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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Danny Hauser’s doing well, and (as usual) Mike Adams is going off the deep end

Last month, a frequent topic of this blog was the case of Daniel Hauser, the 13-year-old boy from Minnesota with Hodgkin’s lymphoma who made the national news for his refusal (and his mother’s support of that refusal) to undergo a second round of chemotherapy. Instead, he wanted to pursue “natural” therapy, including what sounded like […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Science

Academia: Slowing down the search for cures?

I was very happy with NEWSWEEK recently, specifically because of its lengthy expose of Oprah Winfrey and her promotion of pseudoscience, mysticism, and quackery on her talk show. However, I haven’t always been that thrilled with NEWSWEEK’s coverage of medicine and science. For example, NEWSWEEK’s science columnist Sharon Begley has gotten on my nerves on […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Surgery

The Associated Press on a roll: Actual articles on cancer quackery

Yesterday, I marveled at an article that appeared on the Associated Press new feed that basically said a lot of things about the infiltration of quackademic medicine into academic medical centers, how so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” 9CAM) is finding its way into the mainstream despite almost nonexistent evidence for the efficacy the vast majority […]

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Biology Cancer Evolution Medicine Science

Medicine and evolution, part 12: Using evolution to develop adaptive chemotherapy

Three years ago, I wrote about what I considered to be a fascinating and promising approach to understanding tumor biology. This method involved understanding that tumors are in general made up of a heterogeneous collection of cells. Using this knowledge, it is possible to apply evolutionary principles to cancer, treating a tumor as, in essence, […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Science

Cancer research explained briefly

One reason I (and most people involved in cancer research) don’t like the frequently used term “cure for cancer.” The reason is simple. Embedded within this term is the assumption that cancer is just one disease, when it is most definitely not. Rather, it is many diseases affecting many organs, each with its own mechanism […]