Results for: publication bias
Another Review Finds Homeopathy Worthless
Australia has published a report on the evidence supporting homeopathy - and concluded rightly that there is no convincing evidence. It joins a number of other nations that have conducted similar reviews, and reached the same conclusion. Homeopathy is not effective, not medicine, and not worthwhile.
Clinical trials of homeopathy versus “respect for science”
A few months ago, Steve Novella and I published an article in Trends in Molecular Medicine entitled “Clinical trials of integrative medicine: testing whether magic works?” It was our first foray together into publishing commentary about science-based medicine versus evidence-based medicine, using a topic that we’ve both written extensively about over the years on this blog and our respective personal blogs. Specifically,...
IOM Recommends Replacing CFS with SEID
The Institute of Medicine has proposed replacing the terms chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis with systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID).
Placebo, Are You There?
By Jean Brissonnet, translation by Harriet Hall Note: This was originally published as “Placebo, es-tu là?” in Science et pseudo-sciences 294, p. 38-48. January 2011. It came to my attention in the course of an e-mail correspondence with the editors of that magazine, where one of my own articles was published in French translation in January 2015. I thought this was the...
Traditional Chinese Pseudo-Medicine Hodgepodge
As I have noted before, more is published on acupuncture and traditional Chinese pseudo-medicine than the other SCAM. Here are some of the articles that drew my attention. Captain Hook and acupuncture Here is one of the more curious articles on acupuncture I have yet to find, “Psychophysical and neurophysiological responses to acupuncture stimulation to incorporated rubber hand.” I did not know...
Reporting Research Misconduct
Perhaps one of the greatest threats to the enterprise of Science-Based Medicine is research fraud and misconduct. Rigorous research methods can be used to minimize the effects of bias, but when those methods themselves are the problem there is no easy fix. Related to this is the need for transparency. When fraud or misconduct is uncovered it erodes confidence in the system...
Acupuncture, Organic Food, and Other Questions
In this post I respond to some reader mail regarding several different issues - organic farming and pesticides, acupuncture, and herbal supplements. In each case I clarify my position and discuss the evidence base.
Skeptic’s Guide to Debunking Claims about Telomeres in the Scientific and Pseudoscientific Literature
The New Year starts with telomeres as the trendiest of trendy biomarkers. As seen in Time, telomeres are the means to monitor our well-being so we can protect ourselves from all sorts from threats, including early death. A skeptic needs to do considerable homework in order to muster the evidence needed to counter the latest exaggerated, premature, and outright pseudoscientific claims about...
Is cancer due mostly to “bad luck”?
One of the more difficult conversations to have with a patient as a cancer doctor occurs when a patient, recently informed of her diagnosis of, for example, breast cancer, asks me, “Why did I get this? What caused it?” What almost inevitably follows is an uncomfortable conversation in which explanations of the multiple known causes of breast cancer do not satisfy the...
Acupuncture for Withdrawal Symptoms in Critically Ill Infants
The practice of medicine, particularly our pharmaceutical and surgical interventions, involves a constant struggle between risk and benefit. If the physiology or anatomy of the human body is altered, even with the best of intentions, there is always a potential downside. There are certainly instances where the risk to benefit ratio is extremely favorable or unfavorable and the right recommendation is obvious,...