Posted on 01/18/2007 8:59:47 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman
The history of medicine is a rich and fascinating topic which has very little relevance to non-geeks... until now! Researchers from the Mayo Clinic have published a paper in the BMJ, which used an ancient herbal text as a guide to finding novel drugs. Apparently they stumbled onto an antibiotic that can wipe out some of the more stubborn strains of super bacterias. Here's more from the press release:
A unique Mayo Clinic collaboration has revived the healing wisdom of Pacific Island cultures by testing a therapeutic plant extract described in a 17th century Dutch herbal text for its anti-bacterial properties. Early results show that extracts from the Atun tree effectively control bacteria that can cause diarrhea, as claimed by naturalist Georg Eberhard Rumpf, circa 1650. He documented his traditional healing methods in the book Ambonese Herbal.
The Mayo Clinic-led team's report appears in the Dec. 23 edition of The British Medical Journal... In their report, Mayo Clinic researchers demonstrate the feasibility of using sophisticated data mining techniques on historical texts to identify new drugs.
The study provides a creative new model for drug discovery. It integrates nontraditional, ancient medical information with advanced technologies to identify promising natural products to investigate as drugs for new and better therapies.
"Natural products are invaluable sources of healing agents -- consider, for example, that aspirin derived originally from willow bark, and the molecular basis of the anti-cancer chemotherapeutic agent Taxol™ was derived from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. So it's not so far-fetched to think that the contributions of an ancient text and insights from traditional medicine really may impact modern public health," explains Brent Bauer, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program.
For thousands of years, people around the world have lived intimately with botanical healing agents and evolved effective healing traditions. "Our work shows just how much we can learn from them. But to make the most of what is fast becoming lost knowledge, we have to respect, preserve and work with traditional healing cultures," adds Eric Buenz, Ph.D., researcher for Minnesota-based BioSciential, LLC.
Rumpf referred to himself as Rumphius, in the Latinized scientific manner of the day. Rumphius was a German-born naturalist who worked for the Dutch East Indies Company. His book is an account of the herbal healing traditions on the Indonesian island of Ambon. Rumphius' description of Atun kernels' therapeutic properties is what modern medicine calls "antimotility agents," they stop diarrhea. Writes Rumphius: "... these same kernels ... will halt all kinds of diarrhea, but very suddenly, forcefully and powerfully, so that one should use them with care in dysentery cases, because that illness or affliction should not be halted too quickly; and some considered this medicament a great secret, and relied on it completely."
I also saw a report a week or so ago where honey applied to foot sores that won't heal and might be turniung gangrenous worked better than drugs- never having a foot sore myself, I can't verify this- Was on a T.V news station- can't remember which one now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3787867.stm
Cool. Thanks
Warning, Explicit Photographs of using honey to heal.
http://www.manukauk.com/pages/maurice.htm
Garlic, alcohol, tea tree oil, etc... natural remedies often work. This 'news' is older than the written word.
The wisdom of our elders, speaks to us across time.
perhaps people with cramps began gnawing on bark to take their mind off the pain and thought "Ya know? I think this stuff is releiving me cramps- Egads! I'll be a millionair" lol
Yeah- some of the stuff they tried in the old days was abasolutely atrociously nasty- I've tried a lot of herbs, and some of them will really curl your hair- most only have pretty mild affects on illnesses, but some are indeed a bit powerful- in most cases however, you're stil lbetter off with drugs as thwey are usually more effective.
Honey slowly releases small amounts of hydrogen peroxide. That's how it kills germs and keeps from spoiling in the hive.
I make Colloidal Silver by the gallon to help keep my family healthy...
Pure honey will never spoil unless it is contaminated with something, it will last for a thousand years.
I've read second hand remarks about it (honey) being pulled out of Egyptian tombs still edible. I can't obviously verify this but I've never seen the stuff go bad either...
I believe Midol is ibuprofen.
Here is some info on colloidal silver
http://www.cqs.com/silver.htm
Gotta be real careful when 'self medicating' which includes being careful with herbs and vitimins and minerals etc. The body is a highly complex thing, and doesn't take much to upset balances- people with faulty imune systems (things like Arthritis, Crohn's, myalgias etc) especially have to be careful as many of the herbs vits minerals etc will boost the imune system- and you don't want that when you have something that already won't allow the imune system to shut off and it attacks the body because it gets confused- that's basically what happens in conditions like Arthritis and Crohn's and others.
not sure on the vioxx- last I heard it wasn't as dangerous- then it was, then it wasn't- I lose track of whether it is or not lol
With Modern meds though- we usually take them under the watchful care of docs who monitor stuff like blood readings, blood pressure etc- but yeah, a lot of drugs are also bad and can cause undetected probelms.
Yeah- I coulda sworn the report I saw on tv said that any old honey would work, but the report on the BBC in this topic seems to indicate only the special honey works?
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