Chinese government recommends bear bile for COVID-19

The Chinese Government is relentlessly promoting TCM for COVID-19, including a remedy containing bear bile, which is cruelly extracted from the gall bladders of living wild or "farmed" bears.

/ May 7, 2020

MMR is Safe and Effective

A new systematic review shows convincingly that the MMR vaccine is safe and effective.

/ May 6, 2020

Neuriva: Clinically Proven?

Neuriva claims to have proof from clinical studies. That's misleading.

/ May 5, 2020
COVID-19

COVID-19: Out-of-control science and bypassing science-based medicine

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there hasn't just been a pandemic of coronavirus-caused disease. There's also a pandemic of misinformation and bad science. It turns out that doctors today are just as prone as doctors 100 years ago during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic to bypass science-based medicine in their desperation to treat patients.

/ May 4, 2020

Hydroxychloroquine, retinal toxicity, and COVID-19

Hydroxychloroquine is being promoted as a treatment or prevention for COVID-19 based on questionable evidence. The long-term impact of hydroxychloroquine on the retina introduces another reason to be cautious about its use outside of clinical trials.

/ May 1, 2020

The p-hackers toolkit

P-hacking is a common and persistent problem in research, with impacts on the scientific literature, reporting, and practice in medicine. But what is it, really?

/ April 30, 2020

Stroke in COVID-19 Patients

A case series of five patients with COVID-19 and young strokes sparks many questions.

/ April 29, 2020

Chaga Tea

Chaga tea is made from a mushroom that rots birch trees. Health benefits are claimed on the basis of folk medicine, but there isn't a shred of scientific evidence.

/ April 28, 2020
Hydroxychloroquine

Hydroxychloroquine and the price of abandoning of science- and evidence-based medicine

Based on anecdotal evidence early in the pandemic and then-unreported clinical trials, followed by hype and bad studies by French "brave maverick doctor" Didier Raoult, antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine became the de facto standard of care for COVID-19, despite no rigorous evidence that they worked. A steady drip-drip-drip of negative studies has led doctors and health authorities to rethink and backtrack,...

/ April 27, 2020

The Wisdom of Third Molar Removal

In the Olden Times (ten or so years ago), the indication for third molar (aka “wisdom teeth”) removal was the presence of wisdom teeth. Now, oral surgeons are rethinking things.

/ April 24, 2020