Trial By Error, Continued: The Real Data
by David Tuller, DrPH
David Tuller is academic coordinator of the concurrent masters degree program in public health and journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
‘The PACE trial is a fraud.’ Ever since Virology Blog posted my 14,000-word investigation of the PACE trial last October, I’ve wanted to write that sentence. (I should point out that Dr. Racaniello has already called the PACE trial a “sham,” and I’ve already referred to it as “doggie-poo.” I’m not sure that “fraud” is any worse. Whatever word you use, the trial stinks.)
Let me be clear: I don’t mean “fraud” in the legal sen...
Source: virology blog - September 22, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Commentary Information chronic fatigue syndrome clinical trial Freedom of Information GET mecfs myalgic encephalomyelitis PACE Source Type: blogs
No ‘ Recovery ’ in PACE Trial, New Analysis Finds
We present a preliminary exploratory analysis of the frequency and percentage of participants meeting all the recovery criteria in each group, based on the intention-to-treat principle, as well as the available-case subgroup.
Neither the published trial protocol [3] nor the published statistical analysis plan [11] specified a method for determining the statistical significance of the differences in recovery rates between treatment groups. In their published paper on recovery, White et al. (2013) presented logistic regression analyses for trial arm pairwise comparisons, adjusting for the baseline stratification variables of...
Source: virology blog - September 21, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Commentary Information chronic fatigue syndrome data request Freedom of Information mecfs myalgic encephalomyelitis PACE trial recovery Source Type: blogs
Water Fasting Summary
I completed my water fast yesterday. I fasted for 17 days and 3 hours, which is longer than I’ve ever fasted before. This post is a summary of the experience, building upon what I shared on Day 6 of the fast.
Motivation
This isn’t the same world people lived in 100 years ago. The unfortunate truth is that we now live in an environment filled with toxins that our bodies weren’t evolved to efficiently eliminate. These toxins include pesticides, herbicides, pollution, heavy metals, plastics, animal hormones, pharmaceuticals, radiation, and more. We’re exposed to such toxins merely by drinking water, br...
Source: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog - September 12, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Steve Pavlina Tags: Health Source Type: blogs
Open letter to Queen Mary University of London about PACE
Professor Simon Gaskell
President and Principal
Queen Mary University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS
Dear Professor Gaskell:
Last month, the First-Tier Tribunal ordered Queen Mary University of London to release critical data from the PACE trial of treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME/CFS. In its decision, which rejected the university’s appeal of last fall’s ruling from the Information Commissioner’s Office, the tribunal dismantled all of QMUL’s rationalizations for keeping the data secret.
In particular, the tribunal dismissed the fears of QMUL’s securit...
Source: virology blog - September 6, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Commentary Information Source Type: blogs
When You Put on a Happy Face but You ’re Really Depressed
When we think of someone with clinical depression, we think of a person who’s overtly sad — a permanent frown etched onto their face. We think of a person who can’t get out of bed and has a hard time working and performing tasks. A person who looks exhausted and disheveled. A person who’s withdrawn and isolates themselves.
And sometimes this is true. Sometimes, this is how depression manifests.
But other times, the face of depression is actually a happy person. A person who’s put-together and appears to be perfectly fine on the outside. They might excel at their job and be especially productive. They might go...
Source: World of Psychology - September 2, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Depression Disorders General Happiness Industrial and Workplace Mental Health and Wellness Relationships Self-Help Stress Success & Achievement anhedonia anxious feelings appearing happy Dean Parker Depression Symptoms Depres Source Type: blogs
Trial By Error, Continued: My Questions for Lancet Editor Richard Horton
By David Tuller, DrPH
In January, I posted a list of the questions I still wanted to ask the PACE authors, who have repeatedly refused my requests to interview them about their ethically and methodologically challenged study. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, has similarly declined to talk with me, ignoring my e-mails seeking comment for the initial investigation, posted on Virology Blog last October, as well as for several follow-up articles. Now Dr. Horton has doubled-down on his efforts to keep a lid on the controversy by rejecting a letter that he personally solicited—a major breach of professional courtesy to th...
Source: virology blog - September 1, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Commentary Information chronic fatigue syndrome mecfs myalgic encephalomyelitis PACE trial Richard Horton The Lancet Source Type: blogs
Once Again, Lancet Stumbles on PACE
This report outlines such egregious failings as outcome thresholds that overlapped with entry criteria, mid-trial promotion of the therapies under investigation, failure to provide the original results as outlined in the protocol, failure to adhere to a specific promise in the protocol to inform participants about the investigators’ conflicts of interest, and other serious lapses.
Virology Blog first posted the open letter in November, with six signatories (link to letter). At that time, Dr. Horton’s office responded that he would reply after returning from “traveling.” Three months later, we still...
Source: virology blog - August 29, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Commentary adaptive pacing therapy chronic fatigue syndrome cognitive behavior therapy graded exercise therapy mecfs myalgic encephalomyelitis PACE trial specialist medical care The Lancet Source Type: blogs
The Many Conditions that Mimic Depression
Finding the right diagnosis for any disorder requires a comprehensive evaluation. Because many illnesses share many of the same symptoms. Take symptoms such as headache, stomachache, dizziness, fatigue, lethargy, insomnia and appetite loss. There are countless conditions with these exact signs.
Similarly, many mental illnesses share the same symptoms, said Stephanie Smith, PsyD, a psychologist in practice in Erie, Colo., who specializes in working with individuals with depression. Which makes “the process of diagnosing mental illness tricky, to say the least.”
For instance, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADH...
Source: World of Psychology - August 22, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: ADHD and ADD Anxiety and Panic Depression Disorders General Health-related Mental Health and Wellness Psychology Self-Help Stress Beck Depression Inventory Bipolar Disorder Cancer Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Clinical Depression Source Type: blogs
Gulf War Illness 25 Years After Desert Storm
In the 25 years since Desert Storm, about 250,000 of the almost 700,000 involved in the Gulf War 1 theater have suffered from some version of the complex of symptoms now called Gulf War Illness. This illness was discussed in a recent symposium co-hosted by the Brookings Institution and Georgetown University Medical Center.
While Desert Storm battle casualties were light, military personnel were exposed to various chemical and biological agents. These included Pyridostigmine Bromide, to prevent the effects of nerve gases which had been used previously by Iraq; organophosphate pesticides (such as DEET) which were embedded in...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - August 4, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Joel Kupersmith and Michael O'Hanlon Tags: Featured Organization and Delivery Public Health Quality Department of Defense desert storm Gulf War Illness Research Veterans Veterans Administration Source Type: blogs
A guide to surviving chronic disease
For many people with chronic disease, the toughest thing is convincing themselves they’re not crazy. This is especially true for those with an illness with no clear etiology.
For millions of people around the world suffering from multiple sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia, chronic abdominal pain, ALS, rheumatoid arthritis, certain types of cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and hundreds of other illnesses, just making it through the day is overwhelming. Not only do many of these individuals have to endure a life of constant pain, but they also have to struggle with the unrelenting anxiety inherent with their conditions. Not...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 3, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/alberto-hazan-and-jordana-haber" rel="tag" > Alberto Hazan, MD and Jordana Haber, MD < /a > Tags: Conditions Emergency Primary care Source Type: blogs
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Is NOT All In The Mind, Study Concludes
Scientists have now discovered more evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is not a mental illness but a physical disorder.
(Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog)
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - July 25, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
TWiV 397: Trial by error
Journalism professor David Tuller returns to TWiV for a discussion of the PACE trial for ME/CFS: the many flaws in the trial, why its conclusions are useless, and why the data must be released and re-examined.
You can find TWiV #397 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below.
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Download TWiV 397 (67 MB .mp3, 93 min)
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Become a patron of TWiV! (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - July 10, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology adaptive pacing therapy CFS chronic fatigue syndrome clinical trial cognitive behavior therapy graded exercise therapy mecfs myalgic encephalomyeltiis PACE trial Source Type: blogs
An open letter to PLoS One
PLoS One
1160 Battery Street
Koshland Building East, Suite 100
San Francisco, CA 94111
Dear PLoS One Editors:
In 2012, PLoS One published “Adaptive Pacing, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Graded Exercise, and Specialist Medical Care for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.” This was one in a series of papers highlighting results from the PACE study—the largest trial of treatments for the illness, also known as ME/CFS. Psychologist James Coyne has been seeking data from the study based on PLoS’ open-access policies, an effort we support.
However, as David Tuller from the University of California, B...
Source: virology blog - May 23, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Commentary Information chronic fatigue syndrome cognitive behavior therapy data request graded exercise therapy mecfs PACE Source Type: blogs
Don’t exercise to lose weight
There are plenty of good reasons to exercise . . . but losing weight is not one of them.
Yes, there are people, genetically-determined or armed with extraordinary determination, who can lose weight with a strenuous exercise program. But the majority lose a modest quantity and that’s the end of it. They even continue to torture themselves for years, telling themselves that they are burning calories, burning off fat, and if they would only exercise longer and harder they would lose weight–but don’t.
Is it worth exercising if it does not result in substantial control over weight? Yes, indeed it is. Among the...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 16, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle blood sugar exercise glucose gluten grains insulin Weight Loss Source Type: blogs
More on MACRA, Interoperability and the Post-Meaningful Use World
By ANDY SLAVITT
THCB is pleased to feature acting CMS administrator Andy Slavitt’s comments during a panel appearance at this week’s HIMSS conference. We encourage you to read them closely and with an open mind and add your own thoughts on the steps you think the government should take to improve the federal quality measurement program and improve and promote health information technology. For more on the topic of EHR incentives and the transition from the Meaningful Use program, go read Andy’s last THCB post “EHR Incentive Programs: Where We Go From Here.”
I love working with Karen De Salvo. ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 4, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
