Trial By Error, by David Tuller
-
The UK’s Proposed Genetics Study
In the UK, leading researchers are preparing to submit an application for a large genetic study to two major funding agencies. The project is being led by Professor Chris Ponting of the University of Edinburgh, who is also vice chair of the CFS/ME Research Collaborative, and the UK ME/CFS Biobank at the London School of…
-
The 2018 PACE Reanalysis and the SMC’s Expert Appraisals
It has been almost two years since BMC Psychology published a key reanalysis of raw data from the PACE trial. Given the significance of this paper (of which I was the least important of seven co-authors), I figured it wouldn’t hurt to highlight it again. The heroic Alem Matthees, a patient in Perth, Australia, succeeded…
-
NIH Funding “Needs Life Support,” Says Jennie Spotila
Every year, Jennie Spotila deconstructs NIH funding on her Occupy M.E. blog. Last November 7, she crunched the numbers for the 2019 fiscal year, and the same day posted another blog with a more urgent message. I am re-posting that blog in full (a bit late), with Jennie’s permission. ********** NIH Funding for ME Needs Life…
-
The Danish ME Association’s Open Letter
The Danish ME Association has sent and posted the following open letter to “Danish health politicians,” with a very impressive list of international signatories. It seemed important to give this letter wide circulation. (Note that footnotes 4 and 5 are linked to the names of two of the signatories, as in the original letter.) **********…
-
Some More Thoughts on Functional Neurological Disorder
Last week I wrote a post on some of the signs used to diagnose people with “functional neurological disorder” (FND)–the phrase that has largely supplanted “conversion disorder” to describe neurological symptoms with no identified organic cause. In that post, I should have been clearer that I do not question whether people experience these symptoms. There…
-
My 2011 Exchange with White et al about Case Definition
My first exchange of views with the PACE authors involved the issue of case definition–the criteria used to identify the illness they called chronic fatigue syndrome. This exchange took place courtesy of The New York Times, not long after The Lancet published the results of the PACE trial. In March, 2011, the Times ran a piece…
-
Shaky Evidence for Signs of Functional Neurological Disorders
One of my goals next year is to write more about so-called “medically unexplained symptoms,” also known as MUS. The term MUS might be useful as a descriptive name for the large category of phenomena that lack a proven pathophysiological pathway. But in the medical literature, and in the minds of those who present themselves…
-
PEM Is Bad and So Is Fukuda, New Study Finds
A new study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, posted December 16th, has reported that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome who experience major post-exertional malaise have a greater burden of psychological distress than those whose PEM is minimal or non-existent. Of course, this is not surprising. The sicker people are, with this or any illness,…
-
My STAT Opinion Piece on BMJ and Dr Godlee
On Friday, STAT posted my opinion piece about BMJ and the Lightning Process paper–in particular, about BMJ’s decision not to retract the paper despite the multiple documented violations of core ethical and methodological principles of medical research. That anti-scientific decision is potentially harmful not only to children suffering from a stigmatizing illness but ultimately to…
-
Simon McGrath on Ron Davis on “something in the blood”
Simon McGrath provides excellent accounts of research topics at his blog, ME/CFS Research Review. He is skilled at rendering complicated stuff into easy-to-understand prose. On December 10th, Simon posted this update of developments discussed by Stanford geneticist Ron Davis during a recent talk at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. In his talk,…
-
Mayo Clinic’s Crappy Website
What’s going on at the Mayo Clinic? It has been more than two years since the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise therapy as treatments of choice for the illness it now calls ME/CFS. And Mayo still seems not to have noticed that anything has changed—unlike…
-
Fiona Godlee Doubles Down on Lightning Process Study
Earlier this week, Dr Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ, e-mailed me in response to concerns expressed about the study of the Lightning Process published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, one of the journals under her purview. Those concerns were expressed in an open letter to her signed by 72 scientists, clinicians and other…