FSM News and Articles
Paying the price for questioning Traditional Chinese Medicine – Beware! If scientists were fearful of a clinical trial’s producing negative results, would they even pursue it? A draft Chinese regulation issued in late May aims to criminalise individual scientists and organisations whom China claims damage the reputation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Beijing has a reputation for reprimanding those who decry TCM. Such criticism is blocked on Chinese internet. Silencing doctors is becoming the norm.
FSM Friend’s News and Articles
Probiotics, revisited: The interaction between our gastrointestinal microbes and our own body can affect our well being as well as illnesses like inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. If the gastrointestinal tract is a rainforest, then can oral doses of “good” bacteria provide meaningful health benefits?
General
Victorians, and anyone else at risk, should now be wearing face masks. Here’s how to make one: Community mask wearing hasn’t been widely recommended in Australia, for a number of reasons including availability. However, wearing a mask carries little risk if used properly, and not as a replacement for social distancing. You should consider wearing a mask in public places – such as shopping centres and public transport.
Three promising treatments for COVID-19 – no cure yet, but progress: As many candidate drugs are investigated for treatment of COVID-19, there is encouraging news for some of them. Note that as is common in medicine, these drugs are not silver bullets. Rather we are gaining understanding and options that will assist to provide better care and incrementally improve outcomes.
Today’s Abused Health Concept
Statistics. Increased testing does not explain the increase in US COVID-19 cases: As the US experiences an increase in COVID-19 cases, many are using motivated reasoning in an attempt to deny the severity of the situation. ‘The Logic of Science’ blog walks us through some basic statistics and analysis to put things in context.