{"id":3321,"date":"2024-02-11T11:24:54","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T05:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/?p=3321"},"modified":"2024-02-11T11:24:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T05:54:54","slug":"using-similarity-search-in-homeopathy-repertorization-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/11\/using-similarity-search-in-homeopathy-repertorization-software\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Similarity Search in Homeopathy Repertorization Software"},"content":{"rendered":"

Homeopathy Repertorization software such as RadarOpus<\/strong><\/em>, MacRepertory<\/strong><\/em>, Vithoulkas Compass<\/strong><\/em>, and Synergy Homeopathic Software (SHS)<\/strong><\/em> are widely used by homeopaths to speed up case taking, repertorization and case analysis. All of them have a \u201cSearch\u201d<\/strong><\/em> feature, where the given text is searched (typically based on key words and synonyms) against one or more repertories and the matching \u201crubrics\u201d<\/strong><\/em> are displayed. The homeopath then chooses relevant rubrics from this list for further case analysis. None of the above software support \u201csemantic similarity search\u201d<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSemantic similarity\u201d<\/strong><\/em> uses word embedding vectors to compare \u201chow similar\u201d<\/strong><\/em> two texts are. Although this idea has been around for some time, it has gained increased visibility recently with the advent of Large Language Models (LLM)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Let us take an example. Suppose we would like to know what rubrics (in any of the supported repertories) come up for the text \u201ccervical spondylosis\u201d<\/strong><\/em>. Here is what I get in \u201cVithoulkas Compass\u201d<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"Vithoulkas<\/a>
“Cervical Spondylosis” in Vithoulkas Compass<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is no match! I tried in RadarOpus<\/strong><\/em> and got the same result.\u00a0 <\/span>Let us try in Synergy Homeopathic Software (SHS)<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"Searching<\/a>
Searching in SHS<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is interesting because it shows the related phrase \u201ccervical spondylitis\u201d<\/strong><\/em> from Phatak Repertory<\/strong><\/em> (among others), even though the given search text does not appear verbatim<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Let us now try to use \u201csemantic\u201d<\/strong><\/em> search. To demonstrate this concept, I have written a Python<\/strong><\/em> program that uses Kent Repertory<\/strong><\/em> and displays \u201csimilar\u201d<\/strong><\/em> rubrics based on input text. Here is what my program displays as possible matches:<\/p>\n

\"Semantic<\/a>
Semantic Similarity Search<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You will notice that the word \u201cspondylosis\u201d<\/strong><\/em> (or even \u201cspondylitis\u201d<\/strong><\/em>) does not appear in any of the rubrics shown, but the rubrics are \u201csomewhat similar\u201d<\/strong><\/em> to the given text. I feel this is more valuable to a homeopath. My implementation uses a \u201cvector database\u201d<\/strong><\/em> to store and retrieve the rubrics present in Kent<\/strong><\/em> repertory. For keeping the discussion simple, I am not showing the remedies associated with rubrics.<\/p>\n

Let us try a more complicated example. The search text is \u201cstitching pain in the knee when ascending stairs\u201d<\/strong><\/em>. Here is the output from RadarOpus<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"RadarOpus<\/a>
RadarOpus Result<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No matches in any included repertory. Let us try SHS<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"SHS<\/a>
SHS Result<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wow! There are 2 matches in Phatak\u2019s<\/strong><\/em> repertory. If you observe carefully, the match shows that every<\/strong><\/em> word in the given text is present in the search result, but some words such as \u201cthe\u201d<\/strong><\/em> and \u201cin\u201d<\/strong><\/em> are present as part of (substring) another word! That was not intended at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I will now use \u201cclimbing\u201d<\/strong><\/em> instead of \u201cascending\u201d<\/strong><\/em> and see how SHS<\/strong><\/em> handles this:<\/p>\n

\"Modified<\/a>
Modified Query in SHS<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No matches this time! Clearly, the strategy used is not what we want.<\/p>\n

How does semantic search<\/em><\/strong> work in this case?<\/p>\n

\"Semantic<\/a>
Semantic Search Yields Better Matches<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is better because it shows \u201cpotential\u201d<\/strong><\/em> matches. Interestingly, it shows \u201cdescending stairs\u201d<\/strong><\/em> too (it is possible to fine tune the search result, but that is not important for now). Also, I am displaying top 10 matches and this can be customized.<\/p>\n

In the program that I wrote, I am also supporting \u201cchapter\u201d-based<\/strong><\/em> similarity search. First let us try \u201ceruptions aggravated by cold air\u201d<\/strong><\/em> without mentioning any chapter:<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another Example<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The shows results from multiple chapters: Face, Skin, Back, Extremities<\/strong><\/em>. What if I want to search only in Face<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0chapter?<\/p>\n

\"Filtering<\/a>
Filtering Based on Chapter<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We now have rubrics only from \u201cFace\u201d<\/strong><\/em> chapter. This can be quite convenient as it permits higher-level filtering.<\/p>\n

Here are two more examples from my program:<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another Example<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Filtering based on \u201cMind\u201d<\/strong><\/em> chapter:<\/p>\n

\"Restricting<\/a>
Restricting to Mind Chapter<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As this article attempts to show, supporting \u201csemantic similarity search\u201d<\/strong><\/em> is quite useful in homeopathy software. Another important feature that needs to be incorporated is to take advantage of Retrieval Augmented Generation<\/strong><\/em><\/a> to help homeopaths tackle real-world cases. Let us focus on building a new generation of homeopathy software that is not shackled by decades-old approaches to case solving!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have a nice weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homeopathy Repertorization software such as RadarOpus, MacRepertory, Vithoulkas Compass, and Synergy Homeopathic Software (SHS) are widely used by homeopaths to speed up case taking, repertorization and case analysis. All of them have a \u201cSearch\u201d feature, where the given text is searched (typically based on key words and synonyms) against one or more repertories and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[25,30,24,380],"class_list":["post-3321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homeopathy","tag-homeopathy","tag-repertorization","tag-rubrics","tag-semantic-similarity-search"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9OLnF-Rz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3343,"url":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/21\/using-similarity-search-in-homeopathy-repertorization-software-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3321,"position":0},"title":"Using Similarity Search in Homeopathy Repertorization Software – Part 2","author":"admin","date":"February 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In my earlier article, I had explained how natural language text describing a symptom can be converted to a formal \u201crubric\u201d by using a vector database. In today\u2019s article, I will show how this can be extended to support multiple symptoms in the input text with automatic repertorisation to identify\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Homeopathy"","block_context":{"text":"Homeopathy","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/category\/homeopathy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Example Case - 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/case1-300x217.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/case1-300x217.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/case1-300x217.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":81,"url":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2015\/11\/15\/themes-desirable-features-of-homeopathic-software-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3321,"position":1},"title":"Themes: Desirable Features of Homeopathic Software – Part 2","author":"admin","date":"November 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In an earlier post, I started to enumerate some features that I would like to see in a good homeopathic software, and how some of those found their way in to iCure, my own software. In this post, I would like to share another interesting feature called Themes. Sometimes when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Homeopathy"","block_context":{"text":"Homeopathy","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/category\/homeopathy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"iCure Themes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/iCure-themes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/iCure-themes.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/iCure-themes.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3421,"url":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/07\/building-an-intelligent-homeopathy-assistant\/","url_meta":{"origin":3321,"position":2},"title":"Building an Intelligent Homeopathy Assistant","author":"admin","date":"July 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I have written extensively about my initial work on developing homeopathy Repertorization software and more recently, on Case Analysis Using RAG\u00a0and using Semantic Search\u00a0to find rubrics. As a student of homeopathy, I have been continuously doing research on how to improve the quality of homeopathy case analysis and in particular,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Homeopathy"","block_context":{"text":"Homeopathy","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/category\/homeopathy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Understanding Remedy Keynotes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Screen1-300x222.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Screen1-300x222.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Screen1-300x222.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3704,"url":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/11\/software-review-synergy-viva-genie-module\/","url_meta":{"origin":3321,"position":3},"title":"Software Review: Synergy Viva – Genie Module","author":"admin","date":"May 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Synergy Homeopathic has released an upgraded version of their earlier \u201cSynergy SHS\u201d software in the name of \u201cSynergy Viva\u201d. The main improvement in this release is the ability to add-on optional modules.\u00a0 I upgraded to the new release about a week ago and opted for the \u201cGenie\u201d add-on. What is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Homeopathy"","block_context":{"text":"Homeopathy","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/category\/homeopathy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bringing up Genie","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Image1-300x202.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/28\/desirable-features-of-homeopathic-software\/","url_meta":{"origin":3321,"position":4},"title":"Desirable Features of Homeopathic Software","author":"admin","date":"October 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There are many good homeopathic programs today. RADAR, RADAROpus, MacRepertory, ISIS, Mercurius, and Complete Dynamics are among the popular ones (I have with me all but the last one). Among web-based programs, Vithoulkas Compass is one that I subscribe to. Most of these include a patient database feature in order\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Homeopathy"","block_context":{"text":"Homeopathy","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/category\/homeopathy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Disease symptoms","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Disease-symptoms.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Disease-symptoms.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Disease-symptoms.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3503,"url":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/18\/ihomeomate-intelligent-case-analysis\/","url_meta":{"origin":3321,"position":5},"title":"iHomeoMate: Intelligent Case Analysis","author":"admin","date":"September 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We have covered several interesting features of \u201ciHomoMate\u201d in the earlier articles. In this article, we will take a look at the most important and most useful feature: Intelligent Case Analysis. Decades ago, when computer repertories were not available, Homeopaths used hard copies of Repertories to study a case and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Homeopathy"","block_context":{"text":"Homeopathy","link":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/category\/homeopathy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Case","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Image2-1-300x152.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Image2-1-300x152.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rangakrish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Image2-1-300x152.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rangakrish.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}