Categories
Biology Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

Basic science: An “obstacle” to students who want to study medicine?

If there’s one aspect of medical education that I consider to be paramount, at least when it comes to understanding how to analyze and apply all the evidence, both basic science and clinical, it’s a firm grounding in the scientific method. I advocate science-based medicine (SBM), which is what evidence-based medicine (EBM) should be. SBM […]

Categories
Biology Cancer Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Fructose and pancreatic cancer

I hate science press releases. Well, not exactly. I hate science press releases that hype a study beyond its importance. I hate it even more when the investigators who published the study make statements not justified by the study and use the study as a jumping off point to speculate wildly. True, it’s not always […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Surgery

Andrew Wakefield, exactly where he belongs…again

I haven’t really taken much note of Andrew Wakefield in a while, and in general that’s a very good thing indeed. However, I found out recently that somehow I missed this gem from around the time of Autism One: That’s right. I thought it was pretty bad that Andy Wakefield had appeared on Coast to […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Why not just castrate them? (Part 5) The Geiers’ “Lupron protocol” metastasizes

Of all the bizarre forms of antivaccine autism quackery, one of the strangest has to be Mark and David Geier’s “Lupron protocol.” I’ve written about it many times, dating back to 2006 and, more recently, when the Chicago Tribune provided the first coverage I’m aware of of the Geiers’ quackery in a major newspaper, thanks […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The absent-minded acupuncturist

Continuing on the theme for today, I can’t resist posting this little news report from Seattle that came up in my newsfeed: It kind of ruins the placebo effect to be left lying around after hours with a bunch of needles sticking in your back, doesn’t it?