Margaret Wirkus | PubMed Health

PubMed2003

Alterations in random event measures associated with a healing practice.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether alterations in random events, as measured by a Random event generator (REG), occur in association with a bioenergy healing practice. DESIGN AND SETTING: Two REGs were set up and run in parallel: one in a bioenergy healer's office and another at a local library as a control. Two multiday sets of data were collected in each setting. A third set was collected in which a reduced amount of attention was placed on the REG by the healer. REG excursions were calculated and compared for (1) overall days in the library and bioenergy healer's office, (2) healing and nonhealing phases in the healing office, and (3) overall excursions during high(sets 1 and 2) and low attention (set 3) by the healer. RESULTS: The library REG produced excursions outside the 95% confidence interval (CI) on 35 of 61 days (58%), and the REG in the healing practice 47 of 51 days (92%) (mean difference, 34%; 95% CI, 18% to 49%; chi(2) = 16.3, 1 df, p < 0.0005). In the healer's office, 0.6496 excursions per segment for healing phases and 0.6548 excursions per segment for nonhealing phases were shown (t = -1.3, 6794 df, p = 0.182). A comparison with chance expectation derived from Monte Carlo runs showed significantly less mean excursions per segment (t = -7.8, 36625 df, p < 0.0005) for healing phases and no difference in nonhealing phases (t = -0.16, 6309 df, p = 0.872). There was no significant difference in excursions between the high- and low-attention situations in the healing practice. CONCLUSIONS: In the presence of a healer, an REG produced greater than chance excursions more often than a control REG in a library setting. The healing and nonhealing phases demonstrated inconsistent results. REG deviations were not influenced by the amount of attention directed toward the machine.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed2002

External bioenergy increases intracellular free calcium concentration and reduces cellular response to heat stress.

BACKGROUND: External bioenergy (energy emitted from the body) can influence a variety of biological activities. It has been shown to enhance immunity, promote normal cell proliferation, increase tumor cell death, and accelerate bone fracture recovery. In this study, we investigated whether external bioenergy could alter intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i, an important factor in signal transduction) and regulate the cellular response to heat stress in cultured human lymphoid Jurkat T cells. METHODS: A practitioner emitted bioenergy toward tubes of cultured Jurkat cells for one 15-minute period. [Ca2+]i was measured spectrofluorometrically using the fluorescent probe indo-1. The heat shock protein 72 kd was detected using 35S-methionine prepulse and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: The resting [Ca2+]i in Jurkat T cells was 90+/-3 nM in the presence of external calcium. The removal of external calcium decreased the resting [Ca2+]i to 54+/-2 nM, indicating that Ca2+ entry from the external source is important for maintaining the basal level of [Ca2+]i. In the presence of external Ca2+, treatment of Jurkat T cells with external bioenergy for 15 minutes increased [Ca2+]i by 22+/-3%. [Ca2+]i remained elevated in these cells for 2 hours. Surprisingly, we also observed that [Ca2+]i increased by 11+/-1% if cells were simply placed in the area where external bioenergy had been used. This lingering effect of external bioenergy dissipated within 24 hours. Treatment with external bioenergy reduced cellular responses to heat stress and did not induce the production of heat shock protein 72 kd, which is known to provide cytoprotection. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that externally applied bioenergy can upregulate [Ca2+]i and downregulate the cellular response to stress. The association between the external bioenergy and increases in [Ca2+]i may be a good index for detecting presence of bioenergy.

Bioelectric Energy Sources↗