Natur-al answers

Why polar bears could hold the clue to improved lasers

My university professor used to claim that man used only three things not represented somewhere in the natural living world of animals and plants.
They were, 1) The wheel: 2) Fire: 3) Nuclear Energy. Now it seems a microscopic organism using the principal of the wheel has been discovered.
Looking to nature to find clues to solving man’s problems has always been a good option. Recent studies suggest that polar bears’ fur may hold clues to the improvements of medical lasers!
Recent British research has discovered that polar bears have hair able to “draw in” ultra-violet light and use it to warm their bodies even though UV light is not a conventional source of heat. The same hair also seems to block infrared radiation and thus conserve heat.
human applications
These properties – clearly so valuable in the bear’s hostile environment – have possible human application.
Could solar panels be made more efficient by using the selective properties relating to ultra-violet and infrared light?
The military realise that blocking infrared emissions would prevent detection by infrared sensors.
One of the most important potential benefits is to enable development of more effective lasers.
Laser eye treatments currently can only utilise laser light of the long wavelength. Simulating the properties of the fur could allow the development of higher energy light in the much finer concentration needed for pinpoint eye surgery.

Healing Hands Network looking to expand

The Healing Hands Network Charity was set up to send volunteer care professionals to work with people suffering the terrible consequences of war.

Since 1997 teams have worked in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Although Bosnia no longer features regularly in the media the needs of its people remain as urgent as ever.
To date we have helped in the healing of more than 3000 men, women and children and many many more still need that help.
HHN have approximately 200 qualified therapists. During 1999, 34 from our team were among others who gave their time and skill to volunteer to work in Bosnia.
The people respond to our work in a special way. Hands on therapies work to heal, restore and regenerate the spirit as well as the body.
make a diffreence
In order to meet the demand for its services we urgently need to expand our pool of therapists, helpers and supporters.
There is an opportunity for you to use your therapeutic skills in a unique way. Your help will make a difference.
Please give Sandra Griffiths a ring on 01885 410620 - she would be delighted to give you information about “Healing Hands” and the work it is doing to help those who continue to suffer the effects of war.
I.P.T.I. has previously printed information for Healing Hands and several of our members are already among its active supporters. Help of all kinds is needed and we encourage others to become involved in the rewarding work undertaken by the group.

Therapists and the Law

Self-employed therapists and those working for or owning small businesses - that means the large majority of our members - have to cope with new laws and regulations.

Our contributor, Mr. Hacon Williams MIOSH, MIIRSM, MILT, is a consultant on all aspects of health, safety and employment law. In a series of articles he will highlight and explain important laws effecting members.

Are you a criminal?
Yes, I do mean you? Over the past year I have made a record of criminal offences discovered whilst undertaking Health and Safety audits and ISO 900 assessments. There are four areas where offences have frequently been committed all of which involve Absolute offences – that is where an offence has no defence because it is a direct non-compliance with the law, typically you need a licence but you hold no licence.

Local Authority Licences.
These are granted by the local authority (LA) under the Local Government (Miscellaneous provisions) Act 1982 and permit specified practices namely Acupuncture, Tattooing, Ear Piercing and Electrolysis. In London the LA’s also require establishments offering massage to be licenced. Outside London micro-pigmentation (semi-permanent tattooing) is not covered by licensing but where a salon is registered for other skin piercing activities then the LA can regulate micro-pigmentation under Section 15(7) of existing regulations.
The practitioner of these treatments is required to obtain and display that licence. I have noticed that many clients and salons are not licenced because they have “just started to. . .” This is not a defence. Also many establishments have a licence but fail to display it. This is an offence and I understand that some LAs are now enforcing the regulations more stringently.

"The practitioner of these treatments is required to obtain and display that licence. I have noticed that many clients and salons are not licenced because they have “just started to. . .”

Health and Safety (H&S) statement
Under the Health and Safety at work Act 1974 employers with five or more staff on the payroll are required to have a formal H&S statement and to display it prominently. The statement must comply with the specific guidance given in the 1974 Act and in the Management of Health and Safety Regulations. I have found many establishments, both in the alternative therapy and beauty world, that have failed to produce a statement or failed to display it correctly. For these offences a fine of up to £20,000 is possible and again they are absolute offences.

Compulsory employees liability insurance
This insurance is required under the Employer’s Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 and it must meet specific parameters. These parameters are stated in two HSE publications. They are The Employers Guide to Employer’s Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 and a similar Employees Guide. Both are obtainable from HSE Books – telephone 01787 881165.
This Act states that the insurance certificate or a copy must be displayed where all employees can read it. Failure to display the certificate correctly is also an absolute offence attracting a fine of £1000. From 1st January 1999 cover for a minimum of £5 million from an approved insurer was required.
Failure to hold valid insurance attracts a fine of up to £2,500 per day that unsuitable insurance is held.
In addition businesses are now required to keep copies of expired insurance certificates for FORTY YEARS. Enforcement is by HSE and the inspectors will check that you have the required insurance.
Data Protection Law, the remaining area involving absolute offences, will be dealt with in a future article.

Author’s note: This article is written as a general article on Health and Safety matters. It is not authoritative and is meant to serve as a pointer towards understanding the law and gaining more detailed information.
I can supply specific advice and information to clinics and salons but only by visiting and undertaking an assessment. For further information please telephone or fax me on 01267 238143. R. K. Hacon Williams.

Editors Note:
For Employer’s Liability Insurance purposes the term “Employee” has a very wide definition and includes temporary workers and trainees, voluntary helpers, some self employed workers as well as those on employment contracts.
See page three of your current insurance booklet.
The IPTI group insurance protects individual member therapists.
Engaging any working assistance on a temporary or permanent basis requires additional cover.

Vitamin C and skin health

Rather like vitamin E the absorption of vitamin C from the stomach and intestines is poor. Only 20 - 30% of the intake is absorbed and transported to the rest of the body by the blood system. The human body maintains a total pool of about 1,500mg of Vitamin C.
The vitamin is used primarily by bodily functions; however physical and emotional stress can use significant amounts of vitamin C. Smoking consumes a lot of extra vitamin.

Compared with a normal daily intake of 60mg smokers have been found to use 150mg and experts recommend an increased intake of 200mg is desirable for those who smoke. Thus it is easy to see how some smokers may easily and unknowingly suffer from vitamin C deficiency.
The amount of ingested vitamin C reaching the skin via blood circulation is very limited. The skin, and particularly the delicate facial skin, which is exposed to the environment is thus susceptible to vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin C can be absorbed through the skin and therefore topical application can have advantages.
The skin has an affinity for vitamin C and with a small molecular size (its molecular weight is only 176.12 and is less than that of citric acid) can easily be absorbed. After absorption the vitamin cannot be lost by washing or by perspiration and is effective for up to three days.
Vitamin C and the Sun. The vitamin is beneficial in both helping to prevent and to repair sun damage. Experimental work using comparable situations demonstrated much less damage to skin protected by the application of topical vitamin C. Similarly the application of topical vitamin C resulted in significantly faster healing of damaged skin.
Vitamin C can help protect the skin from sun damage but has a very different mechanism from the traditional sunscreen. (Diag. 2a) Sun protection by vitamin C decreases as time goes by because the vitamin is used up in the protection process. Just like an anti-oxident it is itself oxidised whilst it protects the skin. Thus the concentration of vitamin C will decrease and as it does so its protective ability also decreases.
The sunscreen has a stable performance over time unless it is removed (Diag. 2b) - the sunscreen itself if not changed during the protection process. Once it is removed from the skin then the protection has gone. Vitamin C cannot be removed and its effect will remain until the concentration diminishes.
These two processes reveal the best way for the skin to be protected from sun - the combination of sunscreen and vitamin. Apply vitamin C to the skin first as an internal protection and then apply a sunscreen on the skin as an external protection. For instance with a sunscreen of SPF20 1/20th (ie. 5%) of the original UV light would go through the sunscreen and penetrate the skin. The internal vitamin C could take care of penetrating UV light very well. Vitamin C cannot replace sunscreen but it does provide excellent secondary sun protection.

Dr. Wade Cheng is Vice President and Director of Research and Development of the Rejuvi Laboratory Inc. Prior to this position he was senior research chemist in Smithkline Beckmen corporation, california Public Health Department and Biorad Laboratories.
He holds a B.Sc degree in chemistry and chemical engineering. An M.S. degree in analytical chemistry from the University of San Francisco and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Davis.
He has over 30 publications in many scientific journals and, as a result of his work, has been awarded several chemical patents. This article is a transcript of a lecture given at the CIDESCO International World Congress held in Athens in October 1998.

Vitamin C or Ascorbic acid exists naturally in many fruits and vegetables.

Oranges and tomatoes are particularly rich in the vitamin. Deficiency of vitamin C causes the disease scurvy, symptoms of which are bleeding of the gums and beneath the skin.
Pure Vitamin C can be made in the form of a dry powder which is fairly stable. In this form it can be stored for quite a long time in capsules, tablets or as the powder. Aqueous solutions of vitamin C are however easily oxidised by air and light turning a brownish colour. This liquid form of the vitamin is unstable and is difficult to use in cosmetic products.

Soaking up the spillages?

Whilst visiting your local hairdresser you may have given a passing thought to what happens to the volumes of hair that falls unwanted to the floor.

Should you have travelled in the orient the question may have been prompted more forcefully for there it seems that sweeping up is a “once at the end of a day” activity, whilst staff (and customers of the day) wade through rapidly increasing volumes of severed locks.

ECOLOGICAL USEFUL

A hairdresser in Alabama USA, Phil McCrory, may have stumbled upon an ecologically useful role for all those snippings.
He discovered, (we do not know how but suspect a salon accident) that a quarter of a pound weight of human hair will soak up and retain a gallon of oil in two minutes. (1 American gallon = 3.8 litres).
If this is possible he mused what could be achieved by using several thousands of pounds of hirsute waste if it were enclosed within nylon mesh bags.

REMARKABLE

America’s NASA organisation is putting the idea through a series of scaled down “oil spillage” tests. Initial reports are, they say, “remarkable”.
Admittedly calculations indicate that it would take some 70,000 kilograms (32,000 lbs) of hair to deal with a 1,000,000 litres oil spillage. (263,000 US gallons).
Nevertheless Mr. McCrory believes that sufficient quantities of unwanted hair - which is very compressible - could be collected if all hairdressers were provided with recyclable collecting bags.

Handling high stress situations Part 1

In the first part of this article Dr Friedman notes how, during the course of this century, the major infectious diseases had largely been replaced by long term degenerative conditions.

A wise person once said, “There are two kinds of business people in the 90’s: Those who suffer from stress, and those who have not recognised it!”
Stress is recognised today as the biggest cause of loss of productivity of the workplace. Stress produces illness - it causes sickness and is the origin of that all too common phrase - “I’m sick with worry”.
In this article I shall try and explain how the mind interfaces with and influences the physical working of the body. This is the necessary understanding of the reality of stress. Then it can be explained how mastery over stress is both possible and worthwhile. Finally I shall give some pointers as to how to master stress in your own life.

Changes in perceptions of disease stress
Scientists have come to realise that the disease process is exceeding complex - intertwining biology and human emotions and the endless ways in which the individual personality, feelings and thoughts both reflect and influence the events in the body.
There is a popular understanding that stress can make one sick. Even this understanding is not new, it is now being supported with rigorous scientific experimentation. However the current thinking is that stress itself does not make a person sick, but rather increases the risk of getting diseases that cause sickness. Probably the most important thing that has been realised is that the brain can experience or think of something stressful and activate the stress response.
But what are the kinds of diseases that makes a person sick today? . . .

Changes in disease patterns
Everyone is concerned with illness, but the kinds of illness that are worried about in the middle of the night are very different from the kinds of illnesses that people worried about 100 years ago.
Then it was smallpox, scarlet fever, cholera and bubonic plague, pneumonia, tuberculosis and influenza. Those were all infection diseases or related to poor nutrition.
Today many are now living well enough and long enough to slowly fall apart; the diseases that plague us now are those of slow accumulated damage - heart disease, cancer and cerebrospinal disorders. These are conditions that are often related to stress.

Stress and its effects
There are a number of different kinds of stressors or conditions that produce stress:
1. Acute physical stressors
2. Chronic physical stressors
3. Psychological and social stressors.
It is these psychological stressors what are focused on when the term ‘stress’ or ‘burnout’ is used. Psychological stress is a recent invention, as is the understanding that if someone spends months and months twisting his innards in anxiety, anger and tension over some emotional problems, this might very well lead to illness.

The stress response
The body’s physiological response mechanisms are superbly adapted for dealing with short term physical emergencies, but not equipped to deal with those emergencies when provoked chronically. So the acute response - extended over time may precipitate stress related diseases.
The unique thing about humans is that they can anticipate these stressors long in advance and so have learned how to worry!!! - that is being able to mobilise the stress response simply by thinking about things.
The following changes occur as part of the physiological response to stress:
1. An increase in energy to the muscles,particularly those of the limbs.
2. Increases in heart rate, blood pressure and breathing.
3. Halts in long term building projects such as:- Digestion Growth Reproduction
4. The immune system is inhibited.
5. The perception of pain is blurred.
6. Cognition and memory improved
When the stress response is turned on for prolonged periods, the stress itself becomes damaged. Man has evolved gradually in a relatively constant environment. When danger threatened, the alternatives were to retreat or to stand your ground and fight, and the body readied itself for physical exertion. Due to technological advances, today’s demands are more psychological than physical, yet our bodies react as if the old dangers existed, although the responses are no longer beneficial.
The capacity to choose between alternative strategies for action is characteristic of the human being. We can plan or predict the consequences of our actions and weigh advantages and disadvantages of alternate actions. When this capacity takes us through difficult situations, ‘happy stress’ or eustress predominates - and this is often referred to as motivation; satisfaction etc. Negative stress comes into play when we are not allowed any choice, but must passively accept an aggravating situation.

Some long term effects of stress

cardiovascular disease
Heart disease is certainly the most well known and well recognised condition that is related to stress. Today it almost needs no explanation. However, as with most diseases there is no simple relationship between exposure to stress and cardiovascular disease. Rather it is a complex relationship between genetic predisposition, stress, diet, attitude and exercise.

Ulcers, colitis and the runs
Collectively irritable bowel syndromes are the most common gastrointestinal diseases and are probably the most common stress related disorders. Estimates are that 75% will have some sort of irritable bowel syndrome related to stress at some point in their lives. The disorder seems to arise not only from being under a lot of stress, but also from having a gastrointestinal system that is abnormally sensitive to such stress.

Sex and reproduction
When under prolonged stress the menstrual cycles become irregular, erections are more difficult to achieve, and often interest in sex is lost. It is extremely common for problems with impotency and premature ejaculation to arise during stressful times. Stress disrupts female libido. There is also some evidence that stress may be related to infertility and can induce miscarriage - although there is still a great deal of debate in this arena.

Supression of immunity
Evidence is emerging from many quarters to suggest that stress may indeed impair our immune systems and increase the risk of illness. Both massive stressors - death of a spouse or a child, divorce, marital discord, a major depression, chronic care giving for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease - and everyday stressors such as taking a set of examinations, have been linked to decreased immune function and, in the case of the more extreme stressors, increased mortality. Stressful periods have been shown to precede the onset of immune related disorders such as multiple sclerosis, post polio syndrome and juvenile diabetes. People who are more psychologically stressed are less resistant to respiratory infections that cause the common cold.
Stress also appears to play a role in the development of cancer. Stress, including social stress, will cause tumours to grow faster in laboratory rodents, and render the rodents bodies less capable of rejecting a tumour.
In humans, stressors such as major depressions are associated with increased risks of cancer years after the depression. Cancer victims in support groups live longer, while people with few social relationships - a situation associated with greater stress - have shorted life expectancies and are at a greater risk for a variety of diseases.

So why do we get sick?
One of the ways of explaining why stress leads to illness has to do with fatigue, When the stress response is activated too often, one simply expends too much energy, tires more easily and doesn’t have the opportunity to rebuild the resources that are continuously being used. The depleted system is then more susceptible to any infections, but also to conditions that are related to this fatiguing process such as cardiac problems.

Why is psychological stress stressful?

A model for describing stress
Firstly, as already described, it has been observed that the entire stress response can be activated simply by thinking about something that is stressful. That in itself is remarkable. But a fundamental question remains, and that is:- ‘What things are psychologically stressful, and how do they become so?’
One of the things that become obvious as one reflects on the nature of stress is that what is stressful for one person may not be stressful for another. So when exposed to the same situation or stressor, there are individual differences in the perception of its stressfulness. What may be learned from the above observation is that stress is the consequence of the way experiences are interpreted. The psychological filters through which the stressors may be perceived all vary with the individual. In fact the external demands or stressors are only one aspect of the stress process. For as the individual estimates the level of stressfulness of those external demands, they are moderated by individual resources and social support. These in turn will influence bodily responses to the stressor and finally determine the level of ‘stress’ or strain.
As becomes evident it is an interaction between the external demands of the situation and the psychological perception of those demands that produce or reduce stress. Beyond that, certain psychological factors will modulate, or even cause the stress response. Examples of such features are:-
Loss of outlets for frustration
Lack of social support
Loss of control
Uncertainty or lack of predictability
Symptoms of Stress
Although the development of stress is in a large sense determined by psychological factors, the strain experienced is clearly physiological.
Some of the ways that the body responds to stress are the following:-
• With constant exposure to stressors the stress response is activated almost continuously. As a result the body is unable to store surplus energy. Thus the individual fatigues easily. Under such circumstances there is an increased risk of diabetes.
• Also with a chronically overacting cardiovascular system, there is an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
• High blood pressure
• As the body is always in a state of alert, the effect is constantly turned off long term projects. Thus little is repaired.
• There is a risk for peptic ulcers.
• As mentioned previously, there is growing evidence to support the folk wisdom that has suggested that there is an effect of reproductive disorders in females.
• In both sexes interest in sexual behaviour decreases.
• The field of psychoneuroimmunology specifically addresses the question of stress and the immune system, and is providing growing evidence that in situations of stress there is a suppression of immune system. Thus one is less likely to resist variety of diseases.
• Premature ageing
• Inability to concentrate.

Handling high stress situations Part 2

In this concluding part Dr. Friedman discusses vulnerability and suggests ways of reducing some of the more harmful effects of high stress situations. Part One of this article has also been reprinted and included as an insert in this issue.

Mediators of stress
Personality features and stress vulnerability
There are many studies in the psychological literature that support the notion that certain characterological features will make individuals who have these feature more susceptible to experiencing stress and its effects.
Type A
People with Type A personalities in general are characterized by Ambition, Striving, Irritability and Hostility. It is those individuals who have the latter two features of the Type A personality that have been found to be significantly more susceptible to coronary heart disease as a function of stress.
Negative affectivity
People who are high in negative affectivity are those who are inclined to view themselves and their world as negative. I have termed this characteristic “The Eeyore Effect” – related to the character Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh. In short, people who are high in the Eeyore Effect will tend to perceive stressors as very threatening and themselves as unable to cope, rather frequently – thus experiencing stress much more frequently than others.
Aging and stress
Aged organisms being vulnerable and fragile progressively lose their ability to deal with stress. They are more likely to fall apart. They function just like the young do, as long as they are not stressed. But under stress some dramatic vulnerabilities become evident. It has been found that the elderly not only have trouble turning off the stress response after the end of stress, they also secrete more stress-related hormones even in their normal, non-stressed state.
Stress hormones also accelerate degeneration. So if you aren’t old yet, lots of stress will age you prematurely.

Dr. Merle Friedman PhD. lecturer at the University of Witwaterstrand, South Africa.

In the first part of this article Dr Friedman noted how, during the course of this century, the major infectious diseases had largely been replaced by long term degenerative conditions.
Response to stress can cause physiological damage particularly when triggered by the human capacity to Worry.
Positive and Negative psychological stress and the physical symptoms generated were discussed.