Many a time, we "mock" peoples' beliefs as myths or "Old grandmothers' tale" Yet, often "Old grandmothers' observations" are on or close to the mark. While their explanations for the observations may be unkown or not necessarily be correct, only a pseudo-scientist will disregard their observations. The following is a good example.
Many may have heared in Goa, and in fact all over the world, the belief that when you operate on cancer, (open the patient), it makes the cancer spread and the outcome worse. The explanation was, if / when air gets to the cancer, the tumor became aggressive. So this is believed to be a Goan Kaneo. A few years ago, an experiment was undertaken where a batch of mice were injected with an identical quantity (volume) of aggressive cancer cells. As expected the mice developed multiple tumors (metastasis) in the lung. Half the mice were then operated to remove tumors from just one lung. The other half of the batch of mice did not undergo any surgery. The mice were then followed. The mice with their tumor (partly) removed died much earlier than the group where the tumors in both lungs were allowed to grow uninterrupted. Thus the grandmother's observation was accurate. The current explanation for this (statistical significant) observation is that the surgery depresses the immune system, allowing the tumors to now behave and grow even more aggressively. Hence cancer surgery has undergone and is undergoing significant shift. From big radical cancer surgery we have turned / flipped and are now into minimal / organ-saving cancer surgery. Laboratory studies on humans show that markers of the immune system are significantly suppressed after major surgery. So "old grand-mothers' tales" are not to be ignored except at our own peril! There is now increasing data about the impact on the immune system and significantly better medical outcomes in individuals with "peace of mind", good social support, etc. So now, counselling, music, prayer, meditation, massage, yoga, herbal supplements, and other alternative medical treatments are increasingly being looked scientifically as adjuvant treatments in cancer care. These studeis are being done at the NCI (National Cancer Insititute) and major cancer centers across the USA. Now one can point to the fact that when doctors do not know what is going on, they call it "the immune system" instead of: inner strength / Mind / soul / Id / God within / self awareness/ inner essence / love / sentience / spirit / self / ego / emotion / pathos / carnal / atma / jiva / essence / Ego / Ekam / Ghost / Vitalism. Surely philosophers and theologians can make things complicated. But, for me a supurlo Goenkar, all these is the "same difference". :=)) This long list is to show that people from all over the world, over the last 5,000 years have had similar perspectives. There is a lot we do not know. I personally would rather know more about cancer than about the soul.:=)) Yet I encourage all patients to use every option available to improve their chance of being cured - especially approaches that have no side-effects and are cheap. I would not encourage patients to use these alternatives as a subsitute to proven treatments. These "yet proven" approaches should not be overlooked because of our lack of "current state of understanding". Regards, GL PS: My book on Goa contains quite a few scientific basis for some of Goa's myths and grandmothers' kaneos. I have seen quite a few Goans get ill due to disregard to these Goan kaneos. ------------- Frederick \"FN\" Noronha The "current state of neuroscientific understanding" is, may I suggest, wholly irrelevant to people's beliefs and faiths. So why mock them? _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
