Assorted Links

The Burzynski Case discussed by Ben Williams in Surviving “Terminal” Cancer. Starts on page 186.
Watching the Watchdogs at Quackwatch by Joel Kauffman
The self-quantification movement: Implications for health-care professionals by Rajiv Mehta
This game might be good for measuring brain function. Play for ten minutes, note average score. Later version with leaderboard and music.
Elsevier attempts to fend off the extreme challenge posed by open-access journals such as PLoS

FT on the First Quantified Self Conference
great library of articles about hormesis. Such as Hotel Hormesis (from the MIT undergraduate research journal).
Pay attention to lunch. “Rated vividness of lunch memory was negatively correlated with snack intake.”
Dean of medicine at the University of Alberta plagiarizes well-known graduation speech. Philosophy professor says this “merits no more than a wrist-slap.” In an apology, the dean says the actual author “was flattered by my use of his text and took no offense,” apparently unaware that boasting is not appropriate in an apology.
More plagiarism by Canadian medical school professors — this time in a report on medical ethics.
The philosophy of CureTogether

Thanks to Grace Jone, Anne Weiss and Bryon Castañeda.

How one obscure sentence upset the New York Times by Renata Adler. A great and revealing story. My explanation of the Times’ s over-the-top hostility to Adler’s book (Gone: The Last Days of The New Yorker) differs from Adler’s. She says it was due to her lack of deference, whereas I suspect currying favor with Charles McGrath, the editor of the New York Times Book Review, was a big part of it. In Gone, Adler criticized McGrath, who was apparently very upset. Gone is the rare critique that combines negativity and deep familiarity. Usually you have one or the other.
fish oil and joint pain
life and death consequences of job choices
one more reason for health care stagnation. Innovations excluded by hospital purchasing groups.
pickled vegetables and cancer. Alas.
On the other hand, yogurt linked with lower risk of colon cancer. This study points in the same direction.

Thanks to Dave Lull and Alex Chernavsky.

personal genetics
The man cured of AIDS. The researcher responsible is an insider/outsider — not an AIDS researcher. Robert Gallo, whom I wrote about long ago, is dismissive.
Drug companies behaving badly. “Prosecutors charged that Forest [a drug company] deliberately ignored an FDA warning to stop distributing an unapproved thyroid drug, promoted the use of an antidepressant in treating children although it was only approved for adults and misled FDA inspectors making a quality check at a manufacturing plant.”
The iPad foretold (1988).

Thanks to Michael Bowerman.

Dennis Mangan makes great progress against chronic fatigue syndrome
More Dennis Mangan: statin dangers.
Statins fail to save lives. “Statin therapy for an average period of 3.7 years had no benefit on all-cause mortality in a high-risk primary prevention population.” About 60,000 subjects were involved.
Probiotic tested with cyclists. The men benefited (less sickness), the women did not.

Low-level radon exposure appears to reduce lung cancer
Dubious science of climate crusaders. “The committee included members whose careers depended on global warming alarmism, and the predictable result was that not one word was changed.”
Graduate school in the humanities is for the already-privileged. What’s especially interesting about this column is that it appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, which you might expect to be pro-establishment.
Rediscovery and opposition to the ketogenic diet for childhood epilepsy. “One of the reasons that the ketogenic diet is not popular at this point is because there’s not a big drug company behind it, selling it to doctors.”

More about radiation hormesis. Introductory.
Fungus improves violin tone. Combines fermented foods and global warming.
The New Yorker ran a cartoon that the editors didn’t understand. Added later: Now that I know where the cartoon came from (see comments), I’m afraid this is the most tasteless cartoon I have ever seen in the magazine.
How modern medicine killed my brother. “I turned to her and asked, “Well, do you tell your patients to avoid glutamate?” She looked puzzled and said, “No one told us to.””

Thanks to Paul Sas and Gary Wolf.

Gary Taubes on bloggingheads. Mentions self-experimentation toward end.
Beijing bans ancient history. “[China’s] leaders are now delegitimizing themselves, one harsh act at a time.”

Thanks to David Gerard.

Most epidemiology papers I’ve seen do too many tests, which has the same effect as throwing away data. However, the criticisms of epidemiology I’ve seen are often too harsh (e.g., epidemiology is worthless). The next time someone criticizes epidemiology, point them to these three papers on prenatal pesticide exposure and IQ.
positive reinforcement training improves chimp welfare
Rajiv Mehta introduces Tonic, an app to help you remember and track recurring events, such as taking medicine. Video.
The STAR*D scandal (STAR*D was a large study of the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs).
The statin scandal. “The years 2008 and 2009 [were] very disappointing for cholesterol experts and the cholesterol drug industry.” Via Steve Hsu. Statins are expensive and have serious side effects — and it is now clear they are close to worthless. My half-stick of butter/day is looking better and better. (Link fixed.)

Category: Assorted Links