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- (Note - This is another example of electromagnetic medicine
beginning to emerge from nearly 100 years of enforced oblivion at the hands
of the medical-pharmaceutical cartel. Royal Raymond Rife was using electromagnetic
radio waves to cure cancer, staph, strep, syphilis, lupus, and 50 other
major microbial diseases in the 1930s. His unequalled genius was buried
by the AMA. See 'Rife' in our site search engine.)
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- Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered
a method of treating malaria with magnetic fields that could prove revolutionary
in controlling the disease the World Health Organization calls one of the
world's most complex and serious human health concerns.
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- Henry Lai, UW research professor of bioengineering, says
the malaria parasite Plasmodium appears to lose vigor and can die when
exposed to oscillating magnetic fields, which Lai thinks may cause tiny
iron-containing particles inside the parasite to move in ways that damage
the organism.
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- "If further studies confirm our findings and their
application in animals and people, this would be an inexpensive and simple
way to treat a disease that affects 500 million people every year, almost
all in third-world countries," Lai said. According to the World Health
Organization, as many as 2.7 million people die of malaria every year,
approximately 1 million of those children.
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- In the past two decades, the emergence of drug-resistant
malaria parasites has created enormous problems in controlling the disease.
Lai says his method could bypass those concerns because it is unlikely
Plasmodium could develop a resistance to magnetic fields.
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- Malaria is spread by female Anopheles mosquitoes. The
organism first invades the liver, then re-emerges into the bloodstream
and attacks red blood cells. This is what causes malaria's hallmark symptoms:
fever, uncontrolled shivering, aches in the joints and headaches. Infected
blood cells can block blood vessels to the brain, causing seizures and
death. Other vital organs are also at risk.
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- Lai's research appears to take advantage of how the parasites
feed. Malaria parasites "eat" the hemoglobin in red blood cells
of the host. They break down the globin portion of the hemoglobin molecule,
but the iron portion, or the heme, is left intact because the parasite
lacks the enzyme needed to degrade it. This causes a problem for the parasite
because free heme molecules can cause a chain reaction of oxidation of
unsaturated fatty acids, leading to membrane damage in the parasite. The
malaria organism renders the free heme molecules non-toxic by binding them
into long stacks - like "tiny bar magnets," according to Lai.
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- He and three other researchers have exposed Plasmodium
falciparum, the deadliest of the four malaria parasite species, to a weak
alternating, or oscillating, magnetic field. Data sets showed that exposed
samples ended up with 33 to 70 percent fewer parasites than unexposed samples.
Measurements of hypoxanthine, a precursor for nucleic acid synthesis used
by the parasite, indicated that metabolic activities had also significantly
slowed in exposed samples. Such reductions would be enough to manage malaria,
Lai said.
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- The oscillating magnetic field may affect the parasites
in two ways, according to Lai. In organisms still in the process of binding
free heme molecules into stacks, the alternating field likely "shakes"
the stacked heme molecules, preventing further stacking. That would allow
harmful heme free reign within the parasite. If the parasite is further
along in its life cycle and has already bound the heme into stacks, the
oscillating field could cause the stacks to spin, causing damage and death
of the parasite.
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- Although initially promising, Lai says more research
is needed.
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- "We need to make certain that it won't harm the
host," Lai said. "My guess is that it won't. It's a very weak
magnetic field, just a little stronger than the earth's. The difference
is that it is oscillating."
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- If the method is proven effective and safe, Lai envisions
rooms equipped with magnetic coils to produce the oscillating field.
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- "It would be very easy. People could come to the
room and sit and read or whatever while they're being treated," he
said. "Or you could set it up in the back of a big transport truck,
then drive from village to village to treat people."
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- Collaborating researchers include Jean E. Feagin, UW
associate professor of pathobiology and senior scientist at the Seattle
Biomedical Research Institute; and Ceon Ramon, UW electrical engineering
research scientist.
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- For more information, contact Lai at (206) 543-1071 or
hlai@u.washington.edu . Copies of a background symposium paper on the research
are available via fax from Rob Harrill at (206) 543-2580 or rharrill@u.washington.edu
.
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