Michael Hyland

A number of authors have recently discussed the possible role entanglement in homeopathy. Walach et al have published a homeopathic proving which they interpreted as demonstrating entanglement between placebo and verum groups in a proving. The lack of a 'run-in' period was a weakness of this trial. We present further results of our proving of Belladonna which show that subjects who reported symptoms during the placebo run-in period ('presentiment provers') were more likely to report symptoms during the treatment period. This data suggests and the observations of Walach et al may be explicable by conventional mechanisms including differential reporting and constitutional type.

The Lung Information Needs Questionnaire (LINQ) assesses, from the patient's perspective, their need for education. This questionnaire yields a total score and scores in six domains: disease knowledge, medicine, self-management, smoking, exercise and diet. The aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity of the LINQ to change before and after pulmonary rehabilitation (PR).PR programmes across the UK recruited 158 patients (male = 94; 59%). The participants completed the LINQ and other measures as used by the individual sites pre- and post-PR, including the Shuttle Walking Test, Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.Data were analysed on 115 patients who completed data collection pre- and post-PR. The LINQ total scores, and subscales scores across all sites improved significantly with large effect sizes, except for the smoking domain as information needs about smoking were well met prior to PR. There were similar patterns of information needs at baseline and after PR in all sites.This study shows that the LINQ is a practical tool for detecting areas where patients need education and is sensitive to change after PR. The quality of the education component of PR can be assessed using the LINQ, which could be considered as a routinely collected outcome measure in PR. The LINQ may also be a useful tool for general practitioners to assess their patients' educational needs.