Trial By Error, by David Tuller
-
More on the Revised Cochrane Exercise Review
Cochrane’s republication last week of its seriously problematic exercise-for-CFS systematic review has triggered an outpouring of comment about the organization’s flawed decision-making and low-quality scientific reasoning. One very smart member of the Science For ME forum, Michiel Tack, posted an excellent overview of the changes between the prior version and the one published last week.…
-
Where Is Bristol’s Review of Professor Crawley’s Ethics Missteps?
I have repeatedly raised concerns about Professor Esther Crawley’s habit of bypassing ethical review in her research. This issue first came to my attention in connection with a study she conducted about whether school absence could be used to identify undiagnosed cases of the illness she has generally called “chronic fatigue syndrome.” In that study,…
-
What’s Up With Cochrane’s Exercise Review?
On June 17th, Cochrane announced that it had received a revision of a much-contested review of exercise therapy for treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome (as the organization has long called the illness or cluster of illnesses also referred to as myalgic encephalomyelitis, CFS/ME, and ME/CFS). In a posted statement, Cochrane noted that “the process has…
-
My Letter to BMJ Open about False MUS Claim
And now again with BMJ Open. I have written many, many posts about my efforts to get this supposedly reputable journal to acknowledge the issues with Professor Crawley’s school absence study. I won’t recap that unfortunate matter in this post, except to note that I am still waiting for the results from a Bristol University…
-
My Letter to Professor Chalder about the PRINCE Trial
In its efforts to save money, the National Health Service has been expanding the program known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) by encouraging physicians to refer over all those with so-called “medically unexplained symptoms” (MUS). Under IAPT, the illness referred to as “chronic fatigue syndrome” falls into the MUS category. The program essentially…
-
Another Batch of Letters To Dr Godlee on BMJ’s LP Study Mess
I have posted a batch of letters about the Lightning Process study that have been sent to Dr Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ, here, here and here. I have been impressed with how direct these scientists and clinicians have been in expressing their dismay at BMJ’s failure to adhere to its own editorial standards.…
-
Experts Send More Tough Letters to Dr Godlee
The trickle of letters from top experts to Dr Fiona Godlee about BMJ’s decision to republish Professor Esther Crawley’s Lightning Process study continues. The letters excoriate BMJ’s actions in this matter and urge Dr Godlee to retract the dung-heap otherwise known as “Clinical and cost-effectiveness of the Lightning Process in addition to specialist medical care…
-
More Experts Urge Godlee to Retract Lightning Process Study
Last week I posted three comments sent to Dr Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ, in support of retraction of the biased and discredited Lightning Process. All three–Professor Ola Saugstad of University of Oslo, Professor Vincent Racaniello of Columbia University, and Professor Elisa Oltra of University Catolica de Valencia San Vicente Martir–were among the 55…
-
More on Cochrane’s New Risk of Bias Tool
As Virology Blog has reported, the lead author of the revised version of Cochrane’s Risk of Bias tool, published last week in BMJ, is a long-time Bristol University colleague of Professor Esther Crawley. In that capacity, he is a co-author of two high-profile studies that violated key principles of scientific investigation—the Lightning Process study, published…
-
Calls for Retraction of the LP Study
Last week, when I sent Dr Fiona Godlee an open letter about the untenable decision by Archives of Disease in Childhood to republish the originally reported findings from the Lighnting Process trial, I cc’d many of the 55 signatories. Now three of them–Professor Ola Saugstad from the University of Oslo, Professor Racaniello from Columbia University…
-
Lead Author of Cochrane’s New Bias Guideline is LP Study Co-Author
Jonathan Sterne, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Bristol University, is the corresponding author of Cochrane’s revised “risk of bias” tool, which BMJ published online on August 28th. Whatever the merits or defects of this revision, Professor Sterne’s involvement as the first of more than two dozen authors has to be considered unfortunate.…
-
An Open Letter to Dr Godlee about BMJ’s Ethically Bankrupt Actions
I have sent the following letter to Dr Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ, about Archives of Disease in Childhood’s egregious decision to re-publish Bristol University’s Lightning Process trial with the original findings intact. Given the Bristol team’s flagrant methodological violations, the journal should have retracted the paper. Failing that, Archives should have required the…