Confessions of a Quack: Holistic Harry Tells the Inside Story of Alternative Medicine
Confessions of a Quack is fiction, but it provides real insights into the thinking processes and motivations of quacks, alternative medicine providers, and their patients.
Acupuncturist Complains About Wikipedia
An acupuncturist complains about Wikipedia, saying it is under the control of self-styled skeptics who bias the content and bully anyone who disagrees. She only demonstrates her own bias; Wikipedia had good reason to ban her from editing.
Protandim Update: New Studies and an FDA Warning Letter
Multilevel distributors of the dietary supplement Protandim think that evidence from scientific studies supports their claims for their product. The FDA disagrees.
Medical Neglect of Children
Medical neglect caused horrific suffering for these children, ending in death or permanent impairment. Their parents failed them, but so did society.
Vital Stem: Affordable Stem Cell Treatments for Everyone? Anti-Aging Breakthrough?
Vital Stem is a dietary supplement mixture that supposedly reverses the changes of normal aging by increasing the body's production of stem cells. We can't know if it works, because it hasn't been tested.
How Do Doctors Learn to Diagnose, and Can Machines Learn to Do It Too?
Siddhartha Mukherjee weighs in on how doctors arrive at a diagnosis and how computers can assist but not replace them.
Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Graded Exercise Therapy: How the PACE Trial Got It Wrong
The PACE trial found that cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise therapy were effective treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome and could produce recovery in 22% of patients. It seems they got it wrong.
Stem Cells for Macular Degeneration: Meticulous Science vs. Unethical Carelessness
Rigorous scientists stabilized a patient’s macular degeneration with a cutting-edge stem cell treatment; less rigorous scientists misapplied stem cell science and left three women blind.