The journal of alternative and complementary medicine : research on paradigm, practice, and policy
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J Altern Complement Med · Apr 2006
ReviewEntanglement, knowledge, and their possible effects on the outcomes of blinded trials of homeopathic provings.
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. ⋯ 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.
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J Altern Complement Med · Apr 2006
Pediatric patients with sickle cell disease: use of complementary and alternative therapies.
Despite clinical advances, sickle cell disease (SCD) remains a difficult, chronic medical condition for many children and youth. Additional treatment strategies, including complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, would be welcome to enhance the clinical care of SCD patients. This study's objective was to identify CAM therapies that are currently used by families for children with SCD, and to investigate SCD families' interest in CAM. ⋯ The use of CAM therapies is common for children with SCD. Prayer, relaxation techniques, and spiritual healing were the most commonly reported CAM therapies. Because clinical studies have shown the benefit of spiritual and relaxation practices for SCD and this study shows that these CAM therapies are being used commonly by SCD families, future research should focus on spiritual and relaxation practices for children with SCD.