Shear-driven Film Separation. Experiments and Modeling

Issues of form go much deeper than colour. In 1970 a sedative БЂ“ chlordiazepoxide БЂ“ was found to be more effective in capsule form than pill form, even for the very same drug, in the very same dose: capsules at the time felt newer, somehow, and more sciencey. Maybe youБЂ™ve caught yourself splashing out and paying extra for ibuprofen capsules in the chemistБЂ™s. Route of administration has an effect as well: salt-water injections have been shown in three separate experiments to be more effective than sugar pills for blood pressure, for headaches and for postoperative pain, not because of any physical benefit of salt-water injection over sugar pills БЂ“ there isnБЂ™t one БЂ“ but because, as everyone knows, an injection is a much more dramatic intervention than just taking a pill. Closer to home for the alternative therapists, the BMJ recently published an article comparing two different placebo treatments for arm pain, one of which was a sugar pill, and one of which was a БЂritualБЂ™, a treatment modelled on acupuncture: the trial found that the more elaborate placebo ritual had a greater benefit ...»