Traditional Healing 2: Poultice made of moss heals wound, relieves pain.

Dr Abe V Rotor

An herbolario treats a minor wound with a common moss. Is there a scientific basis?

A carpet of moss, painting in acrylic, AVR 2009

Closeup of moss gametophytic phase

This is a common practice in the highlands where moss is plentiful and luxuriantly growing. Fresh moss is crashed into a pulp and directly applied on a fresh or infected wound, loosely wrapping it around.

Lourdes V. Alvarez in her masteral thesis at the UST Graduate School demonstrated the effectiveness of moss (Pogonatum neesi) against Staphylococcus bacteria, the most common cause of infection. Moss extract contains flavonoids, steroids, terpenes and phenols, found to be responsible for the antibiotic properties of this lowly, ancient bryophyte. ~


Reference: Living with Folk Wisdom, AV Rotor 2009

Traditional Healing 5: Oregano - best remedy for cough

 Oregano - best remedy for cough
Dr Abe V Rotor

Oregano for sore throat and cough. One or

two leaves taken fresh with juice drink. 

Oregano (Coleus amboinicus) is a popular herbal plant. It is effective in easing cough and sore throat. You chew the young leaf of the oregano while taking the juice, or blanch it, then extract the juice while adding sugar and warm water. It has no side effects.

What a relief! No wonder the plant’s name comes from the Greek words Ore/Oros,, which means mountain, and ganos, which is joy. Joy in the mountain.

The plant is also an insect repellant. It emits an odor which prevents the spread of mosquitoes, flies, fleas and roaches. Its presence in the garden wards off a lot of pest.

Try oregano as spice for dinuguan. This is the secret of Italian cuisine in cooking pork with blood.

Plant oregano in pots by cutting, or the whole shoot or branch. It's very easy to grow. It can grow in the shade or under direct sunlight, with moderate amount of water. During rainy months keep the potted plants away from too much rain water. Oregano grows best in summer, but don't forget to water it regularly. A full grown oregano can be made into cuttings which you can grow in individual plastic pots to supply the neighborhood - for sale or as gift. It takes a cutting to reach full growth in two to three weeks. ~

Warning: Oregano extract is not advisable for pest control, either as spray or sprinkle solution. It has allelophatic substance, which means it is phytotoxic to certain plants, causing stunting or death. Never plant oregano side by side with your favorite garden plants like rose, mayana, anthurium and ground orchid.

Traditional Healing 6: To stop hiccups, jolt the person.

Gulat ang gamut sa sinok.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Gulat ang gamut sa sinok. (To stop hiccups*, jolt the person.)

Now and then anyone may fall into a pit of hiccup for reasons not well understood even in the medical field. But as sudden and unpredictable that it came, just by jolting the person is enough to terminate his hiccup.

This is what you can do to help your friend in a pit. The first remedy is to give him water. If this does not work, gently massage the back of his head. If still this does not work, secretly time the interval of his hiccup. Jolt him up real good coinciding with the next hiccup. Pronto! The hiccup is gone.

Warning: Don't do this if the person has food or water in his mouth. Baka mabulunan. He might choke, instead. The poor fellow may misunderstand you, and this could lead to a fight. Or tampuan that ends in cold relationship. If the fellow is wearing dentures, he might lose them in the process. Or something worst can happen. ~
--------------------

* Hiccups are repeated spasms of your diaphragm paired with a “hic” sound from your vocal cords closing. Your diaphragm is a thin, dome-shaped muscle that separates your chest from your belly. It moves downward when you breathe in and upward when you breathe out. - Cleveland Clinic; Internet cartoon

Hiccups are a mystery, but there are many theories about their causes and cures. Some possible causes include:

• Eating a large meal
• Drinking alcoholic or carbonated beverages
• Getting excited suddenly
• Eating or drinking too fast or too much
• Ingesting air while taking a bottle or breastfeeding
• Reflux

For most people, hiccups usually last only a few minutes, but rarely they may continue for months.

Traditional Healing 8: When your tooth aches, press the joint of your jaw.

Dr Abe V Rotor

My friend who grew up in the city complained. “My tooth aches.” It was lunchtime. Sayang. We were going to have lunch, picnic style beside a farm pond we call alug.

“Sumasakit din ang aking ngipin,” I said, … “na hindi ko matikman lahat nito,” I said, my tooth is also aching for not tasting all these, savoring the aroma of pinakbet (famous Ilocano vegetble stew), inihaw na talapia (broiled tilapia on charcoal). And "jumping salad". (Live juvenile shrimp, with calamansi and salt.) It’s like the proverbial Bacchus feast Philippine barrio style.

“Hindi ako nagbibiro,” He said. "May butas, eh." (tooth cavity)

“Okay press the base of your jaw, like this. ” I demonstrated how. Open your mouth and feel the attachment of the jaw, it’s the hollow part. Press it long enough until the pain subsides. He did it and held it there.

“Okay ka na?”

“Masakit pa rin.”

“Saan nga ba ang sumasakit?” Para akong dentista. (Where does it hurt? I was acting like a dentist.)

“Doktor, nga si Dr. Rotor,” I heard kindly Lola Bistra and someone seconded. Other giggled.

“Dito sa left.” My friend opened his jaw.

“Mali ang pinipisil mo, eh. Dapat sa kanan na jaw, ang tapat ng sumasakit na ngipin."
He pressed the wrong side of his aching tooth!

Well, he got relived finally. He was the last at the table - papag, made of bamboo which serves as a portable bed, too.

Masakit pa ba? I complimented sort of. (Is it still painful?)

Kunti a lang. Kasi kunti na lang ang itinira ninyo. (Little, he said, jokingly referring to the food we left after we had our fill.) ~

In this particular case traditional medicine shows these features:

• Healing between friends is assuring
• Palliative is brief relief
  
• "Humor is the best medicine."
  
• Don't spoil the fun.
  

Biology: Part 1 - Exobiology - Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Dr Abe V Rotor

Life forms crowd the inside walls of Mudspring, a volcanic vent of Mt Makiling, Laguna.

How did life originate on Earth? What did the earliest primitive organisms look like? Were they based on RNA, DNA, or on something we would hardly recognize today? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe?

The branch of biology that deals with the search for extraterrestrial life and the effects of extraterrestrial surroundings on living organisms. Also called astrobiology, space biology.

Evidence of life in Martian meteorites or future rock samples from the Red Planet may be easier to identify thanks to microbes living in hot springs at Yellowstone National Park.

Dozens of structures on Saturn's moon Titan that appear to be collapsed slush volcanoes have been revealed by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The heat and chemicals associated with these possible volcanoes could provide a niche for life on the frigid moon.

Figuring out whether Titan is volcanically active is important because volcanoes could be a source of the methane found in relatively large amounts in the moon's atmosphere. The methane is constantly being broken down by sunlight, so it must be replenished somehow.

In a flyby of the moon on 22 July 2008, radar observations revealed dozens of rounded depressions that look like volcanic structures on Earth called calderas. These depressions form on Earth when the ground collapses after lava has drained out from under it in volcanic eruptions.

A Filipina, Dr Donna Lacap, PhD, is among the few exobiologists in the world. She is studying the extreme conditions of life that exist in the craters of volcanoes, including our own Taal and Mayon. Dr. Lacap is a graduate from St Paul University QC, then St Paul College, for her BS Biology, for which I had the chance to be her teacher in biological sciences. She pursued her graduate studies and post doctoral abroad, among them The University of Hong Kong. x x x

Biology: Part 3 - Quest for the Pierian Spring

Dr Abe V Rotor

We often hear and gladly agree that life begins at 40. After all we would like to live life all over again and make up for our shortcomings, catch up with our unfulfilled dreams, look beyond adventure, gather fragments of memories and wisdom, and settle on some comfortable patch of green, before we go deep into it.

But the Ulysses in us does not sleep. We have not stopped searching for the fountain of youth. And we have not learned from Sybil, the Greek prophetess, symbol of prodigious old age. One day a young man asked her, “And what wish do you have this time, Sybil?” Looking at herself wrinkled and spent, she sadly replied, “I only wish to die.”

Will we live a hundred-and-five? Well, the number of American age 100 or older could reach 850,000 by 2050, according to Time, and our descendants could live to be 200 years old. The life expectancy in the US rose from 47 in 1900 to more than 79 in 1999. What really is the secret of old age?

Who does not dream of Utopia? Somewhere out there in an island in the Pacific (Remember South Pacific?), or in Shangrila on the Himalayas (The Lost Horizon) lies that dreamland. And who would like to live in Tokyo, or New York or Manila, if he can help it? But hear this.

The life span of a Japanese in busy Tokyo is 78, while a native of an idle South Pacific island is only 55. If this is so then it is not how much we rest our bodies and minds that we are assured of long life. What then is rest or retirement? Didn’t Dr. Hans Selye, the authority on longevity relate long life is achieved with positive disposition and less tension?

There are a number of tests to determine how long a person is expected to live. These are considerations which are of vital importance in knowing a person’s life span. Compute on the basis of a life span of 65 years.

A. The PLUS factors

1. With regular exercise – plus 3 to 5 years
2. Positive and active life, loves work - plus 3 to 5 years
3. Happily married with manageable family size – plus 3 to 5 years
4. With history of long life – plus 3 to 5 years
5. Clean living – plus 3 to 5 years
6. Food and weight conscious, with regular checkup – plus 3 to 5 years

B. The MINUS factors

1. Chain smoker – minus 5 to 10 years
2. Unmarried in middle age – minus 2 to 3 years
3. With family history of major ailments (eg heart attack,
cancer, diabetes) – minus 3 to 5 years
4. Risky profession – minus 3 years
5. Indulgence in vices (drinking, gambling, etc) – minus 2 to 5 years
6. Obese, inactive life – minus 3 to 5 years

But why should we be preoccupied with how long we are going to live?

Seneca, one of the greatest Roman philosophers, once said, “Men do not care how nobly they live, but how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long.”
---------------------------
The longest unambiguously documented human lifespan is that of Jeanne Calment of France (1875–1997), who died at age 122 years, 164 days. She met Vincent van Gogh at age 12 or 13.
The oldest undisputed lifespan for a male supercentenarian is that of Christian Mortensen, who lived for 115 years and 252 days. (Wikipedia)

The Myth of Rip van Winkle

Dr Abe V Rotor

Aestivating Philippine crocodile in a local zoo.

Cicada or kuliglig spends its whole year existence
in the soil in its immature stage, then emerges
at the onset of the rainy season. There are however,
species of cicada that emerge after 17 long years.

The story of Rip van Winkle, the man who slept for twenty long years, may be better remembered for its sociological, rather than its biological significance. Rip found solace on some mountaintop and there he fell into deep slumber. When he woke up he was a very old man. The way Washington Irving, the author described him must be true. Of course, it is only fiction, but it raises the question, “Do we really preserve youthfulness in sleep?” What really happens in prolonged sleep?

We know that life processes slow down when we are asleep, and in the process our body gets the needed rest. When we wake up we feel recharged. Surely sleeping is still the best way to be fit and healthy - and young, too.

But his is not the case of Rip van Winkle, or that of Sleeping Beauty, the beautiful maid who remained asleep until “a prince came and woke her with a kiss.” These cases point out to the similarity of prolonged sleeping with coma. The body operates at low metabolism, but gets no replenishment. After the reserve fat is exhausted, the only source of energy are the muscles and other connective tissues. It is no wonder a bear emerges from hibernation weak and hungry.

The Virus that Sleeps for 20 Years

One of the wonders of biology is the virus. The tobacco mosaic virus, Marmor tabaci, for one, can remain dormant for as long as twenty years even if the tobacco leaves are subjected to flue-curing and re-drying. The virus remains in the cigar or cigarette, so that a smoker can transmit it unknowingly to a living tobacco plant by mere contact. Unlike obligate parasites which can not survive outside of their hosts, the virus may remain as an infective particle after its host is dead or gone.

The virus wakes up once it is inside a living host. By dictating the host, the latter multiplies the virus. Now in countless numbers, the virus spreads throughout the plant. The infected plant, in turn, infects nearby plants and threatens to spread throughout the whole field. Like other viruses that infect animals or other plants, tobacco mosaic virus may cause an epidemic. The seriousness of the disease in the farming community can only be imagined since it is capable of infecting other crops that include those belonging to the same family, Solanaceae, to which tomato, pepper, eggplant and Irish potato are members.

Is the virus then, a living thing? Scientists look at it differently from true living things because it lacks the vital processes of life. It is not recognized to belong to any of the sub-kingdoms of the biological world. As a chemical particle however, it is endowed with the same universal property of living things, Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid or DNA. It is this code of life that it uses as a tool in communicating with a host cell once it has gained entry. The host cell then decodes the virus’ DNA messages. Thus it is the host that actually duplicates the virus because the latter can not reproduce by itself alone.

Aestivating toad (Bufo marinus) matches perfectly with its surroundings

The Physiology of Hibernation

To hibernate is to pass winter in a suspended, dormant, or torpid condition. In this state of lethargy, organisms have a better change to survive cold and food shortage. During hibernation metabolic activity is greatly reduced and body temperature is lowered. A hibernating mammal spends most of the winter in a state close to death; in fact the animal may appear to be dead. Some have body temperature close to that of freezing; respiration is brought down to only a few breaths per minute; and the heartbeat is so slow and gradual as to be barely perceptible. Among mammals, true hibernators are found in the Orders of Chiroptera (bats), Insectivora (hedgehogs), and Rodentia (ground squirrels). There are mammal hibernator that do not only rely on reserve body fat. At intervals of several weeks the animal elevates its body temperature, awakens, moves about, feeds, and then returns to its state of torpor.

Cold-blooded animals hibernate, too. The largest is the North American Alligator which hibernates very much like frogs. Frogs burrow in mud and exists for months in their sun baked chambers.

Aestivation

Aestivation is the counterpart of hibernation in the tropics, or where high temperature and dryness characterize the environment. The physiology involved is also the reduction of metabolic rate while the organism is protected from the harsh environment. Aestivation also applies to plants and animals, and also among protists. These are examples of animals that are known to aestivate.

1. Crocodiles dig into the mud and remain there virtually lifeless.

2. South American alligators bury themselves in mud while the earth above them is baked into a hard crust.

3. Certain Australian frogs become distended with water during the wet season and use this stored water during the aestivating period.

4. Small mammals like the aardvark and some lemurs are not known to aestivate but undergo periods of quiescence.

5. The Australian snails plug the mouth of their shell with a morsel of clay before entering upon the period of aestivation. Land snails secrete several diaphragms across the opening of their shells which protect them from desiccation and enemies.

6. The African snail (Helix desertorum) and the California desert snail (Helix veatchii) may remain in aestivation for as long as five and six years, respectively.

7. Slugs bury themselves in the ground in the season and emerge on the arrival of rain.

8. Bivalve mollusks dig into the mud, thus they can survive in pools and patches of water.

9. Nymphs of dragonfly which are normally aquatic may be forced to aestivate on dry land.

10. Opposite to aestivation the Egyptian jerboa is so closely adapted to dry conditions of the desert that rain and damp atmosphere induce it to pass into a dormant condition.

Bivalves remain dormant encrusted in mud.

Unique characteristics of organisms that under dormancy

For both cases of hibernation and aestivation, these are the general conditions that scientists have observed among organisms that are undergoing either state.

1. Organisms in dormancy, especially large animals, fast during the period.

2. There is a certain stage or stages a certain organisms can remain dormant.

3. There is a reduction in metabolic rate. Heartbeat slows down. There is a reduction in body temperature among warm-blooded animals.

4. Reserve food is used during dormancy. As a general rule, cold-blooded animals have more food reserve and that they use it more economically than do warm-blooded animals.

5. Survival time without food is usually greater among cold-blooded than among warm-blooded animals, since the former do not “burn fuel” in order to maintain a high body temperature.