Month: May 2019

U.S. Measles Elimination Status in Jeopardy as the Number of Cases Reach 25 Year High

Thanks in large part to anti-vaccine propaganda and decreasing vaccination rates, 2019 is shaping up to be a bad year when it comes to measles outbreaks, the worst in over 2 decades to be exact. And we are now at risk of losing our hard-fought elimination status.

/ May 31, 2019

Infomercial in PLOS One links to website selling unproven treatments for fibromyalgia and dementia

PLOS One recently published a clinical trial that was essentially a poorly-disguised advertisement for an unproven product. I object to this use of the scientific literature to market such a device.

/ May 30, 2019

Time to Move Beyond the Impact Factor

The impact factor has become the one metric for journal quality. It's time to rethink this system.

/ May 29, 2019

Treating Mental Illness with Nutrition: The Walsh Protocol

The Walsh Institute offers the Walsh protocol for the nutritional treatment of mental illness. This "orthomolecular psychiatry" is not supported by any clinical studies.

/ May 28, 2019

The Yoke of Chiropractic: Vertebral Subluxation Doctrine

The mysterious, asymptomatic chiropractic “vertebral subluxation complex” alleged to be a cause of disease has never been proven to exist. A real orthopedic vertebral subluxation, which can be identified by imaging and by physical signs, has never been demonstrated to be a cause of organic disease. Chiropractic subluxation theory has been perpetuated largely by misinformation, fear, and a powerful placebo effect, produced,...

/ May 27, 2019

Pee Values: Tapping into large databases to answer an awkward situation in veterinary medicine

A handy research tool has just helped answer some long standing questions about the spaying of female dogs and urinary incontinence.

/ May 24, 2019
Thermography

FDA should pull the plug on thermography

The FDA says there's no good evidence that thermography can reliably screen for breast cancer or any other disease. Instead of pursuing the unlawful promotion of thermography for breast cancer detection on a case-by-case basis, the FDA should pull the plug on thermographic devices.

/ May 23, 2019

Stem Cells for Knee Arthritis

Stem cell treatments for knee arthritis are not yet ready for prime time, but that has not stopped their premature commercialization.

/ May 22, 2019

The Best Science from The New England Journal of Medicine

The editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine has selected a dozen articles published during his tenure that epitomize the best of science-based medicine.

/ May 21, 2019

Chronic Lyme disease: Fake diagnosis, not fake disease

Believe it or not, an encounter on Twitter actually changed Dr. Gorski's mind. Chronic Lyme disease is a fake diagnosis, not a fake disease.

/ May 20, 2019