Abstract
Background: The critical task of researchers conducting double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled homeopathic pathogenetic trials is to segregate the signals from the noises. The noises are signs and symptoms due to factors other than the trial drug; signals are signs and symptoms due to the trial drug. Unfortunately, the existing tools: the criteria for a causal association of symptoms with the tested medicine, qualitative pathogenetic index, quantitative pathogenetic index, and the pathogenic index, have limitations in analyzing the symptoms of the placebo group as a comparator resulting in inadequate segregation of the noises. Hence, proposing the Jaccard similarity index and Noise index for analyzing the symptoms of the placebo group as a comparator.
 Methods: This index is the ratio of the number of common elements among the placebo and intervention groups to the aggregated number of elements in these groups. The Noise index is the ratio of common elements among the placebo and intervention group to the total elements of the intervention group. The Homeopathic pathogenetic trials of Plumbum metallicum, Piper methysticum, and Hepatitis C nosode were selected for experimenting with the computation of the Jaccard similarity index and Noise index.
 Results: The Jaccard similarity index shows that 8% of Plumbum metallicum's elements, 10.7% of Piper methysticum's elements, and 19.3% of Hepatitis C nosode's elements were similar to the placebo group when elements of both the groups (intervention and placebo) aggregated. The noise index shows that 10.7 % of Plumbum metallicum's elements, 13.9% of Piper methysticum's elements, and 25.7% of Hepatitis C nosode's elements were similar to the placebo group.
 Conclusion: The Jaccard similarity index and Noise index might be considered an additional tool to analyze the symptoms of the placebo group as a comparator resulting in better noise segregation.
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Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of High Dilution Research - ISSN 1982-6206
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