Dr Arrun Sharma: "Complementary therapy"

One member of Aberdeen University's research team said alternative medicine was now being subjected to more scientic scrutiny.

Dr Arrun Sharma said: "Spiritual healing is now one of many complemetary therapies that are now getting to the stage where they have to demonstrate their effectiveness and undergo the same scientific process that any treatment does in the health service.

"Although it is very unusual, the Scottish Executive are funding health service research across the board."

Some asthmatics claim to have derived some benefits from spiritual healing but researchers at Strathclyde University say the problem is closely related to dust mites.

Breathing problems

Sterling Howison from the university's Environmental Design Centre said: "The house dust mite produces a very powerful allergen.

"If anyone is exposed to a high enough level they will start to develop asthma.

"What we find here is that these houses have allurgen levels above the World Health Organisation threshold.

The house dust mite produces a very powerful allergen

Sterling Howison, Strathclyde University

"It means that eight out of 10 people living in these houses are likely to develop asthma."

Asthma is a chronic, inflammatory lung disease characterised by recurrent breathing problems.

People with the disease suffer "attacks", or acute episodes, when the air passages in their lungs narrow and breathing becomes difficult.

Attacks are caused by the airways over-reacting to certain environmental factors. They then become inflamed and clogged.

They are described as feeling similar to taking deep breaths of very cold air in winter.

Breathing becomes harder and may hurt, and there may be coughing. The air may make a wheezing or whistling sound.

So far, a definitive cause for the lung abnormality at the root of asthma has eluded doctors.