Lepidoptera In Medicine ( UK Horse )

[Doug Yanega]

Ian Dunn wrote:

>I would
>be very impressed , *if* , this is reproducible on large numners of people
>elsewhere in the world , otherwise just one more piece of nonsense

Even if the results were genuine (note that I'm not saying anything about
the *interpretation* of what those results mean), it would probably be hard
to replicate this anywhere else in the world, because a study where the
patients KNOW they are receiving a medicine that they are motivated to
BELIEVE will work is likely to give very different results from a typical
Western clinical study that involves double-blind placebo treatments and
impersonal doctor-patient interactions. It is impossible, in these "eastern
vs. western medicine" debates, to tease out the purely *psychological*
factors (which are typically crucial to the success of many eastern
"medicines", esp. aphrodisiacs) from the actual effects, if any, of the
thing being tested. I submit, therefore, that rehashing this old, tired
debate here (even though it might be stimulating to a few people) is not
only off-topic and inappropriate, but ultimately useless. Let's stop now,
please, and I'll make a personal request to Charles that he make some
greater effort to keep messages to the list on-topic; not that his original
one dealing with Cordyceps was not on-topic, but some of the others were
marginal at best.

Peace,


Doug Yanega       Dept. of Entomology           Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82