Category: Science and Medicine

Heartworms, fear-mongering, and perilous advice. The bad recommendations of Dr. Peter Dobias regarding heartworm disease in dogs.

A veterinarian is claiming to expose the pharmaceutical industry by helping you avoid parasite-preventing medications. His message is based on a dangerous misunderstanding of heartworm biology, carries several contradictory claims, and will lead to some serious risk for your dogs if followed. But on the plus side, if you’re a heartworm, this is great news!

/ August 17, 2018

A London Chiropractor Gets His Undeserved Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Thanks to his anti-science and anti-medicine worldview, and a complete misunderstanding of evolution, a London chiropractor is getting some undeserved attention from the media.

/ August 10, 2018

Double standards in hematology for integrative and complementary medicine: a case study

In this post I discuss several yoga studies that were presented to a gathering of some of the world’s best MPN researchers and clinicians. They illustrate an apparent double standard in hematological cancer research, which allows integrative and complementary treatments to skip over the normally high rigor and standards typical of the sub-specialty.

/ August 3, 2018

More Marijuana More Problems for Young Children

Young children explore their environment with their mouths. As more marijuana edibles make their way into homes, more potentially dangerous unintentional ingestions are going to happen.

/ July 27, 2018

The Primum non nocere principle in psychotherapy: A science based approach

Is the principle of primum non nocere, to do no harm, applied by psychotherapists?

/ July 26, 2018

What’s the Truth behind The Truth About Pet Cancer?

The Truth About Pet Cancer (TAPC) is a slick bit of propaganda. Although it contains some interesting, even promising ideas, these are unfortunately served with a heavy seasoning of misinformation and fear-mongering. Hypotheses and opinions are presented as established facts, and anyone who disagrees is suggested to be ignorant at best, venal and corrupt at worst.

/ July 13, 2018

Supplements for Osteoarthritis – Evaluating the Evidence

A new review evaluates the evidence for supplements to treat osteoarthris

/ July 12, 2018

Alternative Flea Control Products

Every natural pet health website has their recommendations for flea treatments that don’t use harsh chemicals. The evidence for their claims is nonexistent. It’s appropriate that they’re talking about parasitic organisms, but I don’t think they see the irony.

/ July 6, 2018

Rise of the Miscellany of Medical Malarkey…Again

More deaths in the European measles outbreak. Experts call for a national registry of sleep-related deaths in infants. Raw milk puts several Tennessee children in the intensive care unit. Oh, and medicinal dog urine. It must be time for another miscellany of medical malarkey.

/ June 29, 2018

Vitamin D and the relationship to colon cancer

Colorectal cancer is common. A new study examines the relationship with vitamin D levels.

/ June 28, 2018