Dave Curtis

Try typing the search term "more research is needed" (with the quote marks) into PubMed:    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?db=pubmed . You should get over 62,000 hits, and that's only for papers which have the phrase in their abstract. Countless more will have it buried in the discussion section of the full text. In fact, it would be interesting to know which papers  don't  advocate carrying out further research.   To be fair, sometimes this conclusion may be appropriate.  More research is needed if one reports an equivocal result or a finding which is unexpectedly negative or unexpectedly positive. More research is needed if insufficient information has been obtained in order to come to a reasonable conclusion as to what clinical interventions may be appropriate or what theoretical insights have been gained. More research is needed if one has obtained a positive result but its exact implications require further clarification.   However more

Do dietary deficiencies of magnesium or vitamin B6 cause Tourette's syndrome?  Er, no. If a production company decides they're going to make a program looking into treating Tourette's with magnesium and B6 will the advice that it's all nonsense put them off making the program?  Er, no.  Apparently the program is called The Food Hospital. I can't bear to look at the link to it because I know I'd only get upset.  Somebody from there emailed me out of the blue to ask my opinion and I gave it to her. Turned out a bunch of other experts told her the same thing as me. Has that put off her making the program? (See above if you can't guess the answer.) I spend much of my working life persuading people with severe mental illness to keep taking their medication and to stop smoking. It is really, really unhelpful for me to have popular programs on popular channels raising the possibility that the correct treatment for mental illness might be a

You may be wondering why I didn't want to dance with you. Probably you weren't wondering at all and didn't think anything of it but if you were then here is the reason. No, I won't dance with you because I'm too drunk. No, I won't dance with you because I'm too sober. No, I won't dance with you because I'm too sweaty. No, I won't dance with you because there are too many people on the dance floor. No, I won't dance with you because there aren't enough people on the dance floor. No, I won't dance with you because this track is half way through already. No, I won't dance with you because this track is just starting and I can't tell yet whether I can dance to it. No, I won't dance with you because the music is too fast. No, I won't dance with you because the music is too slow. No, I won't dance with you because the music is too obscure. No, I won't dance with you because the music is too

There are two things which the government has got completely wrong in its attempts to deal with concerns about PIP breast implants. It is fuelling anxiety rather than alleviating it and its notions of the responsibilities of private providers are muddled and incorrect. Everybody knows that health treatment is only provided when clinically indicated. Never before has an indication for an operation been simply "the patient is worried". So it makes no sense at all to simultaneously say that PIP implants are safe but if a patient is worried they will be removed. Why remove something which isn't dangerous? This massively mixed message could hardly be more unhelpful. From everything I can see of the science so far there is no evidence that PIP implants present any higher risk than any other kind, in spite of being described in scarey terms such "industrial". Possibly they have a somewhat higher risk of rupture but that could be dealt with as and when and anyway the