Evidence Based Medicine
Perspective | SARS-CoV-2 human challenge studies — establishing the model during an evolving pandemic.
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:49h | UTCRelated: World’s first coronavirus “Human Challenge” study receives ethics approval in the UK (several texts on the subject) AND Are SARS-CoV-2 Human Challenge Trials Ethical? – “A clinical trial is underway in the UK in which young, healthy participants are exposed deliberately to SARS-CoV-2 to assess the viral inoculum needed to produce an infection and to test vaccine efficacy”.
Opinion | Expanding evidence for clinical care of older adults: beyond clinical trial traditions and finding new approaches.
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:31h | UTCExpanding Evidence for Clinical Care of Older Adults: Beyond Clinical Trial Traditions and Finding New Approaches – JAMA (free for a limited period)
Survey finds 8% of researchers have falsified or fabricated data.
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:28h | UTC8% of researchers in Dutch survey have falsified or fabricated data – Nature
Original study and commentaries: Landmark research integrity survey finds questionable practices are surprisingly common.
Related: Opinion | Time to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise? AND How a Data Detective Exposed Suspicious Medical Trials
Opinion | Kids aren’t just littler adults – here’s why they need their own clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.
22 Jul, 2021 | 10:55h | UTC
Is the cure really worse than the disease? The health impacts of lockdowns during COVID-19 – “While there are certainly costs to be expected from intervening against COVID-19—every decision has a cost, after all—the counterfactual of an unmitigated epidemic makes these restrictions far less damaging than some have suggested”.
21 Jul, 2021 | 10:46h | UTCCommentaries: Expert reaction to a narrative review looking at the health impacts of lockdowns – Science Media Centre AND Lockdowns do not harm health more than Covid, say researchers – The Guardian
Commentary on Twitter (thread – click for more)
The smiley faces, cherry blossoms, Great Barrington Declaration fans, "natural herd immunity" enthusiasts & anti-maskers do not approve of our new @GlobalHealthBMJ analysis on lockdowns 😉
So, here's a long-ish thread on what we did & did not find 1/nhttps://t.co/CFtT9j44vo
— Prof. Gavin Yamey MD MPH (@GYamey) July 20, 2021
Fauci says natural origins theory of coronavirus is still the most likely.
18 Jul, 2021 | 23:40h | UTCFauci says natural origins theory of coronavirus is still the most likely – CNN
Related article (preprint): The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review – Zenodo
See also: A Group of Scientists Presses a Case Against the Lab Leak Theory of Covid – The New York Times (a few articles per month are free) AND Leading scientists push back against Wuhan lab leak theory – The Age
Related: Opinion | The Covid-19 lab leak theory is a tale of weaponized uncertainty.
Why was a major study on ivermectin for covid-19 just retracted?
16 Jul, 2021 | 11:11h | UTCWhy Was a Major Study on Ivermectin for COVID-19 Just Retracted? – Grifter Analysis and Review
See also: Huge study supporting ivermectin as Covid treatment withdrawn over ethical concerns – The Guardian AND Some problems in the dataset of a large study of Ivermectin for the treatment of Covid-19 – Nick Brown’s Blog AND Is Ivermectin for Covid-19 Based on Fraudulent Research? – Gideon M-K; Health Nerd
Commentary on Twitter (thread – click for more)
So, one of the biggest studies to date on ivermectin for COVID-19 has issues significant enough that, if not fraud, are so serious that it invalidates the study without further explanation
I promised a thread
Here we go 1/n https://t.co/L9QOChmGtA
— Health Nerd (@GidMK) July 16, 2021
Opinion | The case for mandating COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers.
14 Jul, 2021 | 11:22h | UTCThe Case for Mandating COVID-19 Vaccines for Health Care Workers – Annals of Internal Medicine
News release: Case is strong for mandating COVID-19 vaccination for health care workers – American College of Physicians
Commentary on Twitter
The Case for Mandating COVID-19 Vaccines for Health Care Workers https://t.co/pdaBRZdkfG via @AnnalsofIM "The case for mandating SARS-CoV-2 vaccines for health care workers is substantially stronger than the case was for mandating influenza vaccines." I fully agree.
— Kenny Lin, MD, MPH (@kennylinafp) July 12, 2021
Landmark research integrity survey finds questionable practices are surprisingly common.
12 Jul, 2021 | 01:32h | UTCLandmark research integrity survey finds questionable practices are surprisingly common – Science (a few articles per month are free)
Original studies (preprint): Prevalence of questionable research practices, research misconduct and their potential explanatory factors: a survey among academic researchers in The Netherlands – MetaArXiv AND Prevalence of responsible research practices and their potential explanatory factors: a survey among academic researchers in The Netherlands – MetaArXiv
Related: Opinion | Time to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise?
Review: most common joint procedures not backed by high quality evidence – “Urgent need exists to prioritize research into common orthopedic interventions”.
12 Jul, 2021 | 01:26h | UTCNews release: Most common joint procedures not backed by high quality evidence – The BMJ
Original study: Common elective orthopaedic procedures and their clinical effectiveness: umbrella review of level 1 evidence – The BMJ
Commentary on Twitter
This review of the 10 most common elective orthopaedic procedures suggests that most of these procedures recommended by national guidelines and used by surgeons have insufficient readily available, high quality evidence on their clinical effectivenesshttps://t.co/63B7XEXeyh
— The BMJ (@bmj_latest) July 10, 2021
Editorial: Aducanumab for Alzheimer’s disease?
12 Jul, 2021 | 01:15h | UTCAducanumab for Alzheimer’s disease? – The BMJ
Related: FDA approvement of Alzheimer’s drug sparks controversy among doctors.
Commentary on Twitter
Our editorial for @bmj_latest on the controversial #Aducanumab approval and what it means for patients, clinicians and researchers.
With @seb_walsh, Richard Milne @ethicsWCS, Carol Brayne @CamPubHealth https://t.co/mnhh4F1gKK— Richard Merrick (@r_merrick) July 9, 2021
Recommendations for including or reviewing patient reported outcome endpoints in grant applications.
12 Jul, 2021 | 01:12h | UTC
Perspective | “‘Too good to be true’: Doubts swirl around trial that saw 77% reduction in COVID-19 mortality”.
9 Jul, 2021 | 10:13h | UTC‘Too good to be true’: Doubts swirl around trial that saw 77% reduction in COVID-19 mortality – Science (a few articles per month are free)
Opinion | Time to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise?
8 Jul, 2021 | 08:58h | UTCTime to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise? – The BMJ Opinion
Related: How a Data Detective Exposed Suspicious Medical Trials
Commentary on Twitter
"It may be time to move from assuming that research has been honestly conducted and reported to assuming it to be untrustworthy until there is some evidence to the contrary."@Richard56 considers the scale of the problem of research fraudhttps://t.co/WQVbJyqw3o
— The BMJ (@bmj_latest) July 7, 2021
A critical review on altmetrics: can we measure the social impact factor?
7 Jul, 2021 | 08:42h | UTCA critical review on altmetrics: can we measure the social impact factor? – Insights into Imaging
Related: Altmetric Score Has a Stronger Relationship With Article Citations Than Journal Impact Factor and Open Access Status: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of 4,022 Sports Science Articles – Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentary on Twitter
My new paper about Altmetrics! An emergent topic in editorialism! @radiology_rsna @RadioGraphics @AcadRadiol @ajrRadiology @cannella_rob @radiologyCTI @cookyscan1 https://t.co/zadPpJi88x
— Cristina Garcia Villar (@villar_gar) July 2, 2021
Editorial | Do not just sit there, do something … but do no harm: the worrying aspects of COVID-19 experimental interventions.
6 Jul, 2021 | 10:14h | UTC
Commentary on Twitter
Shortcutting science perpetuates ineffective/unsafe treatments: with #COVID19 plethora of interventions (most next-to-no basis/inconsistent effects) trialled or given on compassionate grounds regardless risks. Will mistakes be acknowledged & lessons learnt?https://t.co/p53WyeMLEC pic.twitter.com/zUwlML8Pft
— Intens Care Med (@yourICM) July 5, 2021
Perspective | Science, not speculation, is essential to determine how SARS-CoV-2 reached humans.
6 Jul, 2021 | 10:12h | UTCScience, not speculation, is essential to determine how SARS-CoV-2 reached humans – The Lancet
When is ‘self-plagiarism’ OK? New guidelines offer researchers rules for recycling text.
6 Jul, 2021 | 10:02h | UTCWhen is ‘self-plagiarism’ OK? New guidelines offer researchers rules for recycling text – Science (a few articles per month are free)
Review | Users’ guide to medical decision analysis.
5 Jul, 2021 | 01:43h | UTCUsers’ Guide to Medical Decision Analysis – Mayo Clinic Proceedings
Study Commentary | “Blood test finds 50 types of cancer” – we’ve been down this path before.
5 Jul, 2021 | 01:31h | UTC“Blood test finds 50 types of cancer” – we’ve been down this path before – HealthNewsReview
Original study: Clinical validation of a targeted methylation-based multi-cancer early detection test using an independent validation set – Annals of Oncology
The COVID pandemic’s lingering impact on clinical trials – “Medical researchers are beginning to shift their focus away from COVID-19 — but the pandemic could continue to affect studies focused on other diseases.”
29 Jun, 2021 | 09:57h | UTCThe COVID pandemic’s lingering impact on clinical trials – Nature
EBM Analysis | Does tranexamic acid work for everything? For anything?
29 Jun, 2021 | 09:53h | UTCDoes TXA work for everything? For anything? – First10EM
Impact factor abandoned by Dutch university in hiring and promotion decisions – “Faculty and staff members at Utrecht University will be evaluated by their commitment to open science”.
28 Jun, 2021 | 09:37h | UTCImpact factor abandoned by Dutch university in hiring and promotion decisions – Nature
Related: Open-access Science Funders Announce Price Transparency Rules for Publishers (several resources on the subject) AND A new mandate highlights costs, benefits of making all scientific articles free to read – Science AND A guide to Plan S: the open-access initiative shaking up science publishing – Nature
Opinion | A strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of clinical trials.
24 Jun, 2021 | 09:45h | UTCA strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of clinical trials – The Lancet
Interactive Infographic | Interpreting a lateral flow SARS-CoV-2 antigen test – “This calculator demonstrates how interpreting a covid-19 lateral flow device (LFD) result varies according to the pre-test probability, and the sensitivity and specificity of the LFD used”.
23 Jun, 2021 | 10:29h | UTCInterpreting a lateral flow SARS-CoV-2 antigen test – The BMJ