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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Religion Science Surgery

Francis Collins’ “Five Themes” for the NIH

One of the advantages of hanging out around home on the proverbial staycation is that, instead of actually paying more attention to the news, I’ve paid less attention to the news. That’s why I didn’t notice some stories from earlier this week about what the new director of the NIH, Francis Collins, plans to do. […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

More dubious acupuncture research

Believe it or not, I happen to be on vacation this week. Fear not, it’s a stay-at-home vacation (sometimes the best kind) and therefore my vacation doesn’t mean I’ll stop blogging. In fact, I consider blogging to be part of my recreation. What my vacation does mean is that I will probably slow down a […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Surgery

Vertebroplasty for compression fractures due to osteoporosis: Modern acupuncture

If there’s one theme that’s run through this blog since the very beginning, it’s that the best medical care should be based on the best science. In other words, I like to think of myself as being far more for science- and evidence-based medicine, than I am against against so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM). […]

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Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine

Threats to science-based medicine: Pharma ghostwriting

There is no doubt that the infiltration of quackademic medicine into medical schools in this country represents a profound threat to science-based medicine. By mixing mysticism, non-science, and pseudoscience along with science-based medicine, medical schools are in essence endorsing quackery and elevating it to the same level as science-based and science-tested modalities. Worse, they’re running […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

Cancer research and clinical trials

During the month of June on this blog, I got annoyed not once, but twice. First, I got annoyed at Sharon Begley for a truly annoying and evidence-free (other than cherry-picked anecdotes) broadside against the NIH for its “culture of caution” that, according to her, is largely responsible for the “lack of progress” against cancer […]