Author
Some Data on Fluoride
David Gorski wrote yesterday about the threat that a second Trump term holds for American health, specifically if he keeps his promise to give RFK Jr. some high level position over public health. Unfortunately, we have seen this movie before, although the sequel promises to be much worse. Putting a pseudoscientist, crank, conspiracy theorist, anti-vaxxer in charge of the organizations that are...
EMDR Is Still Dubious
A recent meta-analysis of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy concludes that the evidence “confirms” EMDR is effective in treating depression. It is a great example of the limitations of meta-analysis, and how easy it is to create essentially a false narrative using poor quality research. EMDR was “developed” by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987. It is the notion that bilateral...
Latest Acupuncture Pseudoscience
JAMA Internal Medicine just published an article titled: Acupuncture vs Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Sciatica From Herniated Disk, A Randomized Clinical Trial. In an accompanying editorial comment, Jerard Z. Kneifati-Hayek and Mitchell H. Katz write: “This was a methodologically rigorous study; there were multiple experienced acupuncturists, the comparison group used a well thought-out sham control, and patients were followed up for 1...
microRNA – 2024 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine
The 2024 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine goes to two researchers, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, for their work on microRNA. They began their research in the same lab in the late 1980s as postdoctoral fellow, and then continued to collaborate after they each started their own labs. Their research involves a key question about multicellular life. Every cell in the...
Myopia Epidemic
Myopia, or near-sightedness, has been steadily on the rise over the last half-century. A recent systematic review updates the literature on the extent and nature of this epidemic. Let’s get straight to the findings and then discuss what this means. The reviews includes: “276 studies, involving a total of 5,410,945 participants from 50 countries across all six continents.” The researchers find a...
Why Is ADHD On The Rise
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed neurodevelopment disorders and seems to be on the rise, in both children and adults. The diagnosis in children requires having various symptoms of attention deficit or hyperactivity which is functionally impairing with onset by age 12. Recognition of the disorder actually goes back farther than you might think – the observation that...
Update on AI in the Clinic
It seems there is an endless stream of artificial intelligence (AI) news coming out, and this includes the field of medicine. There also continues to be a debate about the true impact of AI – how much is hype, and how much is a genuine advance that can transform our technology? As with many technological advances, it’s both. New tech, perhaps especially...
WHO Systematic Review of RF and Cancer
In our increasingly technological world, we are constantly exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic waves (RF-EMF). It would certainly be inconvenient, to say the least, if this ubiquitous and essential technology had negative health effects. But of course we would need to know if this were the case so that steps could be taken to fix it. Fortunately, a recent systematic review conducted...
Are We Ready for Mpox
Are we ready for the next potential pandemic? It seems like we are just get over COVID and already we have to worry about the next one. We first covered the monkey pox (now mpox) in 2022. Since then it has continued to be a concern. Where do our efforts to contain this infection stand? To recap, the disease mpox is the...
Conspiracy Thinking And Alternative Medicine
Just recently, in casual conversation, someone commented to me that “they” already have a cure for cancer but are hiding it. This is a claim I frequently encounter. One survey, from 2005, found that 27.3% of those surveyed endorsed this belief. Another survey from 2014 found that 37% of people believe the FDA is suppressing natural cancer cures on behalf of “Big...