Category: Basic Science
Vitamin C and Sepsis. All Sound and Fury? Much Ado About Nothing?
Is intravenous vitamin C helpful in sepsis? I hope so, but past experience render me skeptical.
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.
Corrigendum. The Week in Review. 03/26/2017
Death from naturopathy. Cows and soldiers have a similar problem. Pseudo-medicines never die. Chiropractic complications. And more.
Corrigendum. The Week in Review for 03/19/2017
What happened this week? Measles returns to kill. Stem cell injections blind. Lousy acupuncture studies. Fire hot. Skinny jeans are not a reason to see a chiropractor. Lesbian tendencies do not respond to homeopathy. And more.
Corrigendum. The week in review for 03/12/2017
Waiting for a vaccine-preventable infection. More lousy acupuncture studies. Medical students interested in homeopathy are not as strong at science. Water wet. TCPM consuming donkeys. What the FDA does, and doesn't do, for now.
Influenza Vaccine and Health Care Workers. More than one way to skin a literature
There are many ways to apply the medical literature. For me it starts with the premise that health care workers may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Corrigendum. The Week in Review for 02/19/2017
More poorly done acupuncture studies. Burzynski eats just desserts. Italians like homeopathy. New Jersey is going after Oregon. And more
Donald Trump versus the FDA: Is the standard of evidence for drug approval actually too low rather than too high?
All of the candidates being considered by President Trump for FDA Commissioner believe that the FDA is too strict in its standards for approving new drugs. In a commentary in Nature last week, two bioethicists argued that, at least in terms of preclinical data, the standard of evidence is actually too low. Which is correct?
How reproducible is basic lab research in cancer biology?
Last week, a review of the reproducibility of several highly cited cancer biology papers was published. The results were mixed and demonstrate how difficult reproducing published results can be at times—and how scientists need to do better.
A review of Benecol, a plant-stanol margarine
Most nutraceuticals don't really work as advertised. For the most part, Benecol pretty much does. But is it worth it?