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Cancer Medicine Politics

Well, duh: Insured cancer patients do better

Maybe it’s unfair to proclaim this a “well, duh!” study, but its conclusions do seem rather obvious. On the other hand, it’s information that we need in a cold, hard scientific form, and I’m glad that the investigators did it: (AP) — Uninsured cancer patients are nearly twice as likely to die within five years […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Acupuncture and hot flashes in breast cancer patients: No effect

I used to be of the opinion that there might just be something to acupuncture. No, I never thought there was anything to the notion that acupuncture “works” by somehow rerouting the flow of a magical life force (qi) that no scientific instrument can detect and that no practitioner of acupuncture (or other practioners “healing […]

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Bioethics Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Politics

Making lab rats out one’s children: Do-it-yourself cancer cures hit the media again

Several months ago, i wrote quite a few posts about a new anticancer drug that had not yet passed through clinical trials but had demonstrated efficacy against tumors in rat models of cancer. The drug, called dichloroacetate (DCA), is a small molecule that targeted a phenomenon common in cancer cells known as the Warburg effect. […]

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Announcements Cancer Medicine

Cancer research blogging

How could I have been so remiss? I totally forgot to plug a new blog carnival that I really should be plugging, given my area of scientific interest. Yes, indeed, it’s a new edition of the Cancer Research Blog Carnival, with lots of scientific bloggy goodness to enjoy. Worse, I forgot to submit anything to […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Bioethics Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Quoth Dr. Rashid Buttar: “The medical board is a ‘rabid dog'”

Dr. Rashid Buttar is a quack. There, I’ve said it. It’s my opinion, and there’s lots of evidence to support that opinion. As you know, I seldom actually invoke the “q-word.” Indeed, for the longest time after I started blogging I tended to go out of my way to avoid using it, even to the […]