April | 2014 | Hans Howe

Cleveland Clinic disgraces itself

Posted on April 27, 2014 by hanshowe

the fking Cleveland Clinic is practicing quackery for profit and if it kills you that’s your tough shit…

by Steven Novella at Science-Based Medicine

The infiltration of pseudoscience and simply bad medicine into mainstream medicine continues. Hospitals are an easy breech point because they are run by administrators who may have more talent and interest in marketing than in science. Many hospitals in my area, for example, proudly display their integrative centers, offering nutrition advice and massage alongside more dubious offerings, such as reflexology and reiki.

So-called alternative treatments are tempting because they are often not covered by insurance, and so patients will have to pay cash for them, and they are often inexpensive to run so they are a nice cash cow for hospitals.

The Wall Street Journal reports another, more serious, chapter in this infiltration the opening of Chinese herbal clinics, specifically in the Cleveland Clinic. The article itself is reasonably balanced, and lacks the gushing anecdotes that most such pieces have, but could certainly have been more hard-hitting in terms of the serious problems with herbal medicine.

see more at
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/herbal-center-at-cleveland-clinic/
and
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/traditional-chinese-herbalism-at-the-cleveland-clinic-what-happened-to-science-based-medicine/#more-31227

Filed under: Crime, Evil, Medical, Quackery, Science | Leave a comment »

hmmm… Mr. Fish

Posted on April 27, 2014 by hanshowe

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Drought Map for April 22nd 2014

Posted on April 24, 2014 by hanshowe

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Nina Cassian reads

Posted on April 23, 2014 by hanshowe

Epilogue

Between the sun and me 
there is a veil of quietude 
which protects my eyes 
from the scratch of light 
which spares my being 
from the blister of knowledge 
which allows my self 
to breathe undisturbed. 

So now the war is over 
and now the love is over: 
How beautiful the death 
well prepared in advance.

Renée Annie Cassian-Matasar (Nina Cassian), 
born Galati, Romania 27 November 1924, 
died New York 14 April 2014.


LISTEN

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You Said This Was A Walk!

Posted on April 23, 2014 by hanshowe

h/t Turley’s blog

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Sharp Rise In MERS Cases May Mean The Virus Is Evolving NPR

Posted on April 22, 2014 by hanshowe

MERS should be on the front pages, lead every news report… (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome)

Total cases jumped 100%+ in two weeks… mortality 42% or worse, no vaccine (though 5 major pharmas are working on one)

“It took us over a year to get the first hundred cases of this viral infection,” Dr. Michael Osterholm tells NPR. “Now in just the last two weeks, we’ve had a hundred cases. … There’s a major change occurring that cannot just be attributed to better case detection. Something’s happening…

“When humans readily transmit [a virus] to humans, that’s what will cause a worldwide outbreak,” Osterholm says. “We are very concerned that … with what we’ve seen over the last two weeks … we may be at that point now.”

“It’s time for the world to wake up and demand that the Middle East do the kind of job that we need done to stop this transmission [of MERS],” he says, “and to protect the rest of the world.”

The spike in cases, especially among health care workers, could be a signal that the virus has reached a tipping point and could be ready to spread out of the region, says Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota (CIDRAP).

LINK TO NPR STORY

Filed under: Epidemics, Health, Medical, Public Health, Science | Leave a comment »