Category: Clinical Trials
The Cleveland Clinic publishes a study claiming to show benefits from functional medicine. It doesn’t.
Last week, the Cleveland Clinic published a study purporting to show that functional medicine improves health-related quality of life. Not surprisingly, on closer examination, there's a lot less to the study than meets the eye, and its results are quite underwhelming.
“SuperMannan Cures Bladder Infections!” Really?
The ads claim SuperMannan cures bladder infections. The science is a single uncontrolled study of 9 women; its design is a recipe for disaster.
Electromagnetic healing devices for dogs: Studies show “Meh”
Does a pulsed electromagnetic field device work to help dogs recover from surgery? The answer is below. Spoiler alert: The answer is "probably not".
There’s No Vaccine for HIV/AIDS, But There’s Truvada
Science has made great strides in understanding, treating, and preventing HIV/AIDS. We can hope for an AIDS vaccine, but meanwhile there is a pill that can markedly reduce the risk of becoming infected.
Federal “right-to-try” over a year later: Still a failure and still about the money (and weakening the FDA)
Federal "right-to-try" legislation was passed and signed into law by President Trump over a year ago. Advocates promised that lots of terminally ill people who were dying then would be saved by having the right to "try" experimental therapies outside of the context of clinical trials. That has not happened. This should come as no surprise, because right-to-try was never about getting...
One reason mouse studies often don’t translate to humans very well
Mouse models are often used as preclinical models of human disease, but the number of drugs that succeed in mice but go on to be approved as a drug for humans is only about one in ten. A new study comparing gene expression in the cells of human brains with those of mouse brains provides new insight into why.
Ebola: Science Is Making Progress
Good news! Research on Ebola has identified a 100% effective vaccine and medications that produce a 90% survival rate.
Vitamin D and Diabetes: Another Case Where Supplementation Sounded Like a Good Idea But Wasn’t
A new study shows vitamin D supplements don't prevent diabetes. But there are still unanswered questions.
For-profit stem cell clinics, universities, and “pay-to-play” clinical trials for autism
Stem cell therapies show great promise, but as yet the vast majority of that promise has not been validated in rigorous clinical trials. Unfortunately, for-profit stem cell clinics are running clinical trials that require patients to pay to be part of it. These trials are not rigorous. Even more unfortunately, it appears that some universities are also running "pay-to-play" clinical trials that...
A world-renowned placebo researcher asks, “Does placebo research boost pseudoscience?”
Professor Fabrizio Benedetti is the most famous and almost certainly also the most influential researcher investigating the physiology of placebo effects. In a recent commentary, he asks whether placebo research is fueling quackery, as quacks co-opt its results. The answer to that question is certainly yes. A better question is: How do supporters of science counter the placebo narrative promoted by quacks,...