Using homeopathy for treating childhood asthma: understanding a family's choice.

The incidence and severity of asthma are increasing despite concerted efforts in comprehensive management. Families may be expected to look to complementary or alternative therapies (CAM) for help in treating persistent childhood asthma. One such therapy is homeopathy, a system of medicine that uses specially prepared, highly dilute substances to induce the body's self-healing in a comprehensive manner. This article describes the contrasting experiences for a family who undergoes specialty consultations with an allergist and with a homeopath. The style of the interview and the diagnostic tools used vary, as well as the basic philosophies and goals. The advantages and limitations, as well as the regulatory framework of homeopathy are explained, as evidenced by the literature. For nurses and other clinicians caring for children and families who use nonconventional therapies, the clinical implications are that these professionals need to become knowledgeable about the various alternative therapies which can complement conventional care. Families who wish to try homeopathy along with conventional care need to have open lines of communication and cooperation between their providers, both conventional and homeopathic. The care of childhood asthma may prove to benefit from clinical trials in homeopathy.

[Comparative speech audiometry examinations with compact disk and cassette tape]. / Vergleichende sprachaudiometrische Untersuchungen mit Kompaktdiskette (CD) und Tonbandkassette.

We compared the results of speech audiometry, performed with recorded tape and compact disc recordings (CD), respectively, in 21 subjects with bone-conduction hearing losses CHL and 27 subjects with sensorineural hearing losses. In all cases, speech audiometry was performed by using the 1969 Freiburg speech test material based on the German DIN standard 45626. In subjects with air-bone gaps, the hearing loss for speech was 2.3 dB smaller if tested by use of CD and speech recognition was 10.5 points better. Smaller differences could be found in sensorineural HL. For CD, hearing losses were 1.2 dB smaller and speech recognition scores were increased by only 1 point. These differences were not statistically significant. These findings show that calculations of hearing impairments and individual hearing handicaps from tables commonly used in Germany in medicolegal expert evaluations should not be changed if CD records are used that are based on 1969 DIN 4526 recordings. However, the handling of compact discs has many advantages in relation to the handling of tapes.

[Comparative speech audiometry studies with compact disk]. / Vergleichende sprachaudiometrische Untersuchungen mit Compact Disc.

We compared the results of speech audiometry, performed with recorded tape and CD, respectively, in 21 subjects with bone conduction hearing loss, and in 27 subjects with sensorineural hearing loss. In all cases, speech audiometry was performed by using the German Freiburg speech test material, recorded in 1969 on the basis of the German DIN standard 45626. In subjects with an air-bone gap, the hearing loss for speech is 2.3 dB smaller if tested by use of CD, and the speech recognition is 10.5 points better, respectively. Smaller differences could be found in sensorineural HL: For CD, the hearing loss is 1.2 dB smaller, and the speech recognition score is raised by only 1 point. These differences are statistically not significant, and the calculation of hearing impairment and individual hearing handicap from the tables commonly used in Germany in medicolegal expert opinions must not be corrected, if records on CD are used basing on the recordings from 1969 according to DIN 45626. The handling of compact discs has many advantages in relation to the handling of tapes.

A possible mechanism of phenotypic expression of normal and dystrophic genomes on succinic dehydrogenase activity and fiber size within a single myofiber of muscle transplants.

Muscle transplantation was used to evaluate the ability of normal and dystrophic chickens to support regeneration of both normal and dystrophic muscle fragments. Pectoralis muscles were grafted into the site of the biceps muscle of host chickens. Identification of dystrophic characteristics of intact and regenerating muscle fibers was made by cytochemical analysis of mitochondrial succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) and by fiber size. In the biceps muscle of dystrophic chicks at 40 days ex ovo, the mean size of muscle fibers with low activity of SDH and fibers with high SDH activity was 29.0 +/- 5.9 micrometers and 42.0 +/- 10.4 micrometers, respectively. The mean size of normal muscle fibers was notably smaller than in dystrophic muscle and was 17.8 + 3.1 micrometers. The hypertrophy of fibers coupled with elevation of SDH activity tended to increase with age. Transplants were examined at 56 days postoperatively. The results of cross-transplantation between normal and dystrophic genotypes were similar to unoperated muscles in the correlation between SDH activity and fiber size. Donor muscles determined the type of myofibers regenerated in transplants regardless of whether the host was normal or dystrophic. In addition, combined transplantation was attempted to produce a single hybrid myofiber in which normal and dystrophic pectoralis muscle were mixed in equal volume. The mixtures were then allowed to regenerate in host chicks. A number of mosaic myofibers appeared in transplants and had regional differences in SDH activity along their length. It was concluded that: (1) The characteristics of high SDH activity and fiber hypertrophy are an expression of dystrophic nuclei, (2) combined transplantation of both normal and dystrophic muscle fragments can produce mosaic myofibers in SDH reaction; and (3) the local control of SDH activity and fiber size within nuclear territories in mosaic myofibers seems likely to be due to phenotypic expression of either normal or dystrophic genomes.

Exercise effect on contractile properties of skeletal muscle in mouse muscular dystrophy.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a high repetitive exercise program, treadmill running, on the tetanic tension and rate of tension development of the slow twitch soleus muscle of normal plus dystrophic mice and their littermates. The exercise program used would be considered to be of mild intensity since it failed to produce any detectable histochemical or biochemical changes. In the noninvolved normal and littermate mice, there was no difference in maximum tetanic tension between the exercised and nonexercised control groups. In the normal mice (eight weeks of age), there was a significant decrease in rate of tension development for those exercised for five weeks compared to nonexercised controls. In littermate mice (seven weeks old) exercised for a four-week period, there was also a significantly lower rate of tension development compared to their nonexercised controls. In dystrophic mice (seven weeks old) exercised for only one to two weeks, there was significantly lower tension as well as rate of tension developed for the exercised mice when compared to nonexercised dystrophic mice. In dystrophic mice (six weeks old) exercised for one to two weeks, there was no difference in tension or rate of tension development when compared to nonexercised controls. In both six and seven-week-old littermate mice, also exercised for one to two weeks, this reduction in tension and rate of tension development did not occur. The average life span for the dystrophic mice used in this study is about 30 weeks. Of the nine exercised dystrophic mice scheduled for study at eight weeks, only one survived, suggesting that even the mild exercise used might have shortened their life expectancy.