MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'DC's goodscience' source. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:43:29 +0100 http://dcscience.net/?p=384 A really good bit of investigative journalism by BBC Inside Out South West.was shown on Wednesday 12th November 2008.  Unfortunately it was shown only in the South West.  If you are in the UK you can see it on BBC iPlayer.  Otherwise video will be be coming soon.  It features [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1961522 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:48:21 +0100 1961522 http://dcscience.net/?p=351 Today brings a small setback for those  of us interested in spreading sensible ideas about science.  According to a press release “The BMJ Group is to begin publishing a medical journal on acupuncture from next year, it was announced today (Tuesday 11 November 2008). This will be the first complementary medicine title that the BMJ Group has [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1947844 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:57:50 +0100 1947844 http://dcscience.net/?p=282 Jump to the homeopathy debate Obama wins! Bush and Blair have gone. Could this mark the beginning of the end of the fashion for believing things that aren’t true? Trinity College Dublin: the Phil. “Creationism is a valid world view” This is the 324th year of the Trinity College Philosophical Society (known locally as the ‘Phil’).  Its [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1933497 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:25:29 +0100 1933497 http://dcscience.net/?p=35 I have always thought that our undergraduates had difficulty in expressing themselves clearly, in simple words. But they are models of clear thought compared with Christine Barry’s recent paper (Social Science and Medicine, 62, 2464-2657, 2006). Barry’s work rivals Alan Sokal’s famous spoof paper, “Transgressing the boundaries: the Hermeneutics of quantum gravity”. Sokal’s paper [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1927995 Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:32:02 +0100 1927995 http://dcscience.net/?p=261 It was a great delight to visit Amsterdam on 25 October to speak at a meeting off the Vereniging tegen de Kwaksalverij (Society against quackery).  Unfortunately their excellent web site is in Dutch, so the best you can do at the moment is to use the Google translation, with its frequently hilarious renderings.  Better translations [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1908967 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:31:21 +0100 1908967 http://dcscience.net/?p=260 Thames Valley University is one of those shameful institutions that offer Bachelor of Science degrees in homeopathy. They don’t stop there though. They’ll teach you several other forms of make-believe medicine. Among these is “nutritional medicine”. This is taught at the Plaskett Nutritional Medicine College which is now part of Thames Valley University. Everyone is for [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1902367 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:43:58 +0100 1902367 http://dcscience.net/?p=259 It seems that validation committees often don’t look beyond the official documents. As a result, the validations may not be worth the paper they are written on. Try this one. One of the best bits of news recently was the downfall of Matthias Rath.  He’s the man who peddled vitamin pills for AIDS in Africa, and encouraged [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1876630 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:07:27 +0100 1876630 http://dcscience.net/?p=258 We know all about the sixteen or so universities that run “BSc” degrees in hokum. They are all “post-1992″ universities, which used to be polytechnics. That is one reason why it saddens me to see them destroying their own attempts to achieve parity with older universities by running courses that I would regard as plain [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1853935 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:33:59 +0100 1853935 http://dcscience.net/?p=257 Jump to follow-up Alfred Joseph Clark FRS held the established chair of Pharmacology at UCL from 1919 to 1926, when he left for Edinburgh.  As well as his classic scientific works, like The Mode of Action of Drugs on Cells (1933) he also felt strongly about the fraud perpetrated on the public by patent medicine salesmen.  [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1837786 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:12:11 +0100 1837786 http://dcscience.net/?p=256 Today is a good day for anyone who deplores dangerous confidence tricksters. In particular it is a good day for Ben Goldacre, and for the Guardian who defended him at potentially enormous expense. Matthias Rath, the Dutch (or is it German) vitamin salesman has dropped his libel action against the  Guardian. He is the man [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1790645 Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:52:22 +0100 1790645 http://dcscience.net/?p=255 Jump to follow-up There has been something of a rumpus in the media today when the education secretary of the Royal Society, Michael Reiss, appeared to endorse the teaching of creationism on science classes,  The BBC’s report was only too typical. “Call for creationism in science” “Creationism should be discussed in school science lessons, rather than excluded, [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1789057 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:08:33 +0100 1789057 http://dcscience.net/?p=254 There have been some really excellent books about quackery this year.  This isn’t one of them. Nice dedication uh? It is about a lot more than quackery  It is about the scientific method in general. and in particular about how often it is misunderstood by journalists.  Abuse of evidence by the pharmaceutical industry is treated just as [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1783155 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:15:43 +0100 1783155 http://dcscience.net/?p=253 The publication of Gilbey’s paper and my editorial in the New Zealand Medical Journal (NZMJ) led to a threat of legal action by the NZ Chiropractors’ Association Inc for alleged defamation.  After publishing a defiant editorial, the editor of the NZMJ offered chiropractors the chance to put their case. In the last issue of NZMJ [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1764447 Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:11:54 +0100 1764447 http://dcscience.net/?p=252 After the announcement that the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan) was suspending its homeopathy “BSc” course, it seems that their vice chancellor has listened to the pressure, both internal and external, to stop bringing his university into disrepute. An internal review of all their courses in alternative medicine was announced shortly after the course  closure.   Congratulations [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1760355 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:07:16 +0100 1760355 http://dcscience.net/?p=251 The Times today has done a good job on giving publicity to the case against following the advice of the Pittilo report. It simply makes no sense to have government regulation of acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine until such time as there is evidence that they work. It makes even less [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739650 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:04:15 +0100 1739650 http://dcscience.net/?p=249 Jump to follow-up The first major victory in the battle for the integrity of universities seems to have been won. This email was sent by Kate Chatfield who is module leader for the “BSc” in homeopathic medicine at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). from Kate Chatfield… Dear All, It’s a sad day for us here at UCLan [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1734446 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:20:16 +0100 1734446 http://dcscience.net/?p=248 On 18th August I was surprised and delighted to get a letter from a young man who qualified at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic. His experiences in many ways justified what I said in my editorial, Dr Who?,, and in some cases went further. His inside knowledge is precisely what is needed. It will be [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1720678 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:24:33 +0100 1720678 http://dcscience.net/?p=247 My original piece on Integrative Baloney@Yale was posted on May 16th, after I got back from a visit there. The talk I gave there included a short video. My movie, Integrative baloney@Yale, was made entirely from clips taken from Yale’s own YouTube movies which showed something approaching three hours of its “1st [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1717883 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:11:16 +0100 1717883 http://dcscience.net/?p=246 This post is written in part as a distraction from a plague of lawyers, in New Zealand, here in the UK, and now in the USA (my movie, Integratative baloney@Yale, has recently been removed from YouTube. More on that coming soon). The duty of an advocate is to take fees, and in return for those [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1714470 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:33:13 +0100 1714470 http://dcscience.net/?p=243 Samuel Hahnemann (1755 - 1843) was the originator of homeopathy. He was clearly a well-intentioned man.. There is good reason to believe that he thought dilution could not go on for ever, but he died 22 years before it became possible to calculate that his favourite 30C dilution already contained nothing at all. The [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1692518 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:01:14 +0100 1692518 http://dcscience.net/?p=245 An editorial in today’s issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal prints in full a letter sent to the Journal by Paul Radich, a lawyer who acts for the New Zealand Chiropractors’ Association Inc and its members. The letter alleges defamation by Andrew Gilbey’s articla, and by my editorial which sets the wider context [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1689336 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:28:39 +0100 1689336 http://dcscience.net/?p=241 The article below is an editorial that I was asked to write for the New Zealand Medical Journal, as a comment on article in today’s edition about the misuse of the title ‘doctor’ by chiropractors. Titles are not the only form of deception used by chiropractors, so the article looks at some of [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1655851 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:00:31 +0100 1655851 http://dcscience.net/?p=240 This, I fear, is pure plagiarism, Robert Shrimsley’s piece in today’s Financial Times was so funny that it just begged to be quoted. Here it is. Surely this is a call to action. The news that Radovan Karadzic has been hiding out as some kind of homeopath has confirmed all prejudices about alternative medicine. [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1652774 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:31:58 +0100 1652774 http://dcscience.net/?p=239 During the last year, there has been a very welcome flurry of good and informative books about alternative medicine. They are all written in a style that requires little scientific background, even the one that is intended for medical students. CAM, Cumming | Trick or Treatment | Snake Oil Science | Testing treatments [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1561528 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:47:08 +0100 1561528 http://dcscience.net/?p=235 A report has appeared on Regulation of Practitioners of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine. The report is written by people all of whom have vested interests in spreading quackery. It shows an execrable ability to assess evidence, and it advocates degrees in antiscience It would fail any examination. Sorry, Prof Pittilo, [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1532074 Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:05:15 +0100 1532074 http://dcscience.net/?p=233 We have often had cause to criticise Boots Alliance, the biggest retail pharmacist in the UK, because of its deeply unethical approach to junk medicine. Click here to read the shameful litany. The problem of Boots was raised recently also by Edzard Ernst at the Hay [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1494744 Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:35:46 +0100 1494744 http://dcscience.net/?p=231 The extent to which irrationality has become established in US Medicine is truly alarming I wrote about Quakademics in the USA and Canada on my last trip to the USA, and on my May trip I visited Yale, where I decided to try a full [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1446635 Fri, 16 May 2008 15:15:37 +0100 1446635 http://dcscience.net/?p=232 After writing the recent post Boots reaches new level of dishonesty with CoQ10 promotion, I sent a complaint about the dishonesty of the advertisements to the Advertising Standards Authority. I got a surprsingly fast response. On April 22 I got “it appears you have a valid point and, with a view to acting quickly, have [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1446636 Wed, 14 May 2008 12:11:55 +0100 1446636 http://dcscience.net/?p=227 Times Higher Education has published a league table showing that the University of Westminster is head of the league table for the number of courses in quackery. With fine timing, I just acquired the slides for their lecture on "vibrational medicine". See a selection of them. It seems that Amethyst; the 'Transmutator' . . .emits high Yin energy so transmuting lower energies and clearing and aligning energy disturbances . . .". This is part of a vocational "Bachelor of Science" degree. It is beyond parody. You couldn't make it up. (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1394104 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:16:15 +0100 1394104 http://dcscience.net/?p=228 This blog, along with many others, has had plenty to say about the Prince of Wales’ unconstitutional meddling in public affairs. The lovely description, Quacktitioner Royal, was coined by NHS Blog doctor. The Times published a letter from Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh on April 16th. In their forthcoming book, Trick or Treatment? Alternative [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1387089 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:47:42 +0100 1387089 http://dcscience.net/?p=226 This is a fuller version, with links, of the comment piece published in Times Higher Education on 10 April 2008. If you still have any doubt about the problems of directed research, look at the trenchant editorial in Nature (3 April, 2008. Look also at the editorial in Science by Bruce [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1362540 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:50:02 +0100 1362540 http://dcscience.net/?p=225 This is an old joke whuch can be found in many places on the web. I came across it in an article by Gustav Born in 2002 (BIF Futura, 17, 78 - 86) and reproduce what he said. It has never been more relevant, so it’s well worth repeating. The title [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1341196 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:28:02 +0100 1341196 http://dcscience.net/?p=224 In a wonderful demonstration of common sense, the BBC has removed all the alternative medicine pages from BBC Health web site. I expect that it was helped in making that decision by the many complaints it had received about statements on these pages that were simply not true, The existence of these pages [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1329315 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:36:12 +0100 1329315 http://dcscience.net/?p=223 Boots the Chemists have proved themselves dishonest before, over their promotion of homeopathy and of B Vitamins “for vitality” In a press release dated 12 March 2008, they have hit a new low in ethical standards Boots help boost the nation’s energy levels in just one week “Health and beauty expert Boots has launched an exclusive energising vitamin [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1300847 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:01:20 +0100 1300847 http://dcscience.net/?p=221 We are all interested in the relationship between our health and what we eat. What a pity that so little is known about it. The problem, of course, is that it almost impossible to do randomised experiments, and quite impossible in most cases to make the experiments blind. Without randomisation there is no [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1288700 Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:38:24 +0100 1288700 http://dcscience.net/?p=220 This afternoon I went to the Coliseum to see a revival of Jonathan Miller’s 1986 production of the Mikado. It was beautifully staged. The well-known patter song of Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner of Japan, begged for a version that deals with anti-science (original here). The serious post will come later. [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1252695 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:16:44 +0100 1252695 http://dcscience.net/?p=219 This is the third post based on a recent trip to North America (here are the first and second) One aspect of the endarkenment, the Wal-Mart model of a university, is very much the same in the US as in the UK. At one US university, an excellent scientist offered the theory that an alien spacecraft [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1238293 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:36:35 +0100 1238293 http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/sundayedition_20080204_4624.mp3 Thursday 24 Jan. The original reason for going to North America was an invitation from the Toronto Secular Alliance and Center for Inquiry. The talk for them was given a lot of publicity, for example here and here and from the totally admirable Orac. Toronto seems to be no worse than anywhere else when it [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1218443 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:07:16 +0100 1218443 http://dcscience.net/?p=216 This is the first of a several posts that have arisen from a visit to North America. One thing that the trip led to was an interest in how HR departments influence science -if you have a story about that, please email me. Following the media publicity that surrounded the lecture in Toronto, I [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1197585 Sun, 03 Feb 2008 05:12:43 +0100 1197585 http://dcscience.net/?p=215 As I have often said, you don’t need to be a scientist to see that most alternative medicine is bunk, though it is bunk that is supported and propagated by an enormously wealthy industry.. There were two good examples this week, John Sutherland, who was until recently professor of English literature at UCL, understands it very [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1142877 Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:24:23 +0100 1142877 http://dcscience.net/?p=213 Happy new year. not least to the folks at the homeopathy4health site .  They are jubilant about a “proof” that homeopathic dilutions could produce effects. albeit only on wheat seedlings. But guess what? After some questioning it was found that they hadn’t actually read the paper. Well I have read it, and this is the [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1122598 Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:21:40 +0100 1122598 http://dcscience.net/?p=212 We here a lot about leadership these days. It has become one of the favourite buzzwords of those who do neither research not teaching. Quite what it means is never clear, but one thing it should include is setting a good example in ethical behaviour. So what’s going wrong? We’ve seen the case [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1116862 Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:17:27 +0100 1116862 http://dcscience.net/?p=211 A merry christmas to one and all (or, depending on your mood, possibly bah humbug). After the last post (and the next one), here’s something a bit lighter. Last week I was in Brighton at the British Pharmacological Society Winter meeting in the Hilton Metropole (the less said about that hotel [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1113676 Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:38:43 +0100 1113676 http://dcscience.net/?p=210 The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) last week had a headline “Staff loyalty key to Hefce report”. Staff loyalty is something I’m interested in, so I read on eagerly. The article was about report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). It came from their Leadership, Governance and Management Strategic Advisory Committee (dated 2-3 [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1081828 Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:14:09 +0100 1081828 http://dcscience.net/?p=210 The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) last week had a headline “Staff loyalty key to Hefce report”. Staff loyalty is something I’m interested in, so I read on eagerly. The article was about report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). It came from their Leadership, Governance and Management Strategic Advisory Committee (dated 2-3 [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1081645 Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:16:35 +0100 1081645 http://dcscience.net/?p=209 The press releases (STOP PRESS) Uhuh, here we go again. All over the media we see headlines like “Honey ‘beats cough medicine’ “. Take for example, the Daily Telegraph, where Ben Farmer writes “Honey is better at treating children’s coughs than an ingredient used in many over-the-counter medicines, according to new research”. That is NOT what the [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1075309 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:40:29 +0100 1075309 http://dcscience.net/?p=209 Uhuh, here we go again. All over the media we see headlines like “Honey ‘beats cough medicine’ “. Even the normally reliable James Randerson in the Guardian fell for it. But this is what the research paper itself says (DM refers to the standard ‘cough suppressant’ dextromethorphan, which is already known to be ineffective). “honey was significantly superior [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1070455 Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:47:53 +0100 1070455 http://dcscience.net/?p=208 Well, guess what turned up in a brown envelope this morning. A copy of the Society of Homeopaths’ Newsletter It makes interesting reading, not least when the homeopaths’ discussion group are abuzz with talk of the demise of homeopathy “The Society is urging its members to be cautious when responding to phone calls and e-mails following [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1070456 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:56:26 +0100 1070456 http://dcscience.net/?p=207 Jump straight to follow up Today is World AIDS Day, and the Society of Homeopaths is holding a meeting to “discuss the evidence” concerning the idea that you can treat AIDS with sugar pills. Needless to say, there is no evidence to discuss, but that doesn’t put them off for a moment. Not content [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1063759 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:45:58 +0100 1063759 http://dcscience.net/?p=203 This advertisement has to be one of the sneakiest bits of spin that I’ve seen in a while. It appeared in today’s Guardian.  And a lot more people will see it than will look at the homeopathic nonsense on the Boots ‘education’ site. What on earth does it mean? One interpretation could be this. We [...] (Source: DC's goodscience) DC's goodscience blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1044262 Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:20:29 +0100 1044262