Serum hemoglobin is related to endurance running performance. Smoking is known to enhance serum hemoglobin levels ... alcohol may further enhance this beneficial adaptation.
A
recent paper by Kenneth Myers in the
Canadian Medical Association Journal reviews the potential benefits of smoking for endurance atheletes.
[more inside]
posted by nangar
on Nov 26, 2011 -
35 comments
The Triumph of New-Age Medicine "Medicine has long decried acupuncture, homeopathy, and the like as dangerous nonsense that preys on the gullible. Again and again, carefully controlled studies have shown alternative medicine to work no better than a placebo. But now many doctors admit that alternative medicine often seems to do a better job of making patients well, and at a much lower cost, than mainstream care—and they’re trying to learn from it." [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jun 15, 2011 -
278 comments
"We were concerned that the study would raise a lot of controversy and be misused," Pardo said. "We were right." Some practitioners treat autistic children with the anti-inflammatory
intravenous immunoglobulin, citing
a study by Carlos Pardo, et al. showing inflammation in the brains of deceased autistic patients. Pardo:
"modulators of immune reactions (e.g. intravenous immunoglobulins, IVIG) WOULD NOT HAVE a significant effect." Others, following the work of Simon Baron-Cohen on
autism and the male brain,
treat autistic children with testosterone inhibitors, a prospect which Baron-Cohen says "fills me with horror." Another anti-inflammatory treatment, hyperbaric therapy, is supported by
one recent clinical trial, but looks bad in
another. Side effects include
horrible death by fire.
(via the Chicago Tribune)
posted by escabeche
on Nov 23, 2009 -
49 comments
The Checklist - "If a new drug were as effective at saving lives as Peter Pronovost’s checklist, there would be a nationwide marketing campaign urging doctors to use it"
[single page]
posted by Gyan
on Jan 2, 2008 -
65 comments
The Placebo Effect In Action.
"When patients believe a drug will help them, they sometimes heal themselves" (a report on a new study from Columbia University and the University of Michigan). And, an
additional take on the Placebo Effect from the Skeptic's Dictionary.
posted by amyms
on Aug 2, 2007 -
19 comments
Nature has a somewhat technical but free
supplement on stem cells (alongwith a podcast and related
blog).
posted by Gyan
on Jul 2, 2006 -
6 comments
No pain, no gain, they say, and when it comes to real pain, the
inverse is true as well.
"
We
now have research indicating there's a memory of chronic pain,"
said Dr. Doris K. Cope, director of chronic and cancer pain for the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It changes the genic code
sometimes, it changes the biochemistry, and it causes new proteins to
be formed." Or in other words, the more pain you have, the more pain you have. (
More on this.) It's no wonder, then, that more money is spent on pain relief than any other medical problem, and that there has been so much
pain research and so many
clinical trials revealing such painful facts as
redheads feel more pain,
men feel less pain, and that there's a
genetic difference between tough guys and wimps. (Much more pain inside.)
posted by taz
on Sep 20, 2004 -
31 comments
When drug companies hide data. "The attorney general's civil suit accuses the drug giant GlaxoSmithKline of committing fraud by concealing negative information about Paxil, a drug used to treat depression. The suit says that the company conducted five clinical trials of Paxil in adolescents and children, yet published only one study whose mixed results it deemed positive. The company sat on two major studies for up to four years, although the results of one were divulged by a whistle-blower at a medical conference in 1999 and all of the studies were submitted to the Food and Drug Administration in 2002 when the company sought approval for new uses of Paxil. At that time it became apparent that Paxil was no more effective than a placebo in treating adolescent depression and might even provoke suicidal thoughts.My Dad was on Paxil until 26 days ago..... that's when he shot himself.
posted by Lusy P Hur
on Jun 6, 2004 -
47 comments
Patient confidentiality vs. cancer research. New rules on patient confidentiality prevent
"research that recognises dangerous side effects of treatments and it would prevent research that would recognise avoidable causes of diseases and death. " What is more important: 'medical progress' or 'your medical file'?
posted by nonharmful
on May 19, 2001 -
2 comments
Lots of posts lately about the election, about other strange things, (and especially about my favorite subject to not read: Nader) and we haven't had a knock-down drag-out argument about ethics for a while. So I thought I'd start one about
this. Using up humans to collect medical data is unquestionably immoral and those who do it should be hung, if not put to death by torture. The question is whether those of us who had nothing to do with the collection of that data and have not done anything immoral
become immoral by using data collected that way in order to save lives. I'm going to make three posts below, so be patient.
posted by Steven Den Beste
on Oct 22, 2000 -
30 comments
