Month: June 2018

Rise of the Miscellany of Medical Malarkey…Again

More deaths in the European measles outbreak. Experts call for a national registry of sleep-related deaths in infants. Raw milk puts several Tennessee children in the intensive care unit. Oh, and medicinal dog urine. It must be time for another miscellany of medical malarkey.

/ June 29, 2018

Vitamin D and the relationship to colon cancer

Colorectal cancer is common. A new study examines the relationship with vitamin D levels.

/ June 28, 2018

Polio Outbreak in Papua New Guinea

A recent case of polio on Papua New Guinea shows that we cannot rest until the eradication of polio is complete. Close is not good enough.

/ June 27, 2018

How We Believe

James Alcock's new book about belief is a masterpiece that explains how our minds work, how we form beliefs, and why they are so powerful. It amounts to a course in psychology and an owner's manual for the brain.

/ June 26, 2018
Clínica 0-19: False hope for DIPG

Clínica 0-19: False hope in Monterrey for DIPG patients (part 1)

Drs. Alberto Siller and Alberto Garcia run Clínica 0-19 in Monterrey, Mexico, which has become a magnet for patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a deadly brain cancer. Unfortunately, their treatment is an unproven combination of 11 chemotherapy drugs injected into an artery feeding the brainstem, plus an unknown and unproven "immunotherapy." Of course it all costs $300,000 or more for...

/ June 25, 2018

Certification in chiropractic techniques: legitimate care or tomfoolery?

Chiropractic vertebral subluxation theory breeds a variety of questionable diagnostic and treatment methods. Certification in use of a subluxation-based technique offers no assurance that the technique is effective or scientifically acceptable.

/ June 22, 2018

Prevagen goes P-hacking

Can post-hoc data-dredging produce competent and reliable scientific evidence for Prevagen's claims of memory improvement? The FTC and consumer groups say "no."

/ June 21, 2018

Is Gaming Addiction a Thing?

The WHO has added gaming disorder as an official ICD diagnosis, and the APA is considering adding gaming disorder to the DSM. What is gaming disorder and how should it be diagnosed?

/ June 20, 2018

H.O.P.E.: A Movie Promoting Veganism

H.O.P.E., a movie promoting veganism, is short on science and long on appeals to emotion.

/ June 19, 2018
Quackery duck

ASCO endorses the integration of quackery into breast cancer care

In 2014, the Society for Integrative Oncology first published clinical guidelines for the care of breast cancer patients. Not surprisingly, SIO advocated "integrating" dubious therapies with oncology. Last week, the most influential oncology society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), endorsed a 2017 update to the SIO guidelines, thus endorsing the "integration" of quackery with oncology and paving the way for...

/ June 18, 2018