tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post2975196001926481571..comments2023-09-21T04:02:29.457-04:00Comments on Skeptical Scalpel: Don't trust the abstract; read the whole paperSkeptical Scalpelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-66409071666024695232015-02-24T08:32:21.637-05:002015-02-24T08:32:21.637-05:00David, I agree that paywalls are a problem, but th...David, I agree that paywalls are a problem, but they may disappear in a few years. Meanwhile, I'll try to point out things like this when I can. Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-43133048047515222042015-02-24T04:02:29.594-05:002015-02-24T04:02:29.594-05:00Sadly normal members of the public like me are usu...Sadly normal members of the public like me are usually unable to look beyond the abstract because of the pay walls.At least this abstract showed that age, gender, BMI and AIG were significantly different, making it reasonably obvious the results were meaningless.DavidPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-64457652968571227482015-02-22T12:36:03.282-05:002015-02-22T12:36:03.282-05:00William, I agree. The media can be a real problem....William, I agree. The media can be a real problem. In fact I was alerted to this paper because it was mentioned in an article without any analysis of its results in the current issue of General Surgery News.Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-15056171475016807292015-02-21T20:41:02.428-05:002015-02-21T20:41:02.428-05:00One big issue is how the media reports research ar...One big issue is how the media reports research articles. Recently, the media reported a study by researchers at Yale ,suggesting that<br /> internists were harming older people by trying to control the blood sugar too tightly in elderly diabetics. What the researchers actually did was take the position and assume that tight control in elderly diabetics was always harmful and then surveyed a group of physicians and showed that many tried to use tight control in elder diabetics But what they did not find or even study in the paper was whether this tight control caused actual harm in these patients,They just assumed tight control caused harm ( which MAY be true) and found that lots of doctors practiced tight control. This is a subtle but BIG real difference. The media often does not report the difference<br />accurately, probably because there writers don't know how to closely read medical research papers.<br /><br />William Reicherthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10062067819184876941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-24026598243135240942015-02-21T15:49:59.727-05:002015-02-21T15:49:59.727-05:00Anon, sorry I forgot to acknowledge you comment wh...Anon, sorry I forgot to acknowledge you comment which is a good one. Not only is the impact factor 0.94, the journal is ranked 112th of 379 surgery (all types) journals by SCImago, a website that measure journal visibility in the Scopus database.Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-71403237764467904762015-02-21T15:40:53.061-05:002015-02-21T15:40:53.061-05:00Michael, you are correct. The lengths of stay are ...Michael, you are correct. The lengths of stay are long and typical of what is apparently the standard in Europe. I didn't mention it because it is not relevant to the situation in the US.<br /><br />Moose, I agree. I don't understand why journals allow authors to get away with "anything goes" in the abstract. It's an example of the sorry state of peer review in medicine.Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-35880684984318543182015-02-21T14:05:29.520-05:002015-02-21T14:05:29.520-05:00This is one of the reasons why I (and others) are ...This is one of the reasons why I (and others) are pushing for science research to not be published behind pay walls. Too much misinformation is being spread due to abstracts that tell you what the researchers wanted the conclusion to be, not what they actually found.Moosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10397412122635951126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-47735952121471412512015-02-21T11:37:51.175-05:002015-02-21T11:37:51.175-05:00The length of stay is rather long for both procedu...The length of stay is rather long for both procedures. Michael-Burchettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-82824106256427220292015-02-21T06:19:40.933-05:002015-02-21T06:19:40.933-05:00Totally agree. Exposes the journal for being of po...Totally agree. Exposes the journal for being of poor quality. For what it is worth, the Impact Factor is not even 1, so fortunately nobody is really taking that much notice of it. If I were the editor in chief of this journal, I would be embarrassed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-48300860919911580912015-02-20T08:37:52.460-05:002015-02-20T08:37:52.460-05:00A surgeon in Florida claims the ergonomics are no ...A surgeon in Florida claims the ergonomics are no problem. Everyone else is just doing it wrong. http://www.generalsurgerynews.com//ViewArticle.aspx?ses=ogst&d=In+the+News&d_id=69&i=February+2015&i_id=1148&a_id=29499Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-37000131853368082542015-02-19T18:41:42.867-05:002015-02-19T18:41:42.867-05:00Who is the journal editor on this nonsense, Andrew...Who is the journal editor on this nonsense, Andrew Wakefield? Are they just putting out this stuff hoping to get published in the NY Times, so that patients will see it and request it (think: DTC marketing)? <br /><br />The ergonomics of SILC are still in question from some stuff I've read recently. artigerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13361655152970244221noreply@blogger.com