text:
false positive
Iyengar Yoga, named after and developed by B. K. S. Iyengar, is a form of Hatha Yoga that has an emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of posture (asana) and breath control (pranayama). The development of strength, mobility and stability is gained through the asanas.
B.K.S. Iyengar has systematised over 200 classical yoga poses and 14 different types of Pranayama (with variations of many of them) ranging from the basic to advanced. This helps ensure that students progress gradually by moving from simple poses to more complex ones and develop their mind, body and spirit step by step.
Iyengar Yoga often makes use of props, such as belts, blocks, and blankets, as aids in performing asanas (postures). The props enable students to perform the asanas correctly, minimising the risk of injury or strain, and making the postures accessible to both young and old.
Sounds interesting? But does it work?
The objective of this recent systematic review was to conduct a systematic review of the existing research on Iyengar yoga for relieving back and neck pain. The authors conducted extensive literature searches and found 6 RCTs that met the inclusion criteria.
The difference between the groups on the post-intervention pain or functional disability intensity assessment was, in all 6 studies, favouring the yoga group, which projected a decrease in back and neck pain.
The authors concluded that Iyengar yoga is an effective means for both back and neck pain in comparison to control groups. This systematic review found strong evidence for short-term effectiveness, but little evidence for long-term effectiveness of yoga for chronic spine pain in the patient-centered outcomes.
So, if we can trust this evidence (I would not call the evidence 'strong), we have yet another treatment that might be effective for acute back and neck pain. The trouble, I fear, is not that we have too few such treatments, the trouble seems to be that we have too many of them. They all seem similarly effective, and I cannot help but wonder whether, in fact, they are all similarly ineffective.
Regardless of the answer to this troubling question, I feel the need to re-state what I have written many times before: FOR A CONDITION WITH A MULTITUDE OF ALLEGEDLY EFFECTIVE THERAPIES, IT MIGHT BE BEST TO CHOSE THE ONE THAT IS SAFEST AND CHEAPEST.
A recent article in the BMJ about my new book seems to have upset fellow researchers of alternative medicine. I am told that the offending passage is the following:
"Too much research on complementary therapies is done by people who have already made up their minds," the first UK professor of complementary medicine has said. Edzard Ernst, who left his chair at Exeter University early after clashing with the Prince of Wales, told journalists at the Science Media Centre in London that, although more research into alternative medicines was now taking place, "none of the centres is anywhere near critical enough."
Following this publication, I received indignant inquiries from colleagues asking whether I meant to say that their work lacks critical thinking. As this is a valid question, I will try to answer it the best I presently can.
Any critical evaluation of alternative medicine has to yield its fair share of negative conclusions about the value of alternative medicine. If it fails to do that, one would need to assume that most or all alternative therapies generate more good than harm – and very few experts (who are not proponents of alternative medicine) would assume that this can possibly be the case.
Put differently, this means that a researcher or a research group that does not generate its fair share of negative conclusions is suspect of lacking a critical attitude. In a previous post, I have addressed this issue in more detail by creating an 'index': THE TRUSTWORTHINESS INDEX. I have also provided a concrete example of a researcher who seems to be associated with a remarkably high index (the higher the index, the more suspicion of critical attitude).
Instead of unnecessarily upsetting my fellow researchers of alternative medicine any further, I will just issue this challenge: if any research group can demonstrate to have an index below 0.5 (which would mean the team has published twice as many negative conclusions as positive ones), I will gladly and publicly retract my suspicion that this group is "anywhere near critical enough".
Homeopathy has many critics who claim that there is no good evidence for this type of therapy. Homeopaths invariably find this most unfair and point to a plethora of studies that show an effect. They are, of course, correct! There are plenty of trials that suggest that homeopathic remedies do work. The question, however, is HOW RELIABLE ARE THESE STUDIES?
Here is a brand new one which might stand for dozens of others.
In this study, homeopaths treated 50 multimorbid patients with homeopathic remedies identifies by a method called 'polarity analysis' (PA) and prospectively followed them over one year (PA enables homeopaths to calculate a relative healing probability, based on Boenninghausen's grading of polar symptoms).
The 43 patients (86%) who completed the observation period experienced an average improvement of 91% in their initial symptoms. Six patients dropped out, and one did not achieve an improvement of 80%, and was therefore also counted as a treatment failure. The cost of homeopathic treatment was 41% of projected equivalent conventional treatment.
Good news then for enthusiasts of homeopathy? 91% improvement!
Yet, I am afraid that critics might not be bowled over. They might smell a whiff of selection bias, lament the lack of a control group or regret the absence of objective outcome measures. But I was prepared to go as far as stating that such results might be quite interesting… until I read the authors' conclusions that is:
Polarity Analysis is an effective method for treating multimorbidity. The multitude of symptoms does not prevent the method from achieving good results. Homeopathy may be capable of taking over a considerable proportion of the treatment of multimorbid patients, at lower costs than conventional medicine.
Virtually nothing in these conclusions is based on the data provided. They are pure extrapolation and wild assumptions. Two questions seem to emerge from this:
- How on earth can we take this and so many other articles on homeopathy seriously?
- When does this sort of article cross the line between wishful thinking and scientific misconduct?
I would have never thought that someone would be able to identify the author of the text I quoted in the previous post:
It is known that not just novel therapies but also traditional ones, such as homeopathy, suffer opposition and rejection by some doctors without having ever been subjected to serious tests. The doctor is in charge of medical treatment; he is thus responsible foremost for making sure all knowledge and all methods are employed for the benefit of public health…I ask the medical profession to consider even previously excluded therapies with an open mind. It is necessary that an unbiased evaluation takes place, not just of the theories but also of the clinical effectiveness of alternative medicine.
More often than once has science, when it relied on theory alone, arrived at verdicts which later had to be overturned – frequently this occurred only after long periods of time, after progress had been hindered and most acclaimed pioneers had suffered serious injustice. I do not need to remind you of the doctor who, more than 100 years ago, in fighting puerperal fever, discovered sepsis and asepsis but was laughed at and ousted by his colleagues throughout his lifetime. Yet nobody would today deny that this knowledge is most relevant to medicine and that it belongs to the basis of medicine. Insightful doctors, some of whom famous, have, during the recent years, spoken openly about the crisis in medicine and the dead end that health care has maneuvered itself into. It seems obvious that the solution is going in directions which embrace nature. Hardly any other form of science is so tightly bound to nature as is the science occupied with healing living creatures. The demand for holism is getting stronger and stronger, a general demand which has already been fruitful on the political level. For medicine, the challenge is to treat more than previously by influencing the whole organism when we aim to heal a diseased organ.
It is from the opening speech by Rudolf Hess on the occasion of the WORLD CONFERENCE ON HOMEOPATHY 1937, in Berlin. Hess, at the time Hitler's deputy, was not the only Nazi-leader. I knew of the opening speech because, a few years ago, DER SPIEGEL published a theme issue on homeopathy, and they published a photo of the opening ceremony of this meeting. It shows many men in SS-uniform and, in the first row of the auditorium, we see Hess (as well as Himmler) ready to spring into action.
Hess in particular was besotted with alternative medicine which the Nazis elected to call NEUE DEUTSCHE HEILKUNDE. Somewhat to the dismay of today's alternative medicine enthusiasts, I have repeatedly published on this aspect of alternative medicine's past, and it also is an important part of my new book A SCIENTIST IN WONDERLAND which the lucky winner (my congratulations!) of my little competition to identify the author has won. The abstract of an 2001 article explains this history succinctly:
The aim of this article is to discuss complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) in the Third Reich. Based on a general movement towards all things natural, a powerful trend towards natural ways of healing had developed in the 19(th)century. By 1930 this had led to a situation where roughly as many lay practitioners of CAM existed in Germany as doctors. To re-unify German medicine under the banner of 'Neue Deutsche Heilkunde', the Nazi officials created the 'Heilpraktiker' – a profession which was meant to become extinct within one generation. The 'flag ship' of the 'Neue Deutsche Heilkunde' was the 'Rudolf Hess Krankenhaus' in Dresden. It represented a full integration of CAM and orthodox medicine. An example of systematic research into CAM is the Nazi government's project to validate homoeopathy. Even though the data are now lost, the results of this research seem to have been negative. Even though there are some striking similarities between today's CAM and yesterday's 'Neue Deutsche Heilkunde' there are important differences. Most importantly, perhaps, today's CAM is concerned with the welfare of the individual, whereas the 'Neue Deutsche Heilkunde' was aimed at ensuring the dominance of the Aryan race.
One fascinating aspect of this past is the fact that the NEUE DEUTSCHE HEILKUNDE was de facto the invention of what we today call 'integrated medicine'. Then it was more like a 'shot-gun marriage', while today it seems to be driven more by political correctness and sloppy thinking. It did not work 70 years ago for the same reason that it will fail today: the integration of bogus (non-evidence based) treatments into conventional medicine must inevitably render health care not better but worse!
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to understand that, and Hess as well as other proponents of alternative medicine of his time had certainly got the idea. So they initiated the largest ever series of scientific tests of homeopathy. This research program was not just left to the homeopaths, who never had a reputation of being either rigorous or unbiased, but some of the best scientists of the era were recruited for it. The results vanished in the hands of the homeopaths during the turmoil of the war. But one eye-witness report of a homeopaths, Fritz Donner, makes it very clear: as it turned out, there was not a jot of evidence in favour of homeopathy.
And this, I think, is the other fascinating aspect of the story: homeopaths did not give up their plight to popularise homeopathy. On the contrary, they re-doubled their efforts to fool us all and to convince us with dodgy results (see recent posts on this blog) that homeopathy somehow does defy the laws of nature and is, in effect, very effective for all sorts of diseases.
My readers suggested all sorts of potential authors for the Hess speech; and they are right! It could have been written by any proponent of alternative medicine. This fact is amusing and depressing at the same time. Amusing because it discloses the lack of new ideas and arguments (even the same fallacies are being used). Depressing because it suggests that progress in alternative medicine is almost totally absent.
As promised, I will try with this post to explain my reservations regarding the new meta-analysis suggesting that individualised homeopathic remedies are superior to placebos. Before I start, however, I want to thank all those who have commented on various issues; it is well worth reading the numerous and diverse comments.
To remind us of the actual meta-analysis, it might be useful to re-publish its abstract (the full article is also available online):
A rigorous and focused systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of individualised homeopathic treatment has not previously been undertaken. We tested the hypothesis that the outcome of an individualised homeopathic treatment approach using homeopathic medicines is distinguishable from that of placebos.
The review's methods, including literature search strategy, data extraction, assessment of risk of bias and statistical analysis, were strictly protocol-based. Judgment in seven assessment domains enabled a trial's risk of bias to be designated as low, unclear or high. A trial was judged to comprise 'reliable evidence' if its risk of bias was low or was unclear in one specified domain. 'Effect size' was reported as odds ratio (OR), with arithmetic transformation for continuous data carried out as required; OR > 1 signified an effect favouring homeopathy.
Thirty-two eligible RCTs studied 24 different medical conditions in total. Twelve trials were classed 'uncertain risk of bias', three of which displayed relatively minor uncertainty and were designated reliable evidence; 20 trials were classed 'high risk of bias'. Twenty-two trials had extractable data and were subjected to meta-analysis; OR = 1.53 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22 to 1.91). For the three trials with reliable evidence, sensitivity analysis revealed OR = 1.98 (95% CI 1.16 to 3.38).
Medicines prescribed in individualised homeopathy may have small, specific treatment effects. Findings are consistent with sub-group data available in a previous 'global' systematic review. The low or unclear overall quality of the evidence prompts caution in interpreting the findings. New high-quality RCT research is necessary to enable more decisive interpretation.
Since my team had published an RCTs of individualised homeopathy, it seems only natural that my interest focussed on why the study (even though identified by Mathie et al) had not been included in the meta-analysis. Our study had provided no evidence that adjunctive homeopathic remedies, as prescribed by experienced homeopathic practitioners, are superior to placebo in improving the quality of life of children with mild to moderate asthma in addition to conventional treatment in primary care.
I was convinced that this trial had been rigorous and thus puzzled why, despite receiving 'full marks' from the reviewers, they had not included it in their meta-analysis. I thus wrote to Mathie, the lead author of the meta-analysis, and he explained: For your trial (White et al. 2003), under domain V of assessment, we were unable to extract data for meta-analysis, and so it was attributed high risk of bias, as specified by the Cochrane judgmental criteria. Our designated main outcome was the CAQ, for which we needed to know (or could at least estimate) a mean and SD for both the baseline and the end-point of the study. Since your paper reported only the change from baseline in Table 3 or in the main text, it is not possible to derive the necessary end-point for analysis.
It took a while and several further emails until I understood: our study did report both the primary (Table 2 quality of life) and secondary outcome measure (Table 3 severity of symptoms). The primary outcome measure was reported in full detail such that a meta-analysis would have been possible. The secondary outcome measure was also reported but not in full detail, and the data provided by us would not lend themselves to meta-analyses. By electing not our primary but our secondary outcome measure for their meta-analysis, Mathie et al were able to claim that they were unable to use our study and reject it for their meta-analysis.
Why did they do that?
The answer is simple: in their methods section, they specify that they used outcome measures "based on a pre-specified hierarchical list in order of greatest to least importance, recommended by the WHO". This, I would argue is deeply flawed: the most important outcome measure of a study is usually the one for which the study was designed, not the one that some guys at the WHO feel might be important (incidentally, the WHO list was never meant to be applied to meta-analyses in that way).
By following rigidly their published protocol, the authors of the meta-analysis managed to exclude our negative trial. Thus they did everything right – or did they?
Well, I think they committed several serious mistakes.
- Firstly, they wrote the protocol, which forced them to exclude our study. Following a protocol is not a virtue in itself; if the protocol is nonsensical it even is the opposite. Had they proceeded as is normal in such cases and used our primary outcome measure in their meta-analyses, it is most likely that their overall results would not have been in favour of homeopathy.
- Secondly, they awarded our study a malus point for the criterium 'selective outcome reporting'. This is clearly a wrong decision: we did report the severity-outcome, albeit not in sufficient detail for their meta-analysis. Had they not committed this misjudgment, our RCT would have been the only one with an 'A' rating. This would have very clearly highlighted the nonsense of excluding the best-rated trial from meta-analysis.
There are several other oddities as well. For instance, Mathie et al judge our study to be NOT free of vested interest. I asked Mathie why they had done this and was told it is because we accepted free trial medication from a homeopathic pharmacy. I would argue that my team was far less plagued by vested interest than the authors of their three best (and of course positive) trials who, as I happen to know, are consultants for homeopathic manufacturers.
And all of this is just in relation to our own study. Norbert Aust has uncovered similar irregularities with other trials and I take the liberty of quoting his comments posted previously again here:
I have reason to believe that this review and metaanalysis in biased in favor of homeopathy. To check this, I compared two studies (1) Jacobs 1994 about the treatment of childhood diarrhea in Nicaragua, (2) Walach 1997 about homeopathic threatment of headaches. The Jacobs study is one of the three that provided 'reliable evidence', Walach's study earned a poor C2.2 rating and was not included in the meta-analyses. Jacobs' results were in favour of homeopathy, Walach's not.
For the domains where the rating of Walach's study was less than that of the Jacobs study, please find citations from the original studies or my short summaries for the point in question.
Domain I: Sequence generation:
"The remedy selected was then mailed to a notary public who held a stock of placebos. The notary threw a dice and mailed either the homeopathic remedy or an appropriate placebo. The notary was provided with a blank randomisation list."
Rating: UNCLEAR (Medium risk of bias)
"For each of these medications, there was a box of tubes in sequentially numbered order which had been previously randomized into treatment or control medication using a random numbers table in blocks of four"
Rating: YES (Low risk of bias)
Domain IIIb: Blinding of outcome assessor
"The notary was provided with a blank randomization list which was an absolutely unique document. It was only handed out after the biometrician (WG) had deposited all coded original data as a printout at the notary's office. (…) Data entry was performed blindly by personnel not involved in the study. "
Rating: UNCLEAR (Medium risk of bias)
"All statistical analyses were done before breaking the randomisation code, using the program …"
Rating: YES (Low risk of bias)
Domain V: Selective outcome reporting
Study protocol was published in 1991 prior to enrollment of participants, all primary outcome variables were reported with respect to all participants and the endpoints.
Rating: NO (high risk of bias)
No prior publication of protocol, but a pilot study exists. However this was published in 1993 only after the trial was performed in 1991. Primary outcome defined (duration of diarrhea), reported but table and graph do not match, secondary outcome (number of unformed stools on day 3) seems defined post hoc, for this is the only one point in time, this outcome yielded a significant result.
Rating: YES (low risk of bias)
Domain VI: Other sources of bias:
Rating: NO (high risk of bias), no details given
Imbalance of group properties (size, weight and age of children), that might have some impact on course of disease, high impact of parallel therapy (rehydration) by far exceeding effect size of homeopathic treatment
Rating: YES (low risk of bias), no details given
In a nutshell: I fail to see the basis for the different ratings in the studies themselves. I assume bias of the authors of the review.
So, what about the question posed in the title of this article? The meta-analysis is clearly not a 'proof of concept'. But is it proof for misconduct? I asked Mathie and he answered as follows: No, your statement does not reflect the situation at all. As for each and every paper, we selected the main outcome measure for your trial using the objective WHO classification approach (in which quality of life is clearly of lower rank than severity). This is all clearly described in our prospective protocol. Under no circumstances did we approach this matter retrospectively, in the way you are implying.
Some nasty sceptics might have assumed that the handful of rigorous studies with negative results were well-known to most researchers of homeopathy. In this situation, it would have been hugely tempting to write the protocol such that these studies must be excluded. I am thrilled to be told that the authors of the current new meta-analysis (who declared all sorts of vested interests at the end of the article) resisted this temptation.
On this blog and elsewhere, I have repeatedly cast doubt on the efficacy of homeopathy – not because I have 'an axe to grind', as some seem to believe, but because
- the assumptions which underpin homeopathy fly in the face of science,
- the clinical evidence fails to show that it works beyond a placebo effect.
But was I correct?
A new systematic review and meta-analysis seems to indicate that I was mistaken. It tested the hypothesis that the outcome of an individualised homeopathic treatment (homeopaths would argue that this is the only true approach to homeopathy) is distinguishable from that with placebos.
The review's methods, including literature search strategy, data extraction, assessment of risk of bias and statistical analysis, were strictly protocol-based. Judgment in seven assessment domains enabled a trial's risk of bias to be designated as low, unclear or high. A trial was judged to comprise 'reliable evidence' if its risk of bias was low or was unclear in one specified domain. 'Effect size' was reported as odds ratio (OR), with arithmetic transformation for continuous data carried out as required; OR > 1 signified an effect favouring homeopathy.
Thirty-two eligible RCTs studied 24 different medical conditions in total. Twelve trials were classed 'uncertain risk of bias', three of which displayed relatively minor uncertainty and were designated reliable evidence; 20 trials were classed 'high risk of bias'. Twenty-two trials had extractable data and were subjected to meta-analysis; OR = 1.53 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22 to 1.91). For the three trials with reliable evidence, sensitivity analysis revealed OR = 1.98 (95% CI 1.16 to 3.38).
The authors arrived at the following conclusion: medicines prescribed in individualised homeopathy may have small, specific treatment effects. Findings are consistent with sub-group data available in a previous 'global' systematic review. The low or unclear overall quality of the evidence prompts caution in interpreting the findings. New high-quality RCT research is necessary to enable more decisive interpretation.
One does not need to be a prophet to predict that the world of homeopathy will declare this article as the ultimate proof of homeopathy's efficacy beyond placebo. Already the 'British Homeopathic Association' has issued the following press release:
Clinical evidence for homeopathy published
Research into the effectiveness of homeopathy as an individualised treatment has produced results that may surprise many from the worlds of science and medicine. The conclusions are reported cautiously, but the new publication is the first of its type to present evidence that medicines prescribed in individualised homeopathy may have specific effects.
The paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal Systematic Reviews,1 reports a rigorous systematic review and meta-analysis of 32 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in which homeopathic medicines were prescribed on an individual basis to each participant, depending on their particular symptoms.
The overall quality of the RCT evidence was found to be low or unclear, preventing the researchers from reaching decisive conclusions. Three RCTs were identified as "reliable evidence".
The study was led by Dr Robert Mathie, research development adviser for the British Homeopathic Association, in partnership with a number of collaborators, including colleagues at the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, University of Glasgow, who independently verified the statistical methods and findings.
"What we found from the statistics," says Dr Mathie, "is that the effect of individualised treatment using homeopathic medicines was significantly greater than placebos, and that this effect was retained when we included only the three trials with reliable evidence. This tentatively provides proof of concept that homeopathic medicines have clinical treatment effects."
Surprised? I was stunned and thus studied the article in much detail (luckily the full text version is available online). Then I entered into an email exchange with the first author who I happen to know personally (to his credit, he responded regularly). In the end, this conversation helped me to better understand the review's methodology; but it also resulted in me being very much underwhelmed by the reliability of the authors' conclusion.
Normally I would now explain why. But, in this particular case, I thought it would be interesting and helpful to give others the opportunity to examine the article and come up with their own comments. Subsequently I will add my criticisms.
Guest post by Jan Oude-Aost
ADHD is a common disorder among children. There are evidence based pharmacological treatments, the best known being methylphenidate (MPH). MPH has kind of a bad reputation, but is effective and reasonably safe. The market is also full of alternative treatments, pharmacological and others, some of them under investigation, some unproven and many disproven. So I was not surprised to find a study about Ginkgo biloba as a treatment for ADHD. I was surprised, however, to find this study in the German Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, officially published by the "German Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy" (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie). The journal's guidelines state that studies should provide new scientific results.
The study is called "Ginkgo biloba Extract EGb 761® in Children with ADHD". EGb 761® is the key ingredient in "Tebonin®", a herbal drug made by "Dr. Wilma Schwabe GmbH". The abstract states:
"One possible treatment, at least for cognitive problems, might be the administration of Ginkgo biloba, though evidence is rare.This study tests the clinical efficacy of a Ginkgo biloba special extract (EGb 761®) (…) in children with ADHD (…)."
"Eine erfolgversprechende, bislang kaum untersuchte Möglichkeit zur Behandlung kognitiver Aspekte ist die Gabe von Ginkgo biloba. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war die Prüfung klinischer Wirksamkeit (…) von Ginkgo biloba-Extrakt Egb 761® bei Kindern mit ADHS." (Taken from the English and German abstracts.)
The study sample (20!) was recruited among children who "did not tolerate or were unwilling" to take MPH. The unwilling part struck me as problematic. There is likely a strong selection bias towards parents who are unwilling to give their children MPH. I guess it is not the children who are unwilling to take MPH, but the parents who are unwilling to administer it. At least some of these parents might be biased against MPH and might already favor CAMmodalities.
The authors state three main problems with "herbal therapy" that require more empirical evidence: First of all the question of adverse reactions, which they claim occur in about 1% of cases with "some CAMs" (mind you, not "herbal therapy"). Secondly, the question of drug interactions and thirdly, the lack of information physicians have about the CAMs their patients use.
A large part of the study is based on results of an EEG-protocol, which I choose to ignore, because the clinical results are too weak to give the EEG findings any clinical relevance.
Before looking at the study itself, let's look at what is known about Ginkgo biloba as a drug. Ginkgo is best known for its use in patients with dementia, cognitive impairment und tinnitus. A Cochrane review from 2009 concluded:
"There is no convincing evidence that Ginkgo biloba is efficacious for dementia and cognitive impairment" [1].
The authors of the current Study cite Sarris et al. (2011), a systematic review of complementary treatment of ADHD. Sarris et al. mention Salehi et al. (2010) who tested Ginkgo against MPH. MPH turned out to be much more effective than Ginkgo, but Sarris et al. argue that the duration of treatment (6 weeks) might have been too short to see the full effects of Ginkgo.
Given the above information it is unclear why Ginkgo is judged a "possible" treatment, properly translated from German even "promising", and why the authors state that Ginkgo has been "barely studied".
In an unblinded, uncontrolled study with a sample likely to be biased toward the tested intervention, anything other than a positive result would be odd. In the treatment of autism there are several examples of implausible treatments that worked as long as parents knew that their children were getting the treatment, but didn't after proper blinding (e.g. secretin).
This study's aim was to test clinical efficacy, but the conclusion begins with how well tolerated Ginkgo was. The efficacy is mentioned subsequently: "Following administration, interrelated improvements on behavioral ratings of ADHD symptoms (…) were detected (…)." But the way they where "detected" is interesting. The authors used an established questionnaire (FBB-HKS) to let parents rate their children. Only the parents. The children and their teachers where not given the FBB-HKS-questionnaires, inspite of this being standard clinical practice (and inspite of giving children questionnaires to determine changes in quality of life, which were not found).
None of the three problems that the authors describe as important (adverse reactions, drug interactions, lack of information) can be answered by this study. I am no expert in statistics but it seems unlikely to me to meaningfully determine adverse effects in just 20 patients especially when adverse effects occur at a rate of 1%. The authors claim they found an incidence rate of 0,004% in "700 observation days". Well, if they say so.
The authors conclude:
"Taken together, the current study provides some preliminary evidence that Ginkgo biloba Egb 761® seems to be well tolerated in the short term and may be a clinically useful treatment for children with ADHD. Double-blind randomized trials are required to clarify the value of the presented data."
Given the available information mentioned earlier, one could have started with that conclusion and conducted a double blind RCT in the first place!
"Clinical Significance
The trends of this preliminary open study may suggest that Ginkgo biloba Egb 761® might be considered as a complementary or alternative medicine for treating children with ADHD."
So, why do I care? If preliminary evidence "may suggest" that something "might be considered" as a treatment? Because I think that this study does not answer any important questions or give us any new or useful knowledge. Following the journal's guidelines, it should therefore not have been published. I also think it is an example of bad science. Bad not just because of the lack of critical thinking. It also adds to the misinformation about possible ADHD treatments spreading through the internet. The study was published in September. In November I found a website citing the study and calling it "clinical proof" when it is not. But child psychiatrists will have to explain that to many parents, instead of talking about their children's health.
I somehow got the impression that this study was more about marketing than about science. I wonder if Schwabe will help finance the necessary double-blind randomized trial…
[1] See more at: http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD003120/DEMENTIA_there-is-no-convincing-evidence-that-ginkgo-biloba-is-efficacious-for-dementia-and-cognitive-impairment#sthash.oqKFrSCC.dpuf
Acupuncture seems to be as popular as never before – many conventional pain clinics now employ acupuncturists, for instance. It is probably true to say that acupuncture is one of the best-known types of all alternative therapies. Yet, experts are still divided in their views about this treatment – some proclaim that acupuncture is the best thing since sliced bread, while others insist that it is no more than a theatrical placebo. Consumers, I imagine, are often left helpless in the middle of these debates. Here are 7 important bits of factual information that might help you make up your mind, in case you are tempted to try acupuncture.
- Acupuncture is ancient; some enthusiast thus claim that it has 'stood the test of time', i. e. that its long history proves its efficacy and safety beyond reasonable doubt and certainly more conclusively than any scientific test. Whenever you hear such arguments, remind yourself that the 'argumentum ad traditionem' is nothing but a classic fallacy. A long history of usage proves very little – think of how long blood letting was used, even though it killed millions.
- We often think of acupuncture as being one single treatment, but there are many different forms of this therapy. According to believers in acupuncture, acupuncture points can be stimulated not just by inserting needles (the most common way) but also with heat, electrical currents, ultrasound, pressure, etc. Then there is body acupuncture, ear acupuncture and even tongue acupuncture. Finally, some clinicians employ the traditional Chinese approach based on the assumption that two life forces are out of balance and need to be re-balanced, while so-called 'Western' acupuncturists adhere to the concepts of conventional medicine and claim that acupuncture works via scientifically explainable mechanisms that are unrelated to ancient Chinese philosophies.
- Traditional Chinese acupuncturists have not normally studied medicine and base their practice on the Taoist philosophy of the balance between yin and yang which has no basis in science. This explains why acupuncture is seen by traditional acupuncturists as a 'cure all' . In contrast, medical acupuncturists tend to cite neurophysiological explanations as to how acupuncture might work. However, it is important to note that, even though they may appear plausible, these explanations are currently just theories and constitute no proof for the validity of acupuncture as a medical intervention.
- The therapeutic claims made for acupuncture are legion. According to the traditional view, acupuncture is useful for virtually every condition affecting mankind; according to the more modern view, it is effective for a relatively small range of conditions only. On closer examination, the vast majority of these claims can be disclosed to be based on either no or very flimsy evidence. Once we examine the data from reliable clinical trials (today several thousand studies of acupuncture are available – see below), we realise that acupuncture is associated with a powerful placebo effect, and that it works better than a placebo only for very few (some say for no) conditions.
- The interpretation of the trial evidence is far from straight forward: most of the clinical trials of acupuncture originate from China, and several investigations have shown that very close to 100% of them are positive. This means that the results of these studies have to be taken with more than a small pinch of salt. In order to control for patient-expectations, clinical trials can be done with sham needles which do not penetrate the skin but collapse like miniature stage-daggers. This method does, however, not control for acupuncturists' expectations; blinding of the therapists is difficult and therefore truly double (patient and therapist)-blind trials of acupuncture do hardly exist. This means that even the most rigorous studies of acupuncture are usually burdened with residual bias.
- Few acupuncturists warn their patients of possible adverse effects; this may be because the side-effects of acupuncture (they occur in about 10% of all patients) are mostly mild. However, it is important to know that very serious complications of acupuncture are on record as well: acupuncture needles can injure vital organs like the lungs or the heart, and they can introduce infections into the body, e. g. hepatitis. About 100 fatalities after acupuncture have been reported in the medical literature – a figure which, due to lack of a monitoring system, may disclose just the tip of an iceberg.
- Given that, for the vast majority of conditions, there is no good evidence that acupuncture works beyond a placebo response, and that acupuncture is associated with finite risks, it seems to follow that, in most situations, the risk/benefit balance for acupuncture fails to be convincingly positive.
Reiki is a form of energy healing that evidently has been getting so popular that, according to the 'Shropshire Star', even stressed hedgehogs are now being treated with this therapy. In case you argue that this publication is not cutting edge when it comes to reporting of scientific advances, you may have a point. So, let us see what evidence we find on this amazing intervention.
A recent systematic review of the therapeutic effects of Reiki concludes that the serious methodological and reporting limitations of limited existing Reiki studies preclude a definitive conclusion on its effectiveness. High-quality randomized controlled trials are needed to address the effectiveness of Reiki over placebo. Considering that this article was published in the JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE, this is a fairly damming verdict. The notion that Reiki is but a theatrical placebo recently received more support from a new clinical trial.
This pilot study examined the effects of Reiki therapy and companionship on improvements in quality of life, mood, and symptom distress during chemotherapy. Thirty-six breast cancer patients received usual care, Reiki, or a companion during chemotherapy. Data were collected from patients while they were receiving usual care. Subsequently, patients were randomized to either receive Reiki or a companion during chemotherapy. Questionnaires assessing quality of life, mood, symptom distress, and Reiki acceptability were completed at baseline and chemotherapy sessions 1, 2, and 4. Reiki was rated relaxing and caused no side effects. Both Reiki and companion groups reported improvements in quality of life and mood that were greater than those seen in the usual care group.
The authors of this study conclude that interventions during chemotherapy, such as Reiki or companionship, are feasible, acceptable, and may reduce side effects.
This is an odd conclusion, if there ever was one. Clearly the 'companionship' group was included to see whether Reiki has effects beyond simply providing sympathetic attention. The results show that this is not the case. It follows, I think, that Reiki is a placebo; its perceived relaxing effects are the result of non-specific phenomena which have nothing to do with Reiki per se. The fact that the authors fail to spell this out more clearly makes me wonder whether they are researchers or promoters of Reiki.
Some people will feel that it does not matter how Reiki works, the main thing is that it does work. I beg to differ!
If its effects are due to nothing else than attention and companionship, we do not need 'trained' Reiki masters to do the treatment; anyone who has time, compassion and sympathy can do it. More importantly, if Reiki is a placebo, we should not mislead people that some super-natural energy is at work. This only promotes irrationality – and, as Voltaire once said: those who make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
Acute tonsillitis (AT) is an upper respiratory tract infection which is prevalent, particularly in children. The cause is usually a viral or, less commonly, a bacterial infection. Treatment is symptomatic and usually consists of ample fluid intake and pain-killers; antibiotics are rarely indicated, even if the infection is bacterial by nature. The condition is self-limiting and symptoms subside normally after one week.
Homeopaths believe that their remedies are effective for AT – but is there any evidence? A recent trial seems to suggest there is.
It aimed, according to its authors, to determine the efficacy of a homeopathic complex on the symptoms of acute viral tonsillitis in African children in South Africa.
The double-blind, placebo-controlled RCT was a 6-day "pilot study" and included 30 children aged 6 to 12 years, with acute viral tonsillitis. Participants took two tablets 4 times per day. The treatment group received lactose tablets medicated with the homeopathic complex (Atropa belladonna D4, Calcarea phosphoricum D4, Hepar sulphuris D4, Kalium bichromat D4, Kalium muriaticum D4, Mercurius protoiodid D10, and Mercurius biniodid D10). The placebo consisted of the unmedicated vehicle only. The Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale was used for measuring pain intensity, and a Symptom Grading Scale assessed changes in tonsillitis signs and symptoms.
The results showed that the treatment group had a statistically significant improvement in the following symptoms compared with the placebo group: pain associated with tonsillitis, pain on swallowing, erythema and inflammation of the pharynx, and tonsil size.
The authors drew the following conclusions: the homeopathic complex used in this study exhibited significant anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving qualities in children with acute viral tonsillitis. No patients reported any adverse effects. These preliminary findings are promising; however, the sample size was small and therefore a definitive conclusion cannot be reached. A larger, more inclusive research study should be undertaken to verify the findings of this study.
Personally, I agree only with the latter part of the conclusion and very much doubt that this study was able to "determine the efficacy" of the homeopathic product used. The authors themselves call their trial a "pilot study". Such projects are not meant to determine efficacy but are usually designed to determine the feasibility of a trial design in order to subsequently mount a definitive efficacy study.
Moreover, I have considerable doubts about the impartiality of the authors. Their affiliation is "Department of Homoeopathy, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa", and their article was published in a journal known to be biased in favour of homeopathy. These circumstances in itself might not be all that important, but what makes me more than a little suspicious is this sentence from the introduction of their abstract:
"Homeopathic remedies are a useful alternative to conventional medications in acute uncomplicated upper respiratory tract infections in children, offering earlier symptom resolution, cost-effectiveness, and fewer adverse effects."
A useful alternative to conventional medications (there are no conventional drugs) for earlier symptom resolution?
If it is true that the usefulness of homeopathic remedies has been established, why conduct the study?
If the authors were so convinced of this notion (for which there is, of course, no good evidence) how can we assume they were not biased in conducting this study?
I think that, in order to agree that a homeopathic remedy generates effects that differ from those of placebo, we need a proper (not a pilot) study, published in a journal of high standing by unbiased scientists.


text:
Michelle A Spring
University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Are you Michelle A Spring?
Claim your profile
Total impact
Available from: Karol A Gutowski
Exploring the effect of the referring general surgeon's attitudes on breast reconstruction utilization.
D Heath Stacey
, Michelle A Spring,
Tara M Breslin
Venkat K Rao
Karol A Gutowski
[Show abstract]
[Hide abstract]
Breast reconstruction rates remain low, at 5%-15% of mastectomy patients, despite the safety and high patient satisfaction of these procedures. Reasons for this are multifactorial, including the attitudes and biases of the referring breast surgeon, as well as patient factors. The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes of general surgeons towards breast reconstruction. We surveyed 369 general surgeons in Wisconsin with questions about breast surgery. Responses from 135 (36%) surgeons were analyzed. Seventy-three percent of the respondents performed at least some breast surgery and were eligible for the study. For a little over 50% of the general surgeons surveyed, breast surgery made up less than 10% of their practice. Fifty-one percent never performed a skin-sparing mastectomy. A large number of breast surgeons (40%) did not refer all mastectomy patients for reconstruction. Reasons cited for not referring patients included the concerns over cancer recurrence and advanced patient age. Reasons for patients not undergoing reconstruction included patient's refusal, need for radiation therapy, delaying adjuvant oncologic treatment, patient factors, and having no plastic surgeon available locally. The decision by a patient to undergo breast reconstruction involves many complex factors. As a specialty, we should focus on improving the availability of breast reconstructive surgeons and educating referring surgeons and patients about reconstructive indications and options in order to positively affect the utilization of breast reconstruction.
WMJ: official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin 10/2008; 107(6):292-7.
Venous thromboembolism in plastic surgery patients: survey results of plastic surgeons.
Michelle A Spring,
Karol A Gutowski
[Show abstract]
[Hide abstract]
Recommendations for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis have been published in the plastic surgery literature. However, no comprehensive survey of the overall incidence of VTE among plastic surgery patients has been undertaken. This study was performed to determine the incidence of VTE in plastic surgery patients, to delineate which procedures have the most risk for VTE, and to establish whether published guidelines are utilized by plastic surgeons. An e-mail survey was sent to 3797 plastic surgeons based in the United States. Of those queried, 1106 (29%) completed the questionnaire. Respondents were asked to report VTE events in their patients over the last 24 months. There were 8 patient-based questions about VTE prophylaxis to determine the preferred method used. Overall, 329 VTE events were identified. The most commonly associated procedures were abdominoplasty with another procedure (87 events) and abdominoplasty alone (71 events). Whether abdominoplasty is performed alone or combined with another procedure, the survey revealed similar rates of VTE per 10,000 patients (36 events per 10,000 patients). Plastic surgeons' prophylaxis methods vary, and 38% of the respondents were not aware of the published recommendations. Based on our study, abdominoplasty with or without a second procedure has the highest incidence of VTE events among plastic surgery procedures. Combining abdominoplasty with another procedure does not increase the risk for VTE. A significant number of plastic surgeons are not aware of the published recommendations, and there is no consistent VTE prophylaxis used by the plastic surgeons who responded to the survey.
Aesthetic surgery journal / the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic surgery 09/2006; 26(5):522-9. DOI:10.1016/j.asj.2006.07.003
· 2.03 Impact Factor
Available from: smiletrain.org
Pediatric feeding disorder and growth decline following mandibular distraction osteogenesis
Michelle A Spring,
Delora L Mount
[Show abstract]
[Hide abstract]
Mandibular distraction osteogenesis has proven to be an effective treatment for upper airway obstruction related to micrognathia. Changes in the aerodigestive space can help facilitate tracheostomy removal in children and prevent tracheostomy in newborns. However, this may also precipitate changes in the ability to orally feed. There are few data on early postoperative feeding and growth rate following mandibular lengthening. The authors found evidence of growth rate decline and feeding difficulty in pediatric patients following mandibular distraction osteogenesis. Ten pediatric patients underwent mandibular distraction osteogenesis for treatment of upper airway obstruction. Outcomes in resolution of upper airway obstruction, oral feeding success, and growth rate were analyzed. Follow-up ranged from 12 to 28 months. All 10 patients had complete resolution of upper airway obstruction. The length of distraction ranged from 10 to 17 mm. Three patients demonstrated a feeding disorder after mandibular distraction osteogenesis, defined as requiring a long-term (>1 month) alternate feeding method (gastric tube in two patients and gastric gavage in one). Seven of 10 patients exhibited an early decline in growth rate following distraction. Data used to determine growth rate changes were weight measurements at the time of distraction, at the time of distractor removal (6 to 8 weeks after distraction), and at 6 and 12 months after the date of distraction initiation. These results suggest that infants and children undergoing mandibular lengthening by distraction osteogenesis should be carefully monitored for postdistraction feeding disorder and growth rate disturbance.
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 08/2006; 118(2):476-82. DOI:10.1097/01.prs.0000227740.48021.c3
· 3.33 Impact Factor
Cutaneous vascular lesions
Michelle A Spring,
Michael L Bentz
[Show abstract]
[Hide abstract]
Vascular anomalies are lesions seen in all surgical disciplines, particularly in pediatric patients. Specialization in vascular anomalies involves a team effort, with the team consisting of plastic surgeons, general surgeons, neurosurgeons, pediatricians, interventional radiologists, dermatologists, ophthalmologists, otolaryngologists, hematologists, and pathologists. Inconsistent nomenclature in the literature has historically resulted in confusion about classification, diagnosis, and treatment. A biologic classification system has emerged, based on clinical observations, natural history, and cellular features, which separates vascular anomalies into two broad categories: vascular tumors and vascular malformations. For many vascular anomalies, photodocumentation, psychosocial support, and communication are important throughout the treatment course.
Clinics in Plastic Surgery 05/2005; 32(2):171-86. DOI:10.1016/j.cps.2004.11.004
· 1.35 Impact Factor
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Karol A Gutowski
The Ohio State University
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Michael L Bentz
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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Delora L Mount
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D Heath Stacey
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Litchfield hosting wrestling tourney
The Litchfield Dragons are hosting a 10-team wrestling invitational today.
Participants include Albany, Alexandria, Anoka, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, Big Lake, Eden Valley-Watkins, Litchfield, Sibley East, Tartan and Totino-Grace.
The meet begins at 10 a.m.
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You will need your subscription account number and phone number. Not sure if you have an account? Email us or call 320-214-4364 and we can help you.


text:
As a part of the F.A.T. Friday Hop, Gallery Janjobe will host the opening of a new exhibit, "Symbols," featuring nine pieces of work by Gena Neumann. Each piece is made of repurposed metal with new materials and is laden with symbolism. Stop by and have a drink and snack, enjoy some live music, and see if you can decode some art.
Upcoming Events
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The Weekender
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- 15,000 people are headed to Louisville for the VEX Robotics Championship
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text:
The 5-TILES keyboard takes up 70% less of your smartphone's screen compared to the QWERTY keyboard, giving you more space to see what truly matters. Consisting of only 5 large keys, that better match any finger size, result in greater accuracy, fewer typos and enhancing the typing experience on your touchscreen.
It's fast!
With a little practice you can achieve the same speed as on your old keyboard, even surpass it, becoming a true "typing Ninja".
Use it across all your devices
5-TILES is specifically designed for touchscreens, therefore it's compact, with a simple and understandable typing logic. It is adaptable to any screen size, making it the only keyboard which you can use across EVERY touchscreen device - from tablets to smartwatches.
Learning Mode
We know that 5-TILES is something new for you, therefore we have developed the "Learning Mode". This feature shows which letters can be typed after you press a key. The "Learning Mode" is the default mode after installation. Slide up on the yellow key to switch it off.
Cheat Sheets
In order to help you become a master of the 5-TILES keyboard in a very short time we have created the "Cheat Sheets". Slide down on the orange key to see the typing combinations for all characters.You can navigate between different cheat sheets pages by sliding left or right. Once you tap the desired character, a keyboard animation will show you how to type it.
How it works
Check the step by step guide on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c32sREkbxwM
The 5-TILES keyboard has only 5 keys, each key containing 5 or 6 letters. The letters are distributed in alphabetical order, making it easier to find the letter you want.
On each key there is one underlined letter. These letters can be typed with a single tap. This happens with the letters "a" (Blue key), "g" (Green key), "m" (Yellow key), "s" (Orange key) and the red button is for space.
To write all the other letters check the position of the letter you want to type in the row of letters of that key. For example the letter "b" is the second in the row of the blue key, so you must hold down the blue key and slide your finger to the second key (green key). The letter "c" is the third in the row so you must hold down the blue key and slide your finger to the third key (yellow key).
This logic applies to all keys
Easy, right?
You will see that the letters "u" and "z" are at the top of the Orange and Red keys respectively. These letters can be typed by simply sliding your finger from the key upwards.
With the 5-TILES keyboard you can also write numbers from 0 to 9, punctuation symbols, special characters for 9 different languages and symbols with specific swiping sequences.
You can also use the 5-TILES keyboard to edit your text without having to touch the screen, such as delete a letter, delete an entire word, delete all text, redo or undo text, copy and paste text and many more options directly from the 5-TILES keyboard.
Word Prediction/Dictionaries
Before going any further we want to be completely transparent with our users.. Everything stays on your phone.
The 5-TILES keyboard contains a predictive dictionary that will learn from you as you type. The dictionary is activated by default but 5-TILES works 100% without it so you can turn it off at any time. We DO NOT collect or analyse any data, everything stays on your device.
Activating the 5-TILES Keyboard
After downloading, you will find the app in your applications' list or on the main screen of your phone. Tap on "ACTIVATE" on the initial menu, then select as your preferred keyboard by pressing "SELECT". With these 2 simple steps your keyboard is ready to roll.
And many more coming soon!
What's New
Perfect Keyboard Free
Note: Perfect Keyboard works only on Android 2.2 and up
Detailed Specifications:
Featurse in free version:
- Multitouch keyboard
- User dictionary, built-in dictionary, International dictionaries (separate downloads from the Market)
- Configurable auto correction
- Redesigned and optimized keyboard layout and style
- Speech to text (select languages only)
- Custom vibration intensity (haptic feedback)
- Long press "Enter" key to bring up smiley alternatives
- Long press on "/" key in URL mode to bring up domains (you can configure the domains in the settings to better fit)
- Cursor Keys - swipe up on the space key to display.
- T9/compact layout.
- Alt symbols on the keyboard.
- Split layout for tablets.
- configure the layout of the keyboard (key height,row gap etc).
Fetures in full version:
- Keyboard themes ( gingerbread,iPhone keyboard,honeycomb,icecreamsandwich and more).
- Configurable sound style and volume ( Samsung,iPhone,android)
- Configurable colors for the keyboard buttons, background and text
- Configurable color for the word suggestion font
- Gestures.
- Next word prediction
- Shortcuts (auto-text like in blackberry)
- External skins (some of better keyboard skins)
- Option to edit user dictionary.
#Change Appearance and Themes:
To change appearance go to settings -> appearance
#About "collecting data" warning message:
That warning message is a part of the Android operating system, and it appears whenever a third party keyboard is enabled. You don't have to worry because the keyboard don't have permission to internet access.
Please report your bugs via email . If you report bugs in a Market comment I CAN'T help you.
Supported languages layout: English(QWERTY,Dvorak,AZERTY), French (ASERTY,QWERTY,QWERTZ), Hebrew, Arabic, German, Czech(QWERTY,QWERTZ), Bulgarian, Catalan, Spanish, Esperanto, Danish, Italian, Finnish, Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Swedish,Latin, Dutch, Portuguese, Slovakian, Slovenian, Greek, Rumanian, Serbian, Hungarian,Swiss,Polish.
Perfect Keyboard is an excellent keyboard replacement application
user reviews:
Great Keyboard, I've tried em all (swiftkey x, Swype, SlideIt,Thumb keyboard) none of them compare.
Very good keyboard! Super customizable and has EVERYTHING I wanted in a keyboard. Like the title says, a perfect keyboard.
tags: best androidkeyboard ,a.i.type free,gingerbread keyboard,keyboards,multiling,texting pro,T9 akeyboard,compact keyboard. Touchpal, go keyboard.Jelly Bean
SlideIT Keyboard
Instead of entering text by tapping on the keyboard letters, SlideIT keyboard eases texting by sliding a finger along the keyboard letters, while the words "magically" appear on the screen.
Love SlideIT? Please give us a 5-star Google Play rating and review. We're always trying to make SlideIT better. If you have questions or suggestions, please share them with us! firstname.lastname@example.com
SlideIT keyboard version 7 includes many new features and fixes.
☞ NEW!! SlideIT 7 now supports A.I.Type next-word prediction in many languages
Many keyboard skins for SlideIT are available for free download from the Android Market.
SlideIT keyboard fully supports all Android versions from 2.2 and up, including tablets and Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean).
With over 7,000,000 downloads, SlideIT keyboard has been an Android bestseller and selected as an editor's choice by Google.
Among SlideIT's great features:
❖ Smart predictions and disambiguation
❖ Over 70 language packs and layouts
❖ More than 60 skins
❖ Speech-to-text
❖ Keyboard customization
❖ Import contacts from your phone
SlideIT's many great features make it the ultimate time-saving keyboard for Android devices. Writing e-mail, SMS messaging or just chating with your friends on a small touchscreen is now easy and fun!
The best keyboard on the Android Market!
✪✪✪✪✪ "…for one-handed text entry, SlideIT Keyboard is the current king of the hill." - PCWorld, August 2010
✪✪✪✪✪ "…Best keyboard around. A must have for the Android. It is the best app that I've bought" - SlideIT user review
"Can I just say THANK YOU, a million times, I love this app and you saved me big time. I just switched from droid2 to droidx2 after 1 day, swype malfunctioned, and vz wireless tech support led me to you. He said it was way better anyhow, and he was right, customizable and all! Omg, I'm in heaven O:-)" - Customer feedback
SlideIT keyboard can load many languages, and you can switch between them with the press of a button!
Afrikaans – Afrikaanse sleutelbord,
Albanian – Tastierës shqipe,
Azerbaijani - Azərbaycan klaviatura
Arabic – لوحة المفاتيح العربية,
Belorussian – Беларускія клавіятуры,
Brazilian – Teclado brasileiro,
Bulgarian – Българска клавиатура,
Catalan – Català teclat,
Czech -Česká klávesnice,
Croatian – Hrvatske tipkovnice,
Danish – Danske tastatur,
Dutch -Nederlands toetsenbord,
Estonian – Eesti klaviatuur,
Finnish – Suomen näppäimistö,
French – Clavier français,
German – Deutsch Tastatur,
Greek – Ελληνικό πληκτρολόγιο,
Hebrew – מקלדת עברית,
Hungarian – Magyar billentyűzet,
Icelandic – Íslenska lyklaborðið,
Indonesian – Bahasa Indonesia keyboard,
Italian – Tastiera italiana,
Korean - 한국어 키보드,
Latvian – Latvijas klaviatūras,
Lithuanian – Lietuvos klaviatūros,
Norwegian – Norsk tastatur,
Persian – صفحه کلید فارسی,
Polish – Polska klawiatura,
Portuguese – Teclado Português,
Romanian – Român tastatură,
Russian – Русская клавиатура,
Serbian – cyrillic – Ћирилица српска тастатура,
Serbian – latin – Latin srpskoj tastaturi,
Slovak – Slovenská klávesnica,
Slovenian – Slovensko tipkovnico,
Spanish – Teclado en español,
Swahili – Swahili keyboard,
Swedish – Svenskt tangentbord,
Turkish – Türkçe klavye,
Ukrainian -Український клавіатури.
These packs include a variety of keyboard layouts: QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY, COLEMAK, DVORAK, BÉPO, NEO and SVORAK.
Ultra Keyboard
Choose your favorite way to type.
Touch-type like usual, or combine adjacent keys into COMPACT KEYS so they're easier to press. Slide your finger over words using WORD TRACING (instead of touching each individual letter).
The SUGGESTION BAR is smart and easy to use.
Choose words with just one swipe, even if they're not visible at first. A built-in English LANGUAGE DICTIONARY is included (and many other languages are available for download). Add new words to your personal CUSTOM DICTIONARY. BLACK LIST words you don't want to show up anymore.
Use WORD REPLACEMENTS to automatically expand abbreviations.
Tired of always typing "be right there"? Try "brt". You can even create your own.
The TOOL BAR provides a ton of functionality in a small amount of space.
You can scroll, drag, or flick through the available buttons.
Use SPEECH-TO-TEXT to transform your spoken words into text.
TRANSLATE your text to dozens of different languages.
CUT, COPY, and PASTE with a built-in CLIPBOARD.
Text you copy is saved so you can access it later. Remove anything you don't want to keep.
FULL-SCREEN MODE provides TEXT SELECTION HANDLES and a MAGNIFIER.
Accurately select portions of text to edit or copy.
The CHARACTER MAP makes more Unicode characters accessible.
Set up your own list of favorites for easy access. Includes Emoji on Android 4.1 devices.
Use the CAMERA OVERLAY* to see where you're going.
Watch what's in front of you while you type on the go. (* Android 2.3 or newer only.)
Create custom ACTIONS triggered by GESTURES or device buttons.
Want to swipe left to delete the previous word? Want your device's search button to activate the camera overlay? Do all this and more.
A DYNAMIC UI means you can customize the keyboard so it's perfect for you.
Are the keys too tall for your liking? Make them shorter. Don't like the ARROW KEYS? Hide them. Many things can be tweaked directly from the tool bar.
Change the keyboard's look with downloadable THEMES.
You can use the built-in THEME EDITOR to create your own themes, or customize existing themes with your chosen fonts and colors. You can even use themes designed for other keyboards!
If you are experiencing problems or bugs, please submit a report at http://www.binarybulge.com. It only takes a few minutes and allows us to respond to and fix issues more quickly.
A list of all permissions requested by this app, and their associated uses, can be found at:
ThickButtons Keyboard
Simplicity and efficiency! We believe less is more and that is what makes typing process easy and lightning fast. As you type a word, ThickButtons enlarges and highlights those buttons which you will most likely press and shrinks all the others which reduces the chance of making an error, especially on devices with average screen size.
Ask a question or request help on our Google+ Community
Unlike other keyboards that make you learn new input methods, ThickButtons changes itself dynamically as you type, helping you to improve typing speed, accuracy and make less errors. Save your valuable time and be more efficient with ThickButtons!
Our goal is to save your valuable time, that's why we've developed a set of features that strive for your typing efficiency and simplicity. Each of them is based on predictions and learning users habits. But what exactly makes typing with ThickButtons so fast and efficient? Have a look at these awesome features and you will find out!
== Key Features ==
- Buttons that are most likely to be pressed next are highlighted and enlarged which greatly reduces the chance of making an error.
- Word suggestions based on the frequency of the word usage in specific language and usage of the word by the user.
- Voice input support.
- ThickButtons can learn new words typed by the user.
- Highly customizable button resizing modes. Turn on and off button resizing in portrait or landscape modes, customize the buttons enlargement.
ThickButtons supports the following languages and keyboard layouts (we are currently working on more languages support):
== Languages supported ==
Bulgarian – Българска клавиатура,
Czech -Česká klávesnice,
Croatian – Hrvatske tipkovnice,
Danish – Danske tastatur,
Dutch -Nederlands toetsenbord,
English Keyboard,
Estonian – Eesti klaviatuur,
Finnish – Suomen näppäimistö,
French – Clavier français,
German – Deutsch Tastatur,
Greek – Ελληνικό πληκτρολόγιο,
Hungarian – Magyar billentyűzet,
Italian – Tastiera italiana,
Latvian – Latvijas klaviatūras,
Lithuanian – Lietuvos klaviatūros,
Norwegian – Norsk tastatur,
Polish – Polska klawiatura,
Portuguese – Teclado Português,
Romanian – Român tastatură,
Russian – Русская клавиатура,
Serbian – cyrillic – Ћирилица српска тастатура,
Serbian – latin – Latin srpskoj tastaturi,
Slovak – Slovenská klávesnica,
Slovenian – Slovensko tipkovnico,
Spanish – Teclado en español,
Swedish – Svenskt tangentbord,
Turkish – Türkçe klavye,
Ukrainian -Українськa клавіатурa
== Permission explanation ==
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE - required for voice input. This permission just check if there is an internet connection. ThickButtons *does not* require INTERNET permission, which is needed to actually use network connection.
RECORD_AUDIO - voice input
VIBRATE - vibrate on typing
WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE - export dictionaries to paid version
== Support ==
To find out how to use ThickButtons and features overview visit http://thickbuttons.com
CM Keyboard - Emoji, ASCII Art
English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish
More languages will be added later.
1. Main Keyboard Includes Numbers
The main keyboard has a row of numbers at the top, which can easily help you input numbers without having to switch keyboards. When you type in passwords, you can just focus on your memory and not on switching inputs..
You can long tap the top-right button to show characters.
2. Main Keyboard Includes Emoji and Emoticon Button
Want to type emoji but have trouble finding them? We've got you covered. There is an obvious button on the main keyboard which brings you emojis on a short tap and emoticons on a long tap.
Bring some color to your communication!
3. Easily Type Emoji
Emoji is supported on every platform, use emoji to make your senences more attractice.
Super stars like emoji too!
P.S.: We only show emoji which are already on your system
4. Plenty of Cute Emoticons
Never used emoticons before? Why not give it a try! It's magical when some symbols give a meaning which can't be expressed in words.
Emoticons are the easiest way to be cute so quickly!! o‿≖✧
Key Features
- Fresh UI design
- Flexible full keyboard input
- Numbers on top for easy access when entering passwords
- Emoji on the main keyboard
- Plenty of cute emoticons
- Adaptive input - intelligent and smart!
- Intuitive character layout, one tap to see all!
- Easily switch between keyboard layouts without getting lost
Stay connected!
Send an email to email@example.com if you have any question. We'd love to get your opinions~
Flit Keyboard
Using 4 to 8 big buttons with tap & slide typing approach, even big fingers can type on small device properly. And users will able to type without looking at the keyboard with some practice.
1. 8-buttons Full-QWERTY mode for all normal keyboard characters on ONE screen, including letters, numbers, symbols, AND cursor arrow key.
2. 4-buttons letter-only Small-QWERTY mode for more screen space.
3. User defined shortcuts let users input their favor text quickly. Dynamic shortcuts help users input current date and time easily.
4. Installable plug-ins to extends features such as add word suggestion, change appearance, and add keyboard layout.
5. Key Mapper to customized letters of the key buttons to suit personal habit, or swap letters position to recreate keyboard layout such as QWERTZ or AZERTY.
Please enable Flit Keyboard from Language settings after installed, and read the help messages from Flit Keyboard settings for usage and tips.
[Note: For any problem, please check out the FAQ in product website]
Smart Keyboard PRO
*** To enable the keyboard, go to "Language and keyboard" settings, and check "Smart Keyboard Pro" box. Then:
- on Android < 3.0: long press in any text input area until a popup menu appears, select "Input Method" in this menu, and choose "Smart Keyboard PRO" in the list (see the video)
- on Android > 3.0: pull the status bar while the keyboard is visible, and choose "Select Input Method", then "Smart Keyboard Pro"
Don't forget to read the FAQ and the users' guide on the web site if you have problems, answers to most common issues are there (including: how to use Emojis)!
You can long press 123 key any time to enter keyboard settings.
A trial version is available on the market (look for the app "Smart Keyboard Trial"). Note that this Pro version is a standalone app, you don't need the Trial to use it.
If you find bugs such as FORCE CLOSE issues, please go to the web site and CONTACT THE SUPPORT. If you want help, it's completely useless to leave bad comments here as we cannot contact you!
Ignore the warning about the keyboard "collecting your personal data", this is a standard Android message when you activate any third party input method.
Contains layouts for the following languages (check the market for available dictionaries):
Albanian: shqip
Arabic: العربية
Armenian: Հայերեն
Azerbaijani: Azərbaycanca
Belarusian: Беларуская
Bosnian: Bosanski
Bulgarian: Български
Catalan: Català
Chinese: 中文
Croatian: Hrvatski
Czech: Čeština
Danish: Dansk
Dutch: Nederlands
Estonian: Eesti
Finnish: Suomi
French: Français
Greek: Ελληνικά
Georgian: ქართული
German: Deutsch
Hebrew: עברית
Hungarian: Magyar
Icelandic: Íslenska
Indonesian: Bahasa Indonesia
Italian: Italiano
Japanese: 日本語
Kazakh: Қазақша
Korean: 한국어
Latvian: Latviešu
Lithuanian: Lietuvių
Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuergesch
Macedonian: Македонски
Mongolian: Монгол
Norwegian: Norsk
Persian: فارسی
Polish: Polski
Portuguese: Português
Romanian: Română
Russian: Русский
Serbian: Српски
Slovak: Slovenčina
Slovenian: Slovenščina
Spanish: Español
Swedish: Svenska
Ukrainian: Українська
Tatar: Татарча
Thai: ไทย
Turkish: Türkçe
Vietnamese: Tiếng Việt
Enjoy your new typing experience!
Emoji Best Keyboard
The Smart Keyboard for android all phones and android tablets.
This is the Best Emoji Keyboard to input Emoji/Emoticons icons in every applications and sites such as email, twitter, sms… All together with the normal English keyboard which make input Emoji more convenience for Android Keyboard.
Emoji Keyboard is The Best way to share Emoji's everywhere and to everyone.
With Emoji Best Keyboard you can Send cute emoji expressions to your friend without rooting your phone.
It is that simple.
- Fully Loaded Emoji, Smiley, Emoticon and text face display & More than1000 Emoji for free.
- Emoji for every loving and social apps or sites like message,text,email,note,contact,sms.
- Send Messages as emoji to every other phones.
- Dynamic floating preview for Gesture Typing.
- Add new Text face ( ?° ?? ?°), (???)
- Capitalize the first word of each sentence (Auto-capitalization).
- Auto Thumb Support Left compact, Right Compact.
- All Screen support Smallest, Small, Normal, Large, Largest, so all the way Emoji.
- Easy Sliding input for emoji (Input a Emoji by sliding through the letters/Swipe)
- QWERTY/QWERTZ/AZERTY/Dvorak/Colemak/PC input style.
- Standalone more than 1000 of emoji keyboard.
- Beautiful keyboard UI.
- Wonderful Key text color and background color.
- Many other advance feature.
How to Use :
Follow Two Simple Steps.
1) Enable Emoji Best Keyboard.
2) Set Emoji Best Keyboard as Default by choosing it in set Default popup.
Hurray, Thats it..!
While Enabling Emoji Best Keyboard,
You may receive a warning when activating Emoji Best Keyboard saying "This keyboard may collect your personal data." We take your privacy seriously. Emoji Best Keyboard does not collect your private data including password or credit card or any related info. The warning message when you enable the Emoji keyboard is a standard message in Android for ANY third-party keyboard app.
So keep on sharing Love by Best Emoji Keyboard and Smart Keyboard for android.
Screen Touch Test
This app serves two purposes:
1. Your fingers touch a portion of the screen, but the touch screen only registers a single pixel. This allows you to see exactly where your device registers your touch.
2. Find out if there are any areas that do not register your touch. For example, your device will likely not register the far edges of your screen.
* Touch anywhere in the black screen.
* The EXIT that appears on the left in random spots can be touched to exist the app if you don't have physical back or home buttons.
* The back button can be used to exit the app as well.
TS Keyboard (25 Languages)
You don't need to look at the keyboard and screen separately to type a word.
●Supports 25 multilingual keyboards!
-English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, Iranian, Urdu, Hindi, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish
●Use the input trace function to find a typo easily!
-See which keys you have pressed, so you can find and correct typos quickly.
●Edit text more conveniently using multi-toolbar!
- You can edit more conveniently with the multi-toolbar's various functions.
● Supports one-hand mode!
- You can type conveniently using one hand with one-hand mode.
● Artificial Intelligence (AI) dictionary available!
When you write the first letter or the first word, a list of previously used words or sentences appears so that you can choose one from the list.
●A total of over 30 high-quality skins are available!
- Mint, Stylish black, iPhone style, Yellow star, Simple black, Brown, Dark gray, Blue gray, Baby pink, Lovely pink, Purple, Navy, Violet, Pink candy, Blue candy, Pallets, Cow pattern, Pink lady, Emerald beach, Scarlett fabric, Clockwork, Marshmallows, Simple gray, Blue, etc.
Enjoy using TS keyboard, supporting easier and more intuitive multilingual input and a variety of secondary tools (multi-toolbar).
★Key Features
* Supports 25 multilingual keyboards
* Input key tracking effect
* Multi-toolbar
- Drag toolbar: Move a word or a cursor back and forth or easily delete a word.
- Dictionary toolbar: Enter text in Korean or English more conveniently.
- Quick edit shortcut: Press the button on the left of the toolbar. A keyboard appears so that you can move cursor and edit the text.
*One hand-mode
*AutoText input
*Artificial Intelligence (AI) auto input
*Skin selection: You can select a colorful skin (Mint, Stylish black, iPhone style, Yellow star, Simple black, Brown, Dark gray, Blue gray, Baby pink, Lovely pink, Purple, Navy, Violet, Pink candy, Blue candy, Pallets, Cow pattern, Pink lady, Emerald beach, Scarlett fabric, Clockwork, Marshmallows, Simple gray, Blue, etc.)
*Skin customization: You can set your picture as a keyboard background.
*Key reading: You can listen to a native speaker's pronunciation of the alphabet when pressing the relevant key.
*Voice recognition: You can enter text using your voice.
*Key height adjustment: You can adjust the height of the keys to suit you.
*Problem report: Have you experienced difficulties in reporting problems or asking for help? Now you can easily report any problems or ask for help via e-mail from Settings.
★ Supported Input Methods for Countries
- 17-key keyboard
- Chunjiin keyboard
- EZ Hangul keyboard
- Short vowel keyboard
- Chinese character conversion and character table conversion (How to input Chinese character: [大] → Enter ""대"" and press the 한자 key. Select a Chinese character from the candidate list.)
* Japan
- 12-key input method
- Roman alphabet input method
- Pinyin input method
- Suangpin input method
★How to Install
- Settings -> Language & keyboard -> TS Keyboard -> (for Gingerbread 2.3 or earlier versions) Touch and hold notepad or input field, (Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 or later version) Pull the top bar down when the keyboard is displayed -> Select Input Method -> Select TS Keyboard
ICS Keyboard
This is the keyboard from Android 4.0 (code name Ice Cream Sandwich). It's the same keyboard you'll find on brand new devices, except you won't need a new device to use it! As a matter of fact, it works on pretty much any device that supports software keyboards (including old phones running Android 1.5/Cupcake).
This keyboard is 100% free. If you like it and want to contribute to our efforts, you can purchase the donate version of this keyboard.
If you want something a little more customizable, please try Ultra Keyboard. It has many innovative features designed to help you get the most out of your Android text experience.
About requested permissions: The Internet permission is necessary to make speech-to-text work on older devices. That is the only thing it's used for.
Jbak Keyboard
Supported languages:
English, Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Deutch, French, Italian, Swedish, Turkish, Hebrew, Tatar,Bashkir.
Input with autocopletions for English, Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar and Bashkir languages.
After installation you need make these steps:
Go to System settings >Language and keyboard, enable Jbak Keyboard.
Press Ok on alert about stealing codes and passwords. Keyboard not steal passwords:)
In any input field press Input method > Jbak Keyboard.
If you know something about xml, you can create your own keyboard or language! See details on official web-site.
Each letter key of keyboard contains additional symbol, which avaliable by long-press of this key
Long-press of Shift key displays special keyboard for text editing. With this keyboard you can easy move cursol, select text, copy, paste an cut
Long-press of Enter displays keyboard for input emoticons.
Long-press of 123 opens menu, where avaliable main settings, multi clipboard and templates. Multi clipboard stores 20 last copied text for inserting into text fields. Templates can contains any text for quick inserting into text fields and some special instructions for operations with selection
Keyboard contains many settings. There are:
Key height, different for portrait and landscape, with preview;
List of languages for switching;
Keyboard for all languages;
Fonts for labels on keys
Skin, one of 6 integrated skins
Font for fullscreen editor;
Vibro for short and long press, and perions in miliseconds;
Stetes of Shift key (for example, you can disable CapsLock);
Auto case changing and insertings spaces
Free Internet
How our application will help you get free internet?.
Well, very simple! Every day our team of editors add new methods that allow you to access the web for free in different ways, with different applications, companies and in almost all regions of the world.
Although our tutorials are aimed mainly Latin American countries, will also be tutorials explaining methods to get free internet Android operating in every corner of the planet. Countries like United States, India, Europe and more. It is good to clarify that our information is unique and no lies. Each of the methods that you will see daily are pretested and only after verifying its effectiveness are shared with our users.
The number of applications we use to have free internet is very extensive. Most of them are extremely effective, and are completely free. There are 4 of them to be the most used, largely due to its incredible effectiveness. Here we have listed some them.
⦁ Psiphon
⦁ Troidvpn 2015
⦁ Droidvpn 2015
⦁ Opera Handler Java
⦁ Your Freedom 2015
⦁ Opera Mini
⦁ Opera Next 7
⦁ Uc Browser Handler 2015
⦁ APN Changer
⦁ Opera Mini Mod Handler UI210 18.104.22.16846
⦁ Back Track
As I said before the list of countries for which we will make our tutorials is quite extensive. Many of our methods work worldwide. However I have prepared below a list of countries for which we will be sharing more methods to get free internet Android 3g and 4g.
• Chile
• Argentina
• Colombia
• Bolivia
• España
• Mexico
• Honduras
• Guatemala
All these regions are available to have free internet.
Companies apply:
• Telcel
• Movistar
• Iusacell
• Digitel
• Unefon
• Movitel
• Tigo
• Claro
• Entel
• Orange
• Viva
• Vodafone
• Bitel
Cellular big keyboard (Free)
Specially designed for fast input to save your time.
It is a migration of Ice Cream Sandwich keyboard to the lower versions of android 2.2, 2.3 and 3.0.
Recent Changes: Based on latest Android 4.0.3 and Android 4.1.
This is the trial version of Cellular big button keyboard, which is a wonderful solution for the tiny keys problem of QWERTY keyboard on a normal touch-screen mobile. After hundreds times of trials, a promotion dialog will show.
Feedback and bug report are welcome.
You can leave your comment here or write to me directly: firstname.lastname@example.com
To enable the cellular keyboard:
On your Android phone, tap Settings.
- Now tap on Language & keyboard.
- click on the "Cellular Keyboard" to activate it.
- go to the Message and try to compose one new message. Long click on the input and then select "Input method"
- In the popup window select "cellular keyboard".
Decoration Keyboard
Decoration Keyboard has been well designed to help speeding up typing while reduce accidental typing errors efficiently. It supports many languages with various localized input methods. It can help you to reduce typing mistakes with its built in big buttons.
Videos to learn how to activate the keyboard:
Full Features
- Fast typing
- Big buttons help to write faster than other keyboards
- Full control you can choose to mute sounds or vibration while typing
- Full control to show or hide the labeled buttons.
- You can control the vibration duration when typing
- Show suggestions while typing to correct the common mistakes
- More than 40 languages are supported
- Auto decoration for English letters
- Auto decoration for Arabic letters
- Support 3, 4 ,5″, 7″, 9″/10″ tablet
1. How to enable Decoration Keyboard?
1st Step: After downloading Decoration Keyboard , go into the Settings Menu -> Languages and input ->, click the Enable Decoration Keyboard checkbox to enable.
2nd Step: go into the Settings Menu -> Languages and input ->, click the Settings icon next to Decoration Keyboard to enter the Settings for Decoration Keyboard. then you can change the settings of keyboard as you like and select the input languages you want to type with.
what makes Decoration Keyboard the best keyboard to choose :
* It supports so many languages! The keyboard has over 40 keyboard layouts, to support as many languages as possible.
* It's safe and easy to use
●Support languages:
☆Arabic-AR-اللغة العربية
☆Turkish-TR- Türkçe
☆Bulgarian-BG-Български език
☆German-DE- Deutsch
☆Russian-RU-Русский язык
☆French-FR- française
☆Czech-CS- čeština
☆Croatian-HR- Hrvatski
☆Romanian-RO- română
☆Slovak-SK- Slovenčina
☆Polish-PL- język polski
☆Norwegian-NO- norsk
☆Hungarian-HU- Magyar
☆Greek-EL- Ἑλληνική
☆Dutch-NL- Nederlands
☆Danish-DA- dansk
☆Swedish-SV- svenska
☆Spanish-ES- Español
☆Italian-IT- Italiano
☆Korean- KO-조선어
☆Indonesian-ID- Bahasa Indonesia
☆Malay- MS- Bahasa Melayu
☆Slovenian- SL-slovenščina
Privacy notice: while installing Decoration Keyboard, you will receive a warning message about collecting sensitive data. This is the standard general-purpose Android message issued for any downloaded keyboard and it does not pertain to Decoration Keyboard.
Alphabetical Keyboard
I am proud to say that this is the first and only Alphabetical keyboard available in the entire android market. Have you find difficulty in typing in the native QWERT Keyboard in Android device? Since the keys are very small in native keyboard when we type a letter most of the time another key is accidentally pressed. Since the QWERTY keyboard should contain the fixed number of keys in a raw they cannot make bigger keys. Another thing is that if you are not familiar with the QWERTY keyboard typing will be difficult. To avoid all these problems Keys in this keyboard is arranged in Alphabetical order. Also the keys are bigger to avoid pressing the wrong keys.
But if you are get used with the QWERTY keyboard you will find some difficulty in typing in this keyboard. But once you locate all the key positions this problem will be solved. This keyboard does not give word suggestions at present I trying to fix it. Please don't give a negative rating because of these.
1.Download an install the application. Since it is IME Keyboard,there will not be any icons so you cannot access this from menu.
2.Go to setting > Language and Input > Select Alphabetical Keyboard (a tick mark will be shown when you select it)
3. Select Default and select "Alphabetical Keyboard" as your default keyboard
4.You may revert to the previous keyboard by continuously pressing in the typing field.
Or do the following:
1.Go to setting > Language and Input > Select any other Keyboard
2. Select Default and select that keyboard as your default keyboard
To share this application to facebook click the link below
If you find this Application useful, You may pay me some money by recharging my mobile (07560983431- Idea Kerala Circle) with any amount as You wish.
More from developer
[Deprecated] 5-TILES Lite
The 5-Tiles Keyboard takes up 70% less of your phone screen than the QWERTY layout. The 5 keys are much larger and easy to reach, resulting in way fewer typos. You can easily type on touch screens of any size with just one finger or thumb. And it's fast. With a bit of practice, you'll soon be beating your old typing speeds on the phone.
Thanks to the space-efficient layout and easy-to-master logic of the 5-TILES Keyboard, this is the only keyboard you'll be able to use across ALL of your touch screen devices - no matter how small.
If you're multi-lingual, you also no longer need to switch between dictionaries to use a range of special characters. We support 8 languages at the moment, for both word prediction and letters - check out the Cheat Sheet to find your most commonly used characters. Typing is so much faster when you don't have to switch back and forth....
STOP using the keyboard invented over 150 years ago to prevent the jamming of mechanical arms - and START using the fast and efficient keyboard designed for the future!
Letters have been grouped on the 5-TILES Keyboard in alphabetical order, with only a slight re-ordering so that the letters that you need the most often (and the space key) are the quickest to type.
The underlined letters and the underlined 'space' are just a single tap.
All other letters are a slide across the keys - starting from the key that they are written on.
To know which way to slide, look at their location in the row of letters on the key where they are written. Is the letter you need the first in the row on that key? Slide from that key to the first = BLUE. Is the letter you need the last in the row on that key? Slide from that key to the last = RED.
An easy way to practice this is to activate the Learning Mode (LM) by sliding your finger upwards on the yellow key. Now when you touch a key, the keyboard will show you where you need to slide to. (Slide up on yellow again to turn it off).
There are some other slides-up: to delete slide up on blue (del), shift is on green, the letter u is on orange, and the letter z is on red.
There are also some slides-down: to delete a full word, slide down on blue (del word), enter is on green, move left is on yellow (arrow), and move right is on red (arrow).
And now for some more magic: slide down on the orange key to activate the Cheat Sheets (CS). VOILA! all of the sequences for numbers, punctuation, editing, special characters, and emoticons at your command!
The 5-TILES Keyboard can be used with or without (multi-language) dictionaries. To switch the dictionaries on and off, use the combination of yellow-blue-green.
With the dictionaries active, the 5-TILES Keyboard "learns" your writing patterns to improve autosuggestion options. You can also add your own words to the dictionaries' memory.
Type using national characters. Languages currently supported: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Swedish.
Edit text and issue commands: move between text input fields, highlight, copy and paste, even control your phone's ringing mode!
Once you've downloaded the app, simply launch it from the Play Store, or from the home screen of your phone, or from your Apps list. Our handy menu will allow you to activate it on your phone in one simple step, as well as select it as your preferred keyboard and change your settings.
To get the hang of typing with the 5-TILES Keyboard, we've put together a handy "Training" App, which will take you through easy-to-follow, short lessons. Additional tutorials are available for unique national characters, such as Polish.
The speed test mode will dramatically improve your typing speed while you practise typing the most common words and pangrams.
5-TILES Training
It replaces two previous apps.
First section teaches the basics - letters of the alphabet, punctuation and numbers.
Pangrams section serves to start building up the speed.
Common words and Short texts are practical exercises to test your typing speed in real life situations.
Speed test
The learning material has been split into two parts. The first is made out of the 100 most common English words. This way you can focus on sections likely to be present in the majority of messages.
Pangrams allow for a more in-depth approach: they are sentences written using every letter of the alphabet at least once. Practicing these sentences is therefore the best way to develop consistency allowing to type any text at a similar rate.
In all scenarios words per minute (WPM) are measured using an internationally agreed standard.
The app works with any Android keyboard. Compare them all and see how much more convenient typing using ETAOI keyboard is!
Test szybkości pisania
Dwa tryby ćwiczeń - pangramy oraz najczęściej występujące słowa. Pomiar prędkości pisania w WPM (słowach na minutę).
Aplikacja może być używana z dowolną klawiaturą zainstalowaną na telefonie. Oczywiście polecamy ETAOI!


text:
Samsung Galaxy S2 initially run Android 2.3 Gingerbread then later updated with 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The latest update is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean but you can update your Galaxy S2 with Android 4.2.2 firmware, along with Google Now and Project Butter, using Parandroid ROM.
Parandroid for Galaxy S2 comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, including the complete features of the latest Android version and some additions which suits you. But before we proceed with the update guide, read the requirements and check if you have all the necessary things needed.
1. Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100, a computer and a USB cable.
2. Create a backup of your personal information and data files. Do not use Samsung Kies to make backup files for this is a custom ROM.
3. Battery level should be at least 60 per cent to avoid power interruption.
4. Your device must be rooted.
5. Download the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean Parandroid ROM and the Google Apps package.
Warning: This is a custom ROM running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and should only be installed to Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100. Developers will not be held responsible for any damages that may occur on your device. Do this at your own risk.
1. Connect your Galaxy S2 to the computer using a USB cable and copy the Parandroid 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and the Google Apps package inside your device.
2. Switch off the device and reboot it into Recovery Mode. Press the Volume + Home + Power keys all at the same time and wait for the green Android to appear.
3. Inside the Recovery mode, select "wipe data/factory reset."
4. Then select "install zip from SD card" and choose the firmware file you have copied earlier.
5. Select the ROM and confirm to install. Do the same with Google Apps package.
6. After the installation, go back and select "reboot system now".
7. Wait for the device to complete its loading which will take at least 5 minutes on the first time.
8. Good job! Now your device runs Android 4.2.2 with Parandroid ROM. Go to Settings > About Phone to confirm the Android version.
In case you have trouble or issues during the installation, you can send your comments to the Android Advices thread page.


text:
Russ Stewart, Director of Sales Stewart joins Jun Group from Yahoo! where he was a Strategic Account Director since 2011. Previously, Stewart held sales positions at BlueKai, Sportgenic, Specific Media, and Business.com. He earned his Business Communication degree from The University of Connectic
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A Mountain Biking video by rosebikesuk - 2,653 views
Fin and Jonny loaded up the Transporter and headed to Caersws to support the Anderson brothers at round 4 of the BDS. After a shaky start with the whole Anderson family having a bit of a lie in, the weekend ended with a great result for Isaac while Joel was left with a feeling of deja-vu. www.rosebikes.co.uk
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