Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
Anonymity in peer review: Hilda Bastian has taken a deep dive into the evidence. Phew!
” Scientists are in a real bind when it comes to peer review. It’s hard to be objective when we’re all among the peer reviewing and peer-reviewed, or plan to be. Still, we should be able to mobilize science’s repertoire to solve our problems. ”
Read Weighing Up Anonymity and Openness in Publication Peer Review on PLOS blogs, and Peer Review BC (Before Citations) on PLOS blogs by Hilda Bastian, May 13 and April 20, 2015.
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
Let’s Play Outcome Mash-up – A Clinical Trial Shortcut Classic! by Hilda Bastian.
” Deciphering trial outcomes can be a tricky business. As if many measures aren’t hard enough to make sense of on their own, they are often combined in a complex maneuver called a composite endpoint (CEP) or composite outcome. The composite is treated as a single outcome. And journalists often phrase these outcomes in ways that give the impression that each of the separate components has improved.”
Read: Let’s Play Outcome Mash-up – A Clinical Trial Shortcut Classic!, on Statistically funny, February 8, 2015, by author and cartoonist Hilda Bastian.
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
Watch @DES_Journal diaporama and health comics album on Flickr. Image via @Hildabast
” … But other than conferences, the most intensive group engagement with scientific research is still the face-to-face journal club. What are they like then, and what works well? Food might increase attendance “and conviviality” – but given how passionate or social it can get, alcohol might not be the best idea!….”
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
a comics by @HildaBast
Finding and aggressively treating non-symptomatic disease that would never have made people sick, inventing new conditions and re-defining the thresholds for old ones : will there be anyone healthy left at all?
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
Predicting the future of all groups of people – based on what happened to another group of people in the past – cannot prove precise for all individuals… a cartoon by @HildaBast
The chances of the results to be around – for ex: 62 to 73% – can be pretty slim or very high, depending on lots of things… See this chart highlighting today’s increased health risks for DES Daughters…
Hilda Bastian is Editor etc at PubMed Health, blogger at Scientific American. Commenting on epidemiology with cartoons at Statistically funny.
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
Over-diagnosis #cartoon by @HildaBast on Flickr
” … many people – including many doctors – just love gadgets and measuring things… … Actually, there’s too much monitoring in some health matters. Some monitoring could cause anxiety without benefit, or lead to actions that do more harm than good. “
Hilda Bastian is Editor etc at PubMed Health, blogger at Scientific American. Commenting on epidemiology with cartoons at Statistically funny.
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
Over-diagnosis #comics by @HildaBast on Flickr
The “get in early!” assumption has an in-built tendency to lead us astray when it comes to detection of diseases and conditions. And even most physicians – just the people we often rely on to inform us – don’t understand enough about the pitfalls that lead us to jump to conclusions about early detection too, well…early.
Those who need it least get the most early detection
Over-diagnosis from detecting people who would never have become ill from the condition detected
The statistical effect that means survival rates “improve” even if no one’s life expectancy increases
Hilda Bastian is Editor etc at PubMed Health, blogger at Scientific American. Commenting on epidemiology with cartoons at Statistically funny.
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
Beware of the too-simple Answer… by @HildaBast
Beware of the too-simple answer…
Hilda Bastian is Editor etc at PubMed Health, blogger at Scientific American. Commenting on epidemiology with cartoons at Statistically Funny
” Leonard is so lucky! He’s just asked a very complicated question and he’s not getting an over-confident and misleading answer. Granted, he was likely hoping for an easier one! But let’s dive into it. ”
Related: While heavily marketed, the DES Drugs never worked, more the opposite… like EDCs, they increase the risk of cancer and have transgenerational effects…
Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog
” It’s the Catch-22 of clinical trials: to protect pregnant women and children from the risks of untested drugs….we don’t test drugs adequately for them.
Women and children overboard, by @HildaBast
In the last few decades, we’ve been more concerned about the harms of research than of inadequately tested treatments for everyone, in fact. But for “vulnerable populations,” like pregnant women and children, the default was to exclude them. ”
Hilda Bastian is Editor etc at PubMed Health, blogger at Scientific American, commenting on the science of unbiased health research with cartoons at Statistically funny.