BRUCE LIPTON, PH.D.
Though mass consciousness is currently imbued with the notion that genes control the character of our lives, the results of the Human Genome Project completely undermine the long held concept of genetic determinism. Once thought to be in the domain of the genes, the control of health and behavior are now dynamically linked to the environment, and more importantly, our perception of the environment. Though mass consciousness is currently imbued with the notion that genes control the character of our lives, the results of the Human Genome Project completely undermine the long held concept of genetic determinism.
Dr. Bruce Lipton, noted lecturer and cell biologist, will present exciting new information at the conference on the molecular mechanisms by which animals, from single cells to humans, transduce environmental stimuli into physiological and behavioral responses. The newly identified cellular mechanisms include master switches through which our thoughts, attitudes and beliefs create the conditions of our body and of our place in the world. These amazing advances provide a scientific foundation for the necessity of merging allopathic, complementary and spiritual healing modalities. Evolution of this molecular mechanism provides for human consciousness and contributes to our spiritual nature.
BRUCE H. LIPTON, PH.D., is author of the best selling “The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles.” As a scientist and lecturer, Bruce formerly served as an Associate Professor of Anatomy in the School of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, where he participated in the medical curriculum as a lecturer in Cell Biology, Histology and Embryology. His laboratory research on muscular dystrophy focused on the biochemistry of cloned human stem cells. Subsequently, as a Fellow in Pathology at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, his published research on cloned human cells revealed how perception controls behavior and gene activity. Bruce has taken his award-winning medical school lectures to the public and is currently a popular keynote speaker and workshop presenter on topics of conscious parenting and the science of
complementary medicine. To learn more of Dr. Lipton, visit: www.brucelipton.com
(c) 2005 Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D.
Earlier in my career as a research scientist and medical school professor, I actively supported the perspective that the human body was a “biochemical machine ‘programmed’ by its genes. We scientists believed that our strengths, such as artistic or intellectual abilities, and our weaknesses, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer or depression, represented traits that were preprogrammed into our genes. Hence I perceived life’s attributes and deficits, as well as our health and our frailties as merely a reflection of our heredity expression.
Until recently, it was thought that genes were self-actualizing…
that genes could ‘turn themselves on and off.’ Such behavior is required in order for genes to control biology. Though the power of genes is still emphasized in current biology courses and textbooks, a radically new understanding has emerged at the leading edge of cell science. It is now recognized that the environment, and more specifically, our perception (interpretation) of the environment, directly controls the activity of our genes. Environment controls gene activity through a process known as epigenetic control. This new perspective of human biology does not view the body as just a mechanical device, but rather incorporates the role of a mind and spirit. This breakthrough in biology is fundamental in all healing for it recognizes that when we change our perception or beliefs we send totally different messages to our cells and reprogram their expression. The
new-biology reveals why people can have spontaneous remissions or recover from injuries deemed to be permanent disabilities.
(To enjoy the entire article, go to
http://www.brucelipton.com/mindovergenes.php)
A friend of mine is set to travel through various parts of Asia that travellers are normally advised to take anti-malaria drugs for. She’s not into taking most of the chemical based drugs the world is so addicted to (a wise woman) and so went looking for other options. She heard about Artemisinin. I have taken the following information about this substance from the Wikipedia.
Artemisinin is a drug used to treat multi-drug resistant strains of falciparum malaria. The compound (a sesquiterpene lactone) is isolated from the shrub Artemisia annua long used in traditional Chinese medicine. Not all shrubs of this species contain artemisinin. Apparently it is only produced when the plant is subjected to certain conditions. It can be synthesized from arteminisic acid.[1]
Artemisia has been used by Chinese herbalists for more than a thousand years in the treatment of many illnesses, such as skin diseases and malaria. In the 1960s a research program was set up by the Chinese army to find an adequate treatment for malaria. In 1972, in the course of this research, Tu Youyou discovered artemisinin in the leaves of Artemisia annua. The drug is named qinghaosu in Chinese. It was one of many candidates then tested by Chinese scientists from a list of nearly 200 traditional Chinese medicines for treating malaria. It was the only one that was effective.
It remained largely unknown to the rest of the world for about ten years, until results were published in a Chinese medical journal. The report was met with skepticism at first, because the Chinese had made unsubstantiated claims about having found treatments for malaria before. In addition, the chemical structure of artemisinin, particularly the peroxide, appeared to be too unstable to be a viable drug.
For many years, access to the purified drug and the plant it was extracted from were restricted by the Chinese government. However, Artemisia annua is a common shrub and has been found in many parts of the world, including along the Potomac River, in Washington, D.C.
Currently, artemisinin is widely used in China and Southeast Asia for treatment of malaria. It is often used without taking precautions against conditions that might lead to resistance of the malaria parasite to this drug, leading to concern that the effectiveness of artemisinin may be reduced in the near future, as is the case with other classes of antimalarial drugs.
Because artemisinin itself has physical properties such as poor bioavailability that limit its effectiveness, semi-synthetic derivatives of artemisinin, including artemether and artesunate, have been developed. However, their activity is not long lasting, with significant decreases in effectiveness after one to two hours. To counter this drawback, artemisinin is given alongside lumefantrine to treat uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Lumefantrine has a half-life of about 3 to 6 days. Such a treatment is called ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy); other examples are artemether-lumefantrine, artesunate-mefloquine, artesunate-amodiaquine, and artesunate-sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine. Recent trials have shown that ACT is more than 90% effective, with a recovery of malaria after three days, especially for the chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum.
The World Health Organisation has recommended that a switch to ACT should be made in all countries where the malaria parasite has developed resistance to chloroquine. Artemisinin and its derivatives are now standard components of malaria treatment in China, Vietnam, and some other countries in Asia and Africa, where they have proved to be safe and effective anti-malarial drugs. They have minimal adverse side effects. Currently, artemisinin is not widely available in the United States or Canada, but is easy to find in Africa and Asia. There have been some concerns about the quality of some products on offer in Africa, but sticking to one of the European (often Belgian) manufacturers could overcome this problem.
To counter the present shortage in leaves of Artemisia annua, researchers have been searching for a way to develop artemisinin artificially in the laboratory. A recent paper in Nature presented a geneticly engineered yeast that created a closely related compound which can be efficently converted into Artemisinin. The compound called OZ-277 (also known as RBx11160), developed by Jonathan Vennerstrom at the University of Nebraska, has proved to be even more effective than the natural product in test-tube trials. A six month trial of the drug on human subjects in Thailand was started in January 2005. There are also plans to have the plant grow in other areas of the world (outside Vietnam and China).
Artemisinin is under early research and testing for treatment of cancer. Artemisinin has a peroxide lactone group in its structure. It is thought that when the peroxide comes into contact with high iron concentrations (common in cancerous cells), the molecule becomes unstable and releases reactive oxygen species. It has been shown to reduce angiogenesis and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in some tissue cultures.
The specific mechanism of action of artemisinin is not well understood, and there is ongoing research directed at elucidating it. When the parasite that causes malaria infects a red blood cell, it consumes hemoglobin and liberates free heme, an iron-porphyrin complex. The iron reduces the peroxide bond in artemisinin generating high-valent iron-oxo species, resulting in a cascade of reactions that produce reactive oxygen radicals which damage the parasite leading to its death.[2]
Numerous studies have investigated the type of damage that these oxygen radicals may induce. For example, Pandey et al. have observed inhibition of digestive vacuole cysteine protease activity of malarial parasite by artemisinin.[3] These observations were further confirmed by ex vivo experiments showing accumulation of hemoglobin in the parasites treated with artemisinin, suggesting inhibition of hemoglobin degradation. They found artemisinin to be a potent inhibitor of hemeozoin formation activity of malaria parasite.
A 2005 study investigating the mode of action of artemisinin using a yeast model demonstrated that the drug acts on the electron transport chain, generates local reactive oxygen species, and causes the depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane. [4]
Resistance is conferred by a single mutation in the calcium channel. This has been observed only under laboratory conditions.[5]
The oxygen radicals have also been shown to inhibit PfATP6, a SERCA-type enzyme and artemisinin has been shown to compete with thapsigargin for SERCA binding, though artemesinin is much less toxic to mammalian cells.
I happened upon a website called Pop Occulture. It is a blog by Tim Boucher. I liked the article he wrote on overcoming thought addiction. That’s when your mind won’t stop making commentary. And when your mind becomes aware of what it is doing it makes comments about all the comments it makes.
I sent an email to Tim and offered to show him how he can turn off his internal dialogue. We should be able to do it in about 20 minutes over the phone. Afterwards he should be able to do it on his own at will. He seems game for it and we will carve some time into our schedules. It is a technique that I teach to my clients and in workshops. It is a way of shifting perception that takes out the filter of commentary that the mind layers over what we see.
Check back for the results. If Tim posts anything about the experience I’ll put a link to what he writes. In the meantime I’ve had a chance to read a couple other posts and I like is material. Check it out.
Dear Gary,
After reading the articles on your website (very inspiring by the way). (early website I don’t know which article she was reading.) I was wondering how you would describe the concept of ‘God’. I find myself struggling with the meaning and the word ‘God’. For me the word God is associated with a person sitting somewhere up in heaven, telling people what’s right and wrong, who are sinners and who are not. In my eyes, this is a God made up by people and it’s not a God that I can relate to.
How would you describe ‘God’? Do you have any suggestions on another word to use, when referring to a ‘higher spiritual force/being’?
Many thanks in advance,
D
Response to this question has been moved to my new blog at http://pathwaytohappiness.com/happiness/2006/12/06/the-word-god-in-prayer/
Thank you,
Gary
For those people interested in writings on shamanism and the psychedelic experience here is a book I came across whilst perusing around the internet. It’s called “Breaking Open the Head” (by Daniel Pinchbeck). I’ve not read this book, but it does look interesting.
The homepage for Breaking Open the Head by Daniel Pinchbeck is at — Breaking Open the Head
It can be obtained from Amazon.com using the following link:
There are sample chapters located at: www.breakingopenthehead.com/read_the_book.htm
Here’s the info from that page:
The purpose of taking [yagé] is to return to the uterus … where the individual “sees” the tribal divinities, the creation of the universe and humanity, the first human couple, the creation of the animals, and the establishment of the social order.
- Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, Flesh of the GodsWe have drunk the Soma; we have become immortal; we have gone to the light; we have found the gods. What can hatred and the malice of a mortal do to us now, O immortal one?
- Rig Veda (c.1000 BC)Included here are sections from my book. The first four sections are about visiting the Amazon to take ayahuasca, the sacred Amazonian jungle brew. I consider ayahuasca (also known as yagé) to be an extraordinarily profound and healing “medicine.”
The fifth section, “Phantasticum, $2000,” is a long evocation of an ayahuasca trip and some further speculations, that did not make it into the finished book.
SOURCE: http://www.indymedia.org/or/2006/05/839598.shtml
18 May 2006 14:39 GMT
On May 11th, 2006, it was reported that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans since September 11, 2001. The data has been provided by telecommunications giants AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth. The companies are the nation’s three biggest telecommunications companies; they provide local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million customers. A fourth company, Qwest, reportedly refused to provide the data willingly provided by the others without subpoenas. According to the report, this particular program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations, but last year, Bush admitted that he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop - without warrants - on international calls and e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is in the USA. The full extent of that warrantless wiretapping has yet to be publicly determined.
Related Reports: 1 | 2 || Updates
In this new revelation, the NSA claims the phone record data is being used in its fight against terrorism, although the millions of Americans whose telephone behavior is being tracked are not suspected of any crime. Telephone company customers’ names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of the NSA’s program, the sources for the report said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information. Addressing the report shortly after its release, Bush strangely defended the program by saying, “Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaida and their known affiliates” and that American citizen’s privacy is being “fiercely protected.” He also said some members of Congress previously had been informed of the existence of the massive database program. While some Cogresspeople defended the program, others demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about the spy agency secretly collecting records of ordinary Americans’ phone calls to build a “database of every call ever made” within US borders. Congressional Republicans and Democrats demanded answers from the Bush administration about a government spy agency secretly collecting records of ordinary Americans’ phone calls to build a database of every call made within the country. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said he would call the phone companies to appear before the panel “to find out exactly what is going on.”
Here’s a great site with potentially useful health information. The author, Sepp Hasslberger, has also placed many great links on his site to other useful sites. I suggest using an RSS News reader to stay abreast of the articles he posts here and also for some of the sites he has listed (his links show which ones support RSS)
