Year: 2012

Jurassic Farce

It feels like I live in the real world example of Ray Bradbury’s All the Summer in a Day but for the last two weeks we have had sun and heat and it has been glorious. I get Christmas and Thanksgiving and New Years as vacation, but who needs that? I need July and August to live the vida loca in the...

/ August 10, 2012

Stem cell therapy regulation plays catch up

The burgeoning U.S. stem cell therapy industry was delivered a setback last month in the form of a U.S. District Court injunction against use of the “Regenexx™ Procedure,” which purports to treat joint, muscle, tendon or bone pain due to injury or other conditions. The court agreed with the FDA that the cell product used in the procedure is both a drug...

/ August 9, 2012

Are Berries the New Snake Oil?

Are berries a superfood? No, they're just good for you, like all fruit.

/ August 8, 2012

ASEA: Another Expensive Way to Buy Water

ASEA is an expensive way to buy salt water, backed up by an enormous number of sciencey-sounding buzzwords and no meaningful evidence, all wrapped up in a multi-level marketing scheme designed to separate the credulous from their money. Don't buy it.

/ August 7, 2012

The mammography wars heat up again (2012 edition)

One issue that keeps coming up time and time again for me is the issue of screening for cancer. Because I’m primarily a breast cancer surgeon in my clinical life, that means mammography, although many of the same issues come up time and time again in discussions of using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer. Over time, my position regarding how...

/ August 6, 2012

The Mind in Cancer: Low Quality Evidence from a High-Impact Journal

My science writing covers diverse topics but increasingly concerns two intertwined themes in cancer and psychology. First, I bring evidence to bear against an exaggerated role for psychological factors in cancer, as well as against claims that the cancer experience is a mental health issue for which many patients require specialty mental health interventions. Second, I explore unnoticed social and organizational influences...

/ August 3, 2012

Book Reviews: “The Cure for Everything” and “Which comes first, cardio or weights?”

Do you have any skeptical blind spots? I’ve had a skeptical perspective for a long time (my teenage cynicism wasn’t just a phase) but the framework for my thinking has developed over years. Professionally, the blind spot that the pharmacy profession has towards supplements and alternatives to medicine was only clear after I spent some time working in a pharmacy with thriving...

/ August 2, 2012

Brief Announcement

My book Women Aren’t Supposed to Fly: The Memoirs of a Female Flight Surgeon  is now available as a Kindle file for $3.99. If you don’t have a Kindle device, there is a free download so you can play Kindle files on your computer or iPad. Some readers may remember my mentioning it on SBM 4 years ago in the context of an article...

/ August 1, 2012

Antifluoridation Bad Science

A new review of research out of Harvard University suggests fluoridating drinking water above the EPA limit is a bad idea - which we already knew.

/ August 1, 2012

Therapy or Injury? Your Tax Dollars at Work.

The U.S. Army Medical Command recently announced a job opening  in the Interdisciplinary Pain Management Center at the San Antonio Military Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Two GS-12 positions were advertised for acupuncturists at a salary of $68,809 to $89,450. As a licensed acupuncturist, a candidate would be expected to offer a full array of the most current and emerging evidenced based...

/ July 31, 2012