Independent advisory group for the full update of the Cochrane review on exercise therapy and ME/CFS (2020), led by Hilda Bastian

OMG - it's the fourth anniversary!!!

 

Selvage:
1
a
: the edge on either side of a woven or flat-knitted fabric so finished as to prevent raveling
specifically : a narrow border often of different or heavier threads than the fabric and sometimes in a different weave
b
: an edge (as of fabric or paper) meant to be cut off and discarded
2
: an outer or peripheral part : border, edge

Etymology

Middle English selfegge, selvage, from self self + egge edge (after Middle Dutch selfegghe)

 

In years gone by the extra bits were often double and unfinished, especially if covered by a lining.

 

This whole thing now looks like a delay tactic to protect the careers and incomes of the CBT and GET industry.

 

You can get to the bottom of the pocket but there is still some fabric beyond the stitching. I admit that this is a feeble modern example of only about 5mm beyond the pocket. I well remember trousers where the spare was a centimetre or more and got increasingly frayed in the washing machine.

This is n't really a selvage as I understand it, unless it is stitched - as it typically is on the turn-ups.

But there the spare material is turned back. For pockets and for Cochrane the material seems to continue and yet cease to do any visible job. I agree that Cochrane may still be influential but I strongly suspect that ongoing work is increasingly of this sort of 'virtual' form - and in years to come will be seen as part of the meaningless handle-turning of a culture that has lost its bearings. Unless of course the culture gets further further dissociated from any bearings.

I just get the strong feeling that Cochrane is now run by people who are there because they belong to the woodwork and won't say anything uncomfortable. Once that happens an organisation is dead wood.

 

I had no idea that your expertise extended to jeans, Jo. Will you be my phone a friend if I get on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

I’m thinking that Cochrane is more like a dummy pocket – it looks like a pocket but it’s only there for aesthetic purposes.

Meanwhile, I’ve emailed Hilda to ask if she can tell us any more about what’s happening.

 

This is a selvedge in the sense used when describing fabrics. It's not a hem or a finishing technique, it's something woven in from the start*.



*Might also apply to Cochrane.

 

In a way yes. I was looking for a metaphor for something that seemed to be useful but at some point imperceptibly became an invisible appendage.

I have made jeans in my time, but not for maybe fifty years.

 

Human appendix?

 

Yes, that is how I understood it.

 

I wrote this a day ago but didn't post it because of its uncertainty.

I believe that a day or two ago I scanned (intending to return to it because it was long) a lengthy blog/ article written by @Hilda Bastian in which she discusses the Pace story and moves on to Cochrane. Or it must be possible I dreamt it. I remember /or dreamt a mention of @Tom Kindlon and Robert Saunders, and also @Caroline Struthers .

The problem is that I can't remember where I scanned it and extensive google searches in the last couple of hours have not produced it which has made me doubt if it really exists. Does it exist?

Apologies if I've started an invalid hare running. I thought someone else might have better luck or know where Hilda places her writing. It wasn't twitter. Or maybe I imagined it.

 

Was it this, on her blog?

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/20...-the-me-cfs-exercise-dispute-matters-so-much/

 

Thank you @inox. I think it was. It has @Tom Kindlon and Robert Saunders. There is a reference to Carolyn Wiltshire. Apologies to @Caroline Struthers for that misremembering.

Yes, I must read it- particularly the part about Cochrane- tomorrow. Thanks again for the find.

 

It wasn’t me that Hilda referred to in her blog, it was the late great Robert Courtney (aka Bob) who wrote to Tovey and, along with Tom, was instrumental in highlighting the problems with the Cochrane reviews.

I never really knew Bob but I have great respect for him, and I am exceedingly grateful for all his brilliant work. I know that – like his friend Graham – he is dearly missed but all those who knew him on here.

[edit: NB the blog was written in Feb 2019]

 

Are the different M.E. organizations invested in this? I don't know from memory, I've seen a couple of people in this thread applying pressure but can't remember if there's a more concerted effort going on to get this scrapped. If not, would that be helpful? This seems to be one of the major things still holding us back. Not meant to diminish the enormous amounts of work people have put into it already btw.

 

pure speculation but, I wonder if Paul Garner is pulling any strings?

his bio on LSTM:

https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/professor-paul-garner