What exactly is the Goan Observer palming off as Medical News ?

Science, PseudoScience, Plagiarism or what?

For Dr. Santosh Helekar's critique of this "study", please click here

TGF Foreword: [We strongly believe that there is some benefit to be derived from 'alternative medicine'. However, this is an area which is subject to unscientific pronouncements, wild claims of success, and many quacks.

Sometimes, this quackery leads to unnecessary anxiety; often times to the tragic avoidance of necessary treatment.

This is why, this week, TGF  decided to give its regular front page a back seat in order to visit with this Cover Story on the Goan Observer dated  Feb 04 - 10 , 2006.

TGF has questions about this story.

That, and what appears to be some very clear indication of plagiarism.  TGF is unable to determine who has plagiarised whom. That is however, a secondary concern to what is being fed to Goans by a Goan newspaper.  TGF makes no judgment at this time, only asks questions.

What follows is an excerpt from the said article. The entire article is available at the G.O. (subscription site) http://www.goanobserver.com/members/coverstory.htm   The highlighting is that of TGF ]

Excerpted from the Goan Observer:->

MEDICAL PALMISTRY

Doctors now confirm what astrologers have always claimed - that your palm contains warning signals of head injuries, heart attacks and central nervous system disorders. A research paper in ‘Archives of Goa Medical College 2005’, published by the Goa Medical College Staff Society, insists that the human palm reveals all. BY BY R.U. BALLIKAR, DR. P.V. RATABOLI & DR. C.Y. DHUME.

PALMISTRY IS a branch of astrology which, till recently, was considered a ‘Science of Fortune Telling’. However, palmistry has now emerged as a unique branch of science that is authentic and useful to the medical field by diagnosing difficult diseases.

Medical Palmistry is slowly emerging as a new scientific branch. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine; Aristotle, the founder of Psychology, and Dr. Charles Bell, the Father of Modem Neurology, all studied the human palm as a diagnostic aid.

A palm can show early warning signals and serves as a guide for prognosis as well as diagnosis of physical and mental ailments. Just as fingerprints and handwriting are unique to an individual and analyses of both are used to serve society, so can palmar creases and signs provide information about a person.

a small preliminary study in the Neurosurgery and Medicine wards of Goa Medical College to study the palmar creases and signs in patients with Central Nervous System (CNS) involvement to test the importance of palm lines in diagnosis and prognosis of these conditions.

METHOD
PATIENTS admitted in the Neurosurgery and Medicine wards (with CNS involvement only) between September 1-30, 2004 were considered for this study. The three major palmar creases (head line, heart line and life line) on both their hands were studied with respect to their course, formation, uniformity, thickness, depth and colour. Any breaks in the lines were also observed. The presence of accessory signs (figure 2) on their palms (crosses, stars, dots islands, triangles) was noted. These creases and signs were drawn on the paper containing hand outlines. Palm creases of 15 elderly people who had not suffered from any CNS disease, head injury or space occupying lesions (SOL) in their lives were also studied for the same signs in the palm. The observations were statistically analysed.

Fifty-three patients were studied in a month.

In 18 of the 19 patients who suffered head injuries, the head line was distorted, diverted or having breaks and the life line was distorted and diverted in 12.

in cerebrovascular accident cases. The heart line was defective in 12 out of 14 patients.

in SOL patients. In all 11 patients, the lifeline did not follow its normal course and it was not uniform.

In our study, not a single palm had good lines as compared to our control palms of people who enjoyed good health during their lifetime.

This was a brief study with around 50 patients. Although the results are interesting and encouraging, larger studies are required to confirm the findings and to determine the diagnostic signs of diseases.

Palmistry, if studied with a scientific mind can play the role of computers for the body. The benefits of medical palmistry could be many :

1.  Can provide early warning for forthcoming diseases, which can then be prevented early.
2. Can provide information about hidden diseases, which remain undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed.
3.  Can help in determining the prognosis of diseases.

This study was selected as one of the best 25 projects under ‘Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana 2004’ at the National level, New Delhi.

R.U. Ballikar is a II MBBS student, P. V. Rataboli is Asst. Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology and C.Y. Dhume is Associate Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry.

TGF comment: TGF can only comment on the story as is printed in the Goan Observer. TGF cannot comment at this moment on the study as reportedly published by the ‘Archives of Goa Medical College 2005’ .

While TGF awaits comment from a well known Goan Neuroscientist, here are some preliminary queries:

1. As 'diagnosis and prognosis' in neurological disease are being studied and commented upon, why is there no mention of any Neurologist in this paper? BTW: was informed consent obtained from patient/or relative before the medical histories or records were looked into? Were the managing physicians afforded the courtesy of intimation about this study prior to its conduct?

2. Who designed this study, What is the research or neurological experience of the two academics (Rataboli & Dhume),  What statistical methods were used in the analysis, and what were the levels of significance of the findings in the study ( i.e. 'p' values) ?

3. How were the 'controls' selected ? How was statistical bias eliminated wrt the 'controls'?

4. On what basis do the authors state in this paper that  A palm can show early warning signals and serves as a guide for prognosis. Could the authors have said that on the basis of their study findings?

5. On what basis does the Goan Observer state that  Doctors now confirm what astrologers have always claimed - especially as the authors themselves have specifically stated that  larger studies are required to confirm the findings and to determine the diagnostic signs of diseases.

6. On what basis does the Goan Observer state that a research paper in ‘Archives of Goa Medical College 2005’ insists that the human palm reveals all?

7. Who has plagiarised whom ? Please see paragraphs above and the ones below?

TGF
February 5, 2006

ps: Has a section of the above MEDICAL PALMISTRY article plagiarised  this 'Aarogya' site, or is it vice-versa?

http://www.aarogya.com/Complementary/medpalm/index.asp

<Palmistry is a branch of Astrology which was up until now looked upon as knowledge related to fortune telling handed down by our ancestors from generation to generation. However, from the medical point of view, now, Palmistry has emerged as a science in its own right that has helped doctors and patients alike in diagnosing difficult diseases.

Hippocrates the Father of Medicine, Aristotle, founder of psychology, and Dr Charles Bell, Father of Modern Neurology, all studied the human hand as a diagnostic aid.

Today, Medical Palmistry, is no longer considered and occult science. It has fast been gaining a reputation for diagnosing symptoms that would otherwise take years to manifest themselves.>

For Dr. Santosh Helekar's critique of this "study", please click here