Miasms and modern pathology

A dynamic network model of the similia principle

The use of drugs in high dilutions and the principle of similarity (or "similia") are two basic tenets of homeopathy. However, the plausibility of both is a subject of debate. Although several models have been proposed to explain the similia principle, it can be best understood and appreciated in the framework of complexity science and dynamic systems theory. This work applies a five-node Boolean network to show how self-organization and adaptation are relevant to rationalizing this traditional medical principle. Simulating the trajectories and attractors of the network system in the energy state-space provides a rudimentary and qualitative illustration of how targeted external perturbations can have pathological effects, leading to permanent, self-sustaining alterations. Similarly, changes that conversely enable the system to find its way back to the original state can induce therapeutic effects, by causing specific shifts in attractors when suitable conditions are satisfied. Extrapolating these mechanisms to homeopathy, we can envisage how major changes in the evolution of homeodynamic systems (and, eventually, healing of the entire body) can be achieved through carefully selected remedies that reproduce the whole symptom pattern of the ill state.

Immunology and homeopathy. 5. The rationale of the 'Simile'

The foundation of homeopathic medicine is the 'Similia Principle', also known as the 'Principle of Similarity' or also as the 'Simile', which reflects the inversion of pharmacological effects in healthy subjects as compared with sick ones. This article describes the inversion of effects, a widespread medical phenomenon, through three possible mechanisms: non-linearity of dose-response relationship, different initial pathophysiological states of the organism, and pharmacodynamics of body response to the medicine. Based on the systemic networks which play an important role in response to stress, a unitary and general model is designed: homeopathic medicines could interact with sensitive (primed) regulation systems through complex information, which simulate the disorders of natural disease. Reorganization of regulation systems, through a coherent response to the medicine, could pave the way to the healing of the cellular, tissue and neuro-immuno-endocrine homeodynamics. Preliminary evidence is suggesting that even ultra-low doses and high-dilutions of drugs may incorporate structural or frequency information and interact with chaotic dynamics and physical-electromagnetic levels of regulation. From the clinical standpoint, the 'simile' can be regarded as a heuristic principle, according to which the detailed knowledge of pathogenic effects of drugs, associated with careful analysis of signs and symptoms of the ill subject, could assist in identifying homeopathic remedies with high grade of specificity for the individual case.