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Yea, he's kind of the cool kid in the class now, eh?

Isn't this the whole basis of the concept of the microbiome? That some bacteria take up residence in our bodies for life? I guess what you mean is: can infections that impede healthy functioning stick around? As I understand it, we are constantly keeping bacteria at bay. There are tolerable...

And to those questioning the depression measure, I think you're all spot on. I'm not even sure if the concept of depression is useful. It is based on a really old idea that you can get pathologically sad and negative about the world, and that leads you to lose initiative and sort of give up. And...

PS. I want to say too that I think its way too early to be looking at the brain. We don't know enough yet to be able to interpret what we see. So there is a huge danger of just fitting whatever we find around a pre-existing model of MECFS. If we want to find out what causes this disease, we...

Okay, here goes. The technical aspects of the work are beyond me (how they actually measured the metabolites), but I can comment on what the aims were, and whether the results justify the conclusions. First thing to note: the theoretical framework set out in the intro very clearly falls within...

full text at scihub: https://sci-hub.cc/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000512 Let me share with you the author list for this study: That lightbulb sure must have been tough to change, eh? The primary result is that there were no significant differences between groups in microbiome diversity, contrary...

I like your ideas, @MErmaid. But I disagree that lack of faith in big pharma is the primary cause of this problem. Its part of human nature to seek cures, and if there aren't any from medical science, we go elsewhere. No amount of improving conventional medicine will ever change this.

Yea, from our point of view, there are two interesting things. The first is that, as you say, a single disease process can appear to produce very different clinical profiles in different people. The second is that, in some diseases, the underlying disease process may have been going on for...

This is an interesting paper. I don't pretend to understand it all, but the general thrust seems to be that there are two phenomena contributing to the symptoms we see in MS. The first is acute inflammatory episodes. The adaptive immune system (the part of the immune system that learns from...

Have I just been out-pedanted?

Great to see another high profile person 'come out' though, isn't it? And one that is: a) male; and b) doesn't appear to be a fruitcake...

Pedants' corner. Inferring is something a listener does. A listener can infer things from a statement that the speaker did not deliberately intend. Implying is something a speaker does. There is intentionality: the speaker deliberately sets up the statement so that the average listener is able...

Neuroimaging Studies of MECFS: A Primer If you look for neuroimaging studies of MECFS, you will come across four different types of methods that are used. What you can conclude from each study depends hugely on the method that was used, so it’s important to know the basics. The first three...

I think the answer is, keep mentioning her involvement with the Lightning Process. Nothing else, just the patented Lightning Process, offered by charismatic guru Phil Parker, which promises to cure whatever ails you. Oh, and maybe testimonies from parents whose kids have suffered in her programmes.

Critical Analysis of Psychological Illness Explanations The only certainty Is uncertainty: Doctors should admit when they don't have an answer Frances, A 2013 link to article This article argues that medical professionals are overconfident about their diagnostic abilities, and fail to...

Articles that highlight the problems/limitations of clinical trials in general (**=key article) Placebo effects are weak: regression to the mean is the main reason ineffective treatments appear to work. Colquhoun, D. (blog) 2015 link to blog Placebo Myths debunked. Novella, S. (blog) 2017 In...

You're right, @BurnA, the rules didn't change. Its just people have got sick of dodgy studies that adhere to the letter of the law (no outright fraud), but not its spirit. FFS, you shouldn't need to be told what the 'rules' are, you should know from your training how to avoid doing bad science...

Can patients with chronic fatigue syndrome really recover after graded exercise or cognitive behavioural therapy? A critical commentary and preliminary re-analysis of the PACE trial. Wilshire C, Kindlon T, Matthees A, McGrath S. Fatigue. 2017 Jan 5:1-4. link to article This article critiques...

2016 Cochrane review of exercise therapy for CFS: Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome. Larun L, Brurberg KG, Odgaard-Jensen J, Price JR Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Jan 1;6. link to article The Fine trial (PACE’s ‘sister study’, looked at more severe patients): Nurse led, home...

Publications from the PACE trial (**= key article, read this first) The PACE trial assessed the effectiveness of CBT and GET as treatments for CFS. Over 600 patients diagnosed with CFS according to the Oxford criteria (in which fatigue is the only required symptom) were allocated to four...