Users that often use this tag:
alby (2)

The British Medical Journal has called Andrew Wakefield, the lead author of the study that initially claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, a fraud. Investigative journalist Brian Deer went through the original medical records of the children included in the study and found that, amongst other things, some of them didn't have autism. Language this strong in a journal like this is pretty unusual, especially given the UK's libel laws. The Lancet retracted the original paper (PDF) last year due to concerns about breaches of research ethics (previously on Metafilter), but the BMJ is claiming deliberate manipulation and misrepresentation of data for financial gain.
posted by une_heure_pleine on Jan 7, 2011 - 120 comments

BMJ Christmas Edition Every year the British Medical Journal publishes a series of tongue-in-cheek papers for Christmas.

• Reflections of Father Christmas’s GP
• Mozart’s 140 causes of death and 27 mental disorders
• Pie sharing in complex clinical collaborations: a piece of cake?
• Primary Care: A modest proposal
• The IKEA pencil: a surprising find in the NHS
• Dr Watson: a regular reader of the British Medical Journal
• Red for danger: the effects of red hair in surgical practice
• A Christmas tree cataract
• Can he fix it? Yes, he can!
• Integrative medicine and the point of credulity

posted by alby on Dec 13, 2010 - 8 comments

Every year the British Medical Journal publishes a less-than-serious Christmas edition. [more inside]
posted by alby on Dec 24, 2008 - 11 comments

The conclusion of a research paper by associate professor Andrew McIntosh and research assistant Declan Patton of the School of Risk and Safety Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: "To minimise the risk of head and neck injury, head bangers should decrease their range of head and neck motion, head bang to slower tempo songs by replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock, only head bang to every second beat, or use personal protective equipment." (Via)
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing on Dec 19, 2008 - 31 comments

Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials.
posted by sluglicker on May 2, 2007 - 21 comments

Sword swallowing and its side effects. The British Medical Journal goes for a bit of holiday levity. Sword swallowing, urethral umbrellas, and more. I am not a doctor, but I play one on screen.
posted by caddis on Dec 31, 2006 - 5 comments

War, what is it good for absolutely nothing?. Poverty, political, social and economic inequalities result in war. So whats new.
posted by johnnyboy on Feb 14, 2002 - 8 comments

Hand-arm vibration syndrome may be associated with prolonged use of vibrating computer games. Prolonged in this case means seven hours per day, which seems to be "excessive and exceeds the manufacturer's recommendation." Methinks this is the least of his problems.
posted by gazingus on Feb 1, 2002 - 8 comments