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You are never going to pass those Witchdoctor exams, @Utsikt .

It isn't showing yet. I wouldn't hold a lot of breath.

“There already is a men’s health strategy: it’s called the NHS; it’s already designed by men for men,” she said. I find that sort of remark offensive. I spent most of my life looking after women. The more that people make such simplistic comments the more justification there is for sticking to...

Book an appointment with Dr Oystein Fluge. He is the placebo incarnate. And it is not his fault because he is just very committed, very compassionate, very modest, very keen to get the science right and an overall loveable guy. And I think that caused him some problems but he and Olav Mella did...

A big problem with bone marrow is heterogeneity within the tissue. Different types of cells are competing for niches to develop in. We have no successful studies of marrow in other diseases like lupus or RA that answer this sort of question as far as I know. Bone marrow sampling is also very...

That is still structural. You would be changing the shape of your lens or eye muscles. I also think it fairly unlikely that this would occur. When one is reading the eye charts with different lenses the optometrist relies on very rapid optimisation by your brain to a better selection...

Thee may be a 300 word limit on a letter so I have sent this in as a Rapid Response that may be chosen as a letter. “Advocates of the intervention launched a full-on bid to try to stop the project. “ Dear Editor, Your 27th January News article by Jacqui Wise (2025) gives a fair account of the...

Yes, this is very unfortunate. It reflects the earlier USA committee decision in 2015 and greatly weakens the case. The case is simply that none of these trials provides any reliable evidence of efficacy under any circumstances. Using other diagnostic criteria is in itself entirely legitimate...

This is relevant but it wasn't Cochrane. The infamous 'there is a way' author might have figured in both but that would be speculation!

Thanks for all the comments. I have to make a decision whether to go ahead and try to send this. That may mean a cooling off period of another day or two. Further comments welcome.

What I was referring to was a version of the same exercise - a Systematic Review of Exercise for ME/CFS - intended to be upgraded by individualised data handling. It was the same team plus a lot of people who were included, apparently because their data were being used. (And also Glasziou, for...

Yes, but Tovey had already identified it as substandard.

I don't think so. I don't think severity scales are of much use to doctors. Each patient has a host of different problems and you do your best to deal with them as they are. Rheumatoid has four grades. I think grade four is wheelchair bound but I never used them. Grades may be useful for...

Nice point and not too long.

Hilda raises it in her blog and the letter is really a pointer to her blog. Mentioning the Wise piece is just an excuse for raising the topic with BMJ and pointing out that it does not give the full picture. I am ambivalent about mentioning Hilda's loss but I want to give her a lot of credit...

I actually see it the other way around. If a BMJ reader sees a title about 'Cochrane's failure on ME/CFS' they will think 'Oh yeah, been there, done that'. The title is deliberately intended to make readers curious. Similarly, if I go on about poor reviews and harms to patients the same 'yeah...

It might be, but at least half the point of submitting this is to expose the BMJ editorial office to the arguments. I am not in favour of pussyfooting. Last time I sent in something about as critical it was published. Thee might be another wording. I will have a think.

Perhaps I should make it 'would have been' (now offered).

Do be as critical as you can. I want it to be as crisp as possible, if I can get around to the sending process.

It's from the second reference in the text, which is Bastian. Maybe this is clearer: The international healthcare community needs to be aware of the implications of the statement made by Hilda Bastian (2025) on her blog, Absolutely Maybe, given as the title of this letter. Edit: It may confuse...