Month: June 2021
COVID-19 and balancing the risks: The vaccine or the virus
Given recent reports of myocarditis after vaccination with mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines in young people, we think it's a good time to reexamine the risk/benefit ratio of these vaccines in this population.
A New Covid-19 Myth?
A correspondent suggested I should have known that the pandemic was over months ago. That's obviously a myth. But where did that idea come from?
NCCIH Strategic Plan 2021–2025: Meet the new plan, same as the old plan…?
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health recently released its latest 5 year strategic plan. It's basically the same as the last strategic plan, but with one new addition. It's not really a new addition, but it signals a resurrection of an old trope about "integrating" quackery with science-based medicine.
Science-Based Satire: More Chiropractors are Using Subluxation Sniffing Dogs
Are dogs being trained to detect subtle chiropractic subluxations? If so, can they really outperform the Subluxatron 9000-X? And what about cats? These questions and more won't be answered by this post, because it's clearly satire and doesn't represent reality or even the opinions of the managing editors of this website.
The risks associated with alternative medicine
In a new paper, the types and severity of harms from different types of alternative medicine are described.
The Delta Variant
The emergence of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, leading to more cases of COVID-19, is a reminder that we have not won this race against the pandemic yet.
The First Woman Doctor in America
This book about the first woman doctor in America contains fascinating details about the Blackwell sisters, their struggles, and the times they lived in. Elizabeth Blackwell is to be commended for her accomplishments, but it appears that she was not a nice person.
Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 2
A few months ago, Scott Gavura wrote about how the veterinary deworming drug ivermectin has become the new hydroxychloroquine in that it is being promoted as a highly effective treatment against COVID-19—and by many of the same people who previously promoted HCQ—despite evidence that is, at best very weak and at worst completely negative. Unfortunately, with the publication of two new and...
The Yoga RCT
Back in December, 2020, Chief Scientist for the WHO Dr. Soumya Swaminathan tweeted about a study that suggested yoga helped improve various blood markers in people with diabetes. However, a major flaw prevents the study from being rigorous enough to believe its conclusions.
The Science of Transgender Treatment
This is part I in what will be a short series of articles reviewing the science of transgender care and how it has been distorted by critics.