Denialism

Month: May 2008

  • Happy blogiversary to me!

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    MarkH
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    I almost forgot! It’s my blogiversary! On May 21st of 2007, I opened my WordPress blog after keeping a few notes on Blogger, which I didn’t love. I started out blogging about the abomination that is Conservapedia, added my own medical musings that I had collected over the years, and then branched out into the…

  • Connecticut Attorney General practicing medicine without a license

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    MarkH
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    A rather opinionated reader made me aware of a disturbing issue. In Connecticut–the state whose city of Lyme gave the name to the tick-borne disease–the Attorney General decided that the nation’s foremost infectious disease experts have their heads up their arses. Apparently responding to pressure from questionable advocacy groups, the AG launched an “investigation” into…

  • Fake diseases, part deux–chronic Lyme disease

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    MarkH
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    New diseases are pretty rare these days. It used to be that a good observer could travel to the great unknown and acquire/discribe scads of new (to them) diseases. In the interconnected world of the present, “new” diseases spread rather quickly, and become old. When I was a young attending physician, I had heard of…

  • It’s zebra season at the NIH

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    MarkH
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    The NIH announced today that it is launching its “Undiagnosed Diseases Program”. This program will evaluate patients who are referred by physicians. They will also ask for input from so-called advocacy groups. This should be interesting. I’m sure they will be receiving requests from people with “chronic Lyme disase”, “Morgellons syndrome”, and “chronic fatigue syndrome”.…

  • Dr. Bernadine Healy—what else has she been up to?

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    MarkH
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    As discussed yesterday, former NIH director Dr. Bernadine Healy has been saying some very strange things lately. Since crank-ism doesn’t usually pop up out of nowhere, I decided to poke around a little. In an amazing co-incidence, some of Healy’s forays into the world of crankery neatly parallel the hot-button issues of the Association of…

  • It’s got electrolytes – Real Medical Case Presentation Number Two

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    MarkH
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    But why? Why does Brawndo have electrolytes? Because you need electrolytes to live. Every cell in your body uses electrolytes like sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and other critical ions for cellular functions, proper osmotic gradients, enzymatic activity and even coordination of complex functions like muscle contraction and nerve conduction. All the…

  • Bernadine Healy: new crank on the block

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    MarkH
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    I love Saturday mornings. I usually get up early, make coffee, hang out with my daughter. Before my daughter wakes up and makes me change the channel, I usually catch a few minutes of CNN, which, at that time of day, features fellow Michigander Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Today, he started out talking about women and…

  • Case study—now, with fewer abbreviations!

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    MarkH
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    MarkH recently gave us a case to play around with. Since this is usually great fun, I thought we could try another one. I’ll start you off with very little information, and I’ll answer any questions you bring up. I’ll warn you that this one is complex, and shows off the type of intricate problems…

  • Another of our failures as science educators

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    MarkH
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    There’s been much written around here about the NYT’s David Brooks’ foray in to non-materialist neuroscience. Well, today the letters to the editor are in, and some of them are interesting (although most aren’t particularly sophisticated). One in particular highlights some failures we’ve had as science educators (including a failure to educate editors): To the…

  • A little HIV knowledge

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    MarkH
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    A few months ago, I gave you a short primer on the immunology of vaccines. It’s time now for another short, oversimplified primer, this time on the immunology of HIV. This was originally up on the old blog, but it will provide some necessary background for upcoming posts (I think). HIV denialists form a persistent…