Claimed changes in cancer cells in vitro exposed to energy healing

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, this paper, published online in the journal Dose-Response, by Sarah Beseme and others (including Dean Radin) claims that in breast cancer cells in vitro, the expression of certain genes involved in cancer and inflammation pathways changed significantly when the cells were exposed to "stored or recorded energy" and "electromagnetic recordings of healers" practising something called the Bengston method.

I haven't read it, but obviously it's likely to be controversial, and believers may find the idea of energy healing delivered through a recording, to in vitro cells rather than a patient, a challenging one.

Sarah Beseme, William Bengston, Dean Radin4 Michael Turner and John McMichael
Transcriptional Changes in Cancer Cells Induced by Exposure to a Healing Method
Energy healing, or healing with intent, is a complementary and alternative medicine therapy reported to be beneficial with a wide variety of conditions. We are developing a delivery technology for a method previously tested in mouse models with solid tumors (the Bengston method) independent of the presence of a healer. The goal of this study was to assess whether stored or recorded energy has an impact on breast cancer cells in vitro, using energy-charged cotton and electromagnetic recording of healers practicing the method. Expression of genes involved in cancer and inflammation pathways was measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Treatment of cells using energy-charged cotton resulted in statistically significant changes <1.5-fold. In cells exposed to an electromagnetic recording, 37 genes of 167 tested showed a >1.5-fold change when compared to the control, and 68 genes showing statistically significant fold changes. Two genes, ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β), were consistently downregulated at 4 and 24 hours of exposure to the recording, respectively, in 3 independent experiments. Both ACLY and IL-1β were also downregulated in cells exposed to a hands-on delivery of the method, suggesting these 2 genes as potential markers of the healing method.

Full paper at:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...5818782843

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, this paper, published online in the journal Dose-Response, by Sarah Beseme and others (including Dean Radin) claims that in breast cancer cells in vitro, the expression of certain genes involved in cancer and inflammation pathways changed significantly when the cells were exposed to "stored or recorded energy" and "electromagnetic recordings of healers" practising something called the Bengston method.

I haven't read it, but obviously it's likely to be controversial, and believers may find the idea of energy healing delivered through a recording, to in vitro cells rather than a patient, a challenging one.

Sarah Beseme, William Bengston, Dean Radin4 Michael Turner and John McMichael
Transcriptional Changes in Cancer Cells Induced by Exposure to a Healing Method
Energy healing, or healing with intent, is a complementary and alternative medicine therapy reported to be beneficial with a wide variety of conditions. We are developing a delivery technology for a method previously tested in mouse models with solid tumors (the Bengston method) independent of the presence of a healer. The goal of this study was to assess whether stored or recorded energy has an impact on breast cancer cells in vitro, using energy-charged cotton and electromagnetic recording of healers practicing the method. Expression of genes involved in cancer and inflammation pathways was measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Treatment of cells using energy-charged cotton resulted in statistically significant changes <1.5-fold. In cells exposed to an electromagnetic recording, 37 genes of 167 tested showed a >1.5-fold change when compared to the control, and 68 genes showing statistically significant fold changes. Two genes, ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β), were consistently downregulated at 4 and 24 hours of exposure to the recording, respectively, in 3 independent experiments. Both ACLY and IL-1β were also downregulated in cells exposed to a hands-on delivery of the method, suggesting these 2 genes as potential markers of the healing method.

Full paper at:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...5818782843

If they had tested the cells using healers vs non-healers, rather than the tests they actually conducted... charged cotton vs no cotton, or complex EM field recordings played vs no recordings played, or a healer present vs nobody present etc. then one might have taken the study a little more seriously.

Frank Prato has already shown a robust behavioral effect from exposure of rodents to hypomagnetic fields. Many others have shown reproducible behavioral effects from exposure to complex hyperweak magnetic fields in many different organisms. Successful treatment of some tumors using EM fields is already approved by the FDA. The mainstream research areas covering the biological effects of electric and magnetic fields just keeps growing. I'd argue that some past studies in these, and other associated areas of research may need to be revisited so that they properly control for electrical, and magnetic fields.

This has been my argument all along with Borgijin's NDE Rodent study, they only isolated the cardiac arrest rodents in an unspecified Faraday cage, and did not properly control for magnetic and electrical fields. Borgijin doesn't see why there should be any reason to properly control for electrical and magnetic fields. Where as I suspect her results, which appear to show iEEG measurements of rodents brains during cardiac arrest, spontaneously change at around 17s to resemble  primate and human brains undertaking visual tasks, may be due to E/M fields.

It seems to me that one of the things the brain does, is to function like an enormously complex and exquisitely sensitive stochastic amplifier, which in the reduction of it's own EM field power output, may temporarily allow it's networks to become entrained by any compatible E/M fields within which the brain is embedded.