www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/nov/08/sciencenews.medicalresearch

which says the same thing as the Chinese. But no comment from you.

Buy more interesting still is why is NHS Scotland so enthusiastic about Vitamin D and should they be? Just google for “Vitamin D NHS Scotland” for a week of reading

I would love your Systematic Review of this area of research except I find SR’s always end up ‘not being sure’ at any level of risk, though they are good for setting up a ‘selective’ literature survey to get a grant.

Sad to recommend a treatment based on placebo effect, but until something better comes up….

Lets assume I can’t afford twenty subscriptions to different academic journals. Is there a way of looking at this research for free?

Warning!
Reading this entire archive can be hazardous to your research. Proceed with caution and use only in moderation.

Awesome.

“Therefore, estrogen exerts 2 independent effects in this model, the first enhancing the susceptibility to infection and the second repressing expression of
Csp-12L.”

As mentioned Caspase 12 is largely irrelevant in the human population, but estrogen obviously is relevant;-) Therefore doesn’t this paper actually predict most women will be more susceptible to infection (by Listeria – if they were mice etc etc)? The news stories could have quite easily been wildly opposite…

LOL the PhDcomics sketch. I’ll add it to the ones framing my desk.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8059223.stm

reports the findings that people are “wary of cancer” because “scientists are always changing their minds”. If you read down the article it does explain about single study findings being “just one piece of a jigsaw” but they glaringly omit to point out the medias role in over-hyping the bizarre cancer stories.
Probably because the BBC are just as culpable as the rest of the media in this respect. Incidentally Radio 4′s Today Show also ran the Man Flu non-story.

Pseudoscientists and quacks do this all the time:
1. Make up some wacky theory
2. Cherry-pick, fabricate, distort evidence and misquote others work to back up your pet theory
3. Defend insane theory in the face of all evidence to the contrary.
(4. Profit)

This is antithetical to the scientific process, and yet this seems to be the most common misconception in the media – and it keeps getting repeated and reinforced.

p.s. Could you add a direct link to the NHS Choices website?

Even if they’re off by a bit on the acupuncture story, they’re at least a closer approximation of the truth than the daily mail drivel.

I think entertainment is a factor in why a lot of people do buy newspapers, so what we need is nerd entrepreneur to start a whole new newspaper based on the philosophy of “Facts and nob jokes.”

This well designed and conducted study has shown that acupuncture can improve ability to function in people with chronic low back pain compared to (sic) usual care…

It went on to say that the strengths of this study include a usual care control group. However, as Orac, Steven Novella and I wrote, the usual care group was not a control, and the study showed that acupuncture is just a placebo, not that acupuncture can relieve back pain.

If our population is not scientifically literate, papers use lazy ‘common-sense’ explanations for issues, e.g. my child was fine, had the MMR jab, now is diagnosed with autism, ergo etc. Similarly, fairly undramatic science story about possible oestrogen mechanism and journalists use lazy gender stereotyping and common sense mythology to write up the story.

Yeah, so ‘man-flu’ isn’t that important in the grand scheme of female oppression. But it is part of the spectrum of ‘evidence’ that papers present that exaggerate sex difference and importantly, instill a hierarchy.

None of the above exaples surprise me, but what really bites my bunions is the BBC doing it!!! I’m off to check out the NHS site, I’m a little surprised they are sticking there neck out to be honest, but its groovy by me.

Paul McCue

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1184632/Why-eating-curry-STOP-putting-weight.html

<blockquote.Everyone knows Geeks and Nerds cant breed

Speak for yourself, sunshine.