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Author: search.filters.author.Couchman, Ingrid Marcelline StephanieHas files: Yes

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    Homeopathic health care in a low-income housing estate in Durban : possibilities for a Plural Health Care Model in South Africa
    (Common Ground Publishing, 2014) Erwin, Kira; Marks, Monique Michal; Couchman, Ingrid Marcelline Stephanie
    Homeopathy is often seen in contrast to the dominant model of public allopathic medicine. A case study of a free homeopathic community clinic in a low-income housing estate in Durban, South Africa, suggests that a more productive model for addressing community health and wellness should see homeopathy as part of the solution to affordable public healthcare. Drawing on short structured interviews and clinician data, this paper analyses community responses to the clinic. In the context of South Africa’s ailing public health system, a pluralistic approach extends the benefits of choice, accessibility, affordability, and a focus on the individual as user.
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    The effect of homoeopathic potencies of abscisic acid on the production of a-amylase in barley seeds (Hordeum vulgare) in the presence of gibberellic acid
    (2001) Couchman, Ingrid Marcelline Stephanie; Cairns, A. L. P.
    This study investigated the effect of different homoeopathic potencies of abscisic acid (ABA) in the presence of gibberellic acid (GA3) on the production of a.-amylase in the de-embryonated endosperm half-seeds of barley (Hordeum vulgare) in order to investigate whether these potencies were able to produce a biological effect. The aleurone layer of the barley (Hordeum vulgare) grain secretes hydrolases that mobilise endosperm reserves during germination. The synthesis and secretion of these hydrolases (principally a.-amylase) is under hormonal regulation. Gibberellic acid (GA) stimulates the synthesis and secretion of a.-amylase and abscisic acid (ABA) reverses this effect. It is for this reason that barley aleurone has been used extensively as a model system for the study of signal transduction in response to GA and ABA (Ritchie, McCubbin, Ambrose, Kao and Gilroy, 1999). For this research five different homoeopathic potencies were used namely - the 4CH, 9CH, 15CH, 30CH and the 200CH. Two methods were used in this experiment namely - spectrophotometry and radial diffusion. For each method three replications were used. Each replication consisted of: five groups of 20 half-seeds treated with the various potencies (the 4CH, 9CH, 15CH, 30CH and the 200CH) of ABA, with a dilution at GA3 at 1x 10.g;five groups of 20 half-seeds treated with the of GA3 at 1X 10.9 (the control) and five groups of 20 half-seeds treated with only the incubation buffer (calcium nitrate). An a.-amylase curve was constructed for both methods using pure a.-amylase at 1350 enzyme units /mg