Another antivaccine paper bites the dust
Christopher Shaw and Lucija Tomljenovic are known for producing dubious scientific studies in the service of antivaccine pseudoscience. Last month, they published a paper purporting to show that aluminum adjuvant causes neuroinflammation in mice that was roundly criticized for poor experimental design and manipulated images. Guess what? It's soon to be retracted.
The post Another antivaccine paper bites the dust appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 10, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Autism Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking aluminum antivaccine Christopher Shaw Lucija Tomljenovic mice vaccines Source Type: blogs
Another antivaccine paper bites the dust
Christopher Shaw and Lucija Tomljenovic are known for producing dubious scientific studies in the service of antivaccine pseudoscience. Last month, they published a paper purporting to show that aluminum adjuvant causes neuroinflammation in mice that was roundly criticized for poor experimental design and manipulated images. Guess what? It's soon to be retracted. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 10, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Autism Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking aluminum antivaccine Christopher Shaw Lucija Tomljenovic mice vaccines Source Type: blogs
Another antivaccine paper bites the dust
This article has been withdrawn at the request of the Editor-in-Chief due to serious concerns regarding the scientific soundness of the article. Review by the Editor-in-Chief and evaluation by outside experts, confirmed that the methodology is seriously flawed, and the claims that the article makes are unjustified. As an international peer-reviewed journal we believe it is our duty to withdraw the article from further circulation, and to notify the community of this issue.Why is it that the University of British Columbia and its Department of Ophthalmology (which is the department where Shaw and Tomljenovic are based) put ...
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 10, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: oracknows Source Type: blogs
A conversation with a Rigvir flack
My skeptical analysis of Rigvir, a “Virotherapy” from Latvia being promoted by alternative medicine clinics as a cancer cure, caught the attention of the International Virotherapy Center (IVC). The result was a long and very telling e-mail exchange between its Assistant of Business Development and myself. I post it because the arguments used in the discussion are very telling about where the IVC is coming from when it comes to science. Hint: It’s not a good place.
The post A conversation with a Rigvir flack appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 9, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Skepticism/critical thinking International Virotherapy Center Kārlis Urbāns Lelde Lapa Rigvir Rigvir Holding Source Type: blogs
A conversation with a Rigvir flack
My skeptical analysis of Rigvir, a “Virotherapy” from Latvia being promoted by alternative medicine clinics as a cancer cure, caught the attention of the International Virotherapy Center (IVC). The result was a long and very telling e-mail exchange between its Assistant of Business Development and myself. I post it because the arguments used in the discussion are very telling about where the IVC is coming from when it comes to science. Hint: It’s not a good place. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 9, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Skepticism/critical thinking International Virotherapy Center Kārlis Urbāns Lelde Lapa Rigvir Rigvir Holding Source Type: blogs
A conversation with a Rigvir flack
Over the last two Mondays, I ' ve beenwriting about an unproven cancer therapy that I hadn ' t really heard much about before. The cancer treatment is called Rigvir; it is manufactured in Latvia and marketed primarily through a Latvian entity called the International Virotherapy Center (IVC). To recap, Rigvir is an unmodified Echovirus, specifically ECHO-7, that, according to the IVC, seeks out cancer cells, replicates in them, and thus lyses the cancer cells (causes their membranes to break, spilling out the cancer cells contents, thus killing the cell), hence the term " oncolytic virus. " Somehow, mysteriously Rigvir was...
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 9, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: oracknows Source Type: blogs
Naturopaths: Able to turn even Epsom salt potentially deadly
Epsom salt, like the Earth in The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, is mostly harmless; that is, except in the hands of a naturopath.
The post Naturopaths: Able to turn even Epsom salt potentially deadly appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 6, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Epsom salt hepatotoxicity liver magnesium sulfate naturopathy Source Type: blogs
Naturopaths: Able to turn even Epsom salt potentially deadly
Epsom salt, like the Earth in The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, is mostly harmless; that is, except in the hands of a naturopath. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 6, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Epsom salt hepatotoxicity liver magnesium sulfate naturopathy Source Type: blogs
Naturopaths: Able to turn even Epsom salt potentially deadly
Naturopathy and naturopaths are a fairly frequent topic on this blog —and for very good reason. If there is an example of a pseudomedical " discipline " that has been gaining undeserved " respectability, " it ' s naturopathy. It ' s licensed in all too many states, and physicians who have fallen under the spell of so-called " integrative medicine, " a specialty that rebrands science-based lifestyle medical interventions as somehow " alternative " or " integrative " and uses them as a vessel to " integrate " quackery into medicine, seem to have a special affinity for naturopaths. Indeed, so common has the presence of natu...
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 6, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: oracknows Source Type: blogs
False balance in reporting the case of a local mother jailed for contempt of court for reneging on an agreement to vaccinate her child
Rachel Bredow is antivaccine and doesn't want her children vaccinated. Her ex-husband disagrees. When Ms. Bredow violated a court order to vaccinate her child, she was thrown into jail for contempt of court. Unfortunately, our local media have not exactly covered themselves in glory covering this story.
The post False balance in reporting the case of a local mother jailed for contempt of court for reneging on an agreement to vaccinate her child appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 5, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking Television Andrea Isom Detroit Free Press Jason Horne Joel Dorfman Joseph Sikora Michigan for Vaccine Choice Rebecca Bred Source Type: blogs
False balance in reporting the case of a local mother jailed for contempt of court for reneging on an agreement to vaccinate her child
Rachel Bredow is antivaccine and doesn't want her children vaccinated. Her ex-husband disagrees. When Ms. Bredow violated a court order to vaccinate her child, she was thrown into jail for contempt of court. Unfortunately, our local media have not exactly covered themselves in glory covering this story. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 5, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking Television Andrea Isom Detroit Free Press Jason Horne Joel Dorfman Joseph Sikora Michigan for Vaccine Choice Rebecca Bred Source Type: blogs
False balance in reporting the case of a local mother jailed for contempt of court for reneging on an agreement to vaccinate her child
I sometimes like to write about things happening in my neck of the woods that are relevant to the kinds of things I normally blog about every day. This habit of mine dates back at least to the days when investigative reporter Steve Wilson of our local ABC affiliate used tolay down fear mongering barrages of nonsense about mercury in vaccines that would have made Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. proud if he ever knew about them. Then there was a report on " orbs " seen in photographs where the reporterspeculated whether they were actual spirits. Then there ' s the periodic fascination with veterinary quackery that pops up on localnew...
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 5, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: oracknows Source Type: blogs
Why a case report being circulated by advocates doesn ’ t show that the ketogenic diet combats cancer
it's October, which means that it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which means that it's time for dubious breast cancer case reports. Here's one about ketogenic diets that doesn't show that such diets cure cancer.
The post Why a case report being circulated by advocates doesn’t show that the ketogenic diet combats cancer appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 4, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Skepticism/critical thinking breast cancer chemotherapy Ketogenic diet neoadjuvant chemotherapy Thomas Seyfried triple negative breast cancer Source Type: blogs
Why a case report being circulated by advocates doesn ’ t show that the ketogenic diet combats cancer
it's October, which means that it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which means that it's time for dubious breast cancer case reports. Here's one about ketogenic diets that doesn't show that such diets cure cancer. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 4, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Skepticism/critical thinking breast cancer chemotherapy Ketogenic diet neoadjuvant chemotherapy Thomas Seyfried triple negative breast cancer Source Type: blogs
Why a case report being circulated by advocates doesn't show that the ketogenic diet combats cancer
In conclusion, this combined metabolic approach appears effective in treating advanced TNBC, given this patient’s complete response with a good quality of life.Now, there is one thing that is interesting here. The doses of chemotherapy used were considerably lower thanwhat is usually used, with doses decreased by at least half or more. Does this mean anything? Who knows? cPR rates for TNBC have been reported to range from 20-35%. It could mean the regimen made the chemotherapy more effective, or it could mean that this woman just happened to have a particularly chemosensitive tumor. Even if we take this case report at fa...
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 4, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: oracknows Source Type: blogs
