Welcome to Marlinspike Hall, ancestral home of the Haddock Clan, the creation of Belgian cartoonist Hergé.
Some Manor-keeping notes:
Navigation is on the right, with an explanation of the blog's fictional basis. HINT: Please read the column labelled "ABOUT THIS BLOG." Enjoy the most recent posts or browse posts by posting date in the Archives. Search the blog for scintillating, obscure topics.
Enjoy your stay! There are some fuzzy slippers over there somewhere, too.
After the tragic intrusion of the recent dying gasps of CALMARE/"Scrambler" into our usual CRPS research fun here at elle est belle la seine la seine elle est belle (which some idjit over at the CTTC investment message board called... hold on to your berets... an ITALIAN blog), I've had the urge to see what's new over at PubMed.
I don't need to repeat what I've often repeated to you, if you're one of my CRPS brethren or sistren, that you must do your own due diligence, that you must separate wheat from chaff (and determine whether it's the chaff or the wheat that's of value!), and that you should consult with legitimate experts in the field, though they be few and hard to find. There, no need for repeating what is simple common sense, even to people who may not have slept longer than 90 minutes at a stretch in, oh, a decade -- or whose pain levels would reduce CALMARE investors into absolute idjitness, such that we'd likely have to lock them in an isolated tower somewhere (maybe Italy?) so that they won't disturb the rest of us as we go about the business of living.
Just a reminder that TNF-alpha research is being driven by some solid basic science done as far back as 2001, with the publication of "The important role of neuropeptides in complex regional pain syndrome" as well as the seminal 2005 publication, in the journal PAIN, of "Changes in cerebrospinal fluid levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in CRPS," that included Dr. Robert Schwartzman as a researcher. It concludes: "These results are consistent with studies that suggest that the pathogenesis of CRPS is due in part to central neuroimmune activation." "These results" refer to demonstration via ELISA assay of "elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines," one of which is, of course,TNF-α. It is all part and parcel of the major drive in [legitimate] research that follows the multifactorial role of neurogenic inflammation.
So, while keeping in mind that this is "just" a "case series," it does participate in a distinguished lineage.
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Anti tumor Necrosis Factor - Alpha Adalimumab for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1 (CRPS-I): A Case Series.
The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel; Institute of Pain Medicine, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS:
Evidence suggests tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) mediates, at least in part, symptoms and signs in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Here, we present a case series of patients with CRPS type 1, in whom the response to the anti-TNF-α adalimumab was assessed.
METHODS:
Ten patients with CRPS type 1 were recruited. Assessments were performed before treatment, at 1 week, and 1, 3, and 6 months following 3 biweekly subcutaneous injections (40 mg/0.8 mL) adalimumab (Humira® ) and included the followings: Pain intensity using a 0-10 cm visual analog scale; the Short Form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire; the Beck Depression Inventory; the SF-36 questionnaire and mechanical and thermal thresholds (Von frey hair and Thermal Sensory Analyzer, respectively). In addition to the description of individual patient responses, both intention to treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) analyses were performed for the entire group.
RESULTS:
Three subgroups of patients were identified (3 patients in each): "nonresponders", "partial responders", and "robust responders" in whom improvement in almost all parameters was noted. Both the ITT and PP analyses demonstrated only a trend toward improvement in mechanical pain thresholds following treatment (ITT χ² = 13.83, P = 0.008; PP χ² = 10.29, P = 0.036).
CONCLUSION:
These results suggest adalimumab, and possibly other anti-TNF-α, can be potentially useful in some (although not in all) patients with CRPS type 1. These preliminary results along with the growing body of evidence which points to the involvement of TNF-α in the pathogenesis ofCRPS justify further studies in this area.
Pain Pract. 2013 May 13. doi: 10.1111/papr.12070. [Epub ahead of print]
Dearest Readers, you know how the words "free" and "CRPS research" are as enticing to me as cataria nepeta to the felines! Nonetheless, the usual caveats are in force. This is not a research study but a case report. Still, as I recently reminded everyone, the entire impetus behind studying ketamine in relationship to CRPS came about as a result of observations made in a single case study, so I withhold judgment. This is something that I suppose could be tried with the assistance of a willing and experienced neurologist or pain management specialist and a compounding pharmacist. Those of us who cannot tolerate creams due to severe allodynia look forward to hearing from those of you still able to slather the stuff on! Treatment of chronic regional pain syndrome type 1 with palmitoylethanolamide and topical ketamine cream: modulation of nonneuronal cells.
Jan M Keppel Hesselink1 and David J Kopsky2
1Institute for Neuropathic Pain, Bosch en Duin, The Netherlands;
2Institute for Neuropathic Pain, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Correspondence: Jan M Keppel Hesselink, Institute for Neuropathic Pain, Spoorlaan 2a, 3735 Bosch en Duin, The Netherlands, Tel +31 30 6910932, Email jan@neuropathie.nu
ABSTRACT
Chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS) can be intractable to treat and patients sometimes suffer for many years. Therefore, new treatment strategies are needed to alleviate symptoms in CRPS patients. This case report describes a patient suffering from intractable CRPS type 1 for 13 years. Due to her swollen painful feet and left knee she is wheelchair-bound. The combination of palmitoylethanolamide and ketamine 10% cream reduced her pain by more than 50% after 1 month of treatment, and a marked reduction in swelling and skin discoloration was noticed. Furthermore, she could walk independently again and she experienced no side effects. Thus, palmitoylethanolamide and topical ketamine could be a combination therapy option for treating CRPS patients.
The Achilles Walk for Hope & Possibility is one of the best ways for the RSDSA to create awareness for CRPS/RSD as we stand together and make our voices heard! Together we CAN and WILL make a difference. Please consider joining us the day of the walk, being a virtual walker or donating to TEAM RSDSA.
We would also like to thank the RSDSA Team members who have already registered. Currently, there are 194 on site walkers and 57 virtual walkers from 21 states! We will be sharing many of their inspiring stories (see below) on the new RSDSA Webpage and on the RSDSA Facebook page.
Please don't hesitate to contact me at achilleswalk@rsds.org with any questions or concerns! I look forward to seeing you all at the Walk or seeing the pictures from our Virtual Walkers!
Casey Cashman
TEAM RSDSA Co-chairman
Support for "Team Jeff"... Priceless
Jeff Boyd with his family
When Jeff Boyd saw an ad on the RSDSA Facebook page for the 11th Annual Achilles Walk for Hope and Possibility that will be held on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at Central Park in New York, he decided to share it on his own Facebook page. Jeff posted the story and added that this was a good cause and that he wished he were well enough to go.
It was this post that prompted Boyd's friend, Jenny Richardson, to figure out a way to support Jeff and the cause. She decided that if Jeff couldn't get to the walk, the walk would come to him!
"I just went online and registered as a virtual walker," said Richardson. And, that is how "Team Jeff" was created!
"When Mrs. Jenny Richardson first told me about the virtual walk in my honor, I was speechless; I had never had anyone do anything like that for me." Boyd said.
The South Carolinian, husband, and father of two developed the disorder after he injured his ankle at work in 2007. After multiple surgeries on the ankle, doctors told Jeff he had CRPS and that there was nothing more they could do.
"When I was first diagnosed with CRPS in 2007 I had never heard of the disease," said Boyd. And, he says he was shocked that when he went for a second opinion at his family doctor, she said she had heard of it-in medical school-but knew nothing about it.
For Jeff, the support of his family and his community has been priceless! And, Richardson's vision for bringing support, awareness, education and hope to their Johnsonville, South Carolina community has had a tremendous response.
Boyd says he is amazed at the number of people who have been asking him "What is CRPS?"
"That's really the goal for us all is to bring awareness to this monster of a disease!"
Today, CRPS has no cure; it is something he and thousands of others affected by the pain and disability of this disorder will have to live with for the rest of their lives. That is why having friends like Richardson-a friend who was willing to bring the walk to him if he couldn't go himself-helps bring hope and comfort to those with this disorder.
"I wanted to do it myself, but I was afraid; I didn't think I could handle it. We now have "Team Jeff' and a couple hundred dollars already donated in my honor and it feels great!" said Boyd.
You can Join Team Jeff by making a donation to his virtual walker page or start your own teamin honor of yourself or someone you care about. For more information on how you can help, please contact RSDSA at info@rsds.orgor call (877) 662-7737.
RSDSA is on a mission. With your help, we will continue to raise awareness and fund research to find better treatment options and, hopefully, a cure. Together we can make a difference. Sign up today!
For Corporate Sponsorship opportunities,
please contact Jim Broatch at RSDSA for further information.
Dearest Readers, you know how many times we've had to plod over to Tante Louise's Guest Houst and bail La Bonne et Belle Bianca Castafiore out of her very comfortable Cape Cod Cottage stylized "jail." Except for the one time she ran off to Antarctica, we always got our money back.
Why Antarctica? I dunno. It had something to do with her certainty that her operatic powers would achieve unparalleled heights of purity given the quality of the air. She ended up being a major contributor to global warming, or climate change, whatever we are calling the catastrophic impact of greenhouse gases 'n such.
Well, start setting some pennies aside as you empty your pockets of change at the end of the day.
Hmm, do people still do that?
Well, how about just donating a couple of your GOOG shares to a good cause, because the big bad Southern Mouthpiece of the CALMARE con, Ms./Mr./Mid-trans "Southern Gal" over at that hot spot for big time investors, InvestorsHub (which is, of course, not under fire, as its a regular full-service info arena for stocks, and stocks, by nature, are neither good nor bad, whereas the people *behind* them are sometimes malodorous clingons on one's pristine bright orange crocs...) Whoa Nelly! I lost my train of thought again.
Okay, in plain speech, Ms./Mr./Mid-trans "Southern Gal" is working itself into a fallacious lather. I recommend 10 sessions of CALMARE sham transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, with placement of electrodes being placed in concentric circles reminiscent of those extraterrestrial crop circles that were once so in vogue. You've always gotta have an exit plan.
Anyway, she wants to take all my money, she wants to send me to the slammer, she wants to shame moi!
Seafarer Exploration ( OTC:SFRX ) announced a Hillsborough County Jury rendered a verdict on April 5th 2011 at 4:45 pm in favor of Seafarer for $5,080,000.00 in compensatory damages. After two days of evidence had been presented in court, a jury determined that hundreds of on line posts written by ####### under the screen name of “xxxxxxxx” were false and caused a decrease in market price. Seafarer believes collecting any or all of the damages will be difficult to do, but will continue to try to collect until paid in full. One of the Board Directors for Seafarer, Pelle Ojasu, stated, “We are pleased with the verdict rendered by the jury and I am very happy our CEO maintained his vigilance to prosecute those who would maliciously hurt the Company and its’ personnel through relentless false postings over the last year. Now that the truth has finally come out, we can continue our focus on building shareholder value and executing our business plan.” Lead trial attorney, Craig A. Huffman stated, “Mr. ###### is going to be an example of what should happen to people who sit behind screen names and negatively, falsely, impinge the lives of people and of good companies. We are not done with him yet. This will set a precedent for small market companies to fight back.” Co-counsel, David Chalela, stated, “We and our client are weighing the approach to take toward punitive damages in this case to dissuade others from doing this.”
I'm scared.
Bring it on, you money-grubbing turdified idiot soul-sucker.
One of CALMARE / CTTC 's apologists is not even trying very hard. I feel for him/her. It calls itself "Southern Gal," a pseudo-friendly monicker that calls up trust and stand-by-your-man-shipness. On an InvestorsHub message board, s/he proudly posted the results of a study (actually ended before it had the necessary number of test subjects for statistical relevance) as if it were a GOOD thing for CALMARE "technology." Give it a quick read, with one half of your brain tied behind your back, and see what you derive as relevant information.
Let's start with what we know. We know that Dr. Jose Ochoa is a turd, a money-driven bought mouthpiece for the insurance companies. We hesitate to go beyond calling him a deceptive, perjuring, money-grubber turd, because he has been known to sue.
The thing is, he's not an idiot.
These CALMARE turds-for-hire? They share his essential traits. But... there is nothing available, as of yet, to make naming them idiots an act capable of tort-power.
Hence, until further information is disclosed, the CALMARE/Scrambler therapy advocates shall be known as "money-grubbing turdified idiots." It might be argued that their paycheck recuses them from the "idiot" category, but we are using the broadest definition of "idiot," which, in our experience includes "amoral soul suckers."
Publication-only abstracts (abstract number preceded by an "e"), published in conjunction with the 2013 Annual Meeting but not presented at the Meeting, can be found online only. Author(s): Toby Christopher Campbell, Amit J Nimunkar, Janet Retseck, Jens C. Eickhoff, Miroslav Backonja, James F. Cleary, Kristine L Kwekkeboom, Thomas Y Yen; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, Madison, WI; Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin School of Nursing, Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin Biomedical Engineering, Madison, WI Abstract Disclosures
Abstract: Background: CIPN is a debilitating, dose-limiting toxicity. The MC5A is a non-invasive electro-analgesia device delivering “Scrambler Therapy,” which has shown benefit for painful CIPN in uncontrolled studies. No sham-controlled trials of MC5A have been performed. Methods: Eligible patients included adults with neuropathic pain (NP) for > 6 months, pain scores =4/10 numerical rating scale (NRS), and no history of diabetes or other peripheral neuropathies. Patients received up to 10 daily sessions of 50 minutes with either MC5A or a novel active sham device constructed to deliver a just perceptible electrical sensation. Sham output is neither a TENS nor MC5A and is designed to be nontherapeutic. Active and sham treatments were applied to the affected limbs. 14 patients were randomized with no baseline differences. Patients and evaluators were blinded to study arm. Pain was measured before, daily during, after and 3 months post-treatment (verbal NRS). The primary endpoint was change in pain. Secondary endpoints included quantitative neurosensory testing (QST), validated patient-report measures, and cytokines. Results: There were 7 patients in each arm. The table shows changes in pain scores pre- and post-treatment by day and group. There was no difference between arms and no arm x day interaction. There was no significant day or arm effect for the function sub scales. Conclusions: In a small pilot study, MC5A was not significantly different from sham therapy for the primary outcome. The sham is feasible and provides a mechanism for future controlled studies with MC5A. Secondary endpoints, e.g. QST are forthcoming. Clinical trial information: NCT01261780.
So, Dear Readers, how have you been doing? Holding up okay? That's right, I'm angry. I spent a good third of the night screaming, writhing in what can only be called pain and pure misery. Spasms, with but 10-40 seconds rest in between "sessions." Burning limbs. I'm gone all red, hugely edematous, a physical caricature of fire. Oh, how I wish I had access to a machine that might provide relief that is "not significantly different from sham therapy."
Soul-sucking turdified money-grubbing idiots. We are people in desperate pain and it's not five minutes in my "shoes" that I wish for you -- but all of my pain, in its entirety, forever.
Few practitioners of the epistolary arts cheer me more than Helen writing to Margaret, or Margaret and her retorts -- all mixed up with that grandson of Helen's who keeps popping up, trying to keep the folks on the porch in order, and the ducks in a row.
If you're not familiar with Margaret and Helen, please do go visit. It's refreshing and you can let your hair down, if you've any left.
And consider the well-phrased plea of that annoying grandson who has launched a Support MargaretandHelen.com Campaign. If Helen trusts him, I guess that's good enough for me.
Here is something to lure you over there, if my faint praise hasn't done it:
Nobody will ever need to be shushed in the Bush Libraryby Helen Philpot
Margaret, the next time you go on one of those cruises, you’re just gonna have to take me along because I need a vacation. Fine wine may mellow with age but I sure as hell haven’t. I watched the dedication today for that architectural oxymoron known as the George W. Bush Library. That man was and remains an idiot. In fact, the only one in the family who seems to have any brains at all is the mother, Barbara Bush, who said the country has had enough Bushes’ in the White House. I couldn’t agree more. I hear, however, that she’s a real bitch. That’s certainly alright by me. It takes one to appreciate one.
While watching the dedication I was reminded of his idiocy (I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully) as well as his arrogance (I am the decider). Lord help me. I wonder if that man’s library even has books. I bet nobody ever has to be ssss-hushed in that place. It’s probably filled with paint-by-number sets.
It just kills me that we put that idiot in office… twice. But I guess there has never been a shortage of idiots in politics.
And speaking of idiots, it seems like every time there is an explosion in the world, Ann Coulter and a bunch of other old white Republican men crawl out of their caves long enough to thump their chests for the cameras. Funny how a bunch of yahoos clinging to the 2nd Amendment after kindergarteners are murdered, suddenly want to throw the rest of the constitution to the curb because this time the culprit was a Muslim using a pressure cooker.... READ THE REST HERE.
Though one hopes these things will reach a natural conclusion, completely market-driven, in this case -- certainly not driven by any sense of moral imperative, or a desire to cleanse both personal and corporate souls of the damning damage being done to desperate people suffering the horrendous pain of CRPS, among other neuropathic conditions -- until they do, we have ourselves, Dear Readers, the opportunity for a series of posts on this moral malignancy of Competitive Technologies and CALMARE.
It says a lot that the first thing I want to write about after a brief "vacation," is CALMARE. No, I am not promoting it, quite the opposite. Just as Dr. Jose OCHOA is a dingleberry on the ass of the medical profession in terms of CRPS quackery, CALMARE vendors (mostly non-neurologists, often former ob/gyn specialtists, for some reason!) are aslo turds.
I'm very, very tired. Very depressed. In a dingleberry-bouquet of pain. But the anger I felt upon opening my emails to find a "response" to a comment I had made on YouTube about a CALMARE snake oil bullcrap video comes close to matching the anger I feel upon reading any of Ochoa's "forensic" work in the courts, denying worker's compensation to thousands of CRPS sufferers, whose CRPS was engendered by an accident at work. Orthopedic trauma is frequently a root cause and Ochoa lined his pockets with people's pain.
There's nothing new to say about CALMARE that I haven't said in my previous posts. It's a scam. It's NOT FDA approved as a treatment for CRPS. It has applied for various statuses but has been granted none of them.
It has the same uses that any Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator (TENS) unit has. It can be comforting while in use. In a sort of "burst" mode, it's effects might last a few hours in a very limited area of the body. It does virtually nothing to the central nervous system, and CRPS is, in short, a central nervous system disease -- although in the beginning it has considerable action in the peripheral nerves.
I have asked Dr. Michael Cooney why he won't show pictures or videos of his CRPS cures before treatment. All we are offered are tenuous, tearful, emotional "testimonials" (snake oil salesmen's best media) of the cured patients. Most never had, I would wager, true CRPS. Most couldn't explain the basics of the disorder, I'd bet my life on it.
Here's the intro to Turd Number Two, Dr. Michael Cooney:
Dr. Cooney is one of only 10 certified providers of Calmare Pain Therapy Treatment in the U.S. He introduced this treatment for his patients with treatment and medication resistant severe chronic neuropathy and now helps patients from around the country. Dr. Cooney administers every treatment session personally.
Dr. Cooney is a CHIROPRACTOR. No offense to chiropractors. My brother Grader Boob, in his more athletic days, relied on a chiropractor to keep those bike wheels whirring on the pavement for those 400 mile jaunts. I know people who believe in regular "adjustments." I know that my doctors have said "don't you dare ever go to a chiropractor." Not for CRPS. First, manipulation of any sort is going to be too painful to tolerate; second, a chiropractor doesn't have the specialized training or experience to deal with CRPS; and third, applying CALMARE as a solution to CRPS is DINGLEBERRY-ASS thinking and just taking money out of folks' pockets. I would imagine that -- unless used as an adjunctive, alternative, or complementary treatment undertaken with the advice of a neurologist or board certified pain management specialist -- CALMARE might waste valuable time between onset and the close of the window of opportunity for treatment that really may cure the disorder -- the initial 3-9 months or so.
Worse... there are people being featured who clearly were not correctly diagnosed to begin with, or who are obtaining a short term placebo effect. After they've forked over the dough, they're going to be left worse than they were before, if they truly have CRPS.
I wanna see the BEFORE videos. I want to hear the "science" -- excuse me for a moment, I just snorted hot coffee up my nose -- behind CALMARE. Oh, wait, I've covered that already. More on that after the testimonial entertainment below.
Shame on you, Dr. Cooney.
Here is the video that I find so incredibly offensive. Please go to YouTube as well to read the illuminating conversations I am having with these... people.
As I said, I keep asking for "before" documentation -- photography (doctors love to photograph CRPS patients -- we're all innately lovely), video (to show spasticity, gait disturbances, guarding behaviors, etc.), child-like fingerpaintings, anything! Maybe something along the lines of this, a now out-of-date video of my feet/legs,
hands/arms:
Twas on Friday, May 6, 2011, that this dingleberry machine was first brought to my attention by one of its pushers, who goes around YouTube and to CRPS support group boards pedaling their dingleberry dumbassedness. It prompted the following write-up here, and I had hopes it would fade away, or rot off, whatever form of decomposition most suited it:
At the moment, the only physician in the entire United States who has suckled at the tit of the inventor of the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology is one Dr. D'Amato, of Rhode Island (or so I hear, over here in Tête de Hergé, where there is no illness, of course, nor traffic accidents).
Yeah, there *is* a guy opening up 14 pain clinics using the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology (Spero Pain Relief Therapy clinics). Guess what? He's an OB/Gyn. Just who I want doing pain management for a central nervous system degenerative disorder.
CTT is the parent company in the USA...and it's now a penny stock. Or almost -- it closed today at 1.70. Because some rubber-stamping idiot approved Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology as a vendor to the VA, all the devious, deviants, and the hoodwinked are going on and on about how if it's good enough for our Wounded Warriors at the "flagship" Walter Reed (I'm thinking they don't read the Washington Post), then, by gum, it's good enough for you CRPSers!
The Italian inventor was less circumspect, if you can believe it. He claimed that Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology could reverse aging.
Now you're talking!
Meet, my friends, Giuseppe Marineo, and his explanatory woo and gobbledy-gook from the Italian arm of operations, Delta R&D:
Delta R&D is a bioengineering research centre with a unique history. It was born out of individual research work begun in 1983 by Giuseppe Marineo, a researcher and bioengineer, who advanced theories to reformulate the concept of disease (and the corresponding treatment) from a biophysical rather than biochemical point of view. The idea was to restructure the known features of both according to the principles of thermodynamics by means of an analysis and the detailed specification of the relations between entropy, disease, repair processes and ageing.
This new approach to the interpretation of the traditional aspects of medical science makes it possible to go from a highly heuristic system to an extremely conceptual and rationalized system, which can create models of disease and treatment so sophisticated as to render the experimental results highly predictable. If the latter are in line with the predictions they automatically validate the development model. Furthermore, the very name of the theoretical system developed entails a natural transition from reductionist methods to systems theory which, in the present research, takes the form of a powerful working tool capable of providing adequate support for the development of therapies of practical utility.
In practice Marineo introduced into medical science the research and development criteria typical of engineering, in which the thoroughness of the preliminary theoretical work fully determines the expectations of the experimental verification of the method used. In 1987 the basic research was already sufficiently well structured to be supported by a technology capable of translating the theoretical system into a truly useful therapy.
The first experimental verifications fully confirmed the validity of the theoretical models developed and opened up concrete future prospects for the safe and non-invasive treatment of pathologies for which conventional methods had proved ineffective.
In 1998 the Italian scientific community, which had been constantly informed of all research developments, deemed the product of 15 years research to be scientifically valid, the theoretical principles and experimental data to have been clearly demonstrated and the bioethical principles regarding the respect and protection of the patient to have been respected.
In other words, the research carried out by a private individual was accepted and supported by the public authorities. It was consequently possible to begin official university and hospital studies, at the conclusion of which the first international publications were produced.
In order to support these changes, in May 1998 Delta R&D was set up, thus marking the beginning of the mature stage of this individual research endeavour. Although the original philosophy was retained, a logistical structure was now available to satisfy the new phases of development and to maintain and expand relations with the international scientific community.
In Italy the Delta R&D company became a research centre incorporated into a public structure thanks to the prestigious acknowledgement of the Tor Vergata University of Rome in the form of an agreement in which Delta R&D is recognized as part of the scientific structure of the university while retaining its autonomy and individuality.
Outside Italy, Delta R&D, the theoretical and research work on the Delta-S Entropy Variation Systems and “Scrambler Therapy” pain therapy resulted in Giuseppe Marineo receiving scientific awards for the originality of the basic research, in addition to numerous other acknowledgements by the international scientific community inherent in the acceptance of the proposed published works.
I dunno, maybe that's not your favorite type of woo and gobbledy-gook. How about this? From the lips of Dr. Robert Chalmers, former OB/Gyn:
The treatment is actually quite simple. It involved the machine, wires and surface electrodes that deliver the electrical waveforms. The surface electrodes are the same used in heart monitoring such as an EKG. The patients sits or lies comfortable during each 45 minute treatment session. The electrodes are placed OUTSIDE the area of pain so they will not increase the pain in patients with allodynia from CRPS
Q-How does it work?
The mechanism is completely unique. The primary issue with CPRS is the so called physiologic "wind-up" in the brain. This is a complicated change in the nervous system and can be traced at least in part to changes in NMDA receptors in the brain. We need to get to the brain to help with this disease. The use of electricity for the management of pain is not unique to the Calmare system and I am sure many RSD sufferers have tried traditional TENS therapy. However, the Calmare system is not anything like a TENS unit. Injury or other noxious stimulus in the body creates pain chemicals. These chemicals in turn get converted into electrical impulses by your nerves which get transmitted to the brain and get INTERPRETED by the brain. When we use the Calmare system we "control" the electrical impulses that the brain is recieving. By manipulating the input into the brain we "convince" the brain that the area of the body where pain was present is now normal. We know that the brain can be taught, in medicine we refer to thoses changes as Neuroplasticity and there is quite a bit of interesting reading on that topic on the internet if you have the time. I was the worlds biggest cynic prior to actually treating patients with the machine. I thought it was TENS or Placebo but nearly every patient I have treated has already tried TENS therapy and they can tell you this is nothing like TENS.It works!
Mystery solved. "It works!" He hits all the right buzz words: allodynia, neuroplasticity, NMDA receptors, physiologic wind-up... Oh, gag me with a spoon. Does any of it make sense? Not a bit.
rrtzmd PERMALINKMay 26, 2010 9:06 am …oh, lordy!…what walks like a scam and goes “scam, scam, scam”?…you get three guesses and one hint — its initials are “CTT”…their idiotic “Calmare device” is NOTHING more than a TENS device…and just like a TENS device, the extent to which it works depends ONLY on whether the doctor can con the patient into believing that it actually IS doing something — which, other than making a muscle twitch now and then — it doesn’t…you can even see it in CTT’s description: “The method incorporates electromedical equipment for electronic nerve stimulation, and uses the nerve fiber as a passive means to convey a message of normality to the central nervous system (CNS) by a procedure defined as scrambling or tricking of information, which then enables the CNS to modify the reflex adaptive responses – referred to as TEMPR – Transcutaneous Electrical Modulation Pain Reprocessor.” …have you ever heard such a line of malarkey in your life?…how on earth can a nerve transmit a message by a “passive means”?…that sentence is nothing more than gobbledygook meant to sound impressive…an even better example of obfuscation: “The assumed pre-coding capacity is a more logical explanation than stochastic fluctuation (which in this case must be re-interpreted as a consistent modification of the information content per stimulus/time) the different discharge time characteristic used by the receptor for the same stimulus if this occurs in sufficiently short time intervals. In this perspective, to return to our model, the comparator?? Is the arbitrary module that sorts the information, compares it with a short-term memory and if it recognizes a stimulus similar to the preceding one, modifies the gain data and the information property which it passes on to the amplifier/attenuator (synapsis), a vital element that controls the passage/non passage of the “decoded” information stripped of spurious signals, associating it with the correct degree of intensity. Again with reference to the model, the noise and stochastic variations are separated since, in my analysis, at least some of these fluctuations actually consist of sub-information capable of modifying the learning capacity and sensitivity to the stimulus if repeated over short time intervals. If the data are reinterpreted in this sense, frequency modulated discharge sequences immediately took on a different significance when combined with the “pseudo-noise” modulation accompanying them and which became an essential element of the “primary” information. At this stage I considered that I had all the elements required to materially construct a pain scrambler (technically an information mixer), that is, a system capable of “masking” the pain signal.” …that came from Marineo’s website: http://www.deltard.com/eng/leggi.php?id=1476& …don’t strain too hard trying to understand that since it’s little more than confabulation…but do read at least the other pages about how he can cure cirrhosis, remove scars and reverse aging using his “entropy variation system Delta S”: http://www.deltard.com/eng/leggi.php?id=1440& …and if THAT doesn’t convince you the guy is a goofball, then consider his “technowind” : http://www.deltard.com/eng/tecnowind.php…a “limited edition” and “autographed” FAN!…I mean, where did CTT find this character?…come’on!…wake up and smell the scam!…do your readers a favor and don’t pump idiotic quack devices…
