Homeopathy最新文献

Background: Multimorbidity, a prevailing trend in the primary care population of all ages, is a challenge for health care systems that are largely configured for single disease management. Homeopathy has shown competence in the management of chronic diseases, whether they occur as a single ailment or as a multimorbidity.

Case history: A 35-year-old female patient presenting with hemorrhoids, low back pain, hypothyroidism, fibroadenosis breasts (bilateral), and fibroid uterus was given homeopathic treatment for 33 months at Nandigama AYUSH Lifestyle Disorders Clinic, Andhra Pradesh. She was prescribed the homeopathic medicines Lachesis mutus and Thyroidinum at different time intervals based on the totality of symptoms.

Results: Following treatment, a reduction in the size of the uterine fibroid and complete regression of breast lumps in ultrasonography were noted. The modified Naranjo criteria total score was 10 out of 13. Further, significant improvement in symptoms and laboratory parameters, such as triiodothyronine (T3), tetra-iodothyronine (T4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), indicated that a well-chosen homeopathic medicine may be beneficial in managing multimorbidity.

Conclusion: This case study reveals a positive role of homeopathic treatment in multimorbidity. More case studies and well-designed controlled research should be used to further investigate homeopathic intervention in multimorbidity.

Background: Homeopathic products (HP) have been proposed for the prevention of disease and as a complementary dietary additive in pig farming, with resulting improved performance and quality of life of the animals and with benefits for food safety. The aim of this study was to assess the addition of HP to pig feed and its effects on growth performance, dietary protein utilization, nutrient digestibility, meat quality, and economic feasibility.

Methods: A total of 80 male pigs, body weight 32.8±2.3kg, were allocated in a randomized design, with two treatments of 10 replications and four animals per experimental unit. Treatments were composed of a control diet (CD) or CD+HP (Finalvitaplus+Figotonus, 1.1kg/ton feed of each product). The outcome measures used were growth performance (body weight gain) and feed efficiency (body weight gain per unit of feed consumed), efficiency of dietary protein utilization (blood urea nitrogen), nutrient digestibility (apparent digestibility coefficient and apparent nutrient digestibility), meat quality (including pH, temperature, color, liquid loss by cooking and thawing, intramuscular fat and meat tenderness), and economic feasibility (cost of the diets).

Results: There was no effect (p >0.05) of treatments on growth performance of the pigs, though the group that received HP showed an 8.93% greater feed efficiency than the control group (p=0.077). The animals in the control group had a 14.37% higher blood urea nitrogen concentration in the finishing I phase (70-100kg body weight) compared with those fed HP (p=0.028), indicating lower protein utilization in the controls. There was comparative improvement in digestibility coefficient and in nutrient digestibility in pigs fed HP in the growing-finishing phase (p <0.05). There was no differential effect of treatments on meat quality or economic feasibility (p >0.05).

Conclusion: The addition of HP to the diet of growing-finishing pigs produced some improvement in their dietary protein utilization, nutrient digestibility and feed efficiency, though it did not affect their growth performance, meat quality or economic feasibility.

Introduction: Tinea corporis (TC; ringworm or dermatophytosis) is a superficial skin infection caused by Microsporum, Epidermophyton and Trichophyton genera of dermatophytes. We compared the effects of individualized homeopathic medicines (IHMs) in fifty-millesimal (LM) potencies against placebo in TC.

Methods: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, two parallel arms trial was conducted on 62 individuals suffering from TC at the National Institute of Homoeopathy, India. Participants were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive either IHMs in LM potencies or identical-looking placebos for a period of 3 months. The primary outcome measure was the number of participants showing complete disappearance of skin lesions after 3 months. Secondary outcomes were a numeric rating scale (NRS) measuring intensity of itching and the Skindex-29 questionnaire (overall, and three sub-scales - degree of symptoms, psychological functioning, emotional status). All were assessed at baseline and every month, up to 3 months. The intention-to-treat sample was analyzed to detect inter-group differences using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance after adjusting for baseline differences.

Results: The primary outcome revealed no improvement in either of the groups (χ ² = 0.012, p = 0.999). Inter-group differences in some of the secondary outcomes favored IHMs against placebo - itching NRS (mean group difference after 3 months: -0.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], -1.1 to -0.4; p = 0.001); Skindex-29 overall (mean group difference after 3 months: 3.2 [95% CI, -0.6 to 7.0; p = 0.009]); Skindex-29 degree of symptoms (mean group difference after 3 months: 0.9 [95% CI, -0.2 to 1.9; p = 0.007]); and Skindex-29 psychological functioning (mean group difference after 3 months: 1.7 [95% CI, 0-3.4; p = 0.002]).

Conclusion: Results were negative on the primary outcome; however, secondary outcomes included some statistically significant results favoring IHMs against placebo after 3 months.

Trial registration: CTRI/2019/11/021999; UTN: U1111-1242-0070.

Background:  The Clificol COVID-19 Support Project is an innovative international data collection project aimed at tackling some of the core questions in homeopathy. This paper reports on the further investigation of the genus epidemicus concept during the first wave of the pandemic in the Chinese population.

Methods:  The design is an observational clinical case registry study of Chinese patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The symptoms were prospectively collected via a 150-item questionnaire. The concept of genus epidemicus, including the role of treatment individualization, was investigated by analyzing whether presenting symptoms clustered into distinct groups. Two standard statistical analysis techniques were utilized: principal component analysis for extracting the most meaningful symptoms of the dataset; the k-means clustering algorithm for automatically assigning groups based on similarity between presenting symptoms.

Results:  20 Chinese practitioners collected 359 cases in the first half of 2020 (766 consultations, 363 prescriptions). The cluster analysis found two to be the optimum number of clusters. These two symptomatic clusters had a high overlap with the two most commonly prescribed remedies in these sub-populations: in cluster 1 there were 297 prescriptions, 95.6% of which were Gelsemium sempervirens; in cluster 2 there were 61 prescriptions, 95.1% of which were Bryonia alba.

Conclusion:  This is the first study to investigate the notion of genus epidemicus by using modern statistical techniques. These analyses identified at least two distinct symptom pictures. The notion of a single COVID-19 genus epidemicus did not apply in the studied population.

Background:  Cervical cancer (CC) is the second leading cancer in women and is the most common in those aged 15 to 44 years. Medicinal plant extracts have been used as homeopathic preparations for health benefits. Rubus idaeus (RI) is used to treat disorders of the female genital tract and produces cytotoxic effects. However, the use of homeopathically prepared RI in combination with low level laser therapy has not previously been explored.

Aim:  The study aims to investigate the in-vitro effects of homeopathically prepared RI alone and in combination as a potential photosensitizer with Low-level laser irradiation (LLLI) at fluencies of 5, 10, and 15 J/cm².

Methods:  HeLa CC cells were treated with RI (D3, D6, and 30cH homeopathic preparations). Cells were then treated with RI IC₅₀ and 680 nm laser diode at 5, 10, and 15 J/cm² fluencies, and the results compared with untreated control cells. Trypan blue viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) proliferation assays were used to analyze the cellular dose-responses along with inverted microscopy, Hoechst staining and Annexin-V/PI staining.

Results:  RI D3 alone demonstrated an ability to reduce cellular viability to 59% and also to reduce ATP levels. The subsequent combined treatment protocol of RI D3 with all fluencies of laser demonstrated an increase in cellular ATP and increased LDH levels compared with the control.

Conclusion:  The increased ATP and LDH levels observed in the combined treatment protocol of 680 nm laser and RI D3 at fluencies of 5, 10 and 15 J/cm², show that the Warburg effect might have been induced in the CC cells - an increase in glucose uptake and the preferential production of lactate, even in the presence of oxygen. More research, including work on other cell lines, needs to be conducted to identify if RI and perhaps a different wavelength of laser irradiation could have potential in inducing cell death in cancer cells.

Background:  The manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can result in several prognoses and lead patients to look for appropriate complementary or alternative treatment options according to their personal situation and available health care. Patients with mild symptoms or those who have not yet reached the maximum severity of their condition are those who seek outpatient care, where homeopathic treatment might be considered, given the well documented history of this medical system in several epidemics in the past.

Objective:  The aim of this study was to compare the homeopathic treatment used for symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in March and April 2020 with cases treated in March and April 2021.

Method:  This is a retrospective observational study based on the analysis of the medical records of symptomatic COVID-19 patients treated on an outpatient basis with homeopathy at the Hahnemanniano George Galvão Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. We analyzed 54 cases, divided into two samples (27 cases in each year), similar in relation to age, gender and origin of the patients.

Results:  The development was distinct in the 2 years, with improvement of symptoms after 3 days of the first homeopathic prescription in 2020 whilst in 2021 the improvement occurred from the sixth day onward. The most frequently prescribed homeopathic medicine also differed in the two samples (Antimonium tartaricum in 2020; Arsenicum album in 2021), which indicates the different disease characteristics at these two moments of the epidemic.

Conclusion:  In 2020, the symptomatology of the cases was mainly acute and the main medicine was Antimonium tartaricum. By comparison, in 2021 a greater interference from individuals' previous chronic miasmatic disease may explain the change in the main medicines used that year, with Arsenicum album being the most prescribed in the cases studied.

The Homeopathy Research Institute (HRI) welcomed more than 450 people from 35 countries to their first online event on June 25, 2022. The one-day programme featured an excellent line-up of international speakers and provided a unique interactive platform in keeping with the theme of the event - Key Collaborations in Homeopathy Research. Scientists from a range of different research fields gave an exceptional insight into the current status of homeopathy research. Here we give an overview of the most significant findings in both clinical and basic research presented during HRI Online 2022.