Positive Health Online

The application of new knowledge leads to the development of technologies which have made significant changes to society. Technologies based upon greater understanding of matter (e=mc2) led to the advent of nuclear power, while the development of the computer revolutionized data processing. The understanding of alchemy – which in its earliest days was considered to be ‘witchcraft’ – and of the body’s biochemistry led to the modern pharmaceutical industry, and hence to methods of treatment for a wide range of ailments including bacterial infections and organ dysfunction.

Diagnostic screening technologies use an understanding of previously incomprehensible phenomena, e.g. the understanding of the phenomena ‘magnetic resonance’ led to the development of MRI scanners, ‘positron-emission’ led to PET scanners, further application of ‘X-rays’ led to CAT scanners, etc. These examples demonstrate how improved understanding of our environment leads to new technologies which improve our understanding of illness.

Homeopathy is considered by the most eminent in the medical profession to have the hallmarks of ‘witchcraft’, yet Russian pharmaceutical companies[1] have isolated ‘polyclonal’ antibodies produced using homeopathy and are using them in pharmaceutical preparations. This has become a new area of pharmaceutical research for the largest pharmaceutical companies.

Virtual Scanning is yet another illustration of how the understanding of a natural phenomena (1) of light and colour[2-4] and hence of visual perception and cognition, and (2) of the relationship between the brainwaves and their role regulating the body’s physiological systems, leads to a new generation of technology in which the consequences of illness can be monitored in a simple computer-based test. This has diagnostic (Figure 1) and therapeutic capabilities (see example case studies).

Such technologies have been foreseen by eminent intellectuals, such as Professor Arthur Caplan, University of Pennsylvania, in an article in the Scientific American magazine,[5] Professor Stephen Hawking[6] in his book, A Brief History of Time, and many others.

Our receipt of sensory data influences the regulation and function of the body’s physiological Systems[7] – these regulate all aspects of our function, including breathing, sleeping, blood glucose, blood pressure, digestion, excretion, pH, temperature, etc. They regulate organ function, cell function and molecular biology (see Figure 2). An estimated 80-90% of sensory input, including stress and emotional disturbances, is experienced visually. Stress in its various manifestations affects the physiological systems and hence influences the function of organs, cells and biochemical levels[8,9]. This affects the levels of proteins and substrates which release biophotons[10] – unique for their colour and level/intensity – which affects visual perception.

Most medical textbooks describe the function of the physiological systems. For example in the Merck Manual pages 3-5 are devoted to discussing their structure, pages 6 and 7 to discussion of the relationship between mind and body, and a further 1,880 pages to discussing the body’s anatomy and biochemistry.

The term ‘psychosomatic’ has been used for many years to describe the effect of stress and its ability to induce illness. These ‘psychosomatic’ conditions are ‘due to the effect of stress upon the stability and function of the body’s physiological systems’. The stability of these systems regulates organ function and hence the levels of our unique biochemistry, and vice-versa. It is a dynamic and wholistic relationship. The physiological systems are regulated by the brainwaves.

By measuring cognitive parameters in the 15 minute computer-based test, Virtual Scanning provides a comprehensive medical diagnosis, in an unprecedented level of detail, and a colour-based therapy conceivably able to treat the psychosomatic (stress) origins of any medical condition.[11,12] The therapy is that of sensory data which is delivered by PC as a flashing-light therapy.

The Test Process:

The patient is required to study and memorize the colours in a short video sequence of 15 seconds. At the end of the 15 second exposure a colour filter, typically blue or red, appears. The task is to use the mouse to select colours from the colour palette and to introduce these colours in order to recreate the original colours in the video.  There is no right or wrong way to do the task, only the patient’s unique way.  The information gleaned from this test procedure is mathematically processed by computer. The unique methodology converts this information into a psychological and health profile.

The Therapy Process:

Upon completion of the test process, the practitioner selects the appropriate therapy to be given to the patient. This computer programme is given on a CD which the patient installs on their home computer. The patient is required to watch the contents of the computer screen as instructed for typically 15-20 minutes. The programme comprises a series of colours delivered at a number of predetermined flashing frequencies.

The Basis of the Therapy:

Empirically-based flashing light therapies have been used for over 50 years. Initially they were known as ‘photic stimulation’[15] and more recently they have been used to treat dyslexia[16]. Researchers consider that this approach can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, improve IQ, etc.  Nevertheless, such techniques have been unreliable and controversial due to the lack of theoretical understanding. Virtual Scanning differs from the empirical approach due to the precise understanding of the issues.  In the same way that a colour deficit has been identified in the test procedure, a colour programme designed to fill this deficit can be used to treat the ailment. This differs from simple colour therapy through the understanding that the brain does not continually absorb all colours, but instead absorbs light in packets, biophotons or quantums of energy i.e. that a precise colour is only absorbed at the confluence between colour and frequency. The technique is therefore a far more precise manifestation of flashing light therapy and/or colour therapy. By selecting the appropriate colour and frequency, it appears possible to stabilise the function of the physiological systems and organs.

This technique is related to the function of the genes, DNA, levels of proteins and the conditions affecting the rate of reaction  (temperature, pH, mineral levels, etc), which are regulated by the body’s physiological systems.

The data from the cognitive test procedure is mathematically modelled to create a biomathematical model of the human. Deviations from the norm are expressed in terms of their medical significance. Current research refers to such methodology as the ‘Virtual Physiological Human (VPH)’ or ‘Systems Biology’. Whereas most VPH research in the EU and US is organ-based, the developer of Virtual Scanning – Dr IG Grakov – has mathematically modelled the effect of stress upon the autonomic nervous system and the physiological systems, i.e. by adopting the logical top-down approach. By contrast, current techniques attempt to create ‘the virtual organ’ by mathematically modelling organ function based upon its biochemistry (a bottom-up approach).

This illustrates how work being undertaken in leading research institutes[13,14] researching ‘cognition’, will inevitably lead to a new generation of medical technologies which regulate the mechanisms responsible for health and wellbeing. Virtual Scanning is the first of this new generation of technologies.

The implications for a technology of this nature are profound, for example:
1.    That cognitive function directly relates to health;
2.    That the physiological systems regulate the function of the body’s organs, cells and molecular biochemistry;
3.    That the body’s physiological systems are regulated by brainwaves;
4.    Diagnosis of every system and organ of the body, providing;
    • The psychological and psycho-emotional profile;
    • The health profile defined in precise medical terms, in an unprecedented level of detail (Figure 3), including conditions which cannot be satisfactorily diagnosed by conventional procedures (Figure 4);
5.    The ability to selectively and effectively treat a health and/or psychological anomaly using a non-drug therapy;
6.    It illustrates how the body’s function responds to the receipt of sensory data, and that our complex biochemical function is geared towards the transmission of data between brain, organs and our environment;
7.     That memories are not solely stored in the brain, but involve neural networks which are located in the brain and the body, and that emotions and personality are a biochemical construct based upon the body’s biochemistry and memory.

The book Virtual Scanning – A New Generation of Healthcare – Beyond Biomedicine? is extensively researched (over 700 references). It challenges sceptical opinion using precedents, articles and statistics available from reputable medical journals. It illustrates how the basic concepts explain issues which have hitherto baffled medical research. It advances medical knowledge and illustrates that concepts considered to be unique to complementary medicine are based upon identifiable biological phenomena and are related to the natural processes which maintain health and wellbeing, whereas by contrast conventional medicine is based upon diagnosing and treating the symptoms of illness (not their cause).

The origins of this technology illustrates fundamental limitations of the drug and nutritional approaches, e.g. if the body’s systems (which regulate pH, temperature, blood cell content, osmotic pressure, and blood flow to the digestive system) hinder the absorption of a mineral or nutrient, giving a supplement of the mineral is unlikely to have a significant effect. Any research chemist will recognize that changing the local conditions will influence the rates of reaction or extraction. It is necessary to adjust the physiological systems to facilitate the uptake by the digestive system of the appropriate mineral, nutrient or drug (e.g. insulin, thyroxine, iron, etc.).

There is far more to our health and wellbeing than can be explained by the conventional biomedical viewpoint. Most medical research considers the body functions in a simplistic manner; however, there are many precedents which illustrate that this is not the case. This can only be explained by the existence of complex physiological systems.

Researchers such as Dr Candace Pert[17] refer to the subjective nature between mind and body. By comparison, Virtual Scanning mathematically models the consequences of cognition. It is no longer the result of subjective speculation but of the most objective computation – which has significant diagnostic and therapeutic significance. Russian researchers[18] claim it to be 20-25% more precise than conventional diagnostic technologies and 93% effective as a therapy. This book illustrates how these claims are founded upon significant biomedical observations.

Doctors are human and humans make mistakes. An estimated 80% of what doctors practise is not evidence-based.[19] Due to circumstances, often beyond their control, the ability of a good doctor to make an accurate diagnosis varies between 20% and 80%[20] (according to circumstances, medical condition or the medical journal). Ninety percent of drugs have at best a 50% effectiveness.[21] An estimated 15-30% of drugs are prescribed for applications for which they are not approved.[22] There is a need for better diagnostic techniques to address the technology deficit in medical diagnosis, and there is also a need for therapies which can address the causes of illness (and not just the symptoms).

Virtual Scanning is approved by the Russian Health Authorities. Each day up to 3,000 doctors in Russia send results for processing by the remote server unit. It is used by Doctors, Psychologists, Neurologists, Radiologists, etc. Although verified by Russian researchers to the satisfaction of the Russian medical authorities, Virtual Scanning has not yet been verified through a programme of clinical trials.

References

1.    Materia Medica. Angel Biotechnology Holdings. www.angelbio.com/news.asp?id=111
2.    Krakov SV. Colour Vision and the Autonomic Nervous System. Journal of the Optical Society of America. 2 June 1942.
3.    Liberman J. Light, Medicine of the Future. Bear & Company.
4.    Finsen N. (Nobel Laureate). The Red Light Treatment of Smallpox. British Medical Journal. pp. 1412-1414, 7. 1895.
5.    Caplan A. Scientific American. September 2003.
6.    Hawking S. A Brief History of Time. Bantam Books. New York. 10036. 1988.
7.    http://www.knowledgehorizons.manchester.ac. uk/researchthemes/index.asp?areaID=21
8.    Levy SM, Herberman RB, Lippman M and d’Angelo T. ‘Correlation of Stress Factors with Sustained Depression of Natural Killer Cell Activity.’ Journal of Clinical Oncology. 5(3): 348-353. 1987l.
9.    Levy SM, Herberman RB, Maluish AM, Schlein B and Lippman M. ‘Prognostic Risk Assessment in Primary Breast Cancer by Behavioural and Immunological Parameters.’ Health Psychology. 4(2), 99-113. 1985.
10.    http://www.le.ac.uk/bl/phh4/imaging.htm
11.    Ewing G, Ewing EN and Hankey A. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine. Vol13. No.2,9. 2007.
12.    Hankey A and Ewing E. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM). September 2006.
13.    http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=5749&a=13121&l=en
14.    http://lbc.nimh.nih.gov/
15.    Photon D. PMS, EEG, and Photic Stimulation. Journal of Neurotherapy. 2(2): 8-13.1997.
16.    http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/sci_tech/newsid_2629000/2629577.stm
17.    Pert C. Molecules of Emotion. Simon & Schuster. www.angelfire.com/hi/TheSeer/Pert.html
18.    http://www.montague-diagnostics.co.uk/pmwiki.php/Articles/ReferenceArticles   
19.    Archard G Dr. Comments at ‘Science and Art of Healing’ Conference. Royal College of General Practitioners. September 2007.
20.    Reference Articles. Mayo Clinic. Complete Edition British Medical Journal devoted to Medical Misdiagnosis. Vol 320. 18 March 2000; Leape LL and Berwick DM. ‘Safe Health Care: Are We Up To It?’ British Medical Journal. 320: 725-26.
21.    Report attributed to Dr Allen Roses. Duke University. Published in Daily Telegraph; Doust J and Del Mar C. ‘Why Do Doctors Use Treatments That Do Not Work?’ British Medical Journal. 328: 474-475. 2004.
22.    Fialová D, Topinková E, Gambassi G, Finne-Soveri H, Jónsson PV, Carpenter I, Schroll M, Onder G, Sørbye LW, Wagner C, Reissigová J and Bernabei R. Journal of the American Medical Association. 293: 1348-58. 2005.