Presentiment or entanglement?

Models for the Study of Whole Systems

This article summarizes a network and complex systems science model for research on whole systems of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) such as homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine. The holistic concepts of networks and nonlinear dynamical complex systems are well matched to the global and interactive perspectives of whole systems of CAM, whereas the reductionistic science model is well matched to the isolated local organ, cell, and molecular mechanistic perspectives of pharmaceutically based biomedicine. Whole systems of CAM are not drugs with specific actions. The diagnostic and therapeutic approaches of whole systems of CAM produce effects that involve global and patterned shifts across multiple subsystems of the person as a whole. For homeopathy, several characteristics of complex systems, including the probabilistic nature of attractor patterns, variable sensitivity of complex systems to initial conditions, and emergent behaviors in the evolution of a system in its full environmental context over time, could help account for the mixed basic science and controlled clinical trial research findings, in contrast with the consistently positive outcomes of observational studies in the literature. Application of theories and methods from complex systems and network science can open a new era of advances in understanding factors that lead to good versus poor individual global outcome patterns and to rational triage of patients to one type of care over another. The growing reliance on complex systems thinking and systems biology for cancer research affords a unique opportunity to bridge between the CAM and conventional medical worlds with some common language and conceptual models.

High-dilution effects revisited. 1. Physicochemical aspects

Several lines of evidence suggest that homeopathic high dilutions (HDs) can effectively have a pharmacological action, and so cannot be considered merely placebos. However, until now there has been no unified explanation for these observations within the dominant paradigm of the dose-response effect. Here the possible scenarios for the physicochemical nature of HDs are reviewed. A number of theoretical and experimental approaches, including quantum physics, conductometric and spectroscopic measurements, thermoluminescence, and model simulations investigated the peculiar features of diluted/succussed solutions. The heterogeneous composition of water could be affected by interactive phenomena such as coherence, epitaxy and formation of colloidal nanobubbles containing gaseous inclusions of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, silica and, possibly, the original material of the remedy. It is likely that the molecules of active substance act as nucleation centres, amplifying the formation of supramolecular structures and imparting order to the solvent. Three major models for how this happens are currently being investigated: the water clusters or clathrates, the coherent domains postulated by quantum electrodynamics, and the formation of nanoparticles from the original solute plus solvent components. Other theoretical approaches based on quantum entanglement and on fractal-type self-organization of water clusters are more speculative and hypothetical. The problem of the physicochemical nature of HDs is still far from to be clarified but current evidence strongly supports the notion that the structuring of water and its solutes at the nanoscale can play a key role.

Homeopathic drug discovery: theory update and methodological aspect

BACKGROUND

Homeopathy treats patient on the basis of totality of symptoms and is based on the principle of 'like cures like'. It uses ultra-low doses of highly diluted natural substances as remedies that originate from plants, minerals or animals.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this review are to discuss concepts, controversies and research related to understanding homeopathy in the light of modern science.

METHODS

Attempts have been made to focus on current views of homeopathy and to delineate its most plausible mechanism(s) of action.

RESULTS

Although some areas of concern remain, research carried out so far both in vitro and in vivo validates the effects of highly diluted homeopathic medicines in a wide variety of organisms.

CONCLUSION

The precise mechanism(s) and pathway(s) of action of highly diluted homeopathic drugs are still unknown.

Homeopathic pathogenetic trials produce more specific than non-specific symptoms: results from two double-blind placebo controlled trials

We conducted two parallel, blinded homeopathic pathogenetic trials conducted at two different sites to determine whether symptoms reported by healthy volunteers were significantly different for homeopathic remedies than for placebos. Study 1 used a two-armed design, testing ozone against placebo. Study 2 used a three-armed design, testing ozone and iridium against placebo. We found significantly more remedy-specific symptoms in provers taking ozone or iridium than in provers taking placebo in the three-armed trial and in both trials pooled for ozone and placebo. We, therefore, conclude that homeopathic remedies produce more symptoms typical for a remedy than non-typical symptoms. The results furthermore suggest a somewhat non-classical pattern because symptoms of one remedy appear to be mimicked in the other trial arm. This might be indicative of entanglement in homeopathic systems.

Entanglement, Knowledge, and Their Possible Effects on the Outcomes of Blinded Trials of Homeopathic Provings

INTRODUCTION

In two recent studies of double-blind placebo-controlled homeopathic provings, entanglement was reported to have occurred between verum and placebo arms of the trials. This contrasts directly with the entanglement-disrupting effects of blinding, recently proposed as the reason for the failure of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to demonstrate unequivocally the efficacy of homeopathy. It is proposed here that such entanglement between remedy and placebo during these double-blind placebo controlled provings is the direct result of the blinding process.

METHOD

A previously developed theoretical model of entanglement in homeopathy among patient, practitioner, and remedy (called PPR entanglement) was used in this investigation.

RESULTS

In agreement with the results from the proving studies, the model predicts that application of the double-blind RCT methodology to homeopathic provings leads to entanglement between both remedy and placebo arms of the trial.

CONCLUSIONS

These theoretical findings can be understood in terms of the act of blinding leading to loss of information because of quantum-like state superposition of the verum and placebo proving groups. This is compared to conclusions drawn from the well-known double-slit experiment of quantum physics, and quantum information processing. It leads to a suggestion for testing entanglement in homeopathic provings.