“People on a trial tend to do better”. Ordinarily, when I see someone make that point, I agree. But last week, when…
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Bias Clinical Trials Are Vital for the Rest Of Us. Are They a Good Deal for the Participants?
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Evidence Science Heroes and Disillusion
“Never have heroes” – I’ve heard some version of that a lot in the last couple of months, from people disillusioned by…
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Covid-19 The Limits of Those Reviews of Masks For All and What We Do Know
Have you noticed that you see so many pictures of people wearing face masks during the 1918-20 influenza pandemic, but you don’t…
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Covid-19 First in Human: Covid-19 Vaccines & Tales of Phase 1 Clinical Trials Past
The people who sign up for the first-in-human trials of Covid-19 vaccines are about to do our societies an extraordinary service. Most…
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Evidence Why Do Scientists “Cite” the Top 5 Regrets of the Dying?
It pops up in my Twitter feed quite often, it seems to me. A scientist will buttress their argument that academics…
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Evidence The High Risk Methods of a New Systematic Review of HPV Vaccines
Back in 2018, the authors of a then-unpublished systematic review fired a spin- and error-laced salvo at the Cochrane review of…
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Bias The Renewed Debate About Blinding in Clinical Trials
Things can go really off the rails in clinical trials. Take the most influential trial of the Mediterranean diet…
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Evidence The Power of Zombie Statistics: Systematic Review Edition
It sucks you in before you can even think – that dramatic statistic that makes a point you’re inclined to…
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Evidence The Systematic Review is Dead! Long Live [insert preferred sweeping claim] !
No, of course, the systematic review/meta-analysis hasn’t died. But I kind of wish the flag-waving for the claim that its current…
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Evidence It’s a Start: The Amended Version of the Cochrane Review on Exercise and CFS
It’s tough, watching this play out slowly, step by painful step. As I’ve blogged before, ME/CFS consumer advocates have been…
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Evidence Am I Going to Need a Smaller Plate? In Which I Juggle a New Weight Loss Trial & Old Systematic Reviews
It just seems logical, doesn’t it? Super-sizing your food can super-size you. So when I used to see claims that…
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Evidence A Double Whammy of Non-Good News About Non-Inferiority Trials
It started in June, with cardiovascular disease. Then August ended with another bout, but in cancer. It’s been a rough…