Immunology and Homeopathy. 3. Experimental Studies on Animal Models

A search of the literature and the experiments carried out by the authors of this review show that there are a number of animal models where the effect of homeopathic dilutions or the principles of homeopathic medicine have been tested. The results relate to the immunostimulation by ultralow doses of antigens, the immunological models of the ‘simile’, the regulation of acute or chronic inflammatory processes and the use of homeopathic medicines in farming. The models utilized by different research groups are extremely etherogeneous and differ as the test medicines, the dilutions and the outcomes are concerned. Some experimental lines, particularly those utilizing mice models of immunomodulation and anti-inflammatory effects of homeopathic complex formulations, give support to a real effect of homeopathic high dilutions in animals, but often these data are of preliminary nature and have not been independently replicated. The evidence emerging from animal models is supporting the traditional ‘simile’ rule, according to which ultralow doses of compounds, that in high doses are pathogenic, may have paradoxically a protective or curative effect. Despite a few encouraging observational studies, the effectiveness of the homeopathic prevention or therapy of infections in veterinary medicine is not sufficiently supported by randomized and controlled trials

Protein clustering in chemically stressed HeLa cells studied by infrared nanospectroscopy

Photo-Thermal Induced Resonance (PTIR) nanospectroscopy, tuned towards amide-I absorption, was used to study the distribution of proteic material in 34 different HeLa cells, of which 18 were chemically stressed by oxidative stress with Na3AsO3. The cell nucleus was found to provide a weaker amide-I signal than the surrounding cytoplasm, while the strongest PTIR signal comes from the perinuclear region. AFM topography shows that the cells exposed to oxidative stress undergo a volume reduction with respect to the control cells, through an accumulation of the proteic material around and above the nucleus. This is confirmed by the PTIR maps of the cytoplasm, where the pixels providing a high amide-I signal were identified with a space resolution of ∼300 × 300 nm. By analyzing their distribution with two different statistical procedures we found that the probability to find protein clusters smaller than 0.6 μm in the cytoplasm of stressed HeLa cells is higher by 35% than in the control cells. These results indicate that it is possible to study proteic clustering within single cells by label-free optical nanospectroscopy

Immunology and Homeopathy. 1. Historical Background

Homeopathy was born as an experimental discipline, as can be seen from the enormous amount of homeopathic data collected over more than two centuries. However, the medical tradition of homeopathy has been separated from that of conventional science for a long time. Conventional scientific wisdom dictates that homeopathy should have no effect above placebo but experiments on ultra-high dilutions of solutes together with some clinical data suggest the intriguing possibility that it might do in some circumstances. Today, an osmotic process between disciplines, previously seen as in conflict, is facilitated because over the last few decades homeopathy has initiated the methods of current medical science and a substantial number of experimental studies—at molecular, cellular and clinical levels—are available. One area of dialogue and of common progress is that of inflammation and immunity, probably because these are closely related to the traditional ‘vital force’ of the body's self-healing power. In a series of papers we review the historical origins of homeopathy, the laboratory and animal models related to the field of immunopharmacology, the clinical evidence in favor and against the use of homeopathy in the inflammatory diseases and the hypotheses regarding its action mechanism(s). Finally, we will enlighten the specific characteristics of the homeopathic approach, which places great emphasis on identifying a cure for the whole organism

Integrated Germanium-on-silicon Waveguides for Mid-infrared Photonic Sensing Chips

Germanium-on-silicon waveguides are designed, fabricated and characterized with a novel near-field infrared spectroscopy technique that allows on-chip investigation of the in-coupling efficiency. On-chip propagation along bends and straight sections up to 0.8 mm is demonstrated around λ = 6 μm

Benchmarking the Use of Heavily-Doped Ge Against Noble Metals for Plasmonics and Sensing in the Mid-Infrared

Despite the recent introduction of heavily-doped semiconductors for mid-infrared plasmonics, it still remains an open point whether such materials can compete with noble metals. We employ a whole set of figures of merit to thoroughly assess the use of heavily-doped Ge on Si as a mid-infrared plasmonic material and benchmark it against standard noble metals such as Au. In doing this, we design and model high-performance, CMOS compatible mid-infrared plasmonic sensors based on experimental material data reaching plasma frequencies up to about 1950 cm−1. We demonstrate that plasmonic Ge sensors can provide signal enhancements for vibrational spectroscopy above 3 orders of magnitude, thus representing a viable alternative to noble metals

Changes in Knowledge Management Strategies Can Support Emerging Innovative Actors in Organic Agriculture: The Case of Participatory Plant Breeding in Europe

The “transfer of technology”, typical of a top-down linear process of innovation cannot be used in the new contexts of sustainability, characterised by uncertainty and complexity. There is a need to redefine categories and concepts around which innovation and agricultural policies are built, as those currently in use provide only a partial representation of reality. Innovation paradigms underpinning technological development and public policies design will have a direct impact on decisions regarding which agricultural models will ultimately be supported. Looking at local learning capacity and systems of relations can help to understand the potential to develop innovation within a specific context. This work contributes to the definition of new actors who are developing innovation for sustainability in rural areas. The study focuses on the knowledge systems of farmers who are applying alternative breeding strategies: it uses a network approach to explore the knowledge system in which individual farmers are embedded in order to understand their specific relational features. Three main conclusions emerge from the study: for enhancing the agro-ecological innovation paradigm there is a need to define the ‘innovation broker’, to revise the evaluation system of public research and to integrate innovation and agricultural policies

Immunology and Homeopathy. 5. The Rationale of the ‘Simile’

The foundation of homeopathic medicine is the ‘Similia Principle’, also known as the ‘Principle of Similarity’ or also as the ‘Simile’, which reflects the inversion of pharmacological effects in healthy subjects as compared with sick ones. This article describes the inversion of effects, a widespread medical phenomenon, through three possible mechanisms: non-linearity of dose–response relationship, different initial pathophysiological states of the organism, and pharmacodynamics of body response to the medicine. Based on the systemic networks which play an important role in response to stress, a unitary and general model is designed: homeopathic medicines could interact with sensitive (primed) regulation systems through complex information, which simulate the disorders of natural disease. Reorganization of regulation systems, through a coherent response to the medicine, could pave the way to the healing of the cellular, tissue and neuro-immuno-endocrine homeodynamics. Preliminary evidence is suggesting that even ultra-low doses and high-dilutions of drugs may incorporate structural or frequency information and interact with chaotic dynamics and physical-electromagnetic levels of regulation. From the clinical standpoint, the ‘simile’ can be regarded as a heuristic principle, according to which the detailed knowledge of pathogenic effects of drugs, associated with careful analysis of signs and symptoms of the ill subject, could assist in identifying homeopathic remedies with high grade of specificity for the individual case

Immunology and Homeopathy. 4. Clinical Studies—Part 1

The evidence-based research of the effectiveness of homeopathic medicines in common immunologic disorders is reviewed. In part 1, we introduce methodological issues of clinical research in homeopathy, and criteria utilized to evaluate the literature. Then 24 studies (12 randomized and 12 non-randomized) on common upper respiratory tract infections and otorhinolaryngologic complaints are described. In part 2, the focus will be on allergic diseases and the effectiveness of homeopathy will be globally evaluated and discussed using the criteria of evidence-based medicine

Mid-Infrared Plasmonic Platform based on Heavily Doped Epitaxial Ge-on-Si: Retrieving the Optical Constants of Thin Ge Epilayers

The n-type Ge-on-Si epitaxial material platform enables a novel paradigm for plasmonics in the mid-infrared, prompting the future development of lab-on-a-chip and subwavelength vibrational spectroscopic sensors. In order to exploit this material, through proper electrodynamic design, it is mandatory to retrieve the dielectric constants of the thin Ge epilayers with high precision due to the difference from bulk Ge crystals. Here we discuss the procedure we have employed to extract the real and imaginary part of the dielectric constants from normal incidence reflectance measurements, by combining the standard multilayer fitting procedure based on the Drude model with Kramers-Kronig transformations of absolute reflectance data in the zero-transmission range of the thin film.Comment: Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz waves (IRMMW-THz), 2014 39th International Conference o

Welding high strength, ferritic steels for hydrogen service

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