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Archive for October, 2013

the wisdom of the Dixie Chicks…

( OPINION )

Secure use of individual patient data from clinical trials by Patrick Vallance and Iain Chalmers The Lancet 2013 382[9898]:1073 – 1074. Publishing the results of all clinical trials, whoever funds them, is required for ethical, scientific, economic, and societal reasons. Individuals who take part in trials need to be sure that data they contribute are […]

nowhere so far…

Remember the DSM-5 Task Force? The Field Trials? The debates about what to call Dr. Biederman’s Bipolar youth once we got over them being Bipolar? The solution was Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder [DMDD]. This time last year, we got to see the DSM-5 Field Trials, and DMDD didn’t fare very well, as it turned out […]

a heady collection…

This is a reposting from August [a little light reading…]. Today, Ed Silverman of Pharmalot has an interview with Marc Rodwin, the Safra Fellow who put this collection together [see Pharma Corruption Hurts Patient Care & Medical Knowledge: Rodwin Explains]. It’s a good interview and a heady collection, but well worth the investment… Institutional Corruption […]

why indeed?…

Pharmaceutical firms paid to attend meetings of panel that advises FDA Washington Post By Peter Whoriskey October 6, 2013 A scientific panel that shaped the federal government’s policy for testing the safety and effectiveness of painkillers was funded by major pharmaceutical companies that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the chance to affect the […]

what dreamer?…

So last week I had my best ever idea yet [they already don’t…], and Nick took pity on that post [thanks Nick] because it looked lonely with no comments. Undeterred, I’m having another shot at it. The gist of things is that I think we’re trying to intervene at the wrong level. Clinical Trials are […]

the same old banners…

( OPINION )

Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI [fMRI] is a functional neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting associated changes in blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that […]

a slip…

I swore off political blogging after the 2008 election. I had avoided political commentary even at cocktail parties from the end of the Viet Nam War until the invasion of Iraq. I have no desire to go back to that. But this morning when I read this, I thought it had something to say about […]

at least it’s movement…

( OPINION )

I live in a fairly isolated place: eight miles to town for groceries and gas; twenty-five miles  to a movie theater; sixty plus miles to Atlanta for the amenities and services of modern civilization. I say that cable television and fast internet enhance my wilderness experience, and it’s not a joke. I get calls about […]

back at you, EU…

In case you haven’t noticed, European [and World] psychiatry is pulling away from American psychiatry at a fairly brisk pace. Reform of the alliance between the pharmaceutical giants and medicine is centered in Europe [the EMA, the British Journal of Medicine, AllTrials, etc]. Articles critical of the DSM-5 are common in the European journals, but […]

government made easy…