Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

The deadly deviousness of the cancer cell, or how dichloroacetate (DCA) might fail

One byproduct of blogging that I had never anticipated when I started is how it sometimes gets me interested in scientific questions that I would never have paid much attention to before or looked into other than superficially. One such scientific question is whether dichloroacetate (DCA), the small molecule that was shown to have significant […]

Categories
Evolution Medicine Science

How did I miss this contest?

Sorry I’m a bit late on this. (Yes, I know that Tara and John pimped this contest nearly a month ago, but somehow it slipped by me to mention it myself; that is, until Skepchick reminded me of it as I caught up on my blog reading over the weekend. If you’ve read my Medicine […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

On the “individualization” of treatments in alternative medicine

One of the claims most frequently made by “alternative medicine” advocates regarding why alt-med is supposedly superior (or at least equal) to “conventional” medicine and should not be dismissed, regardless of how scientifically improbably any individual alt-med modality may be, is that the treatments are highly “individualized.” In other words, the “entire patient” is taken […]

Categories
EneMan Humor Medicine

What’s he got that I haven’t?

In all the confusion, work, and excitement of the last week, including an NIH study section and a trip to give a talk, you may have thought that I’ve forgotten about a monthly feature that has been ongoing here since the very beginning and that will likely continue as long as (1) this blog exists […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Friday Woo Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: You just might be an “altie” if… (2007 edition)

I didn’t get back home until late last night; unfortunately there was no time to do a segment of Your Friday Dose of Woo that was up to my standards. Fortunately, there’s something that I’ve been holding in reserve for just such an occasion that fits right in. Long-timers may remember that, near the very […]