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Biomedical subjects

P H Canter

Publications and source records attributed to P H Canter.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Johrei family healing: a pilot study.

Johrei is a form of spiritual healing comprising "energy channelling" and light massage given either by a trained healer or, after some basic training, by anyone. This pilot trial aimed to identify any potential benefits of family-based Johrei practice in childhood eczema and for general health and to establish the feasibility of a subsequent randomised controlled trial. Volunteer families of 3-5 individuals, including at least one child with eczema were recruited to an uncontrolled pilot trial lasting 12 months. Parents were trained in Johrei healing and then practised at home with their family. Participants kept diaries and provided questionnaire data at baseline, 3,6 and 12 months. Eczema symptoms were scored at the same intervals. Scepticism about Johrei is presently an obstacle to recruitment and retention of a representative sample in a clinical trial, and to its potential use in general practice. The frequency and quality of practise at home by families may be insufficient to bring about the putative health benefits. Initial improvements in eczema symptoms and diary recorded illness, could not be separated from seasonal factors and other potential confounders. There were no improvements on other outcomes measuring general health and psychological wellbeing of family members.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

A systematic review of randomised clinical trials of Tripterygium wilfordii for rheumatoid arthritis.

Tripterygium wilfordii is a Chinese herb with immunosuppressive effects and an established history of use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We have carried out a systematic review of randomised clinical trials (RCTs) which assess the effectiveness of T. wilfordii in this indication. We included only randomised and controlled studies which tested the effectiveness of T. wilfordii monopreparations in the treatment of RA. Studies in any language were included. A search of five electronic databases from inception to February 2005 identified 18 articles which could potentially meet our inclusion criteria. Only 16 of these could be retrieved from the scientific literature and after reading these in full, only two unique RCTs meeting our inclusion criteria were identified. Both indicated that T. wilfordii has beneficial effects on the symptoms of RA. However, the literature indicates that T. wilfordii is associated with serious adverse events which make the risk-benefit analysis for this herb unfavourable. Therefore, we cannot recommend its use.

Antirheumatic Agents↗
PubMed2006

A systematic review of systematic reviews of spinal manipulation.

OBJECTIVES: To systematically collate and evaluate the evidence from recent systematic reviews of clinical trials of spinal manipulation. DESIGN: Literature searches were carried out in four electronic databases for all systematic reviews of the effectiveness of spinal manipulation in any indication, published between 2000 and May 2005. Reviews were defined as systematic if they included an explicit and repeatable inclusion and exclusion criteria for studies. RESULTS: Sixteen papers were included relating to the following conditions: back pain (n=3), neck pain (n=2), lower back pain and neck pain (n=1), headache (n=3), non-spinal pain (n=1), primary and secondary dysmenorrhoea (n=1), infantile colic (n=1), asthma (n=1), allergy (n=1), cervicogenic dizziness (n=1), and any medical problem (n=1). The conclusions of these reviews were largely negative, except for back pain where spinal manipulation was considered superior to sham manipulation but not better than conventional treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively these data do not demonstrate that spinal manipulation is an effective intervention for any condition. Given the possibility of adverse effects, this review does not suggest that spinal manipulation is a recommendable treatment.

Asthma↗
PubMed2004

Research into complementary and alternative medicine across Europe and the United States.

BACKGROUND: There has been an increase in complementary/ alternative medicine (CAM) research with a wide range of perspectives. OBJECTIVE: To capture and analyse the diversity of CAM research across 7 European countries (Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium) and the US. We were predominantly interested in finding out how CAM research differs between countries. STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review of CAM literature published in 2002 and included in Medline, Embase, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBBS) and PsycLit. OUTCOME CRITERIA: Data were extracted regarding country of origin, type of methodology, type of research question, CAM modality, direction of conclusion, setting and type of journal. RESULTS: In total 652 abstracts of articles were assessed (Germany: 137, UK: 183, Italy: 39, France: 47, Spain: 24, Netherlands: 17, Belgium: 22, US: 183). The vast majority of CAM research was of a medical nature and published in medical journals. The majority of articles were nonsystematic reviews and comments, analytical studies and surveys. The UK carried out more surveys than any of the other countries and also published the largest number of systematic reviews. Germany, the UK and the US covered the widest range of interests across various CAM modalities and investigated the safety of CAM. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that important national differences exist in terms of the nature of CAM research. This raises important questions regarding the reasons for such differences.

Complementary Therapies↗
PubMed2003

The Alexander technique: a systematic review of controlled clinical trials.

AIM: Alexander technique (AT), a process of psychophysical re-education, is being promoted for a range of medical conditions. This systematic review is aimed at critically evaluating the evidence for or against the effectiveness of AT. METHODS: Computerized literature searches were performed in five databases to locate all controlled clinical trials of AT in any human condition. Data were extracted independently by two reviewers according to pre-defined criteria. The information was summarized in tabular and narrative form. The methodological quality of the primary studies was assessed using the Jadad score. RESULTS: Four clinical trials met our inclusion/exclusion criteria. Only two of these trials were methodologically sound and clinically relevant. Their results are promising and imply that AT is effective in reducing the disability of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and in improving pain behaviour and disability in patients with back pain. CONCLUSION: The few controlled clinical trials of AT yield encouraging albeit not convincing evidence. AT deserves to be studied in more detail.

Evidence-Based Medicine↗
PubMed2003

Multiple n = 1 trials in the identification of responders and non-responders to the cognitive effects of Ginkgo biloba.

OBJECTIVE: A pilot study to assess multiple crossover n = 1 trials with verum/placebo discrimination as the outcome measure as a means of identifying responders and non-responders to the acute nootropic effect of Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba) among healthy volunteers. METHOD: Multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled n = 1 trials with 8 treatments in randomized order and separated by minimum washout periods of 7 days. Treatments were acute 120 mg doses of G. biloba extract (GK501) or undistinguishable placebo. The frequency distribution of correct scores for verum-placebo discrimination was compared with the binomial distribution to identify putative responders, who were then tested for consistency of performance over a further 8 treatments. RESULTS: The frequency distribution of scores (n = 11) was bimodal and a discontinuity defined 3 putative responders and 2 putative negative responders for re-test. Two of the putative responders again performed at above chance level and the probability of achieving their scores or better by chance was 0.013 and 0.052. CONCLUSIONS: n = 1 trials with verum/placebo discrimination as outcome are a promising method for exploring response heterogeneity to treatments with a subjective effect. Preliminary evidence suggests that there are responders and non-responders to an acute G. biloba treatment among healthy subjects.

Adult↗