Number of succussion strokes affects effectiveness of ultra-high-diluted arsenic on in vitro wheat germination and polycrystalline structures obtained by droplet evaporation method.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate whether the number of succussion strokes applied after each dilution step when preparing the homeopathic treatments influences the effectiveness of ultra-high-diluted (UHD) arsenic trioxide at the 45th decimal dilution/dynamization (AsO 45x).

Design: Wheat seeds, previously stressed with ponderal AsO, were treated with: AsO 45x, HO 45x (dynamized control), or pure water (negative control). The succussion was done manually, and various succussion durations (numbers of strokes) were tested for each treatment.

Polycrystalline structures formed in evaporating droplets as a parameter to test the action of Zincum metallicum 30c in a wheat seed model.

Background: Polycrystalline structures formed inside evaporating droplets of different biological fluids have been shown sensitive towards various influences, including ultra high dilutions (UHDs), representing so a new approach potentially useful for basic research in homeopathy. In the present study we tested on a wheat seed model Zincum metallicum 30c efficacy versus lactose 30c and water.

Materials And Methods: Stressed and non-stressed wheat seeds were watered with the three treatments.

The use of plant-based bioassays in homeopathic basic research.

Objectives: The objective was to evaluate homeopathic basic research studies that use plant-based bioassays. With this in view, a compilation was made of the findings of three systematic literature reviews covering plant-based bioassays in the three fields of healthy, abiotically, or biotically stressed plants. This compilation focused on investigations using advanced experimental methods and detailed descriptions, also with the aim of supporting the design of future experiments.

Transcriptome Profiling of Wheat Seedlings following Treatment with Ultrahigh Diluted Arsenic Trioxide.

Plant systems are useful research tools to address basic questions in homeopathy as they make it possible to overcome some of the drawbacks encountered in clinical trials (placebo effect, ethical issues, duration of the experiment, and high costs). The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis whether 7-day-old wheat seedlings, grown from seeds either poisoned with a sublethal dose of As2O3 or unpoisoned, showed different significant gene expression profiles after the application of ultrahigh diluted As2O3 (beyond Avogadro's limit) compared to water (control). The results provided evidence for a strong gene modulating effect of ultrahigh diluted As2O3 in seedlings grown from poisoned seeds: a massive reduction of gene expression levels to values comparable to those of the control group was observed for several functional classes of genes.

Droplet evaporation method as a new potential approach for highlighting the effectiveness of ultra high dilutions.

Objective: This study sought to verify whether the droplet evaporation method (DEM) can be applied to assess the effectiveness of ultra-high dilutions (UHDs). We studied the shape characteristics of the polycrystalline structures formed during droplet evaporation of wheat seed leakages.

Methods: The experimental protocol tested both unstressed seeds and seeds stressed with arsenic trioxide 5mM, treated with either ultra-high dilutions of the same stressor substance, or with water as a control.

Extremely low doses of arsenic affect in vitro pollen germination.

Introduction: This study deals with the effects of extremely low doses or high dilutions of pharmacological compounds on in vitro pollen germination of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa).

Material And Methods: The biological efficacy of As2O3 at the 5th and 45th decimal dilution/succussion level (As 5x and As 45x) was tested on pollen previously stressed with As2O3 150 or 200 μM. The outcome variable was the pollen germination rate, as detected blind after 3 h 30 min by an Axioplan microscope.

Basic research in homeopathy and ultra-high dilutions: what progress is being made?

This report summarises the latest research developments in the field of high dilutions and homeopathy, as presented at the GIRI symposium of the leading international organisation of scientists in this field, in Florence, Italy in September 2012. The scientific community's early scepticism concerning the possible biological and pharmacological activity of highly diluted solutions, is giving way to a more open-minded attitude that no longer obstructs critical and experimental investigations in this emerging field of biomedicine.

Approximate bilateral symmetry in evaporation-induced polycrystalline structures from droplets of wheat grain leakages and fluctuating asymmetry as quality indicator.

The present paper reports on an observation that dendrite-like polycrystalline structures from evaporating droplets of wheat grain leakages exhibit bilateral symmetry. The exactness of this symmetry, measured by means of fluctuating asymmetry, varies depending on the cultivar and stress factor influence, and seems to correspond to the seed germination rate. In the bodies of plants, animals, and humans, the exactness of bilateral symmetry is known to reflect the environmental conditions of an organism's growth, its health, and its success in sexual selection.

Self-organized crystallization patterns from evaporating droplets of common wheat grain leakages as a potential tool for quality analysis.

We studied the evaporation-induced pattern formation in droplets of common wheat kernel leakages prepared out of ancient and modern wheat cultivars as a possible tool for wheat quality analysis. The experiments showed that the substances which passed into the water during the soaking of the kernels created crystalline structures with different degrees of complexity while the droplets were evaporating. The forms ranged from spots and simple structures with single ramifications, through dendrites, up to highly organized hexagonal shapes and fractal-like structures.

Use of homeopathic preparations in experimental studies with abiotically stressed plants.

Background: Experimental research on the effects of homeopathic treatments on impaired plants was last reviewed in 1990.

Objectives: To compile a systematic review of the existing literature on basic research in homeopathy with abiotically stressed plants using predefined criteria.

Methods: The literature search was carried out on publications that reported experiments on homeopathy using abiotically stressed whole plants, seeds, plant parts and cells from 1920 to 2010.

Weak static and extremely low frequency magnetic fields affect in vitro pollen germination.

This study concerns the effects of a weak static magnetic field (MF) at 10 µT oriented downward, combined with a 16-Hz sinusoidal MF (10 µT), on in vitro pollen germination of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa). Extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) exposure was carried out by a signal generator unit connected to a copper wire solenoid, inside which samples where placed. Two different kinds of treatment were performed: direct and indirect.

A review of three simple plant models and corresponding statistical tools for basic research in homeopathy.

In this paper, we review three simple plant models (wheat seed germination, wheat seedling growth, and infected tobacco plants) that we set up during a series of experiments carried out from 1991 to 2009 in order to study the effects of homeopathic treatments. We will also describe the set of statistical tools applied in the different models. The homeopathic treatment used in our experiments was arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃) diluted in a decimal scale and dynamized.

The efficacy of ultramolecular aqueous dilutions on a wheat germination model as a function of heat and aging-time.

This study evaluates the effects of temperature and aging on the efficacy of As(2)O(3) at the 45th decimal potency in a wheat germination model, compared against a control and potentized H(2)O 45×. Each treatment-temperature combination was tested on seeds (Triticum aestivum L.) of Pandas variety, using six Petri dishes (33 seeds/dish) per trial, performing eight trials.

Use of homeopathic preparations in phytopathological models and in field trials: a critical review.

Background: The literature on the applications of homeopathy for controlling plant diseases in both plant pathological models and field trials was first reviewed by Scofield in 1984. No other review on homeopathy in plant pathology has been published since, though much new research has subsequently been carried out using more advanced methods.

Objectives: To conduct an up-to-date review of the existing literature on basic research in homeopathy using phytopathological models and experiments in the field.

Use of homeopathic preparations in experimental studies with healthy plants.

Background: The last comprehensive review of experimental research on effects of homeopathic treatments on plants was published in 1984, and lacked formal predefined criteria to assess study quality. Since then several new studies with more advanced methods have been published.

Objectives: To compile a review of the literature on basic research in homeopathy with healthy plants with particular reference to studies investigating specific effects of homeopathic remedies.

Isopathic treatment effects of Arsenicum album 45x on wheat seedling growth--further reproduction trials.

Background: Two experimental studies on wheat preintoxicated with Arsenic trioxide yielded a significant shoot growth increase after an isopathic application of Ars-alb 45x. One independent reproduction trial however, yielded an effect inversion: wheat shoot growth was significantly decreased after application of Ars-alb 45x.

Aims: In this study we investigated the role of three potential confounding factors on the experimental outcome: geographical location of the experiments, influence of the main experimenter, and seed sensitivity to Arsenic poisoning.

Exogenous spermidine, arsenic and beta-aminobutyric acid modulate tobacco resistance to tobacco mosaic virus, and affect local and systemic glucosylsalicylic acid levels and arginine decarboxylase gene expression in tobacco leaves.

The polyamine spermidine and the metalloid arsenic increased resistance responses in the well-known pathosystem NN tobacco/tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Both the hypersensitive response to TMV in a leaf disk model system (inoculated disks floating in the 0.1mM treatments) and systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in whole plants were significantly affected.

Transglutaminase activity changes during the hypersensitive reaction, a typical defense response of tobacco NN plants to TMV.

The occurrence of glutamyl polyamines (PAs) and changes in activity and levels of transglutaminase (TGase, EC 2.3.2.

The role of variability in evaluating ultra high dilution effects: considerations based on plant model experiments.

A series of experiments, performed on plant models with ultra high dilutions (UHD) of arsenic trioxide at 45th decimal potency has been reviewed with a particular focus on variability. The working variables considered are: the number of germinated seeds out of a fixed set of 33, the stem length of wheat seedlings and the number of necrotic lesions in tobacco leaf disks inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). A thorough comparison between treatment and control group has been proposed, considering the two main sources of variability in each series of experiments: variability within and between experiments.

Extremely low frequency weak magnetic fields enhance resistance of NN tobacco plants to tobacco mosaic virus and elicit stress-related biochemical activities.

Increasing evidence has accumulated concerning the biological effects of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) in different plant models. In the present study, effects of ELF-MFs in tobacco plants reacting to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) with a hypersensitive response (HR) were evaluated. Plants were exposed for 8 or 24 h (either before or after TMV inoculation) to a static MF, at either -17 or 13 microT, combined with a 10 Hz sinusoidal MF with different intensities (25.

A biostatistical insight into the As(2)O(3) high dilution effects on the rate and variability of wheat seedling growth.

Background: Most criticism of homeopathy concerns the lack of scientific bases and theoretical models. Fundamental research could make important contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of action of homeopathic treatments. Plant-based bioassays are suitable for basic research -- lacking the placebo effect and ensuring large data samples for structured statistical analyses.

Nonthermal microwave radiations affect the hypersensitive response of tobacco to tobacco mosaic virus.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of nonthermal extremely high-frequency microwave radiations in a plant-based bioassay, represented by tobacco plants reacting to tobacco mosaic virus with a hypersensitive response leading to the appearance of necrotic lesions at the infection sites.

Design: This study was performed blind and different experimental protocols on tobacco plants inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus were used. BIO-OBJECTS: Tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.

Weak extremely high frequency microwaves affect pollen-tube emergence and growth in kiwifruit: pollen grain irradiation and water-mediated effects.

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of weak-intensity extremely high frequency (EHF) microwaves in a model system-the plant organism pollen grain-lacking the placebo effect, available in large populations, to ensure accurate statistical analysis, and whose sensitivity is closely relevant to animal and human biology.

Design: This study was blinded using an in vitro pollen germination technique. SUBJECTS AND STUDY INTERVENTIONS: Pollen of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) was either directly irradiated or grown in a medium prepared with irradiated water, using a CromoStim 2000, (PromoPharma, Republic of San Marino) designed for EHF microwave resonance therapy (MRT).

Polyamine metabolism is upregulated in response to tobacco mosaic virus in hypersensitive, but not in susceptible, tobacco.

•  Change is reported in the biosynthetic and oxidative activity of hypersensitive (NN) and susceptible (nn) tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants in response to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). •  Mature leaves of nn and NN tobacco were collected over 0-72 h as uninoculated controls or after inoculation with TMV or phosphate buffer (mock-inoculation). The polyamine response to inoculation was analysed by measuring activity and gene expression of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC), arginine-(ADC) and ornithine decarboxylases (ODC); incorporation of labelled putrescine; and activity of diamine oxidase (DAO).