Battles over non-medical exemptions to vaccination festering in state legislatures
Bills to eliminate, as well as to add, non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements are pending in state legislatures. Some bills make harder to claim an exemption. Others discourage vaccination by requiring “misinformed consent" and weakening public health officials' ability to act.
Communicating with the Locked In (update)
Researchers have made an incremental advance in using imaging and computers to communicate with patients who are completely locked-in. Let's review the state of this technology.
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt: An Update
The claims of health benefits from pink Himalayan sea salt are not supported by a shred of evidence. In fact, its vaunted “84 trace minerals and elements” include several poisons and many radioactive elements.
“Detox”: Ritual purification masquerading as medicine and wellness
If the "central dogma" of alternative medicine is that wishing makes it so, one of the most important of the other organizing dogmas of alternative medicine is that "toxins," whether they come from inside or outside, are making us sick and that we can't be healthy until we "detoxify." This is far more a religious belief than a science-based one.
Corrigendum. The Week in SBM for 01.29.2017
Not every article and study that pops up my feeds in the world of pseudo-medicine is worthy of a complete blog post. But they need to be noticed and commented upon: FDA confirms elevated levels of belladonna in certain homeopathic teething products. Homeopaths prove water not toxic to fish. Lots of acupuncture recommendations, little good data. Everything is CAM. And more! Duty...
Acupuncture for Infant Colic Part 2: Acupuncture Boogaloo
A detailed discussion of infant colic plus a few more thoughts on why acupuncture does not play a role in science-based management.
How accurately do physicians estimate risk and benefit?
A new study suggests that physicians tend to overestimate the benefits of treatments, tests, and screening tests, while also underestimating harms.
Acupuncture for Infantile Colic
Another low-quality acupuncture study falls victim to p-hacking and spreads unsupported claims for the efficacy of this failed treatment.
Flame Retardants Have Ignited a Flaming Controversy
Flame retardants are controversial: proponents say they reduce fire damage and save lives; critics say they don't work, are poisoning our environment, and should be banned.
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.