisher: It varies widely between countries. In France, Germany, and increasingly in Spain, it is the case, but not so much in the UK. A lot of doctors do incorporate it in their practice and they integrate homeopathy when it seems appropriate, but they also use antibiotics and other drugs when they feel it is appropriate.
Andrea Donsky: Do you often approach these skeptics and say: "Listen, you are wrong because there is research behind it!"
Peter Fisher: I will debate with anybody, anytime. The trouble is, skeptics don't like that because they always lose. I've been involved in a series of debates with "so called" skeptics. But many well-known skeptics avoid me because they lose the debate. What they prefer to do is to blog, or tweet, so they can make nasty sneering public remarks and you can't come back at them. If it's a proper debate, I say my piece, you say your piece, there's somebody there to make sure that it's fair play, and that could be in a journal, it could be in a lower court, I don't care. There was a big court case in the U.S. that was resolved in September where that happened. An allegation was made that false claims were being made for homeopathic medicines and they lost the case…homeopathy won!
Andrea Donsky: Tell us how you came to be a physician to Her Majesty the Queen.
Peter Fisher: There's a long tradition of the Royal Family having a homeopathic physician. It actually goes back 150 years to Queen Victoria and her beloved Prince Albert. The founder of our hospital was Prince Albert's father's doctor. There has been an official homeopathic physician treating the Royal Family since the 1930s. It's been me since 2001.
Andrea Donsky: It is nice to hear that the Royal Family is open to integrative medicine. Do you just treat the Queen, or the whole family? I read that Prince Charles eats organic and has an organic garden so I am assuming he is quite open to it as well.
Peter Fisher: I treat the entire family. I think Kate and Will are too young and healthy so they don't need medicine. But the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, is very friendly, and he is more than willing to stick his neck out to actually say things. He has spoken at the World Health Assembly, which is the AGN of the World Health Organization. So he's really quite fond of integrative medicine.
Andrea Donsky: I think that's incredible. As a conventionally trained physician, how did you become interested in homeopathy?
Peter Fisher: At the end of the Cultural Revolution I went to visit China. I was a medical student at the time, and I remember the moment when it became clear to me. I was in the operating room of a small Chinese provincial town and there was a woman lying on the operating table with her entire abdomen open, fully conscious talking to the anesthetist with three needles in her left ear.
Andrea Donsky: Acupuncture needles?
Peter Fisher: Yes.
Andrea Donsky: That's amazing.
Peter Fisher: The needles were connected to a little electrical box. I thought, "That doesn't happen. They didn't tell us about this at Cambridge." I went to the best medical school, Cambridge, a very elite medical school, and I just thought, "This can't happen. This doesn't happen." That experience is what made me think that there was more to medicine than what we were taught in medical school. Then a few years later, I became ill myself. I was still a medical student so I went to see a very distinguished professor at my medical school who made a precise diagnosis and said, "Tough, nothing can be done." So my friends suggested I try homeopathy, and I did, and it helped. So it snowballed from there.
Andrea Donsky: Oftentimes we need to see things for ourselves and/or experience it to believe it.
Peter Fisher: Yes. I got almost obsessed by it, you know. In many ways as a scientific thing it shouldn't work. I mean I do understand to that extent where the skeptics are coming from. There does appear to be a good reason why it can't possibly work, and yet it does.
Andrea Donsky: Can you define what homeopathy is and how it works?
Peter Fisher: Homeopathy is based on the idea of like curing like. So you give a very small dose of something that could cause a similar illness if given an enlarged dose. Some people say it's like holding a mirror up to nature. You're saying to the body, "OK, this is what your problem is, this is what the disease is." The idea is that the body has very strong self-healing capabilities; it is strong, but sometimes it can be stupid like when it comes to autoimmune diseases. In that case it is actually the body's defensive mechanism being misdirected.
Andrea Donsky: Can you explain the difference between a single remedy and a combination?
Peter Fisher: A single remedy is one remedy and a combination is multiple. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of homeopathy. One is the so-called "keynote prescribing way," where you prescribe for one or two keynote symptoms like a cold, sore throat, or runny nose.Then there is "constitutional medicine" where you are not so much treating the disease, but rather the person. So for example, if someone has insomnia, muscular aches and pains or even a cold and/or flu, they can take a combination of two, three, four, or even five different homeopathic medicines, which will likely cover the symptoms. This is more for self-treatment, rather than doctor prescribed.
Andrea Donsky: That makes sense. I like that there is a role in homeopathy for both self (like for the common cold) and expert prescribing.
Peter Fisher: Yes. It is one thing if someone has a short-term health issue, but it is another thing if they have a chronic complicated, multi-faceted issue. I mean one of the interesting things about homeopathy is the idea of treating the person, and not the disease


text:
2008 All Over Again
Donald Trump Frees Us to Vote as We Wish
Betraying Progressives, Democratic Platform Panel Backs Fracking, TPP and Israel Occupation
Politicon 2016: Sarah Palin Hails the Rise of 'Golden Wrecking Ball' Donald Trump (Video)
The Great American Story of Asian Immigrants and Politics
Ivo Mijnssen $35.22
By Mary Tillman with Narda Zacchino Hardcover $17.13
AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez
What do a professed love for women, a so-called commitment to family values, a culture of social change and institutionalized rape have in common?
Flickr / justaufo (CC-BY)
The first quarter of 2011 has ushered in the year of the "mad man." Sadly, this idea is being turned into a commodity that can be consumed repeatedly across a range of media outlets.
By Mike Luckovich
Nate Beeler, Cagle Cartoons, The Washington Examiner
By Mr. Fish
But in a possible boost for the California economy, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer today announced plans to begin marketing a new blockbuster drug called Charlie Sheen.
Mike Keefe, Cagle Cartoons, The Denver Post
If there is a better illustration of the decline of American culture, the triumph of technology over privacy, and the end of shame as a motivating force, I can't think of one.
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Dan May 25, 01
does the sony spressa burn 80min (700meg) cdrs???!!!!! i see no option for this in the "cd extreme" software ...the html manual includes a screen shot of a window that doesnt even exist in my version of cd extreme!!! and in this screen shot, there seems to be a parameter for this feature ...but in the actual software, this tab does not exist. this is extremely irritating. my local cdr vendors (compusa, best buy, etc.) arnt even carrying 74min (650meg) cdrs anymore. please help!!!
Sandman22 Sep 10, 01
That rattle you described is much more than a nuisense. I've found that if you insert thinner, lighter CD like the ones you get from manufactors with their drivers on them, the drive will grind gears, rattle and most of the time you have to remove the CD to stop it. Does anybody know why?
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