Monday, June 23, 2008
Medical news of the obvious
This week's edition focuses on attempts by medicine to delve into basic human psychology.
Our first exhibit comes from the Endo '08 meeting. A group of pituitary researchers recruited recreational athletes for a test of human growth hormone. Some were given the hormones, some were given placebos, then they were asked to guess whether or not they were taking the real thing. The results: study participants who (wrongly) believed that they were taking hormones improved their athletic performance over the course of the study. Experts concluded that this finding could explain why athletes continue to take HGH even though there's no scientific evidence that it works. Uh, yeah. Or maybe the common assumption that HGH works leads people to attribute their performance improvement to it?
Then, a study in Archives of IM explored why HIV-positive patients participated in a phase III drug trial and found that "individuals participating in a clinical trial hope to benefit personally from the research but also understand they are contributing to society." So, to sum up, people actually have logical reasons--expected benefit either for themselves or others--that motivate them to take banned hormones or experimental drugs. Who knew?
Labels: Endo 08 news, medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
4:00 PM
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
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Previous Posts
- Looking for a profitable sideline?
- Endo '08: Counseling patients about weight loss
- Behind the scene: a cartoonist speaks
- Endo 08: Rats 1, Birds 0
- Endo 08: What to do about HRT in menopausal women?...
- Endo 08: Weight loss fairy dust
- Endo 08: Forecast? Unprepared.
- Endo 08: Hot topics in reproductive biology
- Endo 08: The role of exercise in weight loss
- Endo '08: Hypoglycemia in diabetes
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American Journal of Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and community-based practice.
Clinical Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, ACP Member, associate program director at New York University Medical Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news, commentary and more.
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating medicine and the health care system.
Everything Health
EverythingHealth is designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
Getting Better with Dr. Val
Getting Better is the continuation of Dr. Val Jones' previous blog at Revolution Health. It is devoted to helping people understand health issues from a balanced, scientifically sound perspective.
HealthHombre
A roundup of health policy news drawn from a database of hundreds of Web sites.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news of the day.
Kevin, MD
The alter ego of Kevin Pho, ACP Member, is the closest thing to royalty in the medical blog world.
LSUHSC-S Medical Library Evidence Alert
Major guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and/or major reviews by national and international organizations.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a blog.
White Coat Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by a doctor.
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