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I think it must have to do with sources of funding and having paid staff.

There is no such thing as a pro-inflammatory cell. This is the level of the text.

Er, there is this chap called John Edwards quoted in the Buzzfeed piece a bit. I didn't see any US researchers mentioned.

Yes, I have read that. A serious scientist does not get themselves into a situation where they have to produce an unconvincing excuse like this. They do things properly from the start. The more one reads of this stuff the clearer it is that this is not serious science.

I think it is hard to think that is the case. The diagnostic criteria used were, as far as I know, the same as for the study (by the same group) that suggested that rituximab might have a beneficial effect. So we would have to argue that that study told us nothing either. Which would mean there...

No adequately trained medical student is going to take that study seriously. You may not realise, currer, that these days anyone can do any sort of half-baked 'experiment' and publish it as a 'scientific study'. To be meaningful studies need to have basic components like adequate controls and...

I agree that peripheral neuropathy is common enough in diabetes but this is not a specifically autonomic problem and itself is merely an aspect of a more general microvascular damage problem. By and large the clinically relevant complications arise from the microvascular failure (foot gangrene...

It says: dysautonomia is an umbrella term used to describe different medical conditions that cause a malfunction of a person's autonomic nervous system. Even though most people have never heard this term, dysautonomia is actually very common. To me this is unhelpful. Umbrella terms are no use...

Interesting comments. It makes me think that maybe the shift in posture produces an adrenergic response that affects thinking and also affects the heart. Which would suggest that the tachycardia is not itself of any importance, just a sign of the adrenergic drive. The question then is what...

I am afraid that dear old Yehuda Schoenfeld's name is not a recommendation. I might mutter something about the used car salesman of immunology but that might be rude.

I am very interested in scientific research and giving it a fair hearing. That is pretty much all I am here for. But I am afraid to say, @currer, that this looks like very poor science with no firm basis. I trained in both immunology and pathology and what is being suggested simply does not make...

How long can these people go on making idiots of themselves?

It seems to me that you are doing fine and asking exactly the right questions. I also think it is helpful to discuss this information. But I think what is good about a forum is that nobody takes anything as fact without a good reason. People often assume that because something is in a medical...

I do sometimes wish I tweeted. 'I see no ships'. 'Absolutely no Russian collusion here, absolutely, absolutely hugely nothing'. 'What fatal flaws are these?' It might even go down in history.

Absolutely, but I assume you are referring to having to pee all the time and of course IV would do the same. (Sorry Trish got there first).

Something I had not thought of mentioned in the review cited by ahimsa is that in autonomic failure you do not get POTS because the autonomic system does not kick in to raise heart rate. In a normal person it does and it seems that 30bpm increase can occur in normal people. It all seems a muddle...

That review clearly assumes that the problem is relatively low blood volume. All the measures are directed at getting more blood to the heart. Compression stockings would make sense if blood was pooling in the veins but it would be no use to the common immediate form of OI that occurs before...

Changes in levels of sodium or potassium may be relevant to feeling ill but we are discussing orthostatic intolerance and I do not see their relevance to that. I think some people think that a low serum sodium goes with a low blood volume or in simple terms 'not enough salty fluid' but that is...

As far as I am aware most physicians assume that 'orthostatic intolerance' implies symptoms due to inadequate blood flow to the brain. In orthostatic hypotension this is very definitely the assumption. If the systolic pressure falls below about 90 in most people insufficient blood is pumped to...

In forty years in medicine I am not aware of having met patients having 'dysautonomia' in any useful sense. I have come across people with autonomic problems associated with peripheral neuropathy but usually the other aspects are more troublesome. I am aware that there are well defined syndromes...