Drug Prescriptions

The practice of Homeopathy ought to be strictly logical. In the Organon Samuel Hahnemann gives the impression that the unprejudiced observer should be able to follow an algorithmic route to the simillimum in every case. Judgement and Decision Research, however, indicates that when people grapple with complex systems like homeopathy they are more likely to use heuristics or empirical rules to help them reach a solution. Thus Hahnemann's concept of the unprejudiced observer is virtually impossible to attain. There is inevitable bias in both case-taking and remedy selection.

Samuel Hahnemann attributed fundamental importance to the principle of similitude, promoting it to a 'natural law'. Observing that enantiopathic or allopathic treatment produced enduring aggravation of the disease symptoms after a brief and transitory initial relief, he systematised homeopathic treatment, prescribing substances that provoke similar symptoms in healthy individual.

The analysis of data collected by applying information technology in daily practice opens the possibility of validating homeopathic prescribing symptoms. The author has collected data on repertory rubrics, homeopathic medicines prescribed, and clinical outcomes, for 16 years. As an example of clinical verification the outcomes of patients prescribed Veratrum album are correlated against rubrics. Remarkable results were obtained when Verat-a was presented to 24 patients, 52 rubrics were used. The data were analysed using the classical method and the likelihood ratios method.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Targeted research development in veterinary homeopathy is properly informed by the systematic collection and analysis of relevant clinical data obtained by its practitioners. We organised a pilot data collection study, in which 8 Faculty of Homeopathy veterinarians collected practice-based clinical and outcomes data over a 6-month period.

We illustrate the 'vital sensation' of mineral-based homeopathic medicines as revealed by an interview style based on a synthesis of the Bombay method and Scholten's, understanding derived from the periodic table. The 'Bombay method', described by Rajan Sankaran, builds on homeopathic teaching giving a structure to guide the gathering and synthesising homeopathic data. The concept of 'levels' gives a route to the deepest reflection of the vital disturbance, the vital sensation.

INTRODUCTION: The peer-review literature contains no controlled clinical research of homeopathy in cats and very little in dogs. MAIN OBJECTIVE: To collect clinical outcomes data systematically from individualised homeopathic treatment of cats and dogs that would help to inform controlled research in feline and canine homeopathy. METHODS: Twenty-one homeopathic veterinary surgeons recorded data systematically from consecutive feline and canine patients over a 12-month period.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a significant cause of morbidity. Many patients have communicated an interest in non-pharmacological therapies to their general practitioners. Systematic reviews of acupuncture and counselling for depression in primary care have identified limited evidence. The aim of this study was to evaluate acupuncture versus usual care and counselling versus usual care for patients who continue to experience depression in primary care. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In a randomised controlled trial, 755 patients with depression (Beck Depression Inventory BDI-II score ?

The Taylor-Schechter (T-S) collection at Cambridge University Library is the biggest of all Cairo Genizah collections in the world. The importance and the potential of research into the medical aspects of the Genizah documents were clear to researcher since the early 1960s. A few works have been published since, usually focusing on one subject, or even important single manuscripts.

The importance of the Genizah for the research of the medieval Mediterranean communities, supplying information on almost every aspect of life, is well known among historian. Less known is that pharmacy was the most popular of all branches of the healing art in the medieval Jewish community of Cairo, according to the Genizah manuscripts. Sources for study of medieval practical drugs are extremely rare since most records naturally vanish over the years, and only some medical books, which contained theoretical pharmacology, have survived to the present day.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To asses the scientific value of the practical medical fragments found in the Cairo Genizah (10th century), as a useful source for ethnopharmacological purposes (in exposing rare and usually inaccessible original medieval practical knowledge of medicinal substances to present-day researchers), and to reconstruct the practical drugs and their uses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A methodology distinguishing between theoretical (about 1500 fragments) and practical medical knowledge (about 230 fragments) was created and used.