Nice to see O'Bama working on getting rid of midnight Bush rules

[kandrathe]

And what, pray tell, did they do heal these poor sods with 12th century medical technology?

<tongue is in cheek here>Come now. Leeches and blood letting are still accepted medical practice. We just don't think of it as balancing their humors, or letting out the evil spirits anymore.

Seriously, the 12th century was a turning point for western medicine, characterized by people like Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) who wrote Liber Simplicis Medicinae, and "Liber Compositae Medicinae." They were still constrained by their Aristotelian understanding of physics (Air, Earth, Water, Fire, Ether), but still they did set the foundations upon which further explorations would be made. And, in the dark ages, there were plenty of sick to care for and study. Of course, in later centuries (13-17th) these witch-midwives would be burned for their understandings of holistic and herbal medicines (e.g. Jacobe Felicie).

Hildegard proposed treating patients suffering from “madness” with a deich consisting of pulverized laurel berries and blessed thistle as previously described. A recent series of experiments conducted by researchers at the Kyoto Pharmaceutical University in Kyoto, Japan provide evidence that Laurus nobilis, more commonly known as bay leaf or laurel extract was found to contain seven sesquiterpene lactones responsible for inhibiting nitric oxide production, a form of oxidative stress, in mice macrophages. More specifically, two of the most potent lactones, costunolids and dehydrocostus lactone, inhibited nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) induction that is in accordance with the induction of an important heat shock protein (HSP 72) which acts as the gatekeeper for the nuclear factor-KB activation. As mentioned above, in the presence of certain inducers the heat shock proteins are activated and play a central role in cell function by regulating the expression of certain proteins in the presence of certain environmental factors, thus allowing the cell to adapt more readily to changing extra-cellular conditions. The function of the sesquiterpene lactones was demonstrated in this study, and this function the facilitation of HSP 72 function by binding to certain SH groups, essential for protein structure and function, and by protecting the HSP from certain forms of oxidative stress such as nitric oxide. The lactones responsible for HSP 72 protection are constunolide, dehydrocostus lactone, mokko lactone, watsonol, eremanthine, zaluzanin, magnolialide, santamarine, and spirafolide. Other lactones isolated from the essential oil of the laurus nobilis that are also thought to aid in cytoprotection from oxidative stress are alpha-eudesmol, beta-eudesmol, lamda-eudesmol, alpha- dictyopterol, germacra-4(15),5,10(14)-trien-1beta-ol, spathulenol, oplopanone and alpha-methylene-lamda-butyrolactone.

So, like with eastern herbal remedies, just because it sounds crazy doesn't mean there is not some truth awaiting a scientific explanation. They did the best they could considering that a functional cellular level microscope wasn't invented until the 1600's.