From Reductionism to Holism: Systems-oriented Approaches in Cancer Research

Kienle, Gunver S.; Kiene, Helmut

doi:10.7453/gahmj.2012.1.5.015

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…An inverse relationship between the number of children's febrile infections and the incidence of melanoma has been reported [90]. Taking these concepts into the animal world, it is interesting to note that animals with hardly any “hardening” or aging tendencies and with a strong ability to rebuild lost limbs, such as hydra, hardly ever develop cancer [91]. There is an astounding lack of in vitro and in vivo data comparing immune function and cancerogenesis at various temperatures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fever: Views in Anthroposophic Medicine and Their Scientific Validity

Martin

2016

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Objective. To conduct a scoping review to characterize how fever is viewed in anthroposophic medicine (AM) and discuss the scientific validity of these views. Methods. Systematic searches were run in Medline, Embase, CAMbase, and Google Scholar. Material from anthroposophic medical textbooks and articles was also used. Data was extracted and interpreted. Results. Most of the anthroposophic literature on this subject is in the German language. Anthroposophic physicians hold a beneficial view on fever, rarely suppress fever with antipyretics, and often use complementary means of alleviating discomfort. In AM, fever is considered to have the following potential benefits: promoting more complete recovery; preventing infection recurrences and atopic diseases; providing a unique opportunity for caregivers to provide loving care; facilitating individual development and resilience; protecting against cancer and boosting the anticancer effects of mistletoe products. These views are discussed with regard to the available scientific data. Conclusion. AM postulates that fever can be of short-term and long-term benefit in several ways; many of these opinions have become evidence-based (though still often not practiced) while others still need empirical studies to be validated, refuted, or modified.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fever: Views in Anthroposophic Medicine and Their Scientific Validity

Martin

2016

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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“…The different therapeutic components are considered to comprise a therapeutic system that synergizes effects and thus enhances the chances of health improvement [ 26 , 59 – 61 ]. Cancer disease and treatment are understood within the holistic paradigm [ 62 , 63 ]. Great emphasis is also put on the active participation, autonomy, and self-responsibility of the patient [ 26 , 38 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intravenous Mistletoe Treatment in Integrative Cancer Care: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Procedures, Concepts, and Observations of Expert Doctors

Kienle

Mussler

Fuchs

et al. 2016

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Background. Mistletoe therapy (MT) is widely used in patient-centered integrative cancer care. The objective of this study was to explore the concepts, procedures, and observations of expert doctors, with a focus on intravenous MT. Method. A qualitative interview study was conducted with 35 highly experienced doctors specialized in integrative and anthroposophic medicine. Structured qualitative content analysis was applied. For triangulation, the results were compared with external evidence that was systematically collected, reviewed, and presented. Results. Doctors perform individualized patient assessments that lead to multimodal treatment approaches. The underlying goal is to help patients to live with and overcome disease. Mistletoe infusions are a means of accomplishing this goal. They are applied to stabilize disease, achieve responsiveness, induce fever, improve quality of life, and improve the tolerability of conventional cancer treatments. The doctors reported long-term disease stability and improvements in patients' general condition, vitality, strength, thermal comfort, appetite, sleep, pain from bone metastases, dyspnea in pulmonary lymphangitis carcinomatosa, fatigue, and cachexia; chemotherapy was better tolerated. Also patients' emotional and mental condition was reported to have improved. Conclusion. Individualized integrative cancer treatment including MT aims to help cancer patients to live well with their disease. Further research should investigate the reported observations.

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“…Reductionist approachesmotivated in part by the earlier successes of germ theories for infectious diseases-attempt to cure diseases by identifying and repairing a single root cause (e.g., a single or small number of driver mutations, or an overactivated receptor pathway) in an isolated cell type [33,34]. These approaches, however, neglect the complex interactions in the evolving multi-level networks of normal and diseased tissues [35]. Targeted interventions do not only affect just single cell types; biochemical and biophysical feedbacks-combined with intercellular heterogeneity and natural selection [32] and amplified by physical constraints [36]-can cause secondary effects such as therapeutic resistance (e.g., by selecting for resistant cancer clones), worsened drug delivery, and treatment toxicity [6,32,37].…”

Section: Research Group Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting Computational Apprenticeship through educational and software infrastructure. A case study in a mathematical oncology research lab

Madamanchi

Thomas

Magana

et al. 2019

Preprint

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There is growing awareness of the need for mathematics and computing to quantitatively understand the complex dynamics and feedbacks in the life sciences. Although individual institutions and research groups are conducting pioneering multidisciplinary research, communication and education across fields remains a bottleneck. The opportunity is ripe for using education research principles to develop new mechanisms of cross-disciplinary training at the intersection of mathematics, computation and biology. In this paper we present a case study which describes the efforts of one computational biology lab to rapidly prototype, test, and refine a mentorship infrastructure for undergraduate research experiences in alignment with the computational apprenticeship theoretical framework. We describe the challenges, benefits, and lessons learned, as well as the utility of the computational apprenticeship framework in supporting computational/math students learning and contributing to biology, and biologists in learning computational methods. We also explore implications for undergraduate classroom instruction, and cross-disciplinary scientific communication.

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From Reductionism to Holism: Systems-oriented Approaches in Cancer Research

Cited by 16 publications

References 107 publications

Fever: Views in Anthroposophic Medicine and Their Scientific Validity

Fever: Views in Anthroposophic Medicine and Their Scientific Validity

Intravenous Mistletoe Treatment in Integrative Cancer Care: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Procedures, Concepts, and Observations of Expert Doctors

Supporting Computational Apprenticeship through educational and software infrastructure. A case study in a mathematical oncology research lab

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