Matt, Chris, and Don review the literature on whether food labelling can reduce purchase and consumption of calories, the gang discusses a series of trials that were found to have errors and what it means for science, and Chris calculates the sum total of all living things on earth. Journal club article: Food labelling and […]
Matt, Chris, and Don examine a study that looked at whether a vaccine to prevent tuberculosis can treat Type 1 diabetes, the gang discusses the “Loss of Confidence Project” and what to do when you no longer have faith in one of your studies, and Matt reports on an N of 1 study that suggests […]
Matt, Chris, and Don do their second ever live podcast, exploring a study on the effects of sleep on mortality, the gang discusses a proposal to change the definition of statistical significance, and Chris goes rogue and has three amazing and amusing articles. Journal club article: Sleep duration and mortality study
Matt, Chris, and Don examine a trial done in India using synbiotics to prevent neonatal sepsis, the gang discusses a study that looked at whether scientific productivity has been increasing over time, and Don gives us just a study title for his amazing and amusing. Journal club article: Synbiotics to prevent sepsis study
Matt, Chris, and Don discuss a new treatment for lung cancer (immunotherapy), the gang discusses a controversy that occurred when a large clinical trial decided to change its endpoint, and Chris dives into the world of linguistics (again). Journal club article: Pembrolizumab lung cancer trial
Matt, Chris, and Don look at a case study of a drug company antidepressant trial in adolescents that was re-analyzed by different authors who came to different conclusions, the gang discusses the pre-registration movement in psychology and what it might tell us in medical research, and Matt finds out what happens to all those unreported […]
Matt, Chris, and Don finally take on one of their own studies on the effectiveness of outpatient pneumonia treatment in Pakistan and see how it holds up, the gang discusses what to do when your study has flaws, and Chris tells us what happens if you don’t get funding as a junior faculty member. Journal […]
Matt, Chris, and Don tackle a study on the effectiveness of opioids vs non-opioids for treatment of back, hip, and knee pain, then the gang discusses the new NIH rules on how a clinical trial is defined, and Matt reads us some academic love poems. Journal club article: Opioids vs non-opioids for back, hip, and […]
Matt, Chris, and Don are joined by Ludovic Trinquart and Mike LaValley from the BUSPH Biostats Department to discuss a massive meta-analysis on the effectiveness of antidepressants, then we talk about the pros and cons of meta-analysis, and Don gives us some driving advice. Journal club article: Antidepressants effectiveness
Matt, Chris, and Don discuss a study from Scotland on the introduction of the HPV vaccine and the impact on prevalence of HPV, the gang discusses what the goal of peer review is, and Matt gets on twitter to find out the latest on significance. Journal club article: HPV in Scotland
Matt, Chris, and Don puzzle out whether a diet low in gluten has an effect on coronary artery disease, the gang discusses whether it is ok to have prior beliefs when critiquing a study, and Don explains how sandwiches are killing the planet. Journal club article: Gluten and heart disease
Matt, Chris, and Don look at the science behind a supplement aimed at improving memory, the gang debates whether industry has a conflict of interest in running their own research, and Matt explains why Don is to blame for his hearing loss. Journal club article: Apoaequorin and memory study
Matt, Chris, and Don debate a new meta-analysis on the evidence behind calcium and vitamin D supplements for prevention of fractures, Matt once again explains why he hates null hypothesis significance testing, and Don alerts us to the dangers of listening to heavy metal. Journal club article: Vitamin D and calcium study
In this special bonus episode, we have our first guest, Dr. Kate Grabowski, the author of the study we reviewed on HIV incidence in Uganda in episode 14. She talks with Matt and sets the record straight on a few issues we got wrong and we talk about the wider impact of her work on […]
Matt, Chris, and Don weigh in on an area they finally have some expertise in (HIV) by reviewing a study of HIV prevention in Uganda, the gang tries to explain the difference between “efficacy” and “effectiveness,” and Matt gets dangerously close to a word we’re not allowed to say. Journal club article: HIV prevention in […]
Matt, Chris, and Don try to act like grownups in discussing a study of the effects of fecal transplants delivered through oral capsules to treat C. difficile infection, Matt mispronounces yet another medical term, p-values are finally, though not fully taken on (taken down?), and Chris reveals the enlightening truth that “jellyfish ain’t babies”. Journal […]
Matt, Chris, and Don discuss a fascinating study that contradicts much of the previous evidence on the benefits of heart stents for angina, Matt learns how angina is really pronounced during a discussion of ethics in medical research, and the three answer the question of just how bad Vegemite really is. Journal club article: Heart […]
Matt, Chris, and Don run an obstacle course (metaphorically) through a study on exercise and academic achievement (our first listener generated topic), then Matt lobs dodgeballs at Chris to pin him down on why he’s so skeptical about observational studies, and Don seems to suggest it’s ok to talk on a cell phone while crossing […]
Bonus content! Matt, Chris, and Don answer questions from a live audience.
Matt, Chris, and Don bring the podcast to a live audience and then feed them burritos before asking whether fat and carbs are killing us, wrestle with whether the ranking of a journal is a safe proxy for the quality of the articles within, and Chris finally teaches us why bees don’t use back scratchers. […]
Matt, Chris, and Don get checked into the boards on this new study on watching hockey and heart rates (seriously), get called for high sticking over their take on how big a study needs to be, and Chris warns us about the dangers of pizza deficiency syndrome. *We recorded video for this episode as well. […]
Matt, Chris, and Don decide whether school kids in Uganda can be taught to evaluate the validity of health claims (hey, isn’t that our job?), take their best shot at conveying their strategies for determining who study results generalize to and Chris finds the answers in rubbing his bald spot. Journal Club Article: Informed health […]
Matt, Chris, and Don put down their Halloween candy long enough to debate whether H1N1 flu vaccine can cause spontaneous abortions in pregnant women, attempt to discern whether or not it is ok to divide up your data (going on fishing expeditions?) and Matt explains why he didn’t make it all the way through The […]
Matt, Chris, and Don figure out whether or not artificial sweeteners are good or bad for your weight, pontificate on whether conflicts of interest change how we judge the results of a study, and Don and Matt have surprisingly similar feelings about what shall only be called “baloney” so that we don’t get a PG-13 […]
Matt, Chris, and Don discuss a new study that suggests increasing pollution regulation standards in the US could save lives (Trump’s EPA isn’t going to like this one), debate whether or not medical researchers should make policy recommendations (spoiler, Matt is alone on an island on this one) and Chris answers the question that has […]
Matt, Chris, and Don put on their best flannel shirts and go back to the 90s to discuss the paper that set off the MMR and autism controversy (spoiler, there is no controversy, MMR does not cause autism), dive deep into the peer review system (and debate whether the system is broken) and Chris and […]
Matt, Chris, and Don dig into the latest study on whether alcohol is good for your heart (please, please, please let this one work out!), discuss what kinds of health studies the media likes to report on and review the harshest peer reviewer feedback we can find. Journal club article: Association between clinically recorded alcohol […]
Matt, Chris, and Don review a new study suggesting chocolate may reduce your risk for atrial fibrillation (and resist the urge to just declare this one causal without ever reading the paper), discuss the difference between observational studies and randomized controlled trials and ask whether Usain Bolt is fast enough to cause a Doppler shift. […]
Matt, Chris, and Don examine a report on how routines in childhood affect obesity at age 11, discuss their takes on how to critically read a journal article (without being as cranky as we’d like to be), and the gang debates the plural of platypus, debate the science behind that “asparagus smell” (don’t pretend you […]
