User:Whig/RSN-Arsenicum album
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[edit] Arsenicum album
We have two papers, Cazin (1987)[1] and Linde (1994)[2], the first of which is a study of the effect of homeopathic dilutions of arsenic on rats, and the second is a meta-analysis which reviews this paper and gives it a "QE > 50" rating which is characterized in the abstract as "high quality." These papers have been challenged, but they have been verified and no verifiable and reliable sources have been put forward to challenge Cazin or Linde. We have been going in circles, and it might be helpful to have clarity from someone here as to whether these are reliable sources for our purposes.
Jonas, Kaptchuck, and Linde (2003)(Jonas, Kaptchuck, and Linde, "A Critical Overview of Homeopathy," Annals of Internal Medicine, March 4, 2003, 138,5:393-400), reference Linde (1994), and assert that "unusual effects of ultra-high dilutions in rigorous laboratory studies continue to be reported."(page 397) Here, these authors re-assert their affirmation that their study found effects from homeopathic medicines in "rigorous laboratory studies." Linde (1994) notes that they evaluated between 24 and 31 criteria (depending on the model studied), though we do not know the details about this criteria. Although one might assume that blinding might be a necessary component of "high quality" research, there may be some types of studies for which other criteria of research design are more important. Likewise, randomization is not always viable in animal research nor might it have any significance in evaluating whether the study was a high quality one. Just as blinding is not typically used in surgery, not every component of human trials may be necessary in determining high quality research on other areas of scientific inquiry.
