Category: Clinical Trials
Bee Venom is Snake Oil
Bee venom acupuncture is a double-barrel pseudoscience that provides new example of an old problem - the use of poor quality preclinical research to justify the inclusion of nonsense in medicine.
Dog breath and stinky studies: Do pets need to be knocked out for dental care?
Most professional veterinary organizations recommend anesthesia to ensure thorough dental care for pet dogs and cats. Despite this, some companies are trying to mislead the pet-owning public by claiming they have high quality evidence showing they provide the same benefit without the risks. Their research smells worse than old chihuahua breath.
PSA Screening for Prostate Cancer
PSA testing is controversial. A new study finds that PSA screening for prostate cancer offers no survival benefits.
The Debate Is Over: Antidepressants DO Work Better Than Placebo
The idea that antidepressants are no more effective than placebo has been put to rest. They clearly work when used appropriately, although the effect size is not as large as the published studies have suggested.
The final push to pass a federal version of the cruel sham of “right-to-try” is under way
Right-to-try laws are a cruel sham that claim to help terminally ill patients by providing them with earlier access to experimental therapeutics, even though they do very little in this regard. Promoted primarily by the libertarian think tank the Goldwater Institute, in reality they are a strategy to weaken the FDA's regulatory power to assure that marketed drugs are safe and effective....
A Misguided Study to Test the Reliability of Traditional Chinese Medicine Pulse Diagnosis
Pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. They are based on imagination, not on anatomical and physiologic reality.
I Was Wrong about Protandim
A seriously flawed Protandim study seemed to show that side effects were no more common than with placebo. Actually, they were almost twice as common. The researchers were looking at the wrong numbers and didn't even add correctly.
CAM use leads to delays in appropriate, effective arthritis therapy
A preference to use CAM before seeking medical advice may be harming patients with inflammatory arthritis.
Update on ASEA, Protandim, and dōTERRA
Multilevel marketing distributors of dietary supplements and essential oils point to studies that they think constitute evidence that their products work. They don't understand why those studies are inadequate.
Where Are We With the Replication “Crisis”
The replication problem is not as bad as the sensational reporting has suggested. But it is still a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed.