Feeling the pulse in Maya medicine: an endangered traditional tool for diagnosis, therapy, and tracking patients' progress.

Throughout history, diagnostic tools utilizing the human senses, such as pulse diagnosis, have developed all over the world. In many areas where medical technology is limited or absent, they persist, whereas in other areas these skills are in danger of extinction. The practice of pulse diagnosis by the accomplished Maya healer, Don Elijio Panti, who lived in Belize, Central America, was observed over the final decade of his life and work. Don Elijio used pulse palpation as a diagnostic tool, therapeutic tool, and as a means for tracking patients' progress. He could diagnose a wide array of both physical and spiritual afflictions and was observed diagnosing 42 different conditions or states throughout this period by feeling the pulse. He recognized at least 28 distinct pulse types. Herein, the authors report the detailed system of an endangered diagnostic tradition as practiced by the late, acclaimed Maya healer, including pulse-type descriptions and corresponding diagnoses. Pulse diagnosis is still practiced today among some of Belize's diminishing population of traditional healers, although no practice appears to be as developed as that of the previous generation of Maya healers. Furthermore, it is unlikely that there are new practitioners of pulse diagnosis in the Maya community to maintain and build on the disappearing tradition. Given the unfortunate paucity of data on Maya pulse diagnosis, the practice of pulse diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is used as an illustrative framework for documenting Don Elijio's practice. Corresponding diagnoses from TCM and Don Elijio's system are compared, elucidating similarities between the two disparate medical systems.

Alseis yucatanensis: a natural product from Belize that exhibits multiple mechanisms of vasorelaxation.

An aqueous extract of the bark of Alseis yucatanensis was studied to determine its mechanism of action in the relaxation of endothelium-denuded rat aortic tissues. The extract relaxed both norepinephrine (NE) and KCl-contracted vessels, with ED(50)'s of 0.12 and 1.73 mg/mL, respectively. In NE-contracted vessels, two phases of relaxation were evident which were separated in both time and dose range. At high concentrations, a rapid relaxation was seen that was due to the blocking of internal (ED(50)=0.49 mg/mL) and external (ED(50)=2.34 mg/mL) calcium channels. A second, slowly developing (i.e., long-term) relaxation to baseline was seen at lower concentrations. The time to complete relaxation was dose-dependent. This long-term response was not seen in KCl-contracted vessels, was prolonged by TEA, and could be reversed by the addition of KCl to the bath. These data suggest that the long-term relaxation is due to the opening of potassium channels.

Sastun: my apprenticeship with a Maya healer

The compelling drama of American herbologist Rosita Arvigo's quest to preserve the knowledge of Don Elijio Panti, one of the last surviving and most respected traditional healers in the rainforest of Belize.