Quackcast. Revenant Edition
RSS feed: www.pusware.com/quackcast.xml
Quackcast 256: MD Enshitification
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/md-enshittification/
Quackcast 255: Pet Acupuncture and Life
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/pet-acupuncture-and-life/
Quackcast 254: Terrain in Vain
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/terrain-in-vain/
Quackcast 253: AI (Acupunctures Inevitable) Slop
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ai-acupunctures-inevitable-slop/
Quackcast 252: Tylenol Ramblings
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/tylenol-ramblings/
Quackcast 251: Natural History
Quackcast 250: Traditional Medicine Based Extinction. An Update.
Quackcast 249: A Healing Garden
Quackcast 248 : Infection Control/Infection Prevention
Quackcast 247: There isn't a 247.
I am not good at counting.
Quackcast 246: Acupuncture Paradox?
Quackcast 245: Vitamin A, Infections and Measles
Quackcast 244: It's the end of the world as I know it. And I feel fine.
Quackcast 243: Reality
Quackcast 242: A New DC Degree. What the World Needs Now.
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-new-dc-degree-what-the-world-needs-now/
Quackcast 241: Hungover
Quackcast 240: AI and the Medical Literature
Quackcast 239: Licking
Quackcast 238: Pulse Diagnosis
Quackcast 237: Save the Whales. Blind the Children.
Quackcast 236: Bird is the Word
Quackcast 235: TCPM Tongue Diagnosis
Quackcast 234: Best Hospital Eye Roll
Quackcast 233: More Unneeded Adjectives
Quackcast 232: Boosting. What To Do
Quackcast 231: Make Acupuncture Great Again
Quackcast 230: Adjectives
Quackcast 229: Eradication Isn’t Extinction. Too Bad
Quackcast 228: Spontaneous Human Combustion
Quackcast 227: I Reject Your Medical Reality and I Substitute Death
Podcast
Quackcast 226: Madonna?!?
Quackcast 225: Courage
Quackcast 224: The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.
Quackcast 223: Acupuncture Myths
Quackcast 222: Part of a Complete Breakfast
Quackcast 221: Bovine Pancreatic Insufficiency
Quackcast 220: Diagnostic Reflections
Quackcast 219: Serologies
Quackcast 218: The Beekeeper. Sentinal Chicken?
Quackcast 217: Some Sepsis Stuff
Quackcast 216: Alternative Reproduction?
Quackcast 215: Homeopathy and COVID 45: The Toothless Old Man Laughs
Quackcast 214: Zeno's Paradox
Quackcast 213: A Pox on all our houses
Quackcast 212: Yes. I Remember it Well. A COVID 45 Retrospective
Quackcast 211: Vitamin C and Sepsis. All Sound and Fury? Much Ado About Nothing?
Quackcast 210: Treating the Terrain of Chronic Sinus Infections. A LAc of understanding.
Quackcast 209: Influenza Vaccine and Health Care Workers. More than one way to skin a literature
Quackcast 208: Spinal Manipulation for Back and Neck Pain: Does It Work? Annotated.
Quackcast 207: Board Disciplinary Actions. What Naturopaths Really Do Not Want You To Know
Quackcast 206: Chinese BioMedical Research: Sturgeon’s Law In Action
Quackcast 205: Acupuncture’s Big Myth
Quackcast 204: It’s Hard Out There for a Psychic
Quackcast 203: Reiki and Therapeutic Touch. Compare and Contrast
Quackcast 202: Blue Light. Special?
Quackcast 201: When should I get the influenza vaccine?
Quackcast 200: Infectious Diseases and Cancer
Quackcast 199: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease Speculation
Quackcast 198. Leech Therapy.
Quackcast 197: Science-Based Politics
Quackcast 196: Acupuncture and Endorphins: Not all that Impressive
Quackcast 195: The New Chiropractic. And I thought SBM had an uphill battle.
Quackcast 194: About Herbs. An app to avoid.
Quackcast 193: Chiropractic moves into Transportation
Quackcast 192: Dry Needling
Quackcast 191: Vaginal Seeding. Ew. That’s nuts. Hmmm, interesting.
Quackcast 190: Chiropractic, Blind Pigs and Acorns
Quackcast 188: April Fool Cannot Surpass SCAM
Quackcast 187: Oregon Health & Science University SCAM Day
Quackcast 186: Acupuncture for Coronary Artery Disease
Quackcast 185: Chiropractors, Naturopaths, Concussions and Senate Bill 1535
Quackcast 184: Curse Removal from the Annals
Quackcast 183: Fog of Medicine
Quackcast 182: Lyme Testing
Quackcast 181: Influenza Eye Roll
Quackcast 180: SCAM Cell Therapies
Quackcast 179: Acupuncture/TCPM Crapfest
Quackcast 178: A liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
Quackcast 177: More Lyme ‘Guidelines’
Quackcast 176: Worst Homeopathy Study. Ever.
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-worst-homeopathy-study-ever/
Quackcast 175: Medicine in the Magic Kingdom of CascadPodcastia
Quackcast 174: Medical Theater
Quackcast 173: Do You Believe in Magic? Oregon Does.
Quackcast 172: Naturopathic Medical Magic in the NW
Quackcast 171: Ethical Failures
Quackcast 170: Chiropractic and Stroke: The question is not answered
Quackcast 169: Leaky Gut
Quackcast 168: Chiropractic Nose Balloons
Quackcast 167: Lyme Testimony
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/lyme-testimony/
Quackcast 166: What Should We Do in the Absence of Evidence?
Quackcast 165: Mediocre Expectations
Quackcast 164. FDA and Homeopathy: Part Two.
I come to bury Homeopathy, not to praise it.
The evil that homeopaths do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Homeopathy. The noble Ullman
Hath told you homeopathy was effective:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Homeopathy answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Ullman and the rest–
For Ullman is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Homeopathy’s funeral.
It was my nostrum, faithless and worthless to me:
But Ullman says it was effective;
And Ullman is an honourable man.
He hath brought many provings home to HPUS
Whose prescriptions did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Homeopathy seem effective?
When that the ill have died, Homeopathy hath wept:
Efficacy should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Ullman says it was effective;
And Ullman is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Cochrane
I thrice presented Homeopathy a meta-analysis,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this efficacy?
Yet Ullman says it was effective;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Ullman spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Sort of.
Quackcast 163: Lyme: Two Worlds Compared and Contrasted
Quackcast 162: Bias and Spin
Quackcast 161: Traditional Chinese Pseudo-Medicine Hodgepodge
Quackcast 160: Do two half-truths add up to a complete truth or a complete falsehood?
Quackcast 159: Gut Check
Quackcast 158: Mel asks and I do my best to answer.
Quackcast 157: Acupuncture Odds and Ends
Quackcast 156: Homeotoxicology
Quackcast 155: In the Spirit of Choosing Wisely
Quackcast 154: Why Get A Flu Shot?
Quackcast 153: Infinite Variety?
Quackcast 152: Placebo Speculations
Quackcast 151: Chaperones Needed
Quackcast 150a: Rationalizing the Ridiculous
Quackcast 150: Ebola SCAMs
Quackcast 149: That's so Chiropractic
Quackcast 148: Yet another plague panic
Quackcast 147: Why People Continue to Use SCAMs
Quackcast 146: The Truth?
Quackcast 145: TCM Hodgepodge
Quackcast 144: Astrology, Alchemy, ESP and Reiki. One Of These Is Not Like The Other
Quackcast 143: More Dialogs
Quackcast 142: Cochrane Reviews: The Food Babe of Medicine?
Quackcast 141: Moxibustion
Quackcast 140: Hickey
Quackcast 139: Agnotology: The Study of Ignorance
Quackcast 138: Acupuncture Vignettes
Quackcast 137: I want to draw your attention to a special added attraction not advertised on the outside
Quackcast 136: Motivations
Quackcast 135: I Visited a Chickasaw Healer and All I Got Was an Elk Sinew and Buffalo Horn Bracelet
Quackcast 134: Urinary Tract Infections Cause Depression. Directors Cut.*
Quackcast 133: There isn't one.
Quackcast 132: Acupuncture Wack a Mole
Quackcast 131: 5 out of 4 Americans do not understand statistics.
Quackcast 130: Irritated by the Skeptical Inquirer. Again.
Quackcast 129: Alternative Microbiology
Quackcast 128: SCAM Stud
Quackcast 127: Pump it up. Osteopathic manipulation and influenza
Quackcast 126: What are words for?
Quackcast 125: I refute it thus
Quackcast124: Survey Says...
Quackcast 123: A Different Perspective: Placebo, SCAM, and Advertising
Quackcast 122: Religion and SCAM
Quackcast 121: Who you gonna believe, me or you own eyes?
Quackcast 120: Homeopathy Ramblings
Quactcast 119: Two Viewpoints
Quackcast 118: People Encouraging Turtle Agony
Quackcast 117: Whack em hard, whack em once and Stroke
Quackcast 116: Animal Therapy
Quackcast 115: Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Flu
Quackcast 114: Boundaries
Quackcast 113: Comprehending the Incomprehensible
Quackcast 112: Acupuncture and Allergic Rhinitis
Quackcast 111: Warts
Quackcast 110: Honey Boo Boo
Quackcast 109: One Flu Into the Cuckoo’s Nest
Quackcast 108: SCAMlandia
Quackcast 107: 780.6.
Quackcast 106: Disingenuous: Deconstruction of a naturopathic white paper
Quackcast 105: Down the Virtual Rabbit Hole
Quackcast 104. Blonde Blood.
Quackcast 103. The Light Fantastical
Quackcast 102. More boosting.
Quackcast 101. I never meta analysis I like.
Quackcast 100. Protect Yourself.
Quackcast 99. Guiding Lights
Quackcast 98. Low Level Lasers.
Quackcast 97. Jurassic Farce
Quackcast 96. Journal Club
Quackcast 95. The Spirit of Louis Renault
Quackcast 94. Vital Signs
Quackcast 93. Science, Evidence and Guidelines
Quackcast 92. There's an app for that?!?
Quackcast 91. Cannibalism?
Quackcast 90. Stop Making Sense
Quackcast 89: Spring Update
Quackcast 88: Drinking from the Fire Hose
Quackcast 87: Feet of Clay
Quackcast 86: The Species in the Feces.
Quackcast 85: On the Application of Science.
Quackcast 84: Perpetual Motion. The Bravewell Report
Quackcast 83. AK: Nonsense on Full Automatic.
Quackcast 82. More Placebo.
Quackcast 81. Alas poor Craniosacral. A SCAM of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.
Quackcast 80. Seal of Approval.
Quackcast 79. Hodgepodge.
Quackcast 78. Random Flu Thoughts.
References
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/random-flu-thoughts/
Quackcast 77. Alternative Vaccination.
Quackcast 76. The Prostrate Placebo.
Quackcast 75. Recycle.
Quackcast 74. Gullible George.
Quackcast 73. The Annals of Internal Medicine Qualifies for Fail Blog.
Quackcast 72. Train Therapy.
Quackcast 71. CAM. The Beer Goggles of Medicine.
Quackcast 70. SOS DD.
Quackcast 69. Honey.
Quackcast 68. The Dow of Accutane.
Quackcast 67. Ambiguity.
Quackcast 66.
Does not exist as I am not good at counting.
Quackcast 65. Raw Milk.
Quackcast 64. Parasites.
Quackcast 63. Without Borders.
Quackcast 62. The World Has Moved On.
Quackcast 61. Deadly Indeed.
Quackcast 60. Triskaidekaphobia times two.
Quackcast 59. Vaccination Council on Vaccination Reviewed
Quackcast 58. Cranberry Juice and UTIs.
Quackcast 57. Oh So Silly Oh Coccinum and whiny babies
Quackcast 56. Sky Maul. A meandering look at aspects of acupuncture by the easily distracted.
Quackcast 55. Homeopathetic Vaccines
Quackcast 54. Does not exist.
Quackcast 53. Reflexology.
Quackcast 52. Good Journals Gone Bad.
Quackcast 51. Short Attention Span Quackcast
References
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/short-attention-span-sbm/
Quackcast 50. The NEJM and Acupuncture
Quackcast 49. Bought and Sold. Who Pays for CME
Quackcast 48. Acupuncture and CME
Quackcast 47. More on Medical Voices.
Quackcast 46. Mumps.
Quackcast 45. The Vaccine Pseudo Controversy
Quackcast 44. Nine questions, nine answers.
Quackcast 43. Literature update: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010 Jan 20;(1):CD003974. Placebo interventions for all clinical conditions. Hróbjartsson A, Gøtzsche PC. PMID: 20091554 Complement Ther Med. 2009 Oct-Dec;17(5-6):249-56. Epub 2009 Aug 28.
Therapeutic effects of magnetic and copper bracelets in osteoarthritis: a randomised placebo-controlled crossover trial. Richmond SJ, Brown SR, Campion PD, Porter AJ, Moffett JA, Jackson DA, Featherstone VA, Taylor AJ. PMID: 19942103
Placebo effect sizes in homeopathic compared to conventional drugs – a systematic review of randomised controlled trials Tobias Nuhn, Rainer Lu ̈dtke,* and Max Geraedts
Homeopathy (2010) 99, 76–82. Acupuncture for depression during pregnancy: a randomized controlled trial. Manber R, Schnyer RN, Lyell D, Chambers AS, Caughey AB, Druzin M, Carlyle E, Celio C, Gress JL, Huang MI, Kalista T, Martin-Okada R, Allen JJ. Obstet Gynecol. 2010 Mar;115(3):511-20. PMID: 20177281
Acupuncture: a promising treatment for depression during pregnancy. Manber R, Schnyer RN, Allen JJ, Rush AJ, Blasey CM. J Affect Disord. 2004 Nov 15;83(1):89-95. PMID: 15546651 THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Volume 16, Number 3, 2010, pp. 327–335
On Understanding the Very Different Science Premises Meaningful to CAM Versus Orthodox Medicine: Part I—The Fundamentals William A. Tiller, Ph.D.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair http://orangecow.org/pythonet/pics/gumby2.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Drunkards-Walk-Randomness-Rules-Lives/dp/0375424040
Quackcast 42. The Tamiflu spin.
Quackcast 41. YOU, acupuncture and the military.
Quackcast 40. Literature update. Chiropractic and Ginkgo.
Quackcast 39. Measles Update.
Quackcast 38. Mesotherapy
Quackcast 37. Acai.
Quackcast 36. Hi Ho Silver.
Quackcast 35. Flu vaccine efficacy and 18 taradiddles.
Quackcast 34. Flu Woo for You.
(2) Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD006207. Interventions for the interruption or reduction of the spread of respiratory viruses.
(3) Am J Infect Control. 2006 Mar;34(2):51-7. Do N95 respirators provide 95% protection level against airborne viruses, and how adequate are surgical masks?
(4) http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/05-0965.htm
(6) Complementary medicine for treating or preventing influenza or influenza-like illness. Am J Med. 2007 Nov;120(11):923-929.e3. Review.
(7) Association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and upper respiratory tract infection in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Arch Intern Med. 2009 Feb 23;169(4):384-90.
(8) A randomized controlled trial of vitamin D3 supplementation for the prevention of symptomatic upper respiratory tract infections. Epidemiol Infect. 2009 Mar 19:1-9.
(10) http://www.naturalnews.com/026215.html
(11) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oseltamivir_total_synthesis
(12) http://www.homeowatch.org/history/oscillo.html
(13) Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;3:CD001957 Homoeopathic Oscillococcinum for preventing and treating influenza and influenza-like syndromes.
(14) Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD004559. Chinese medicinal herbs for influenza.
(15) Calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3) coadministered with influenza vaccine does not enhance humoral immunity in human volunteers. 1999 Apr 9;17(15-16):1883-8.
(17) Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Dec;134(6):1129-40. Epub 2006 Sep 7. Epidemic influenza and vitamin D
(18) Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):626-32.Demographic differences and trends of vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, 1988-2004.
(19) J Infect Dis. 2008 Jan 1;197(1):18-24. Evidence for a heritable predisposition to death due to influenza.
(20) Setting the people up to die: A conspiracy of silence about swine flu natural remedies http://www.naturalnews.com/026921_Vitamin_D_influenza_swine_flu.html
(21) On the epidemiology of influenza http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18298852
(22) Has HIV Become More Virulent? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090407105259.htm
(23) Evidence for a Heritable Predisposition to Death Due to Influenza http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/524064?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dncbi.nlm.nih.gov
(24) GBS review http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=784
(25) http:// www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/1176225v1.pdf
(26) Fatalities Caused by Cattle --- Four States, 2003--2008 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5829a2.htm
(27) The effect of universal influenza immunization on mortality and health care use http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18959473?ordinalpos=17&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Quackcast 33. Update on Acupuncture, Chiropractic, and Herbal Remedies
A Randomized Trial Comparing Acupuncture, Simulated Acupuncture, and Usual Care for Chronic Low Back Pain. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(9):858-866
SPINE Volume 34, Number 11, pp E405–E413
Safety of Chiropractic Interventions
A Systematic Review
Red Yeast Rice for Dyslipidemia in Statin-Intolerant Patients
A Randomized Trial
Ann Intern Med. 2009;150:830-839.
Quackcast 32. Huffpo. 32 Sentences and 57 taradiddles.
Quackcast 31. Green our SCAM.
Why Scams are bad for Gaia, man.
J Hepatol. 2009 Jan;50(1):111-7. Epub 2008 Oct 18. Severe hepatotoxicity following ingestion of Herbalife nutritional supplements contaminated with Bacillus subtilis.
J Food Prot. 2008 Jul;71(7):1486-90.L Prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in herbal products.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2008 Sep;46(9):3043-7. Purity control of some Chinese crude herbal drugs marketed in Italy.
Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 2008 Jul;25(7):822-30. Analysis of six synthetic adulterants in herbal weight-reducing dietary supplements by LC electrospray ionization-MS.
Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2008 Apr;46(4):290-2. Factitious thyrotoxicosis and herbal dietary supplement for weight reduction
Leg Med (Tokyo). 2007 Sep;9(5):258-64. A study of western pharmaceuticals contained within samples of Chinese herbal/patent medicines collected from New York City's Chinatown.Mayo Clin Proc. 2006 Dec;81(12):1627-9. Amphetamine lacing of an Internet-marketed neutraceutical.
Drug Saf. 2006;29(6):537-48. Herbal medicines used during the first trimester and major congenital malformations: an analysis of data from a pregnancy cohort study.
Health Phys. 2005 Dec;89(6):679-83. Uranium concentrations in South African herbal remedies.
An evaluation of residual organochlorine pesticides in popular Indian herbal teas. Arch Environ Health. 2004 Aug;59(8):426-30.
Am J Med. 2005 Oct;118(10):1087-93. Lack of herbal supplement characterization in published randomized controlled trials.
J Urol. 2005 Aug;174(2):636-41; discussion 641; quiz 801.Evidence for contamination of herbal erectile dysfunction products with phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors.
Agranulocytosis and citrobacter infection associated with jamu, a herbal remedy containing phenylbutazone.Clin Infect Dis. 2005 Jun 15;40(12):1859-60.
J Epidemiol. 2009;19(1):17-23. Epub 2009 Jan 22. Increased mortality risk for cancers of the kidney and other urinary organs among Chinese herbalists.
Lancet. 1993 Feb 13;341(8842):387-91. Rapidly progressive interstitial renal fibrosis in young women: association with slimming regimen including Chinese herbs.
Adrenal corticosteroids in Chinese herbal remedies. QJM. 2003 Jan;96(1):81-2.
Lead, Mercury, and Arsenic in US- and Indian-Manufactured Ayurvedic Medicines Sold via the Internet JAMA. 2008;300(8):915-923 www.jama.com
http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2008/03/homeopathic-dru.html
Quackcast 30. Lets Kill The Children or A Defense of Vaccines.
Infection and death bad.
Me get vaccine and me not die.
http://briandeer.com/mmr-lancet.htmPediatrics. 2008 Feb;121(2):e208-14.
Pediatrics. 2008 Oct;122(4):902; author reply 902-3. Mercury levels in newborns and infants after receipt of thimerosal-containing vaccines. "Development of the immunoglobulin repertoire".
Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 79 (1): 1–14. PMID 8612345. http://www.immunobiology.arizona.edu/files/AntibodyDiversity.pdf
Mandal, Douglas and Bennett. The Principals and Practice of Infectious Diseases,
http://cmr.asm.org/cgi/content/full/18/2/326/T4http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/109/1/124 http://www.fda.gov/CBER/vaccine/thimerosal.htmhttp://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/596476?cookieSet=1 http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/34/6/1329
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no5/02-0562.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/rotavirus/
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm#rota
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00043378.htm
http://www.dcp2.org/slides/269/preview
http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/byname/Pediatrics–Pertussis.htm
http://www.metrokc.gov/health/immunization/compare.htm
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/267/20/2745
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046738.htm
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs294/en/
http://www.who.int/nuvi/pneumococcus/en/
http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_measles.html
www.who.int/immunization_monitoring/rub_global_review_2003.pdf
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs141/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5407a1.htm
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/298/18/2155
The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9661, Pages 383 - 389, 31 January 2009 Measles in Europe: an epidemiological assessment. http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MeaslesUpdate/
Quackcast 29. Reiki and Theraputic Touch
Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Mar;6(1):25-35. Pilot crossover trial of Reiki versus rest for treating cancer-related fatigue.
J Adv Nurs. 2001 Feb;33(4):439-45. Biological correlates of Reiki Touch(sm) healing
J Pain Symptom Manage. 2003 Nov;26(5):990-7 A phase II trial of Reiki for the management of pain in advanced cancer patients.
J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Dec;8(6):755-63. Effect of Reiki treatments on functional recovery in patients in poststroke rehabilitation: a pilot study.
J Altern Complement Med. 2006 Nov;12(9):911-3. Using Reiki to decrease memory and behavior problems in mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer's disease.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2002 Mar-Apr;8(2):48-53. Experience of a Reiki session
J Altern Complement Med. 1999 Apr;5(2):153-64.
J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Apr;14(3):233-9.Therapeutic touch stimulates the proliferation of human cells in culture.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/08/maybe_we_should_use_therapeutic_touch.php
Nurs Sci Q. 1999 Jan;12(1):52-61. The effectiveness of therapeutic touch: a meta-analytic review.
J Altern Complement Med. 1999 Aug;5(4):367-70 Effects of therapeutic touch on biochemical and mood indicators in women.
Int J Psychosom. 1993;40(1-4):47-55. Multi-site electromyographic analysis of non-contact therapeutic touch.
J Holist Nurs. 2007 Dec;25(4):217-25; discussion 226-7. Pandimensional field pattern changes in healers and healees: experiencing therapeutic touch.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2008 Jul-Aug;14(4):24-32. The efficacy of healing touch in coronary artery bypass surgery recovery: a randomized clinical trial.
West J Nurs Res. 2008 Jun;30(4):417-34. Epub 2008 Feb 13 Therapeutic touch and agitation in individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2005 Jan-Feb;11(1):66-74 The effect of therapeutic touch on behavioral symptoms of persons with dementia.
Biol Res Nurs. 2002 Oct;4(2):104-14. The effect of therapeutic touch on agitated behavior and cortisol in persons with Alzheimer's disease.
Nurs Sci Q. 1998 Fall;11(3):123-32. The efficacy of therapeutic touch for improving functional ability in elders with degenerative arthritis.
Oncol Nurs Forum. 2004 May;31(3):625-31.Therapeutic touch, quiet time, and dialogue: perceptions of women with breast cancer.
Oncol Nurs Forum. 1998 Sep;25(8):1369-76 Effects of dialogue and therapeutic touch on preoperative and postoperative experiences of breast cancer surgery: an exploratory study.
Complement Ther Nurs Midwifery. 1999 Jun;5(3):87-92. Physiologic and psychodynamic responses to the administration of therapeutic touch in critical care
J Adv Nurs. 1998 Jul;28(1):10-20. The effect of therapeutic touch on pain and anxiety in burn patients.
J Am Board Fam Pract. 2001 Sep-Oct;14(5):335-42. Therapeutic touch in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Nurs Sci Q. 1993 Summer;6(2):69-78. Therapeutic touch and postoperative pain: a Rogerian research study.
Quackcast 28. Vitamin C and the Common Cold
Vitamin C, the common cold and the Peter Principle.There are just a ton and a half of references for this podcasts.Two central references will lead you to all the others.Do vitamins C and E affect respiratory infections ? Harri Hemilä
http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/laa/kansa/vk/hemila/He seems help bent on proving that Vitamin C has a modest effect on the treatment of colds and other infections. Never have I seen so much efffoct to prove such a monor result. There is a nice summary of the hodgepodge of the animal studies in the appendix.
And
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold (Review) Douglas RM, Hemilä H, Chalker E, Treacy B The Cochrane Collaboration.Adam and Eve, Vitamin C, and Pseudogenes
Daniel Criswell,http://www.icr.org/article/3271/
Quackcast 27. Acupuncture and Chiropractic Update.
Update on Acupuncture and Chiropractic.Sham device v inert pill: randomized controlled trial of two placebo treatments
2006;332;391-397;BMJ
Acupuncture for Treatment of Persistent Arm Pain Due to Repetitive Use
A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial (Clin J Pain 2008;24:211–218)
Acupuncture induced necrotizing aortitis with infected pseudoaneurysm formation.
Yonsei Med J. 2008 Apr;49(2):322-4.
Acupuncture-associated Listeria monocytogenes arthritis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis. Joint Bone Spine. 2008 May 1.
Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke and Chiropractic Care
Results of a Population-Based Case-Control and Case-Crossover Study
SPINE Volume 33, Number 4S, pp S176 –S183
Quackcast 26. Alternative Aviation
Quackcast 25. Fungi Shui
Allergy and "toxic mold syndrome".
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2005 Feb;94(2):234-9.
PMID: 15765738
Antibodies against molds and mycotoxins following exposure to toxigenic fungi in a water-damaged building.
Arch Environ Health. 2003 Jun;58(6):324-36.
PMID: 14992307
Baseline prevalence of symptoms related to indoor environment.
Scand J Public Health. 2006;34(4):387-96.
PMID: 16861189
Characterization of a population presenting with suspected mold-related health effects.
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2005 Jan;94(1):39-44.
PMID: 15702814
Culturability and toxicity of sick building syndrome-related fungi over time.
J Occup Environ Hyg. 2004 Aug;1(8):500-4.
PMID: 15238302
Double blind placebo controlled exposure to molds: exposure system and clinical
results.
Indoor Air. 2005;15 Suppl 10:73-80.
PMID: 15926947
Effects of toxic exposure to molds and mycotoxins in building-related illnesses.
Arch Environ Health. 2003 Jul;58(7):399-405.
PMID: 15143852
Inhalational mold toxicity: fact or fiction? A clinical review of 50 cases.
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2005 Sep;95(3):239-46.
PMID: 16200814
Mixed mold mycotoxicosis: immunological changes in humans following exposure in
water-damaged buildings.
Arch Environ Health. 2003 Jul;58(7):410-20.
PMID: 15143854
Mycotoxins, fungus and 'electrohypersensitivity'.
Med Hypotheses. 2000 Sep;55(3):208-14.
PMID: 10985910
Toxicological and neuropsychological findings in patients presenting to an
environmental toxicology service.
J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 1995;33(6):625-9.
PMID: 8523483
Fungus Shui - The Balance of Design, Construction and Maintenance http://www.aepronet.org/ge/es13.html
Quackcast 24. The Yeast Dis Connection
Dubious "Yeast Allergies" www.quackwatch.com
Effectiveness of nystatin in polysymptomatic patients. A randomized,
double-blind trial with nystatin versus placebo in general practice.Fam Pract. 2001 Jun;18(3):258-65.
http://fampra.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/18/3/258#T3
Elevation of Candida IgG antibodies in patients with medically unexplained symptoms.J Altern Complement Med. 2007 Dec;13(10):1129-33.
NEJM Volume 323:1717-1723 December 20, 1990 Number 25 A randomized, double-blind trial of nystatin therapy for the candidiasis hypersensitivity syndrome.
Yeast connection among 100 patients with chronic fatigue. American Journal of Medicine 86:165-168, 1989.
Quackcast 23. Trust No One. But me
December 1 Lancet, Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands. It is on-line at http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673601071008/fulltext.
SkepticElectrocerebral accompaniments of syncope associated with malignant ventricular arrhythmias.
Ann Intern Med. 1988 Jun;108(6):791-6.Electroencephalographic changes during brief cardiac arrest in humans. Anesthesiology 1990;73:821–25.
Quackcast 22. Boost your immune system and die
Got carried away.
Were all gonna DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry. I panic easily.
Probiotics have a different immunomodulatory potential in vitro versus ex vivo upon oral administration in children with food allergy.Inflammation and
Atherosclerosis (Circulation. 2002;105:1135-1143.)Treatment of Periodontitis and Endothelial Function
NEJM 2007Clinical Infectious Diseases 2007; 45:158–65Lancet 2006;367:1075-1079.Clayton TC, Thompson M, Meade TW.
Recent respiratory infection and risk of cardiovascular
disease: case-control study through a general practice database. Eur Heart J.
2007:doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm516.
Quackcast 21. Acupuncture update
References
Stop Hypertension With the Acupuncture Research Program (SHARP): Results of a Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial
2006;48;838-845
Trial of Acupuncture to Lower Blood Pressure
2007;115;3121-3129 Circulation Werner G. Daniel
Meta-analysis: Acupuncture for Osteoarthritis of the Knee
Ann Intern Med. 2007;146:868-877.
Acupuncture in the treatment of Rhematoid Arthritis a controlled pilot study.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2007 Nov 3;7(1):35ECCO-the European CanCer Conference
Acupuncture does not reduce radiotherapy-induced nausea, but patients believe it doesA pilot study of acupuncture as adjunctive treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Clin Rheumatol. 2007 Nov 8; [Epub ahead of print]
German Acupuncture Trials (GERAC) for chronic low back pain: randomized, multicenter, blinded, parallel-group trial with 3 groups.
Arch Intern Med. 2007 Sep 24;167(17):1892-8. Erratum in: Arch Intern Med. 2007 Oct 22;167(19):2072.
PMID: 17893311
http://aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/artikel.asp?id=54179
Quackcast 20. Influenza myths
A good summary is at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/ where the party line for the medical-industrial complex is avaiable.
If you want the vaccine liars at their best (worst) go to www.ratbags.com and search for influenza or vaccine. It is a website that should be in your bookmarks.
Quackcast 19. Iridology
References
Thorsons Introductory Guide to Iridology by James and Sheelah Colton. This book is filled with incoherent concepts, but was worth the read just to see the Medical librarians face when I asked for a book on iridology.
An evaluation of iridology.
JAMA. 1979 Sep 28;242(13):1385-9.
Can iridology detect susceptibility to cancer? A prospective case-controlled study.
J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Jun;11(3):515-9.
Iridology Not Useful and Potentially Harmful
Arch Ophthalmol. 2000;118:120-121
Iridology Is Nonsense
Stephen Barrett, M.D.
www.quackwatch.com
Iridology: A systematic review.
Forsch Komplementarmed. 1999 Feb;6(1):7-9
Looking for gall bladder disease in the patient's iris.
BMJ. 1988 Dec 17;297(6663):1578-81.
The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, Vol. 33, No. 3, 501–505
Novel Approach of Molecular Genetic Understanding of Iridology: Relationship Between Iris Constitution and Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Gene Polymorphism
Relationship between Iris Constitution Analysis and TNF-Alpha Gene Polymorphism in Hypertensives The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, Vol. 35, No. 4, 621–629
Association between iris constitution and apolipoprotein e gene polymorphism in hypertensives.
Altern Complement Med. 2004 Dec;10(6):1101-5.
http://www.wellpark.co.nz/crs_foundation_Naturopathy.asp
Quackcast 18. Update 2 Echinacea Meta Anal Ysis
Lancet Infect Dis. 2007 Jul;7(7):473-80 Evaluation of echinacea for the prevention and treatment of the common cold: a meta-analysis.
Treatment of the Common Cold with Echinacea: A Structured Review Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005; 40:807–10
Treatment of the Common Cold with Unrefined Echinacea A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:939-946. www.annals.org NEJM
Volume 337:536-542 August 21, 1997 Number 8
Discrepancies between Meta-Analyses and Subsequent Large Randomized, Controlled Trials=Epidemiology and Reporting Characteristics of Systematic Reviews PLoS Medicine | www.plosmedicine.org March 2007 | Volume 4 | Issue 3 | e78044
How Quickly Do Systematic Reviews Go Out of Date? A Survival Analysis
Ann Intern Med. 2007;147:224-233. www.annals.org
Outcome reporting bias in randomized trials funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research CMAJ • SEPT. 28, 2004; 171 (7) 735JAMA Vol. 291 No. 20, May 26, 2004
Empirical Evidence for Selective Reporting of Outcomes in Randomized Trials Comparison of Protocols to Published Article
review meta-asupported meta-analyses and other Cochrane reviews compared with industry2006;333;782-; originally published online 6 Oct 2006; BM
Bräunig B, Knick E. Therapeutische Erfahrungen mit Echinaceae pallidae bei
grippalen Infekten. Ergebnisse einer plazebokontrollierten Doppelblindstudie.Naturheilpraxis, 1993, 46:72–75.That I cant find and I can’t read german anyway.
The WHO document. I prefer Tommy .www.whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/1999/9241545178.pdf
QuackCast 17: Update 1. NUCCA, The Curley of Chiropractic
Published in 2007 in the journal of Human Hypertension.
Hypertension J Hum Hypertens. 2007 May;21(5):347-52. Epub 2007 Mar 2. Atlas vertebra realignment and achievement of arterial pressure goal in hypertensive patients: a pilot study.
Bakris G, Dickholtz M, Meyer PM, Kravitz G, Avery E, Miller M, Brown J,
National Upper Cervical Chiropractic (NUCCA) www.nucca.organdnucca.com
A video of NUCCA in action (or inaction, they don’t appear to do much) http://www.nucca.com/video/nucca/NUCCA_S.wmv
Stroke. 2001 Dec 1;32(12):2950-5.
Long-term results after microvascular decompression in essential hypertension.
Surg Neurol. 2001 Jan;55(1):2-10; Microvascular decompression in the treatment of hypertension: review and update.
Levy EI, Scarrow AM, Jannetta PJ.
Lancet. 1998 Aug 8;352(9126):446-9.
Decrease of blood pressure by ventrolateral medullary decompression in essential hypertension
Quackcast 16. Probiotics
Quackcast 15. Magnet Therapy
For more of Dr. Duarf Ekaf, listen to the Tank, the podcast of the Austrialian Skeptics at http://www.skeptics.com.au/tank/tank.htm. I think they are laugh out loud funny.
N Rays: the importance of unconscious bias in good scientists.
http://skepdic.com/blondlot.htmlhttp://www.peloop.com/ Everything you want to know about magnets and none of it is true.Magnetic and Electromagnetic Therapy. David Ramey. The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine. Vol 2, No1. Page 13. 1998.Franz bread the good bread, flavor beyond compare. Welcome to PDX.
http://web.archive.org/web/20040710162753/http://www.unbf.ca/psychology/likely/readings/mesmer.htmThe more things change, the more they stay the same.ANTON MESMER AND SAMUEL HAHNEMANN
http://www.acampbell.ukfsn.org/essays/altmed/mesmer.html
Magnet Therapy A Billion-dollar Boondoggle http://www.csicop.org/si/2006-04/magnet-therapy.html
See how rapidly magnetic fields drop off with distance http://www.magnetapplications.com/UK/faq.htm
The effectiveness of magnet therapy for treatment of wrist pain attributed to carpal tunnel syndrome. :
J Fam Pract. 2002 Jan;51(1):38-40. Didn’t work.Static magnetic field therapy for symptomatic diabetic neuropathy: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2003 May;84(5):736-46.Effect of magnetic vs sham-magnetic insoles on nonspecific foot pain in the workplace: arandomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Mayo Clin Proc. 2005 Sep;80(9):1138-45.Effect of magnetic vs sham-magnetic insoles on plantar heel pain: a randomized controlled trial.
JAMA. 2003 Sep 17;290(11):1474-8.A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled pilot study to investigate the effectiveness of a static magnet to relieve dysmenorrhea.
J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Aug;11(4):681-7.Static magnetic fields neither prevent nor diminish symptoms and signs of delayed onset muscle soreness. Arch
Phys Med Rehabil. 2005 Mar;86(3):565-70.A critical review of randomized controlled trials of static magnets for pain relief.
J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Jun;11(3):495-509.Randomised controlled trial of magnetic bracelets for relieving pain in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. BMJ. 2004 Dec 18;329(7480):1450-4.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2004 Mar-Apr;10(2):36-43.Double-blind placebo-controlled trial of static magnets for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: results of a pilot study.The effect of flexible magnets on hand muscle strength: a randomized, double-blind study.
J Strength Cond Res. 2002 Feb;16(1):33-7.Treatment of myofascial shoulder pain in the spinal cord injured population using static magnetic fields: a case series.
J Spinal Cord Med. 2004;27(2):138-42.The influence of permanent magnetic field therapy on wound healing in suction lipectomy patients: a double-blind study.
Plast Reconstr Surg. 1999 Dec;104(7):2261-6;
Questions and Answers About Using Magnets To Treat Pain http://nccam.nih.gov/health/magnet/magnet.htm
Quackcast 14. Naturopathy. Quacks of all trades, masters of none.
References
If you put the title into pubmed or google you can often get the complete reference.Home page the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. http://www.naturopathic.org/
The ANMA, or the other guyshttp://www.anma.com/ Deaths Associated with Hypocalcemia from Chelation Therapy --- Texas, Pennsylvania, and Oregon, 2003--2005
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5508a3.htm J Clin Microbiol. 2003 Aug;41(8):3986-8.
Severe Serratia liquefaciens sepsis following vitamin C infusion treatment by a naturopathic practitioner.Characteristics of pediatric and adolescent patients attending a naturopathic college clinic in Canada.
Pediatrics. 2005 Mar;115(3):e338-43.Characteristics of pediatric and adolescent patients attending a naturopathic college clinic in Canada.
Pediatrics. 2005 Mar;115(3):e338-43.Rogue Scientist Has Own Scientific Method
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49180 Bastyr University
http://www.bastyr.edu/http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/291/17/2139
http://www.naturalhealth.org/tradnaturo/And I thought surgeons bickered.APPLIED EVIDENCE Naturopathic medicine: What can patients expect?VOL 54, NO 12 / DECEMBER 2005www.jfponline.com
Quackcast 13. Herbal "Remedies." Like "Fresh" Fish.
If you put the title into pubmed or google you can often get the complete reference.HERBAL REMEDIESN Engl J Med, Vol. 347, No. 25 December 19, 2002A good overview of the whole topic.A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of two doses of Ginkgo biloba extract in dementia of the Alzheimer's type.Curr Alzheimer Res. 2005 Dec;2(5):541-51.
Eur J Neurol. 2006 Sep;13(9):981-5.Ginkgo biloba and donepezil: a comparison in the treatment of Alzheimer's Pharmacological studies supporting the therapeutic use of Ginkgo biloba extract forAlzheimer's disease.
Pharmacopsychiatry. 2003 Jun;36 Suppl 1:S8-14.Ginkgo for memory enhancement: a randomized controlled trial.
JAMA. 2002 Aug 21;288(7):835-40.The New England Journal of Medicine
February 23, 2006 vol. 354 no. 8
Glucosamine, Chondroitin Sulfate, and the Two in Combination for Painful Knee Osteoarthritis
NEJM -- Echinacea angustifolia in Rhinovirus Infections http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/18/1971
Volume 353:1971-1972 November 3, 2005 Number 18
Echinacea angustifolia in Rhinovirus Infections
NEJM February 9, 2006 vol. 354 no. 6
Saw Palmetto for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
St John's Wort for depression
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006 Issue 4
JAMA. 2002 Apr 10;287(14):1807-14.
Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) in major depressive disorder: a randomized controlled trial.
Treatment of Vasomotor Symptoms of Menopause with Black Cohosh, Multibotanicals, Soy, Hormone Therapy, or Placebo
Ann Intern Med. 2006;145:869-879.
Mechanism Of Black Cohosh Versus Hot Flashes Revealedhttp://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/uoia-mob122106.php
Genetic Polymorphism of the Binding Domain of Surfactant Protein–A2 Increases Susceptibility to Meningococcal Disease
CID 1 December 2006Volume 43 Number 11
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/CID/journal/contents/v43n11.html
Quackcast 12. How to Identify Quackery and Homeopathic Horrors.
Also more on the potential dangers of homeopathy.
The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science By ROBERT L. PARK
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is investing close to a million dollars in an obscure Russian scientist's antigravity machine, although it has failed every test and would violate the most fundamental laws of nature. The Patent and Trademark Office recently issued Patent 6,362,718 for a physically impossible motionless electromagnetic generator, which is supposed to snatch free energy from a vacuum. And major power companies have sunk tens of millions of dollars into a scheme to produce energy by putting hydrogen atoms into a state below their ground state, a feat equivalent to mounting an expedition to explore the region south of the South Pole.
There is, alas, no scientific claim so preposterous that a scientist cannot be found to vouch for it. And many such claims end up in a court of law after they have cost some gullible person or corporation a lot of money. How are juries to evaluate them?
Before 1993, court cases that hinged on the validity of scientific claims were usually decided simply by which expert witness the jury found more credible. Expert testimony often consisted of tortured theoretical speculation with little or no supporting evidence. Jurors were bamboozled by technical gibberish they could not hope to follow, delivered by experts whose credentials they could not evaluate.In 1993, however, with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. the situation began to change. The case involved Bendectin, the only morning-sickness medication ever approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It had been used by millions of women, and more than 30 published studies had found no evidence that it caused birth defects. Yet eight so-called experts were willing to testify, in exchange for a fee from the Daubert family, that Bendectin might indeed cause birth defects.In ruling that such testimony was not credible because of lack of supporting evidence, the court instructed federal judges to serve as "gatekeepers," screening juries from testimony based on scientific nonsense. Recognizing that judges are not scientists, the court invited judges to experiment with ways to fulfill their gatekeeper responsibility.Justice Stephen G. Breyer encouraged trial judges to appoint independent experts to help them. He noted that courts can turn to scientific organizations, like the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to identify neutral experts who could preview questionable scientific testimony and advise a judge on whether a jury should be exposed to it. Judges are still concerned about meeting their responsibilities under the Daubert decision, and a group of them asked me how to recognize questionable scientific claims. What are the warning signs?
I have identified seven indicators that a scientific claim lies well outside the bounds of rational scientific discourse. Of course, they are only warning signs -- even a claim with several of the signs could be legitimate.
1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media. The integrity of science rests on the willingness of scientists to expose new ideas and findings to the scrutiny of other scientists. Thus, scientists expect their colleagues to reveal new findings to them initially. An attempt to bypass peer review by taking a new result directly to the media, and thence to the public, suggests that the work is unlikely to stand up to close examination by other scientists.One notorious example is the claim made in 1989 by two chemists from the University of Utah, B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, that they had discovered cold fusion -- a way to produce nuclear fusion without expensive equipment. Scientists did not learn of the claim until they read reports of a news conference. Moreover, the announcement dealt largely with the economic potential of the discovery and was devoid of the sort of details that might have enabled other scientists to judge the strength of the claim or to repeat the experiment. (Ian Wilmut's announcement that he had successfully cloned a sheep was just as public as Pons and Fleischmann's claim, but in the case of cloning, abundant scientific details allowed scientists to judge the work's validity.)Some scientific claims avoid even the scrutiny of reporters by appearing in paid commercial advertisements. A health-food company marketed a dietary supplement called Vitamin O in full-page newspaper ads. Vitamin O turned out to be ordinary saltwater.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work. The idea is that the establishment will presumably stop at nothing to suppress discoveries that might shift the balance of wealth and power in society. Often, the discoverer describes mainstream science as part of a larger conspiracy that includes industry and government. Claims that the oil companies are frustrating the invention of an automobile that runs on water, for instance, are a sure sign that the idea of such a car is baloney. In the case of cold fusion, Pons and Fleischmann blamed their cold reception on physicists who were protecting their own research in hot fusion.
3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection. Alas, there is never a clear photograph of a flying saucer, or the Loch Ness monster. All scientific measurements must contend with some level of background noise or statistical fluctuation. But if the signal-to-noise ratio cannot be improved, even in principle, the effect is probably not real and the work is not science.Thousands of published papers in para-psychology, for example, claim to report verified instances of telepathy, psychokinesis, or precognition. But those effects show up only in tortured analyses of statistics. The researchers can find no way to boost the signal, which suggests that it isn't really there.
4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal. If modern science has learned anything in the past century, it is to distrust anecdotal evidence. Because anecdotes have a very strong emotional impact, they serve to keep superstitious beliefs alive in an age of science. The most important discovery of modern medicine is not vaccines or antibiotics, it is the randomized double-blind test, by means of which we know what works and what doesn't. Contrary to the saying, "data" is not the plural of "anecdote."
5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries. There is a persistent myth that hundreds or even thousands of years ago, long before anyone knew that blood circulates throughout the body, or that germs cause disease, our ancestors possessed miraculous remedies that modern science cannot understand. Much of what is termed "alternative medicine" is part of that myth.Ancient folk wisdom, rediscovered or repackaged, is unlikely to match the output of modern scientific laboratories.
6. The discoverer has worked in isolation. The image of a lone genius who struggles in secrecy in an attic laboratory and ends up making a revolutionary breakthrough is a staple of Hollywood's science-fiction films, but it is hard to find examples in real life. Scientific breakthroughs nowadays are almost always syntheses of the work of many scientists.
7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation. A new law of nature, invoked to explain some extraordinary result, must not conflict with what is already known. If we must change existing laws of nature or propose new laws to account for an observation, it is almost certainly wrong.I began this list of warning signs to help federal judges detect scientific nonsense. But as I finished the list, I realized that in our increasingly technological society, spotting voodoo science is a skill that every citizen should develop.Robert L. Park is a professor of physics at the University of Maryland at College Park and the director of public information for the American Physical Society. He is the author of Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud (Oxford University Press, 2002).http://chronicle.com
Section: The Chronicle Review Volume 49, Issue 21, Page B20Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Homeopathic Combination Remedy in the Treatment of Acute Childhood Diarrhea in Honduras Oct 2006, Vol. 12, No. 8 : 723 -732
Don't rely on homeopathy to beat malaria, doctors warn
by FIONA MACRAE, Daily Mail Last updated at 09:22am on 14th July 2006
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=395568&in_page_id=1770
Quackcast 11. Chiropractic. Efficacy and Complications
References
There are a lot of good web sites about chiropractic:
Chiropractic: Flagship of the Alternative Medicine Fleet by Steven Novella, MD
Dr. Novella is part of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, and excellent podcast available on iTunes.
Quackwatch The best source for information on alt.med.
Chirobase An off shoot of Quackwatch with an emphasis on chiropractic. Their mission statement says
"Chirobase is a joint project of Quackwatch, the National Council Against Health Fraud, and Victims of Chiropractic. Its aims are:
•To provide comprehensive information about chiropractic history, theories, and current practices.
•To encourage and support the use of science-based practices by chiropractors.
•To identify and oppose the use of unscientific practices by chiropractors.
•To warn the public about inappropriate chiropractic care.
•To help people seeking appropriate chiropractic care to locate it.
•To pinpoint the risks involved in pursuing a chiropractic career."
For some reason, the AMA isn’t involved.
A COMPARISON OF OSTEOPATHIC SPINAL MANIPULATION WITH STANDARDCARE FOR PATIENTS WITH LOW BACK PAINN Engl J Med 1999;341:1426-31.Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Low Back PainA Meta-Analysis of Effectiveness Relative to Other TherapiesAnn Intern Med. 2003;138:871-881. www.annals.org
A COMPARISON OF ACTIVE AND SIMULATED CHIROPRACTIC MANIPULATIONAS ADJUNCTIVE TREATMENT FOR CHILDHOOD ASTHMAN Engl J Med 1998;339:1013-20.Spinal manipulation in the treatment of episodic tension-type headache: arandomized controlled trial.
JAMA. 1998 Nov 11;280(18):1576-9.Chiropractic: A Profession at the Crossroads of Mainstream andAlternative MedicineAnn Intern Med. 2002;136:216-227. www.annals.org
Chiropractic Admission Standands Lowest among Health Professionals http://www.chirobase.org/03Edu/adm.html
Attitudes on immunization: a survey of American chiropractors
J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1994 Nov-Dec;17(9):584-90.
Complications following vertebral manipulation-a survey of a French region physicians
Ann Readapt Med Phys. 2003 Feb;46(1):33-40.Clinical perceptions of the risk of vertebral artery dissection after cervical manipulation: a survey of California neurologists.
Neurology. 1995 Jun;45(6):1213-5.The role of chiropractic adjusting tables as reservoirs for microbial diseases.
Am J Infect Control. 2006 Apr;34(3):155-7An outbreak of amebiasis spread by colonic irrigation at a chiropractic clinic.Volume 307:339-342 August 5, 1982 Number 6
Quackcast 10. Chiropractic. History and Theory
Chiropractic: Flagship of the Alternative Medicine Fleet by Steven Novella, MDDr. Novella is part of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, and excellent podcast available on iTunes.
Quackwatch The best source for information on alt.med.
Chirobase An off shoot of Quackwatch with an emphasis on chiropractic. Their mission statement says"Chirobase is a joint project of Quackwatch, the National Council Against Health Fraud, and Victims of Chiropractic. Its aims are:
•To provide comprehensive information about chiropractic history, theories, and current practices.
•To encourage and support the use of science-based practices by chiropractors.
•To identify and oppose the use of unscientific practices by chiropractors.
•To warn the public about inappropriate chiropractic care.
•To help people seeking appropriate chiropractic care to locate it.
•To pinpoint the risks involved in pursuing a chiropractic career."For some reason, the AMA isn’t involved.Wikipedia entry on chiropractic.AMA vrs Chiropracters. AMA loses.
National Council Against Health Care Fraud position paper
Quackcast 9. Lies, Damn Lies and the use of SCAM.
True? Of course not. See how data is misrepresented to support nonsense.
It was Lincoln who said: "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time" see http://www.bartleby.com/73/609.html.He obviously did not live in a time of good advertising.I said it wast was PT Barnum who said: No one ever went broke underestimating the gullibility of the American people. It was HL Menken who said "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people" http://www.bartleby.com/59/3/nooneeverwen.html.
Benjamin Disraeli. Quoted by Mark Twain in his Autobiography. "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
http://www.bartleby.com/66/99/16799.html People use 10% of the their brains. see
http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=12. Eskimos have 38 words for snow. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow.Unconventional Medicine in the United States -- Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of UseNEJM 328:246-252 January 28, 1993 Number 4David M. Eisenberg, Ronald C. Kessler, Cindy Foster, Frances E. NorlCalkins, and Thomas L. DelbancoFull text available on line at
www.nejm.org. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: results of a follow-up national survey.
JAMA. 1998;280:1569-75.Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Ettner SL, et al.The Eisenberg Data: Flawed and Deceptive Timothy N. Gorski, MD, FACOG
Quackcast 8. Acupuncture Efficacy
Enter the search word‘acupuncture’ http://www.acuwatch.org/general/nihcritique.shtml. A review of the NIH position paper on accupuncture.www.pubmed.com. Enter the search words acupuncture and either complications or infection to see what harm can be done with quackery.
Acupuncture and Knee Osteoarthritis A Three-Armed Randomized TrialHanns-Peter Scharf, MD; Ulrich Mansmann, PhD; Konrad Streitberger, MD; Steffen Witte, PhD; Ju ̈ rgen Kra ̈ mer, MD; Christoph Maier, MD;Hans-Joachim Trampisch, PhD; and Norbert Victor, PhDAnn Intern Med. 2006;145:12-20. www.annals.org. Never letting data get in the way of conclusions.
Meta-Analysis: Acupuncture for Low Back Pain Eric Manheimer, MS; Adrian White, MD, BM, BCh; Brian Berman, MD; Kelly Forys, MA; and Edzard Ernst, MD, PhD Intern Med. 2005;142:651-663. www.annals.org. More intellectual dishonesty from what was once a trusted source of medical information.
Quackcast 7. Theory of Acupuncture
www.skepdic.com. The Skeptics Dictionary: good definitions and links on acupuncture, chi, vitalism etc.
Acupuncture, Magic, and Make-Believe (Skeptical Inquirer March 2003) http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-03/acupuncture.html.
Acupuncture: Theory, Efficacy, and PracticeTed J. Kaptchuk, OMD Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:374-383. www.annals.org.The most dishonest, apologist review of quackery in a ‘reputable’ medical journal ever written. It was with this article I lost all respect for the intellectual integrity of the Annals. Just sayin’.
Be Wary of Acupuncture, Qigong, and "Chinese Medicine" http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/acu.html.
You cant beat the Quackwatch.NCAHF Position Paper on Acupuncture http://www.ncahf.org/pp/acu.html.
Quackcast 6. Prayer
And I am almost certainly going to h e double toothpicks, if you know what I mean.
A Skeptic Looks at Christian Science
http://www.skepticreport.com/health/christianscience.htm Comparative Mortality of Two College Groups, 1945 - 1983
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00015022.htm Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated Medical Neglect http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/101/4/625 Pediatrics 1998;101:625– 629;
Journal of Reproductive Medicine Volume 46, Number 9 September 200 Does Prayer Influence the Success of in Vitro Fertilization–Embryo Transfer? Report of a Masked, Randomized Trial.
The original with skeptical commentary. http://www.uic.edu/classes/psych/Health/Readings/Prayer%20-%20in-vitro%20fertilization,%20JrRepMed-Skeptical%20Inquirer.doc.
Am Heart J. 2006 Apr;151(4):934-42. Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer.
More Questions on Healing Prayer A medical journal responds to its critics http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,982245,00.html
Prayer & Healing The Verdict is in and the Results are Null by Michael Shermer http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/06-04-05.html
The Deity in the Data What the latest prayer study tells us about God. Searching in the Darkness: About Prayer and Medical Cures By William Saletan http://www.slate.com/id/2139373/
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006 Issue 2 Intercessory prayer for the alleviation of ill health http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab000368.html
Searching in the Darkness: About Prayer and Medical Cures http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/498576 Episode 5: Placebo IS THE PLACEBO POWERLESS? An randomized of Clinical Trials Comparing Placebo with No Treatment N Engl J Med, Vol. 344, No. 21 · May 24, 2001
Deconstructing the Placebo Effect and Finding the Meaning Response. Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:471-476.
A review of regression to the mean: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~mb55/talks/regmean.htm
Medical Examples of regression to the mean: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/309/6957/780shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1
5. Placebo Effect
IS THE PLACEBO POWERLESS? An randomized of Clinical Trials Comparing Placebo with No Treatment N Engl J Med, Vol. 344, No. 21 · May 24, 2001
Deconstructing the Placebo Effect and Finding the Meaning Response. Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:471-476. A review of regression to the mean: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~mb55/talks/regmean.htm
Medical Examples of regression to the mean: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/309/6957/780
Quackcast 4. Homeopathy Clinical Trials
Are the clinical effects of Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy.http://www.bag.admin.ch/kv/forschung/d/2005/shang_huwiler.pdf
Quackcast 3. Homeopathic Theory
The ever helpful www.quackwatch.org
The best essay on the topic was in the 1840’s by http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/holmes.html
Phone it in: http://www.digibio.com/cgi-bin/node.pl?lg=us&nd=n4_3 homeopathy over the phone lines.
Quackcast 2. Echinacea
Crap.
Treatment of the Common Cold with Unrefined Echinacea A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:939-946.
Treatment of the Common Cold with Echinacea: A Structured Review Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005; 40:807–10.An Evaluation of Echinacea angustifolia in Experimental
Rhinovirus Infections NEJM July 28 , 2005 vol.353 no 4.Studying Herbal Remedies Wallace Sampson, M.D. NEJM Volume 353:337-339 July 28, 2005.
Echinacea Treatment for the Common Cold Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005; 40:811–2
Echinacea purpurea for Prevention of Experimental Rhinovirus Colds. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2004; 38:1367–71.
Echinacea for the Common Cold: Can Alternative Medicine Be Evidence-Based Medicine? 17 December 2002 Annals of Internal Medicine Volume 137 Number 12.