Here’s a copy of my article Recognition and management of drug-induced blood disorders that was published on the 5th of February 2007 in Prescriber. Obviously, given the massive subject this is, a short article of this nature does not address the detailed management of blood dyscrasias, but I hope it alerts people to the possibility [...]
Anjana Ahuja on the self-supporting circle of mavericks peddling quackery:
So these mavericks continue to circulate, paddling in the same scientific shallows, attending the same conferences and boasting connections with the same research institutes. They travel the world quoting each other in circular support, reinforcing a fringe belief in unproven interventions for autism and propagating the [...]
Gosh, it’s nearly four years since this blog started. Although it looked rather different then.
The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory, famed for investigating extrasensory perception and telekinesis, is to close. To some it is an example, admittedly an extreme one, of how quackery can sometimes survive in a scientific environment. There are other examples.
The laboratory has conducted studies on extrasensory perception and telekinesis from its cramped quarters in [...]
Craig Brown is on form:
John Humphrys: The Department of Health are believed to be preparing a statement suggesting that the man from the East Midlands who had a slight sniffle has now caught a cold. Unconfirmed reports say he has sneezed up to three times already, and that doctors are standing by with a handkerchief. [...]
You know that bird flu outbreak in Suffolk? Well apparently that and the Capita letter bomb are just parts of a government plot to divert attention from the Prime Minister being interviewed in the investigation into seats in the House of Lords being for sale. Not mentioned as part of this plot, but certainly strangely [...]
“If we translate the rate of death associated with the 1918 influenza virus to that in the current population, there could be [...] 180 million to 360 million deaths globally”
New England Journal of Medicine.
I’m not one to rush about like a headless chicken about the threat of an influenza epidemic, despite my family history, but [...]
Any comments about the vet, involved in the H5N1 virus clear-up, admitted to hospital with what is described as mild non-specific symptoms, or a mild respiratory illness are pure speculation. The government are arguing that H4N1 infection is unlikely because of the precautionary measures taken – which makes sense.
One of those precautionary measures is the [...]
Tomorrow I will be lecturing on the principles of homeopathy, and its evidence base.
Should I strive for a balanced view respecting differing opinions, or just go with the evidence?