Category: Web article

Comment: Testicular self-examination

These were comments to the article “Monday’s medical myth: testicular self-examination is a waste of time” by Mark Frydenberg, published in The Conversation. Thank you for your opinion, Prof Frydenberg, but can this really be considered a “myth”? I appreciate that your affiliated organisation Andrology Australia recommends routine testicular self-examination, but this is not the …

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Is vitamin C effective in treating the common cold?

This article was published in Medical Observer. The article is also available on the Medical Observer website (may need registration).

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Comment: EBM vs CAM

Comment to the article, “Evidence-based medicine v alternative therapies: moving beyond virulence” by Kerreen Reiger, published in The Conversation: Health claims are empiric claims. They can be tested using empiric methods. Scientific frameworks allow use to gauge the reliability of evidence. For example, the narrative claim from an individual that they were helped by chiropractic is …

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Comment: Response to “Tarring complementary medicine is anti-choice”

The following is a comment to an opinion piece, “Tarring complementary medicine is anti-choice” written by Kerryn Phelps in Medical Observer.  My comments were published online on 21 March 2012. I concur with some of the statements in the comments and feel I must support my colleagues who are members of the Friends of Science in …

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Comment: Homoeopathy, ethics and controversy

Comment to the article “Homeopathy isn’t unethical, it’s just controversial” by Jon Wardle, published in The Conversation. To be frank, it is really quite simple. Homoeopathy isn’t “controversial”. It does not work. There is no good empiric evidence that it does, plenty of empiric evidence that it doesn’t, and entirely lacks scientific plausibility. There is a …

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Monday’s medical myth: take an aspirin a day after you turn 50

The following article was published on The Conversation. Monday’s medical myth: take an aspirin a day after you turn 50 By Michael Tam, University of New South Wales Aspirin is a historical marvel. It’s been manufactured for more than a century and is still in widespread use. No other medication can claim as many different …

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