High sensitivity (1)H-NMR spectroscopy of homeopathic remedies made in water

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of homeopathy is controversial. Homeopathic remedies are made via iterated shaking and dilution, in ethanol or in water, from a starting substance. Remedies of potency 12 C or higher are ultra-dilute (UD), i.e. contain zero molecules of the starting material. Various hypotheses have been advanced to explain how a UD remedy might be different from unprepared solvent. One such hypothesis posits that a remedy contains stable clusters, i.e. localized regions where one or more hydrogen bonds remain fixed on a long time scale. High sensitivity proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has not previously been used to look for evidence of differences between UD remedies and controls. METHODS: Homeopathic remedies made in water were studied via high sensitivity proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A total of 57 remedy samples representing six starting materials and spanning a variety of potencies from 6 C to 10 M were tested along with 46 controls. RESULTS: By presaturating on the water peak, signals could be reliably detected that represented H-containing species at concentrations as low as 5 μM. There were 35 positions where a discrete signal was seen in one or more of the 103 spectra, which should theoretically have been absent from the spectrum of pure water. Of these 35, fifteen were identified as machine-generated artifacts, eight were identified as trace levels of organic contaminants, and twelve were unexplained. Of the unexplained signals, six were seen in just one spectrum each. None of the artifacts or unexplained signals occurred more frequently in remedies than in controls, using a p < .05 cutoff. Some commercially prepared samples were found to contain traces of one or more of these small organic molecules: ethanol, acetate, formate, methanol, and acetone. CONCLUSION: No discrete signals suggesting a difference between remedies and controls were seen, via high sensitivity (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. The results failed to support a hypothesis that remedies made in water contain long-lived non-dynamic alterations of the H-bonding pattern of the solvent

A model for homeopathic remedy effects: low dose nanoparticles, allostatic cross-adaptation, and time-dependent sensitization in a complex adaptive system

BACKGROUND: This paper proposes a novel model for homeopathic remedy action on living systems. Research indicates that homeopathic remedies (a) contain measurable source and silica nanoparticles heterogeneously dispersed in colloidal solution; (b) act by modulating biological function of the allostatic stress response network (c) evoke biphasic actions on living systems via organism-dependent adaptive and endogenously amplified effects; (d) improve systemic resilience. DISCUSSION: The proposed active components of homeopathic remedies are nanoparticles of source substance in water-based colloidal solution, not bulk-form drugs. Nanoparticles have unique biological and physico-chemical properties, including increased catalytic reactivity, protein and DNA adsorption, bioavailability, dose-sparing, electromagnetic, and quantum effects different from bulk-form materials. Trituration and/or liquid succussions during classical remedy preparation create “top-down” nanostructures. Plants can biosynthesize remedy-templated silica nanostructures. Nanoparticles stimulate hormesis, a beneficial low-dose adaptive response. Homeopathic remedies prescribed in low doses spaced intermittently over time act as biological signals that stimulate the organism’s allostatic biological stress response network, evoking nonlinear modulatory, self-organizing change. Potential mechanisms include time-dependent sensitization (TDS), a type of adaptive plasticity/metaplasticity involving progressive amplification of host responses, which reverse direction and oscillate at physiological limits. To mobilize hormesis and TDS, the remedy must be appraised as a salient, but low level, novel threat, stressor, or homeostatic disruption for the whole organism. Silica nanoparticles adsorb remedy source and amplify effects. Properly-timed remedy dosing elicits disease-primed compensatory reversal in direction of maladaptive dynamics of the allostatic network, thus promoting resilience and recovery from disease. SUMMARY: Homeopathic remedies are proposed as source nanoparticles that mobilize hormesis and time-dependent sensitization via non-pharmacological effects on specific biological adaptive and amplification mechanisms. The nanoparticle nature of remedies would distinguish them from conventional bulk drugs in structure, morphology, and functional properties. Outcomes would depend upon the ability of the organism to respond to the remedy as a novel stressor or heterotypic biological threat, initiating reversals of cumulative, cross-adapted biological maladaptations underlying disease in the allostatic stress response network. Systemic resilience would improve. This model provides a foundation for theory-driven research on the role of nanomaterials in living systems, mechanisms of homeopathic remedy actions and translational uses in nanomedicine

Structures of Tri-, Tetra-, and Hexahydrated Hydride Anion Clusters

We have reinvestigated the structures of hydrated hydride anion clusters, using density functional theory and high-level ab initio theory. We find new low-lying energy structures for H-(H2O)(n=3,4,6) which are compatible with previously reported structures. The binding energies, electronic properties, and IR spectra of these competing low-energy hydrated hydride anion clusters are reported to facilitate experiments. (c) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 109: 1820-1826, 2009X1122sciescopu

SUR LA PROPAGATION DE LA PROPRIÉTÉ MILD AU-DESSUS D'UNE EXTENSION QUADRATIQUE IMAGINAIRE DE Q

International audienceIn this work, we are interested in the pro-p groups G_S , which are Galois groups of maximal pro-p extensions of number fields unramified outside a finite set S of primes not dividing p. We focus on whether the mildness property is preserved over imaginary quadratic extensions. Our starting point is Labute-Schmidt's criterion ([12]), based on the study of the cup-product on the first cohomology group H_1(G_S , F_p). In favourable conditions, we show by computation that the group we study often satisfies a weak version (LS_f) of Labute-Schmidt's criterion. Then, a theoretical criterion is established for proving mildness of some groups to which the (LS_f) criterion does not apply. This theoretical criterion is finally illustrated by examples for p = 3 and compared to Labute and Vogel's works ([9] et [16]).Nous nous intéressons dans ce travail aux pro-p groupes G_S , groupes de Galois de pro-p extensions maximales de corps de nombres non ramifiées en dehors d'un ensemble fini S de places ne divisant pas p, et plus particulièrement à la propagation de la propriété mild au-dessus d'une extension quadratique imaginaire. Notre point de départ est le critère de Labute-Schmidt ([12]), basé sur l'étude du cup-produit sur le groupe de cohomologie H_1(G_S , F_p). Dans un contexte favorable, nous montrons par le calcul que le groupe étudié vérifie souvent une version faible (LS_f) du critère de Labute-Schmidt. Un critère théorique est ensuite établi, permettant de montrer le caractère mild de certains groupes auxquels le critère (LS_f) ne s'applique pas. Ce critère théorique est enfin appliqué à des exemples pour p = 3 et comparé aux travaux de Labute et Vogel ([9] et [16])