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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Psychological correlates of the placebo that is acupuncture

If there’s one thing that’s become clear to me over the years about acupuncture, it’s that it’s nothing more than a theatrical placebo. Many are the times that I’ve asked: Can we finally just say that acupuncture is nothing more than an elaborate placebo? Most recently, I asked this question in 2012. What science-based medicine […]

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Medicine

Gordie Howe: How not to report about dubious stem cell therapies

And now for something completely different… (Yes, there’s been enough vaccine blogging for the moment.) The date of the Kinsman Sports Celebrity Dinner in Saskatoon is fast approaching on February 6. It reminded me of my discussion of how Gordie Howe was flown to Tijuana to undertake a dubious stem cell therapy for his serious […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Deepak Chopra tries his hand at a clinical trial. Woo ensues.

Of all the quacks and cranks and purveyors of woo whom I’ve encountered over the years, Deepak Chopra is, without a doubt, one of the most arrogantly obstinate, if not the most arrogantly obstinate. Sure, a quack like Mike Adams wins on sheer obnoxiousness and for the sheer breadth of crankery to which he ascribes, […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Personal Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

I do not think that study shows what you think it shows

Dr. Kelly Brogan teams up with Sayer Ji to try to analyze a study. Hilarity ensues as they both failed miserably.

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Naturopathy Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Criticizing the Trial to Asess Chelation Therapy (TACT) is defending science-based medicine

When I wrote about the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) trial last week, little did I suspect that I would be revisiting the topic again so soon. For those of you not familiar with TACT, it was a trial designed to test a favorite quack treatment for cardiovascular disease, chelation therapy. It is, as […]