medicine
terrasig | February 25, 2008[Note: I originally posted this last Thursday under another title but it got lost in other events of that day. As I find it ironic that Mr Comarow has been attacked by an alternative medicine practitioner and advocate, I find this story worthy of reposting.]
A few weeks ago the skeptical blogosphere was up in arms about an article in US News & World Report by Avery Comarow on alternative medicine services in US academic medical centers. Mr Comarow is a senior medical writer for USN&WR and best known as editor for the last 18 years of the magazine's annual feature, America's Best…
oracknows | February 25, 2008Back in late December, I came across an op-ed piece in the New York Times written by Dr. Atul Gawande, general and endocrine surgeon and author of Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science and Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, that struck me as a travesty of what our system for protecting human subjects should be, as it did fellow ScienceBlogger Revere.
In brief, the article described an action by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Human Research Protection that, on its surface, appeared to be a case of bureaucracy hewing to the letter of the…
denialism | February 25, 2008I must say I've loved much of the writing at the new blog Science-Based Medicine. These guys are fighting the good fight and presenting very sophisticated aspects of evaluating the medical literature in a very accessible way. In particular I'd like to point out David Gorski's critique of NCCAM and the directly-relevant articles from Kimball Atwood on the importance of prior probability in evaluating medical research. I mention these as a pair because lately I've really become highly attuned to this issue due to the research of John Ioannidis which is critical for understanding which…
oracknows | February 24, 2008You can read parts I and II first, if you like.
Yet another reason Bill Maher is an idiot can be found in the video below, taken from Real Time With Bill Maher from the February 8 episode. I happened to catch it in reruns and was looking for a transcript or YouTube version. It's truly appalling. This guy claims to be a rationalist and mocks religion for its irrationality, and here he is spouting off the more of his usual ignorant, idiotic, stupid ideas about medicine and, yes, downright woo, to the point where even his guests start to wonder what the heck is going on. They seem to back away…
oracknows | February 23, 2008I recently wrote about the cowardly manner in which Netcetera booted the Quackometer off of its servers unceremoniously in response to a truly vacuous legal threat from a quack named Joseph Chikelue Obi.
Now, the little black duck has found a new ISP. The Quackometer is back in business! Hilariously, "Dr." Obi is already making threats again, only this time not just against Le Canard Noir, but against the entire skeptical blogosphere:
Alighting from the back seat of an Extended Black Daimler Limousine at the start of a Whirlwind Alternative Medicine Tour , essentially spanning right across…
oracknows | February 23, 2008Anyone who reads this blog knows my opinion of homeopathy. Just type "homeopathy" in the little search box on the left side of this blog, and you'll be greeted with many, many posts dating back to the very beginnings of Orac's presence on ScienceBlogs. Of course, science is with me on this one, as it does not support the primary claims of homeopathy, including:
Like cures like
Dilution with succussion makes a remedy stronger
Water has "memory" of remedies that it has come in contact with, which is how homeopathic remedies can "work," even though they've been diluted to the point where, even…
terrasig | February 22, 2008I am very deeply touched (as I was literally yesterday) by the outpouring of support and best wishes from fellow bloggers on the liveblogging of my vasectomy.
For all of the dark humor and puns, you have each been instrumental in supporting my aim of telling men relatively quick and painless the procedure is, or at least getting them to think about this as a contraceptive alternative to having their wives undergo a more involved tubal ligation.
I'll still never understand what makes things fly in the blogosphere as I spend hours writing what I think are thoughtful posts about drug safety…
oracknows | February 22, 2008With the invasion of the orbs discussed earlier today, it's become apparent to me that now, more than ever, a healthy dose of skepticism and critical thinking is imperative. Fortunately, the Skeptics' Circle is fast approaching and due to land on Thursday, February 28 at the Conspiracy Factory. So, if you're a skeptical blogger who wants to strut his or her stuff, now's the time to submit your best stuff from the last couple of weeks to Factician. Edition-specific instructions, deadline, and contact information are here. General guidelines for submitting and the schedule of future Skeptics'…
oracknows | February 21, 2008I have to hand it to Abel Pharmboy. No one else I know would live-blog his own vasectomy.
Even though my traffic is greater than his, he's definitely trumped me as a blogger today.
clock | February 21, 2008Internets are interesting places. One finds all sorts of strange things people post on there. But I hope that Abel's vasectomy liveblogging will make many more men realize that the operation is quick, easy and painless. Perhaps more guys will elect to do it due to reading this post.
terrasig | February 21, 2008Back in January several science bloggers had an exchange that degenerated into discussion of the process and aftermath of the vasectomy.
Well, as PhysioProf is wont to say, today I will sack up, literally. As part of my gift to PharmGirl for her [significant] bday next week I will undergo the knife this afternoon to render me no longer able to contribute to the gene pool. Of course, I won't be completely sperm-free until 20 to 30 post-operative ejaculations, the thought of which brings me great comfort. We have had one child and do not anticipate wanting any more - we got us a good one the…
oracknows | February 21, 2008I've written a few posts now pointing out how, its claims that it is not "antivaccine" notwithstanding, for the mercury militia and those who think mercury in vaccines or vaccines themselves cause autism, it really is all about the vaccines, not any single ingredient, even mercury. I first noticed this nearly three years ago, and, if anything, recent events have made my observation even more obviously true. As multiple studies have exonerated the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal that was formerly found in most childhood vaccines and now only remains in trace amounts in flu vaccines…
tqa | February 21, 2008
A single person contracted an infectious disease in Switzerland sometime during the week before January 15th. Within 10 days, new cases of the disease had been identified in San DIego. Less than two weeks later, the disease was known to have spread to Honolulu. People exposed to the disease are known to have attended a performance of Cirque du Soleil and a major sporting event. This isn't a Tom Clancy novel or a Homeland Security exercise, and the illness in question isn't some obscure new infectious disease. It's measles.
If you're wondering how a disease for which there is a very safe…
clock | February 21, 2008World Health Organization announced a $350 million initiative as a five-year plan to control seven major tropical diseases in Africa:
Statement by WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan
I warmly welcome the initiative, announced today by United States President George W. Bush, to vastly increase funding for the integrated treatment of seven of the most important neglected tropical diseases: lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, blinding trachoma, onchocerciasis, and three soil-transmitted helminthiases. These are blinding, deforming, and debilitating diseases that affect the poorest of the…
oracknows | February 21, 2008Earlier this month, I was remiss in not noting an update to a story about which I had written before, a story of domestic terrorism carried out by so-called "animal rights" advocates who are utterly opposed to the use of animals in research. The series of attacks began with an intimidation campaign against a UCLA researcher named Dario Ringach that succeeded in frightening him to the point where he gave up doing primate research. Against Ringach himself, the campaign consisted primarily of harassment by phone and other means. However, Ringach was spooked by a botched attack on another UCLA…
oracknows | February 20, 2008A blogger's duty calls:
(Click for the full-sized version.)
It's true: A skeptical blogger's work is never done! When pseudoscience or quackery is noticed on the Internet, no mater what time of day or night, this skeptical blogger cannot resist the call to craft a takedown.
Just ask my wife.
moleculeoftheday | February 19, 2008Whether it is constipation or diarrhea, irregularities in bowel movements on some level all relate to the balance of fluid in the intestines. Fiber doesn't just add bulk to feces, it holds onto water. If you go all Linus Pauling and take way too much vitamin C, you'll get diarrhea - the prodigous amount of dry water-loving solute you are ingesting will draw water into the intestines.
Many laxatives, such as sodium picosulfate, work the same way. Water follows ions, and this doubly-charged molecule draws water into the intestines, with the result of inducing a bowel movement.
If you are…
j7uy5 | February 19, 2008The FDA has been making a strenuous effort to combat the problem of
href="http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2005/405_confusion.html">
look-alike, sound-alike drug names. The reason is
simple: there have been tens of thousands of documented medication
errors, in which the wrong drug is substituted for a different one with
a similar name.
An 8-year-old died, it was
suspected, after receiving methadone instead of methylphenidate, a drug
used to treat attention deficit disorders. A 19-year-old man showed
signs of potentially fatal complications after he was given clozapine
instead of…
clock | February 19, 2008In my daily interviews I always ask: what new blogs did you discover at the Conference? If anyone asked me that question - and you know it's hard to surprise me! - one I'd pick would be the INFO Project blog run by Rose Reis, now my daily read.
Now, Anna (where did she get the idea, I wonder?) interviews Rose over on the JoVE Blog and the interview is worth your time. And yes, sooner or later, Rose Reis will be interviewed here as well - stay tuned.
oracknows | February 19, 2008Via WhiteCoat Underground, I've learned of a most disturbing development.
Remember Le Canard Noir? He's the skeptical blogger whose Quackometer was one of my favorite websites and tools for identifying pseudoscience and quackery caused him to run afoul of the Society of Homeopaths and a highly dubious practitioner named Joseph Chikelue Obi, both of whom tried to get his Internet service provider to boot him off of its servers using vacuous legal threats of libel actions? Both led to an outcry from the medical and skeptical blogosphere in the form of many, many copies of the offending text…