Category: Basic Science
Evidence-based medicine vs. basic science in medical school
Last week Dr. Vinay Prasad wrote a Substack arguing that medical students should learn the principles of evidence-based medicine before basic science.This is a recipe for amplifying the main flaw in EBM that science-based medicine was meant to correct, and Dr. Prasad's arguments would have been right at home on an integrative medicine blog. [Note ADDENDUM.]
Part of a Complete Breakfast
Infection control. When one adheres to compliance it is effective. Like masks and COVID 45.
After 15 years of SBM: Lessons learned and what the future holds
Last week, Dr. Novella discussed what SBM has accomplished over the last 15 years. I'm going to discuss lessons learned, what has changed, and remaining huge challenges. Unfortunately, after the pandemic, our position in 2022 reminds me even more than ever of Aragorn at the Black Gate of Mordor, but that does not mean things are hopeless.
Do COVID-19 vaccines cause “turbo cancer”?
Over the last several months, antivaxxers have been claiming that COVID-19 vaccines cause "turbo cancer", cancers (or cancer recurrences) of a particularly aggressive and fast-growing variety diagnosed in younger and younger patients. "Turbo cancer" is not a thing, and the evidence cited is as weak as any antivax "evidence", including anecdotes and misinterpretation of epidemiology.
Serologies
“You keep using those words: positive serology. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Improving how the NIH decides which grants to fund: Reality vs. conspiracy
Last week, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a plan to decrease the problem of reputational bias in grant funding. I couldn't help but contrast how hard the NIH tries to use the most rigorous scientific criteria to decide whose grants to fund with the conspiracy theory that Anthony Fauci personally doles out NIH dollars like a mob boss...
How the “Don’t take this medication with grapefruit juice” warning originated
How a chance discovery by one scientist improved the safety of consumers worldwide.
The rise and fall of the lab leak hypothesis for the origin of SARS-CoV-2
Two new studies were published last week that strongly support a natural zoonotic origin for COVID-19 centered at the wet market in Wuhan, China. Naturally, lab leak proponents soberly considered this new evidence and thought about changing their minds. Just kidding! They doubled down on the conspiracy mongering, because of course they did.
COVID-19 puts the spotlight on an unexpected racial disparity in health care
Evidence increasingly suggests that pulse oximeters, the little finger clips that measure blood oxygen, overestimate the blood oxygenation in Black patients. It's a problem that's been discussed a long time that took a pandemic to bring to public consciousness. How can SBM decrease or eliminate such healthcare disparities?
Madonna !?!
Remembering the old days of Madonna, courting, and naloxone use.