Questions tagged [medical-science]
Use this tag for questions about the science of medicine and its practices. Use [medications] for questions about the actual cures that people take, and use [alternative-medicine] for claims about cures and practices which are claimed to be alternative to official medical science
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Which position is healthiest for sleep?
If you believe the internet, there is no healthy way for you to sleep: front, back, side, fetal; they are all going to cause you problems like acid reflux, spinal problems, skin problems, problems ...
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Do 6-month old babies ingest more aluminum from formula milk than from vaccines?
This blog post claims that vaccines given to infants contain less aluminum than is typically ingested from milk - especially formula milk. A more prestigious source of this claim is the Children's ...
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Are the majority of modern cancer drugs useless?
Cancer is one of those diseases that cause dread in its victims and their families. Though many are treatable or even curable, many others are not and there is great pressure on medics to offer any ...
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Is it hazardous to bend one's head backwards to stretch the neck?
I've heard claims that it's bad to stretch the neck by tilting it all the way back, or by doing neck circles. Here is one such article
Research is showing a connection between extreme neck ...
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Do people with more moles live longer?
In 2007, the New Zealand Herald reported "People with moles on their skin live longer".
A study comparing more than 1,800 twins has found that those with more moles on their skin have longer ...
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Wim Hof immune response techniques
Wim Hof practices several techniques which he claims lead to voluntarily influencing the immune system resulting in increased resistance to toxins and the cold. The techniques are categorised into ...
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Will half of the human population born in 1960 develop cancer?
It is well known that the incidence of cancer is increasing due to a lower fraction of deaths from other causes. However, there are many articles (probably sharing the same source) stating that the ...
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Are the diagnostic criteria of brain death reliable?
There is a large number of sites - particularly fundamentalist Christian sites - claiming that the people who meet the diagnostic criteria for brain death are, nonetheless, capable of recovering.
For ...
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Does sweating help to cure the flu
Many people advise you to put some warm clothes on, get under the blankets and sweat a lot to help cure flu/fever.
On one hand there is a lot of opinion on the Internet saying that it does not work, ...
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Would Mefloquine be approved under today's regulations?
The anti-malarial drug Mefloquine (aka Lariam, Mephaquin or Mefliam) is known to frequently induce strong neurologic side effects.
I have heard a number of times that this drug would fail to get ...
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Was Columbia University fined for animal cruelty due to experiments run by Mehmet Oz?
This SourceWatch article is being publicized in connection to Mehmet Oz:
In 2004, complaints about Dr. Mehmet Oz’s dog experiments were cited in a report from an internal investigation into ...
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Does CS tear gas permanently damage children?
In the final assault ending the 1993 siege of a compound in Waco, Texas , in which 76 people were killed, the FBI fired 40mm M651 CS and Ferret CS rounds into buildings containing adults and children ...
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Do sports compression clothes give their claimed benefits?
Sellers of sports compression clothes make a lot of claims about their products.
Here are some I saw on the back of a 2XU packet. This is not exclusive to them:
Benefits of compression
...
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Does pulling out a grey hair make more grow?
I remember my mother telling me not to let other people yank any gray hairs or else more will come in its place. It has always stuck to me but wondering if it's true.
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Does "dirty electricity" cause cancer?
Research by Magda Havas, Ph.D., of Trent University in Canada, and U.S. epidemiologist Samuel Milham, M.D., links something called “dirty electricity” with diabetes, malignant melanoma, and cancers of ...
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Does massaging a vaccinated arm reduce effectiveness of vaccine?
The Times of India claims that:
With intramuscular vaccines (most of the COVID-19
vaccine shots are delivered through this mean right now), rubbing,
pinching or massaging the injection site may ...
user61553
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Can a Diabetic Alert Dog detect changes in blood sugar 15 minutes earlier than a glucose meter?
The claim:
I caught a segment about Diabetes Alert Dogs on of a TV show called The Doctors in my office's lunch room, and saw the following claim, which is repeated in an article on their website ...
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Do Nervana earphones stimulate the vagus nerve to enhance mood?
The company Nervana claim that their new earphones and generator devices can stimulate the vagus nerve in the ear.
The proprietary left earbud [...] not only receives the left channel of the music ...
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Does the IntelliGender gender prediction test have 78% accuracy?
In 2009, CNN described Intelligender, an over-the-counter test that predicts the gender of an unborn baby based on hormones in the mother's urine.
It claims that within 10 minutes of taking the ...
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Do students on paediatrics rotations get sick a lot?
From http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=605542:
3rd years get sick on peds alot.
Peds or EM during the winter months pretty much maximizes your odds of getting something.
Do students ...
user5582
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Is there credible evidence that a child using an iPad will have their eyesight affected?
I have been told by several people that allowing my young children (aged 2 and 5 at the time of writing) to use an iPad, or similar device, would affect their eyesight. I have found the following ...
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Is using saliva as a dive mask defogger dangerous?
When diving, you can use saliva or commercial defog to prevent your mask from fogging. However, according to WikiHow, bacteria in saliva are potentially harmful to your eyes.
Beware of using spit - ...
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Does ChiRunning reduce number of injuries experienced while running?
Chi Running style of running is said to significantly reduce number of injuries experienced while running:
The top-selling running book of the last several years is Chi Running, by Danny Dreyer, ...
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Do some game developers use tests to measure dopamine and adrenaline levels?
A Vice article attributes a claim to psychologist and book author, Dr Nicholas Kardaras:
game developers use tests to measure dopamine and adrenaline levels in order to make video games as ...
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Is sulfur a "miracle cure"?
There are claims that sulfur and its compounds like organic sulfur and MSM can cure many health issues.
Sulfur and Methylsulfonylmethane or MSM for short is being claimed to have these benefits:
...
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Is practical psychophysics based on science?
My girlfriend visited a place in Latvia associated with the Institute of Practical Psychophysics.
A number of aspects have made me skeptical, including recommendations for products from health food ...
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Coca-cola and open water swimming
I've heard it claimed that Coke helps prevent infections.
The Independent
Some open-water swimmers drink Coke after racing, both for the sugar
rush and because it is said to neutralise harmful ...
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Can 7-Keto DHEA permanently increase the resting metabolic rate in humans?
The latest fad weight loss pill is 7-Keto DHEA. It's been featured and recommended on the show "Dr. Oz", and their website claims:
7-Keto works to counter this [dropping DHEA levels] by stimulating ...
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Is “tapping therapy” effective for the treatment of psychological trauma in children?
On BBC Radio 4 just now (“Woman’s Hour”, 26 Dec 2019), something called “tapping therapy” was mentioned for the treatment of psychological trauma in children.
I’ve looked it up and found this 2010 ...
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Healing Tooth Decay via Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation?
According to The Guardian scientists from the UK have developed a tool to repair cavities without filling or injections.
The new treatment, called Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced
...
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Do those receiving blood transfusions have worse outcomes than those with bloodless corrected anemia?
The American Red Cross proudly proclaims “Give blood, save lives” Honorable, but is it true? Multiple studies on all-cause or total mortality have shown in fact the traditional practices of ...
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Does a swelling make an X-ray photograph or MRI scan harder to interpret?
I started to write an answer to Why should we try to reduce swelling after injury? along the following lines:
There is another reason why suppressing the swelling in response to injury can be ...
user22865
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Can Hydrogen Peroxide administered via ear drops reduce the duration of the common cold?
I was looking for information about common colds and this URL came up on page 1 via Google search:
Vitamin D and Other Simple, Inexpensive Tricks to Cure a Cold (on mercola.com)
There's a section in ...
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Is "Oil Pulling" an effective treatment for arthritis or other chronic diseases?
Oil Pulling is apparently an ancient practice, but is seeing a recent surge in popularity. It is claimed it can cure almost anything, from bad breath to AIDS.
The process apparently involves ...
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Did Dave Elman contribute to an open heart surgery with hypnosis as the only anesthetic?
Colonel H.L. Elman (Dave's son): Among my father's many accomplishments, one that I treasure is the story of the man who was too weak for ANY of the many kinds of anesthesia drugs available in the ...
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Is Kefir an effective treatment for bowel disorders?
Kefir is a fermented milk drink from Russia.
There are some claims that Kefir is effective at treating gastroenteritis and inflammatory or irritable bowel syndrome. A web search for Kefir results in ...
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Are tattoos (particularly Japanese) carcinogenic and do they prevent sweating?
I was reading an interview with Jake Adelstein, a Yakuza expert, who says this:
Also the tattoos. Like, you can see on the cover of this book and the back of this book - see, one of the things they ...
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Is bruxism (teeth grinding) linked to parasitic infection?
There seems to be the common conception that bruxism (teeth grinding and jaw clenching) is a symptom of parasitic infections.
For example, this article by a dentist:
Sometimes teeth grinding is ...
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Did Monsanto know through internal documents that roundup causes cancer?
In this report by Reuters the layer for Dewayne Johnson stated:
Brent Wisner, a lawyer for Johnson, in a statement said jurors for the
first time had seen internal company documents “proving that ...
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Are warts always killed by the body's own immune system?
How precisely are warts removed? It’s my understanding that when the virus is killed the wart is effectively dead. I’ve heard some claims that it’s actually the body’s own immune system that kills the ...
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Does raising your body's temperature help cure flu?
I was discussing with a team mate on how to cure the (common) flu virus. We had a disagreement about the body temperature effect.
Con: Some argued that it's better to lower temperature, as it is a ...
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Is up to 95% of the human population genetically safe from leprosy?
In the article How Armadillos Can Spread Leprosy at the Smithsonian.com they state that
"Even more reassuring: up to 95 percent of the population is
genetically unsusceptible to contracting it.&...
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Does keeping your carbohydrate intake at 20-25% of your total caloric intake reduce insulin-resistance diseases?
From this article Excess Stomach Acid Mimics Hunger
Reducing your carbohydrate intake to 20-25% of your total caloric intake has a dramatic improvement in the diseases arising from insulin ...
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Does the video Experiments in the Revival of Organisms depict genuine results?
The video in question, which is in the public domain. Warning: may contain disturbing imagery.
http://archive.org/details/Experime1940
The 20 minute 1940 Russian video purports to show the results ...
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Do ripe bananas combat abnormal cells and cancer?
According to Japanese Scientific Research, full ripe banana with dark patches on yellow skin produces a substance called TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) which has the ability to combat abnormal cells. The ...
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Can tea cure canker sores?
Does applying a tea bag to a canker sore cause it to diminish or disappear?
Examples of this claim include:
Kid's Health (See Page 3)
Some doctors suggest putting wet black tea bags on sores. ...
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Can I get high by snorting chocolate?
Ok, I understand this sounds ludicrous but people are claiming you can get high by snorting chocolate:
Unlike alcohol, meth, cocaine, speed and even drugs like LSD and psilocyben [sic], the newest ...
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Does wearing spectacles protect you from covid?
Yet another surprising study on things that make a difference to the risk of covid has appeared.
This one claims, to quote the report in LiveScience:
People who wear eyeglasses may be at lower risk ...
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Will bacteria grow in filtered water?
Zero Water makes water filtration systems that they claim remove 99% of total dissolved solids from water.
On the Water is the New Gold blog, a water-filter scientist warns against its use:
More ...
djs
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Is "LED Therapy" clinically effective?
An article in today's Guardian contains a number of claims about "LED therapy" (emphasis mine):
The Healite uses light-emitting diode (LED) technology, delivered at a wavelength of 830nm, to ...
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