Talk:Allopathy

Oh Boy

Lol, you coulda given Howard one day off! D. Matt Innis 02:53, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Like me, sigh, Howard is an old man -- so, like Satchel Paige, we gotta keep those juices flowing, stay away from them fatty foods, and think calming thoughts to cool the digestive system. I just know that this article will calm Howard.... Hayford Peirce 03:29, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure about Hayford's comment that it might be in vein; he's trying to cell me on the id-ea, but I'm sore enough to just lymph away. No, there still is a vas deferens between homeopathic and allopathic paradigms. Howard C. Berkowitz 04:10, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Very seriously

(also to be put on Forum, where an interdisciplinary group will also be suggested.)

For all practical purposes, this is an ancient word that really tells nothing about current science or medicine, which are not based on anything remotely resembling the theory of opposites. In terms of replacing it, I will say, cautiously, that many drug interactions are modeled on mechanisms involving cellular surface receptors, ion channels, and a very wide range of chemical messengers. Indirect effects such as rendering oral contraceptives, antibiotics or anticonvulsants ineffective due to up-regulation of an excretory pathway by theophylline (given for respiratory disease) are hardly as simplistic as similars or opposites.

It is one thing if some citizens want to deal with history or philosophy of medicine; it is quite another if such articles become a "time sink" constantly draining the time of mediators, experts from other disciplines, and other scarce Citizendium resources. Obviously, in a volunteer project, much is driven from what people want to write, as opposed necessarily to what the user base wants to read. Nevertheless, given the scarcity of contributors at present, some attention has to be paid to inquiring if a proposed area of effort will distract us from reaching a critical mass.

Rather that "opposites" or "similars" related to macro-level physiological behavior and even emotions, terms that come into play include agonists, antagonists, and sometimes modulators of various chemical "messengers", which are most often described with respect to subclasses: cytokines in the immune system, neurotransmitters in the neuromuscular system, etc. Completely different behavior, still molecular, relates to biological "programs" minimally expressed as nucleic acid sequences, but, just as the behavior of a minimally complex computer is not defined by the kernel functionality but by the interaction of external interrupts, automata, ordering of events, etc.

I raise this concern here based on an few edit comments, which may or may not indicate the desire of some citizens, given the rather stressful last-minute protests on homeopathy, to try to derive a program of work centered on ancient figures who indeed were idea-producing, but rarely had actual models, or even rules, that are of continuing utility. It's one thing to speak of the evolution of Koch's postulates, which, while they have been extended and modified, still retain an internal consistency. It is another to quote Hippocrates on a matter such as surgery being a separate discipline than medicine ("I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.") Physicians may not use the knife? No IV cutdowns? No incision and drainage? Sufferers from stone...hmmm, what does the Oath say about lithotripsy? Hippocrates made flat statements on ethical issues where many more choices exist: "I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy." Is the first a proscription against euthanasia? Passive euthanasia? What about mechanical life support? Is therapy with a lethal dose of a folic acid antagonists followed by leucovorin rescue licit? Obviously, one can very easily get into endless abortion and contraception debates.

Hayford mentioned he put this up more as an exercise; I get very nervous about suggesting that this is even being considered as an entry point to substantial article development. Howard C. Berkowitz 14:45, 5 January 2009 (UTC)