Rewriting history (Wasim Maziak, 08Jul2008)
Dear Editor In his responses Chaouachi aims to rewrite the history of science and tobacco control. But whatever is said facts cannot be twisted. The study they published in HR is not a cohort study, prospective or retrospective, because in retrospective cohort studies we start from the exposure and go back to the records to look for the outcome (i.e. the outcome has not only occurred but assessed). In their study, they assessed actively both the exposure... read full comment

The Lessons of May 58th. How We Tried to Change the World at the 58th Session of the United Nations INCB (International Narcotics Control Board) - Vienna, 9 May 1995 (Kamal Chaouachi, 08Jul2008)
Canadians are outraged, but also peoples of the world in general and especially South Americans these days. From Caracas, Johanna Levy recently informed us how Bolivia and Peru have strongly rejected some of the recommendations published in the last INCB (International Narcotics Control Board) report. Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, would support Evo Morales, the Bolivian one, and would have gone as far as publicly declaring that he chews coca... read full comment

Meticulously researched (Rima Morrell, 05Jul2008)
article of great significance to Primatology debate. When I studied the subject as an undergraduate at Cambridge University it would have been very helpful if such an article had been available, as the material tended to assume the rationality of animal experiments, and not look at the basis for them. By digging deeper Andrew Knight is providing a valuable article in the sense of a Kuhnian paradigm, one that helps to redefine the subject itself.... read full comment

The promise of next generation colloids (Amy G. Tsai, 04Jul2008)
Creagh-Brown and Evans main concern as noted in their commentary of our paper is the use of an animal model where the microcirculation of connective tissue is investigated instead of clinically more relevant organs such as the viscera. In addition one major point of criticism is the severity of the protocol where after slow replacement of 50% of blood volume (acute normovolemic hemodilution, ANH) with either PEG-albumin or HES 130/0.4, 60% of circulating... read full comment

Response to Maziak (Reuven Dar, 03Jul2008)
We read the recent study by Sajid and coworkers [1] and the subsequent comment by Maziak [2] with great interest. We were dismayed, however, by one sentence in Maziak's comment, in which he criticizes Sajid et al. for the presentation of the issue of nicotine's central role in tobacco dependence as one that is undergoing substantial debate, by citing evidence of associates of the tobacco industry [italics ours]." The evidence cited by Sajid and coworkers,... read full comment

REBUTTAL (KC) to Dr MAZIAKs (26 June) Remaining Objections (Kamal Chaouachi, 03Jul2008)
************ CONTENT ************ 1) Introduction 2) Age Adjustment 3) Putting Two Studies Straight 4) The Mysteries of Epidemiological Classification 5) Narco-Ethics (cont.) 6) The World Tobacco Prohibition Agenda 7) The Six Actual Filters of the Hookah 8) The End of the Nicotine Addiction Dogma 9) The Emergence of Scientific Integrity Resources in Tobacco Issues 10) Harm Reduction 11) Conclusion 12) References 13) Dr MAZIAKs Reference to KCs... read full comment

24/7 in-house intensivist coverage enhances junior doctor training (Nishith Patel, 03Jul2008)
I read with interest the well-balanced article by Arabi on the debateful topic 'Should 24/7 in-house intensivist coverage be implemented?' The article focuses on the impact 24/7 intensivist cover would have on patient outcomes. To add to this article it is also important to recognise the impact this has on junior doctor training. Having worked in a large university intensive care unit which had 24/7 resident senior intensivist cover, I experienced... read full comment

Response (Nnamdi Nwaejike, 02Jul2008)
Dear Dr Gupta, Thank you for your question.. The patient required specialist care (psychiatry in this case) for optimised treatment, which we realised after our interventions (analgesia including bier blocks)did not provide definitive relief from his symptoms.. Once refered, the patient had no further problems with pain control or other symptoms and signs for reflex sympathetic dystrophy and so we (trauma and orthopaedics) did not continue follow-up..... read full comment

Data "waves" in SNP array data (Kylie Louise Gorringe, 01Jul2008)
We sometimes observe data "waves" in our Affy SNP array copy number data. It is inconsistent between samples or experimental batches and sometimes a second DNA prep or extra clean-up of the same sample removes the effect. It seems to be more common in whole-genome amplified DNA or DNA from limited sources (eg tumour biopsies). I'd be interested to know if anyone has identified why this occurs or has a solution for analysing tumor data.... read full comment

Psychiatric evaluation would have been interesting (Maneesh Gupta, 01Jul2008)
It is an interesting case report. Factitious disorder is a difficult diagnosis to make and it would have been intersting to read about the psychiatric evaluation and the conclusions thereof about factitious diorder. Could the authors shed some light on the psychiatric assessment and treatment??... read full comment

fighting back against anti-science legislatures (Steven Salzberg, 30Jun2008)
Greg, you make some excellent points - and I concur with your suggestion not to hold conferences in states that undermine the teaching of evolution. Another strategy we might consider - those of us in academia, that is - is announcing that we will downgrade applications for admission to our universities from students in states where evolution is not taught, or is taught badly. The quality of a student's education is a legitimate criterion for admission... read full comment

Using two MFI scales ("General Fatigue" or "Reduced Activity") to ensure patients satisfying the definition have "severe fatigue" (Tom Kindlon, 30Jun2008)
Initially when I read this paper, where it says "we defined severe fatigue as >= medians of the MFI general fatigue (>=13) or reduced activity (>=10) scales", I thought this referred to medians of the general population. Hearing other people commenting on it, that's how some other people have been interpreting it also. It is probably somewhat natural to do this as the sentence before reads: "We defined substantial reduction in occupational, educational,... read full comment

Return to Beijing but no return of my cough (Richard Smith, 30Jun2008)
I returned to Beijing in May for two nights, but my cough did not return. I arrived in the middle of the day and took a taxi to the hotel. The atmosphere was as murky as it was in January, but it was raining and I couldn't taste the air, as I could last time. I stayed in a better one that I stayed in last time--which might be important as the air conditioning was probably better. I certainly didn't taste coal in the air in my hotel room, as I did... read full comment

Rhetoric cannot substitute for scientific and ethical standards of human research (Wasim Maziak, 26Jun2008)
Quick response 1-Abstract: In research when it is said that a level is lower, that usually means significantly lower. Also in research, the abstracts conclusions should sum the results of the study at hand not other study. 2-Study design: Chouachi says that this is a cohort study not cross sectional, while in this study the exposure and outcome were measured at the same time, and has no element of a cohort study (i.e. freedom of outcome [CEA] at... read full comment

EBM mischaracterized (Eddy Lang, 26Jun2008)
Intriguing study but you've missed the boat on one of the 2 central tenets of EBM (the other relating to the hierarchy of evidence). What is important to remember is that evidence alone is never sufficient to drive decision-making and a consideration of context, values and preferences are crucial. It is no wonder then that only the cardiologists got the correct interpretation of the systematic reviews that were presented to them. Only they were... read full comment

Well? (James Cave, 26Jun2008)
Did the cough come back when you went back to Beijing?... read full comment

Identity of the affected proteins (Dariusz Leszczynski, 25Jun2008)
I do agree that independently of the strength of the statistical evidence, it would be of great interest to know the identity of the affected proteins. However, as we have stated in the article, we were unable, for technical reasons, to identify the proteins using Maldi-ToF. We are presently making preparations for a larger study (50 volunteers) in which we will attempt to confirm the results of the published pilot study. In the new study, that will... read full comment

Species designation (Diplococcus pneumoniae) (Ernesto Garcia, 24Jun2008)
I really do not understand how it is possible to accept and publish a paper in 2008 naming the pneumococcus as "Diplococcus pneumoniae", a very old designation of Streptococcus pneumoniae, which is in disuse from long time ago.... read full comment

But which were those 8 proteins? (Miguel A Andrade-Navarro, 24Jun2008)
Significant or not, I am curious to know the nature of those eight proteins that were differentially expressed.... read full comment

Resistance of cancer cell to immune killing (Boguslaw Lipinskii, 23Jun2008)
I would like to bring to the attention of the authors that in 2000 we published a paper in Medical Hypotheses (54:456-460) proposing a mechanism by which fibrin protects tumor cells against recognition and killing by cellular immune system. This concept is based on decades of previous research on the role of soluble fibrin monomers in degenerative diseases and specifically in cancer. A characteristic feature of of a fibrin coat around the tumor... read full comment