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Yoshiaki Omura, MD, ScD, (born March 28, 1934, in Asahi, Toyama Prefecture, Japan), is Director of Medical Research of the Heart Disease Research Foundation, President and Founder of the International College of Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics, and President and Founder of the International Bi-Digital O-Ring Test Medical Association.

Omura is the creator of the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test (BDORT), an alternative medicine diagnostic technique, and a series of other alternative medicine techniques which are presented in Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research, The International Journal, of which Omura is Founder and Editor-in-Chief, as well as in seminars presented by Omura and his colleagues.

The Bi-Digital O-Ring Test was considered by the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand in the course of its judgment of the case of Richard Gorringe. In the Tribunal's final report on that case, which is the only known recorded opinion of the BDORT by a mainstream medical body, the Tribunal found that '...there is no plausible evidence that PMRT has any scientific validity.'

Bi-Digital O-Ring Test

The Bi-Digital O-Ring Test is a diagnostic test developed by Omura, for which he holds a patent. Proponents of the test say the test is effective in the analysis and assessment of numerous biological and environmental factors, and in the diagnosis and treatment of a number of conditions. The test is not known to have been presented or subject to independent review other than that of the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand.

Description

The basic form of the test consists of the diagnostician employing thumb and forefinger of each hand, formed in the shape of an O, to attempt to force apart an O shape formed by thumb and forefinger of the person being evaluated, while that person holds a piece of organ tissue, or a sample of medication, in their free hand. The diagnostician then uses his or her perception of the strength required to do so to assess the matter being evaluated.

Applications

The BDORT is capable, according to Omura and his colleagues, of a number of applications, especially the diagnosis and prescription of treatment for a very wide range of afflictions, including heart conditions, cancer, allergies, viral and bacterial infections, and poisoning. However, these claims have not been verified by any conventional independent peer-reviewed assessment.

Derivative and Variant Applications

There are a number of variant methodologies of the application of the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test presented by Omura.

• The Indirect Method

In the Indirect Method of application an intermediary is employed, and the patient is not directly examined at all. The intermediary directs a laser held in his or her right hand at the appropriate acupuncture point atop the patient's head while at the same time the diagnostician performs the test on the left hand of the intermediary. No scientifically viable explanation has been given as to why this method would work, even if the normal BDORT worked as claimed.

• Remote Application

Omura claims that it is possible, if the procedure is performed by a very experienced practitioner such as himself, to perform the BDORT on a patient over the telephone without having any physical contact with the patient. In this procedure the patient is, for example, instructed to hold in one hand a substance being evaluated, while holding the telephone receiver at the bodily location prescribed by the diagnostician. The practitioner then evaluates the muscle strength necessary to separate the interlocked O–rings of thumb and forefinger of each of his or her own two hands, and uses this data in place of data from standard BDORT on the patient. However, no scientifically viable explanation has been given for how the practitioner's hands would be altered by the telephone.

Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand Consideration

The Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand, in its consideration of the case of Richard Gorringe, examined and dismissed any claims of scientific validity of the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test, offering the following summary statement of findings:

"We therefore accept that PMRT is not a plausible, reliable, or scientific technique for making medical decisions. We find there is no plausible evidence that PMRT has any scientific validity. It therefore follows that reliance on PMRT to make diagnoses to the exclusion of conventional and/or generally recognized diagnostic/investigatory techniques is unacceptable and irresponsible." (Tribunal Findings, para 363)

Selective Drug Uptake Enhancement Method

The Selective Drug Uptake Enhancement Method is a method devised by Omura "for assuring that drugs will be targeted selectively to specifically targeted biological factors, whether particular cells, tissue structures, or organs, while minimizing uptake by non-targeted biological factors of the organism. The Selective Drug Uptake Method employs appropriate stimulation of appropriate acupuncture points as determined and evaluated by the BDORT to achieve its effect.

These findings are not known to have been presented to or subject to evaluation by conventional independent peer-reviewed assessment.

Solar Energy Stored Papers

From his research via BDORT assessment and evaluation, Omura believes that it is possible to capture a special healing power of sunlight, for which his term is Special Solar Energy, on index cards or other ordinary paper, and for which method he has applied for patent. This energy must, for maximum efficacy, be ‘captured’ at the ideal times of sunrise and sunset, and carefully preserved on what he then terms as Special Solar Energy Stored Papers, maintaining appropriate Qi Gong polarity at all times and shielding the papers from electromagnetic fields by carefully wrapping them in aluminum foil. Thus captured and preserved, he claims that Special Solar Energy is effective in the treatment of a number of conditions, including arthritis, cancers, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s Disease.

These findings are not known to have been presented to or subject to evaluation by conventional independent peer-reviewed assessment.

Heart Disease Research Foundation

The Heart Disease Research Foundation, of which Omura has been Director of Medical Research since 1971, in 1972 sued General Motors on behalf of all citizens of the United States affected by pollution from General Motors, seeking substantial actual and punitive monetary damages to be awarded to its research activities. The case was dismissed as devoid of merit, establishing precedent that such ‘a bare-bones statement of conspiracy . . . without supporting facts permits dismissal’ and was meritless in both its particulars and its essential character, and US Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were subsequently amended to make such a suit impossible in future. (Heart Disease Research Foundation v General Motors Corp, 15 Fed.R.Serv. 2d 1517, 1519 (SDNY, 1972))

Activities

Yoshiaki Omura, as head of the International College of Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics, conducts monthly seminars/workshops in New York, listed by the University of the State of New York Education Department and the American Medical Association for Continuing Medical Education credit for physicians and dentists to use toward an Acupuncture Certificate. The International College of Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics claims to organize an Annual International Symposium every October at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, but no independent verification of this can be found.

Notes

1. CV/Biography of Dr. Yoshiaki Omura at Omura's Japanese site
2. International College of Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics, Omura's US site.
3. ^ Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand findings in re Richard Gorringe and the PMRT/Bi-Digital O-Ring Test
4. BDORT Patent
5. Omura Research Paper
6. Abstract and full text of patent
7. Omura Japanese site description of BDORT
8. IP Watchdog page patent description, with illustration
9. Brown & Michaels PC description of patent, with illustration
10. BDORT Abstracts
11. BDORT 18th Symposium
12. BDORT 19th Symposium
13. Patent summary and desciption, including description of third-person, indirect method.
14. Brown & Michaels PC patent description, with reference to third-person, indirect method.
15. Omura seminar article by Dominic Lu, DDS, presenting diagnosis by Omura via BDORT via telephone.
16. Omura Selective Drug Uptake and CV
17. Abstract of Omura paper in Acupuncture Electrotherapeutics Resonance
18. Patent description, Special Solar Energy Stored Papers and Their Application
19. Omura's CV at his official Japanese site, with reference to status as Director of Medical Research at Heart Disease Research Foundation since 1971.
20. Cite indicating revision of Federal civil rules of procedure following Heart Disease Research Foundation v General Motors Corp
21. Cite of Heart Disease Research Foundation v General Motors Corporation establishing that a bare bones statement of conspiracy will not withstand a motion to dismiss, and sufficient facts must be alleged to allow the defendant to form a response.
22. New York Academy of Medicine listing of Omura seminar.
23. Omura's US site, with reference to seminars.
24. 21st Symposium Notice on New York Academy of Medicine's Site
25. 21st Symposium
26. Omura's US site, with reference to Columbia University School of International Affairs annual symposium.

External links

• International College of Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics, Official Site.
• International Bi-Digital O-Ring Test Association, Official Site
• International Bi-Digital O-Ring Test Association Official Biography of Dr Omura
• Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand Official Site
• New Zealand Health Practioners Disciplinary Tribunal Offical Site
• Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand findings in re Richard Gorringe and the PMRT/Bi-Digital O-Ring Test

See also

• Alternative Medicine
• Pseudoscience
• Quackery