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I regularly think headline writers should be fired from their jobs!

I can only point out the obvious - 14 days is smoother, but less responsive to new trends. There are also weighted moving averages to throw into the mix...

If it wasn't clear, I'm not referring to you, but the hypothetical people who "clock out", as soon as we mention points of "everyone knowing" about the importance of participant blinding in controlling biases and other methodological flaws leading to high risk of bias.

Take a look around at other social movements. How polite are they? It took BOTH Malcom X and MLK to make progress with civil rights in the USA. Then the progress stopped when many black people started to be nice again. Why do you think we have to be extra polite not to offend idiots who don't...

Wealthy people who can bypass waiting lists?

So it's just CFS where they half-arse their methodology. Quick disclaimer though, they're going to claim that the superimposed twitch interpolation results suggest central fatigue. Note that ALL fatiguing disorders have this same pattern, regardless of whether they are muscular dystrophies...

No. Those people who clock out without listening to those who are directly affected should check their own ethical values or be ignored. Those people who don't bother to give us the time of day should have no power to affect our lives. This isn't a debate about philosophical truths. Our...

We're not dismissing patient reports so categorically, we're dismissing the sole use of specific PROMS for which patients have NEVER BEEN ASKED WHETHER THEY THINK THEY ARE IMPORTANT, and stating that they can be untrustworthy if not corroborated with meaningful outcome measures at the same time...

I guess he's worried that someone is going to steal his ideas?

Yes, they're going to claim that parents beliefs are unrealistic and somehow perpetuating the syndrome.

Yes, there is a big difference between reporting what could happen or what a participant thinks they could do, versus what they have actually done/has actually happened. Biases such as recall bias certainly apply, which is why an outcome such as urinary incontinence needs to be recorded daily...

Sure. The key point is that if participants (and any assessors) genuinely don't know which arm they are in, response biases and related distortions will be relatively similar across all arms. Objective outcome measures of functioning in an unblinded trial don't eliminate bias, but they show...

Yet that is exactly the view of researchers in the field. They cannot personally think of a better way, so they assume their inadequate trials are good enough. Note: Professor Bentall co-authored the Powell 2001 et al. graded exercise 'education' trial and the FINE trial. See also...

Notably, there has been no studies that actually ask patients which outcome measures are most relevant. Likewise, none of the PROMs have been tested to determine whether patients find them relevant, despite two systematic reviews on PROMs suggesting this is a major problem.

Horton is rushing out a book on COVID19 this month. I'm trying to remember what he was saying about travel restrictions and other COVID related issues back in Jan/Feb... It's easy to throw stones at people in glass houses... edit - seems he was somewhat concerned from Feb 1st, but didn't make...

Apparently (according to Richard Bentall) I'm profoundly ignorant as I believe that a lack of patient blinding can lead to response biases when patients talk to assessors and this bias reverts to the mean at long term followups. Richard Bentall is in the camp that believes that unblinded trials...

No one wants to point out the emperor has no clothes because it means we would necessarily throw out a lot of evidence for non-pharmacological therapies for many different conditions. It means that many people would have to admit they were at least partially wrong (from policy makers, to...

It's also important to consider that there is a difference between placebo effects and reporting biases. The former would be actual reduction in pain (in the case of trials of analgesics/anaesthesia), rather than a change (bias) in pain reporting behaviour. Both placebo effects and reporting...

Indeed, torturing mice with forced swims might cause fatigue, but it certainly isn't CFS or ME. Side note: Heme oxygenase is HSP32. Heme is broken down into biliverdin (ultimately bilirubin) and Fe2+ Gilbert's syndrome is not uncommon in CFS patients, suggesting this pathway has increased...

The "compromise" is to simply lump all studies that don't meet basic quality criteria into a "low quality evidence" basket. If all studies fall into this group, then the study must simply conclude all the evidence is of low quality. (The basic quality criteria would require studies to use...