Tue, 14 Jul 2009

Swiss anthroposophical pension fund out-performs competition

ITTIGEN (NNA) – The investment strategy of the Swiss anthroposophical pension fund CoOpera has turned out to be a long-term winner. That is the result of a performance comparison of Swiss pension funds undertaken by the financial advisors Weibel Hess & Partner AG in May and published in the SonntagsZeitung newspaper in which CoOpera came out on top.

In 2008, a year in which, according to the comparison, Swiss pension funds achieved “by far the worst investment result” with -13.5 percent since the introduction of new pension regulations in 1985, CoOpera was able to show a positive result of +2.8 percent.

The reason for the good performance of the anthroposophical pension fund is seen in its decision not to invest in shares. Instead of in the stock market, CoOpera has invested its funds of about 300 million Swiss francs in cultural institutions, businesses and housing with a sustainable background. “CoOpera’s investment strategy, which largely ignores shares, last year turned out to be the correct one,” the performance comparison notes.

A key factor has been the willingness to take a long-term view: “What really counts for pension funds are sustained good investment results over a long investment period,” the comparison states, something which CoOpera exemplified.

In 2006 the yield of 2.6 percent was clearly below average. A comparable investment result for 2007 with three percent and 2008 with 2.8 percent suddenly revealed itself as a top figure.

“Over the last nine years, CoOpera with its risk-averse investment policy achieved the best performance with 3.48 percent among all funds included in the comparison,” the analysis says.

It was worthwhile investing in sustainable investments. Funds with a high proportion of investments in shares were able to realise two-figure yields in good years such as 2005 and 2006 and distribute more interest to policy holders.

But this was balanced by a sobering picture when the results were looked at over the nine year period from 2000 to 2008. “Higher risks and an above-average investment in shares have not paid off,” the performance comparison concludes.

“We are pleased with the result which shows that our long term strategy is working,” Marc Desaules, co-founder and member of the board of trustees of the CoOpera pension fund told NNA. “But we do not overestimate the result of this kind of comparison,” he added.

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Item: 090714-03EN Date: 14 July 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

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New professor of complementary medicine appointed at Witten-Herdecke University

WITTEN/HERDECKE (NNA) – A new professor of complementary medicine has been appointed at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. The Swiss physician Dr.  Peter Heusser will succeed Prof. Dr.  Peter Matthiessen who retires for reasons of age.

The “Gerhard Kienle Chair”, endowed by the Software AG foundation, bears the name of the founder of the Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke hospital and is based there. It is one of the oldest chairs of complementary medicine in Germany.

The new appointment is intended to further sharpen the profile of the private university in the subject of medicine. With this appointment, the university intended to give a more “academic basis” to complementary methods of treatment, the acting dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Dr.  Susanne Schwalen, said.

Teaching, too, was to be developed towards the integration of the extension provided by complementary medicine into classic conventional medical approaches.

A Centre for Integrative Medicine is to be established around the chair of complementary medicine to focus the research and teaching of the university.

One focus in this respect is on anthroposophical medicine, which, together with complementary medicine as a whole, is to be studied with appropriate scientific methods for its effectiveness, safety and use.

For Prof. Heusser, anthroposophical medicine means taking the soul and spirit of the individual as scientifically serious as the physical body. The interaction of body, soul and spirit in health and illness would be researched at various levels.

Heusser studied medicine in Bern, took his doctorate in Basel, and with a Master of Medical Education is also specifically qualified in medical teaching methodology. His last post was at the Bern University Hospital where he helped to establish the facility for complementary medicine, representing the field of anthroposophical medicine.

As well as regular patient care, specialising in cancer treatment as extended by complementary medicine, the new professor has undertaken a wide range of scientific research work, from therapeutic studies to work on research methodology.

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Item: 090714-02EN Date: 14 July 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Non-surgical treatment for myomas

WITTEN/HERDECKE (NNA) - A method for treating myomas without surgery is being offered at three hospitals in Germany. Myomas are benign tumours of the uterus which affect one third of women over 30, but their surgical removal could potentially represent an additional risk factor during a subsequent pregnancy.

The treatment is offered at hospitals in Berlin and Munich as well as the Marienhospital in Witten/Ruhr.

“An operation always bears the risk that the uterus is damaged and creates a weak spot in the event of a subsequent pregnancy. That is why we could not really advice young women wishing to have children to have the operation,” Prof. Dr.  Wolfgang Hatzmann, professor of gynæcology at Witten/Herdecke University (UWH), emphasised.

This puts the women in a difficult position and the method can provide a solution.

It works using ultrasound which is concentrated and targeted on the myoma. The heat thus created in the benign tumour makes it shrivel or even die off completely.

The sound waves are directed by means of magnetic resonance tomography to an accuracy of greater than one millimetre, Hatzmann explains the procedure. “We bombard the myoma approximately 50 times for 10 to 15 seconds. This damages the nucleus to such an extent that the tumour in the best case dies off completely.” At minimum, the size of the myoma shrinks to such an extent that it no longer represents an obstacle to pregnancy.

End/nna/ung/cva

Link: http://www.marien-hospital-witten.de/kliniken/frauenheilkunde/myome.html

Item: 090714-01EN Date: 14 July 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/