Cohen Lorenzo, Delorme Arnaud, Cusimano Andrew, Chakraborty Sharmistha, Nguyen Phuong, Deng Defeng, Iqbal Shafaqmuhammad, Nelson Monica, Wei Daoyan, Fields Chris, Yang Peiying
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
Institute of Noetic Sciences, Novato, CA, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 2;14(1):29221. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-79617-3.
In this case study, a self-described biofield therapy (BT) practitioner (participant) took part in multiple (n = 60) treatment and control (non-treatment) sessions under double-blind conditions. During the treatment phases, the participant provided BT treatment at a distance of about 12 inches from the cells, alternating with rest phases where no such efforts were made. Human pancreatic cancer cell activity was assessed using three markers - cytoskeleton changes (tubulin and β-actin) and Ca uptake. The study examined changes in the participant's physiological parameters including electroencephalogram (EEG) and heart rate measures during the treatment of: (1) live cells and (2) either dead cells or medium only with no cells (control group). Changes in cellular outcomes and if there was an association between the participant's physiological parameters and cellular outcomes were examined. The experimental setup was a 2 × 2 design, contrasting cell type (live vs. control) against session type (treatment vs. non-treatment). Parallel sham-treated control cells were examined for changes in the cell parameters over time while controlling for the presence of a person in front of the cells mimicking the distance and movements of the participant. The participant's physiological data, including 64-channel EEG and heart rate, were continuously monitored throughout these sessions. We observed significant (p < 0.01) spectral changes in the participant's EEG during BT treatment in all frequency bands of interest, as well as in heart rate variability (HRV) (RMSSD measure; p < 0.01). We also observed significant differences in beta and gamma EEG and HRV (pNN50 measure) when the participant treated live but not control cells (p = 0.02). However, no interaction between treatment and cell type (live vs. dead cells/medium-no cells) was observed. We observed Ca uptake increased over time during both BT and sham treatment, but the increase was significantly less for the BT group relative to the sham-treatment controls (p = 0.03). When using Granger causality to assess causal directional associations between cell markers and participant's physiological parameters, EEG measurements showed significant bidirectional causal effects with cell metrics, especially β-actin and intracellular Ca levels (p < 0.000001). These outcomes suggest a complex relationship between physiological responses and cellular effects during BT treatment sessions. Given the study's limitations, follow-up investigations are warranted.
在本案例研究中，一名自称生物场疗法（BT）从业者（参与者）在双盲条件下参与了多次（n = 60）治疗和对照（非治疗）环节。在治疗阶段，参与者在距离细胞约12英寸处进行BT治疗，与不进行此类操作的休息阶段交替进行。使用三种标志物评估人胰腺癌细胞活性——细胞骨架变化（微管蛋白和β-肌动蛋白）以及钙摄取。该研究考察了在治疗以下两种情况时参与者的生理参数变化，包括脑电图（EEG）和心率测量：（1）活细胞；（2）死细胞或仅含培养基而无细胞的情况（对照组）。研究了细胞结果的变化以及参与者的生理参数与细胞结果之间是否存在关联。实验设置为2×2设计，将细胞类型（活细胞与对照）与环节类型（治疗与非治疗）进行对比。在控制有人在细胞前模仿参与者的距离和动作的情况下，对平行的假处理对照细胞随时间的细胞参数变化进行了检测。在这些环节中持续监测了参与者的生理数据，包括64通道脑电图和心率。我们观察到在BT治疗期间，参与者脑电图所有感兴趣频段以及心率变异性（HRV）（均方根连续差值测量；p < 0.01）均出现了显著（p < 0.01）的频谱变化。当参与者治疗活细胞而非对照细胞时，我们还观察到脑电图的β和γ频段以及HRV（pNN50测量）存在显著差异（p = 0.02）。然而，未观察到治疗与细胞类型（活细胞与死细胞/无细胞培养基）之间的相互作用。我们观察到在BT治疗和假处理治疗期间，钙摄取均随时间增加，但BT组的增加幅度相对于假处理对照组显著更小（p = 0.03）。当使用格兰杰因果关系来评估细胞标志物与参与者生理参数之间的因果方向关联时，脑电图测量显示与细胞指标存在显著的双向因果效应，尤其是与β-肌动蛋白和细胞内钙水平相关（p < 0.000001）。这些结果表明在BT治疗环节中生理反应与细胞效应之间存在复杂关系。鉴于该研究的局限性，有必要进行后续调查。
