Are Patents Impeding Medical Care and Innovation? (Part 3)
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Antidepressants commonly prescribed to people with autistic spectrum disorders cannot be recommended based on current evidence, a new study by Cochrane Researchers concludes. Despite some evidence of benefits in adults diagnosed with autism, they say there is no evidence for any benefits associated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in children, who may suffer serious adverse effects as a result of taking the drugs.
There has been much excitement surrounding the recent positive developments for neurofeedback (EEG-biofeedback) for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the past week, news circulated that American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) endorsed neurofeedback for ADHD. Although I was also excited about this potentially important development for the field of neurofeedback and children with attentional disorders and posted an article to this effect, I found no evidence in AAP’s original announcement that Level 2 (“good evidence”) recommendations applied to neurofeedback.
The American Academy Of Pediatrics recently published the summer edition of “Evidence-Based Child and Adolescent Psychosocial Interventions” – a guide to help clinicians and parents select treatments based on available research. Biofeedback received a “Level 2″ classification as a psychosocial intervention for the core behavioral symptoms commonly associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Check the end of this report for a link to download the original psychosocial intervention guide.
A glimpse into how medicine is often based on habit, not hard data, is provided in a new research published in this month’s Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The article describes results from an international survey that asked endocrine surgeons how they decide whether or not to prescribe antibiotics in advance of removing [...]
A popular belief that specific dietary changes can improve the symptoms of children with autism was not supported by a tightly controlled University of Rochester study, which found that eliminating gluten and casein from the diets of children with autism had no impact on their behavior, sleep, or bowel patterns. This report includes two video [...]
Moderate to severely depressed clients showed greater improvement in cognitive therapy when therapists emphasized changing how they think rather than how they behave, new research has found. The results suggest cognitive therapists should concentrate, at least during the first few sessions, on using cognitive techniques to help those with more severe depression to break out [...]
Drug studies financed by pharmaceutical companies frequently show positive results in favor of the sponsor. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(16): 279-85), a research group headed by the Chairman of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, Prof. Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, describes the influence of sponsoring on the [...]
Editors of several medical research journals have issued a statement calling for rigorous standards and transparency in research that is designed to influence patient care and health policy. Led by Dr. Harold Sox, co-chair of the 2009 US Institute of Medicine Committee on Comparative Effectiveness Research Prioritization, the statement’s author list includes editors of Medical [...]
The quality of scientific research may be suffering because academics are being increasingly pressured to produce ‘publishable’ results, a new study suggests. A large analysis of papers in all disciplines shows that researchers report more “positive” results for their experiments in US states where academics publish more frequently. The results are reported in the online, [...]
News coverage of aggressive cancer treatments may give the public unrealistic hope that these treatments actually work. Additionally, news about treatment failure, adverse events, and end-of-life care are covered far less by the news media. These are some of the findings of a study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.
Social science is at the center of every major challenge the world faces, yet faces a tough future, according to a panel of senior academics and politicians speaking in London this week. They were taking part in a debate hosted by the British Academy and SAGE to explore how social science research can strengthen its [...]
Emerging research suggests that anti-depressants may only help those with severe depression as previously discussed in Antidepressant Medications May Benefit Only Persons With Severe Depression and Anti-Depressant Medication & The Placebo Effect. Readers may be interested in a well-written article by Moncrieff & Cohen (2006) that discusses questionable theoretical paradigms and research that contributed to anti-depressants [...]
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