Author Archives: skeptvet

Herb and Supplement Industry: Loves Marketing but not so Crazy about Research

One of the standard clichés alternative medicine proponents like to employ is the David and Goliath Myth: pharmaceutical companies and the mainstream medicine are profit-driven behemoths and alternative medicine is the plucky little guy, small practitioners and innovators fighting against … Continue reading

Posted in Herbs and Supplements | 4 Comments

Over-Diagnosed by Gilbert Welch: A must-read for doctors and potential patients

Dr. Harriet Hall at Science-Based Medicine recently reviewed the book Over-diagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health by Dr. Gilbert Welch. I was immediately interested enough to buy the book and read it, largely because it promised to … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews | 6 Comments

Veterinary Stem Cell Therapies Discussed at Fully Vetted Blog

A prominent veterinary blogger, Dr. Patty Khuly of Fully Vetted, has written about the issue of veterinary stem cell therapies. The inspiration for her post appears to have been the recent article in JAVMA News, the news service of the … Continue reading

Posted in Science-Based Veterinary Medicine | 10 Comments

Spiraling Empiricism: Antibiotic Use as a Model for Pitfalls in Medical Decision Making

About two years ago, Mark Crislip over at Science-Based Medicine wrote about an article that had a profound impact on his practices as an M.D. specializing in infectious disease, Observations on Spiraling Empiricism. He recently mentioned this article again on … Continue reading

Posted in General, Science-Based Veterinary Medicine | 2 Comments

Integrative Medicine or Bait-and Switch?

For a while now, the Huffington Post has been providing a platform for a prominent voice in the alternative veterinary medicine community, Dr. Richard Palmquist. Dr. Palmquist is involved in the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA), and has had … Continue reading

Posted in General | 10 Comments

From Science-Based Medicine: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Hospice Care

From the Science-Based Medicine Blog: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Hospice Care A number of news outlets (e.g. Bloomberg Business Week, MSN.Com, US News, etc) have recently reported that use of complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) is widespread in hospice … Continue reading

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Handlers Can Unintentionally Influence Detection Dog Performance

A recent study in the journal Animal Cognition involving drug and explosive detection dogs has been widely reported in the online media (e.g. Medical News Daily, Sacramento Today, etc). The study, conducted at the University of California at Davis, was … Continue reading

Posted in General | 4 Comments

California Veterinary Medical Association Campaign Against Unlicensed Treatment of Animals

There must be something in the air. Lately, I’ve run across a number of stories about regulatory agencies trying to crack down on illegal or unsupported medical claims, in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. I am a bit pessimistic about … Continue reading

Posted in Law, Regulation, and Politics | Leave a comment

Book Review: At Home by Bill Bryson

For my infrequent book reviews I have tried to focus on books that are explicitly relevant to the issues and themes of this blog. However, I wanted to call attention to a very enjoyable book that, honestly, is only marginally … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments

Neutricks(tm): Another Nutraceutical for Canine Cognitive Dysfnction

Yet another product has entered the market aimed at treating Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (CDS). This age-related brain disorder is analogous to dementia in elderly humans, and it involves a number of significant behavioral changes. Affected dogs may get lost … Continue reading

Posted in Herbs and Supplements | 51 Comments