Search results

Patients who have various symptoms associated with illness tend to have an increase baseline in their effort reporting associated with these symptoms, but the rate of increase in effort during aerobic activity is normal (given the level cortical output), when normalised to that increased baseline.

1&2 Day CPET studies have shown substantial overlap (on the 1st day) between patients and controls, with some patients having above average cardiovascular fitness (VO2Peak - so the heart/lungs are not deconditioned) for their age/sex, which suggests that for many patients, deconditioning cannot...

Indeed. After reading this paper, my conclusion is less research on cortisol in FMS and CFS is needed. I don't find any of these results particularly interesting.

Yep, they aren't going to be treated any more seriously than us. Just more poor souls joining the fray.

Mhmm.

Only patients with significantly above average cognitive ability are usually willing to participate in studies like this in the first place. The study didn't prospectively study these participants from before they became ill, hence the study is only of "suggestive" quality evidence.

The sad part is I have had a few friends with Schizophrenia and I had asked them about the controversy between Coyne/Laws and Bentall on CBT for psychosis and they were both of the opinion that CBT was useless and the outcome measures used by Bentall and others were not useful...

Yes, it's certainly cause for skepticism.

I regularly think headline writers should be fired from their jobs!

I can only point out the obvious - 14 days is smoother, but less responsive to new trends. There are also weighted moving averages to throw into the mix...

If it wasn't clear, I'm not referring to you, but the hypothetical people who "clock out", as soon as we mention points of "everyone knowing" about the importance of participant blinding in controlling biases and other methodological flaws leading to high risk of bias.

Take a look around at other social movements. How polite are they? It took BOTH Malcom X and MLK to make progress with civil rights in the USA. Then the progress stopped when many black people started to be nice again. Why do you think we have to be extra polite not to offend idiots who don't...

Wealthy people who can bypass waiting lists?

So it's just CFS where they half-arse their methodology. Quick disclaimer though, they're going to claim that the superimposed twitch interpolation results suggest central fatigue. Note that ALL fatiguing disorders have this same pattern, regardless of whether they are muscular dystrophies...

No. Those people who clock out without listening to those who are directly affected should check their own ethical values or be ignored. Those people who don't bother to give us the time of day should have no power to affect our lives. This isn't a debate about philosophical truths. Our...

We're not dismissing patient reports so categorically, we're dismissing the sole use of specific PROMS for which patients have NEVER BEEN ASKED WHETHER THEY THINK THEY ARE IMPORTANT, and stating that they can be untrustworthy if not corroborated with meaningful outcome measures at the same time...

I guess he's worried that someone is going to steal his ideas?

Yes, they're going to claim that parents beliefs are unrealistic and somehow perpetuating the syndrome.

Yes, there is a big difference between reporting what could happen or what a participant thinks they could do, versus what they have actually done/has actually happened. Biases such as recall bias certainly apply, which is why an outcome such as urinary incontinence needs to be recorded daily...

Sure. The key point is that if participants (and any assessors) genuinely don't know which arm they are in, response biases and related distortions will be relatively similar across all arms. Objective outcome measures of functioning in an unblinded trial don't eliminate bias, but they show...