Reduce All Cancer Incidence by 77% with Vitamin D? - Seminar

And yet, the 'placebo effect' is still substantial enough during tests to make one wonder, why bother with drugs?

 

all the blatant ignorance of basic and clinical pharmacology in that SciAm article aside (you wanna talk pharmacology, that's MY house)... the effect we view in studies is a comparative effect. active compound vs placebo. maybe the compounds under screening suck lately. in which case, ineffective compounds shouldn't make it to market anyway.

this quote in particular irked me:

it would be an understatement to say this is utter ignorant bullshit. the practice of clinical pharmacology is BASED UPON the principle that the self-suggestion (placebo) effect is quite powerful itself, and in order for a drug candidate to be worth anything, it must be significantly more effective than the inert placebo. by controlling for everything but presence of the active compound investigation, a study demonstrating greater clinical efficacy of the drug than placebo demonstrates that the drug is having an effect.

so-called alternative medicine, on the other hand, relies quite heavily upon the placebo effect.

 

Let's talk pharmacology then.........In pharmacology, all drugs have two names, a trade name and generic name. For example, the trade name of Tylenol also has a generic name of Acetaminophen Aleve is also called Naproxen. Amoxil is also called Amoxicillin and Advil is also called Ibuprofen.. The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra. After careful consideration by a team of government experts, it recently announced that it has settled on the generic name of Mycoxafloppin. Also considered were Mycoxafailin, Mydixadrupin, Mydixarizin, Dixafix, and of course, Ibepokin.
Pfizer Corp. announced today that Viagra will soon be available in liquid form, and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer. It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one. Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new meaning to the names of 'cocktails', 'highballs' and just a good old-fashioned 'stiff drink'. Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name of:
MOUNT & DO.

Thought for the day: There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

If you don't send this to five old friends right away there will be five fewer people laughing in the world

 

Very funny post! But I think you (or someone else?) posted it in another thread.

 

Oh ... my ... god ...

 

Because they're fun?

 

oh boy, here we go. remember how i cited weak evidence? that study was ripped a new one. let's begin.

[cough] from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007 86:6 (1804-5)

[again] from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007 86:5 (1549)

[oh look, another!] from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007 87:3 (792-3)

and if that wasn't enough:
from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007 87:3 (792)

 

Galaxee, I love you man

My question is how do these poor studies get published? Do you think there should be a much stricter and harsher review process at the journal? Or do you think the journals are so desperate to have something they support appear so important? (I remember Richard Dawkins great example where they had a computer generated random article published in a "post-modernism" journal.)

This is the kind of thing that kills me when alternative therapy people wish to debate with me. The quote all these poor low-quality studies and talk about them as if they are fact. If you try to point out why the studies are bad then they scoff at you.

 

it's one thing for the study to get published, quite another for it to be taken seriously by people who have a clue. i'm surprised it was accepted to that journal as it was, especially considering the quality of the data vs the strong statements of conclusion- that should have been toned way down to fit the data, and they obviously failed to discuss several important flaws in their methods. but as you see, it didn't take long for others in the field to pick it apart via letters to the editor. i guess it depends on the reviewers and the editor, what is accepted and what is not.

the key problem is the "people who have a clue" part. there are lots of people out there with just enough basic understanding of science, but not enough to be able to pick the good from the bad. this is the population that largely fall prey to pseudoscience. after all, if you cherry-pick all your evidence (which is not scientific) and skip a few logical steps, you could easily make your case to someone who doesn't know any better. once they're convinced it's science, it's very hard to convince them otherwise.

i blame poor science education in part... but one of the reasons i'm still in this discussion is because scientists don't do enough public outreach, either.

 

Galaxee is a lady. She and her DH have been a prodigious source of solid information about the Prius and science here on Prius Chat for a number of years. We all love her.

Sunlight, in moderation, is good. But I think the point is that the claims that we need massive doses of vitamin D are based on flawed studies, or reading more into the studies than their data justifies.

 

aww, thanks :blush:
i think the folks i disagree with in this thread would beg to differ, though!

this happens often. reporters do it, which is why you should take news reports of science with a grain of salt. even scientists who should know better do it! this is why those of us in the discipline look at the data and make our own conclusions before accepting what is printed in the discussion section. it can make the difference between turning one's own research in a useful direction and simply wasting time.

 

They are disagreeing with you on this topic, and perhaps they'd disagree with you on some other topics where they are disinclined to believe in science. But I venture to guess that every Prius owner on Prius Chat loves and respects you for all the invaluable advice and information that you and your DH have provided us regarding our cars. :grouphug:

 

Galaxee I have seen you posting more and more since your graduation and it's good to have you back in force. Welcome home. Is DH in school now that you're out?

 

thanks MJ! things got pretty intense at the end there, it's nice to have a little leisure time now (although never enough!)

DH was in school during my last 1.5 years in grad school- he beat me to graduation by about 2 months. he's been keeping pretty busy lately too, looking for a job in his new field in the new city.

 

i have a headache tonight, which is pretty rare for me. and as it so happens, i moved to indiana just over a month ago. clearly, we can use this information to conclude that indiana causes headaches.

see, the logic just doesn't work!

may your friend have been so low on D that she was at increased risk for osteoporosis? that's a common issue in older women, and there is actual evidence to support it.