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Musings on the intersection of science, medicine, and culture
PalMD is a practicing internist in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.. Aside from the great joy he finds in his family and his work, he likes communicating some of that joy to others. He has a special interest in the ways patients---and we are all patients at one time or another---are deceived by charlatans. He aims to change the world, one reader at a time. Previous writings can still be found here, and here. I also write twice a month for Science-Based Medicine
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November 30, 2009
Category: Medicine
In medicine we use all of our senses to evaluate patients. If I open up an abscess and I'm overwhelmed by the smell of rotted cheese, I can be pretty sure the abscess started as a sebaceous cyst. If I...
Posted by PalMD at 4:02 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Medicine
The struggle to promote the scientific practice of medicine and the fight against pseudo-science and quackery just got a big boost. The newly-announced (but long in the making) Institute for Science in Medicine was launched this morning with an inaugural...
Posted by PalMD at 9:58 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 28, 2009
Category: Medicine
I have in front of me a weathered copy of Cecil's Textbook of Medicine from 1947. It belonged to my father, who graduated from medical school in the 1940s. Even then, it was known that pneumoccus, a common bacterium, can...
Posted by PalMD at 9:31 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 27, 2009
Category: Absurd medical claims
A news item this week profiles a northeast naturopath who is using thermal imaging to screen for breast cancers. This is a frightening development. The news about conflicting mammogram recommendations has women wondering what the right approach really is. The...
Posted by PalMD at 11:34 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Absurd medical claims
I live about ten miles due north of "Canada's automotive capital". We often look across the straits to the medical system in Ontario, one in which all citizens have a provincial insurance card. We see how everyone has access to...
Posted by PalMD at 8:54 AM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 25, 2009
Category: Absurd medical claims
We already know about the Huffington Post's war on science and its shameless publication of snake oil ads disguised as journalism. Now, Mark Hyman, an evangelist for the cult known as "functional medicine", is giving even more bad flu advice...
Posted by PalMD at 1:32 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: meta-blag
Those of you who gave to DonorsChoose will find an email in your inbox with a gift card. This is free money for you to donate to any project you wish. It represents matching funds from Hewlett-Packard, so don't let...
Posted by PalMD at 1:25 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 24, 2009
Category: Medicine
One of the most frightening symptoms of advanced cancer is "cachexia", or severe, unintentional weight-loss and wasting. It's a terrible prognostic sign, and the only truly effective treatment is removal of the cancer. Treatment of this syndrome has the potential...
Posted by PalMD at 2:45 PM • 32 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 23, 2009
Category: Absurd medical claims
Today over at Science-Based Medicine, Dr. Novella has a review of the so-called "biomed" movement in autism treatment. Anyone should be able to understand the desperation of parents with sick kids, but grief can lead to very bad decisions. As...
Posted by PalMD at 4:30 PM • 61 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 21, 2009
Category: meta-blag
The latest Skeptics' Circle is up at Beyond the Short Coat. The Giants' Shoulders #17 is also up at scibling Eric Michael Johnson's place. Go and read!\...
Posted by PalMD at 1:24 PM • • 0 TrackBacks
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