Publication Peer Reviews

Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog

Peer-review cartoon
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. ”

Clinical Trials and Composite Outcomes

Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog

Composite-outcomes cartoon
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.

On Flickr

Turning Up the Volume on Journal Clubs

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!….” 

Read: Science’s Water Coolers: Turning Up the Volume On Journal Clubs, PLOS Blogs Absolutely Maybe, December 17, 2014.
Hilda Bastian is author and cartoonist behind Statistically funny.
See more cartoons

On Flickr®

Watch @DES_Journal diaporama and health cartoons album on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)

The over-abundance of over-diagnosis…

Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog

Over-diagnosis comics
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?

On Flickr®

Watch the Diaporama, and the health comics album on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)

You will meet Too much False Precision…

Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog

Fortune teller - medium
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.

Read You will meet too much false precision…. by Hilda Bastian.
See more comics.

On Flickr®

Watch the Diaporama, and the health comics album on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)

Screening Tests : You have the Right to remain Anxious

The National Cancer Institute’s Barry Kramer tackled the issue of over-diagnosis from cancer screening

Drive-thru screening clinic image
Screening Tests #comics by @HildaBast on Flickr

Hilda Bastian is Editor etc at PubMed Health, blogger at Scientific American. Commenting on epidemiology with cartoons at Statistically funny.

Read You have the right to remain anxious…. by Hilda Bastian.

See more comics – all our posts tagged overdiagnosis and screening.

On Flickr®

Watch the Diaporama, and the health comics set on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)

How much Monitoring is too Much?

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.

Read Every move you make….Are you watching you? and “Every Breath You Take, Every Move You Make…” How Much Monitoring Is Too Much? by Hilda Bastian.

See more comics – all our posts tagged overdiagnosis and screening

On Flickr®

Watch the Diaporama, and the health comics set on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)

Over-diagnosis: what’s so good about so “early” anyway?

Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog

what's so good about "early" anyway?
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.

  1. Those who need it least get the most early detection
  2. Over-diagnosis from detecting people who would never have become ill from the condition detected
  3. 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.

Continue reading What’s so good about “early,” anyway?, by Hilda Bastian

See more comics – all our posts tagged overdiagnosis and screening

On Flickr®

Watch the Diaporama, and the health comics set on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)

Does it work ? Beware of the too-simple answer

Hilda Bastian is cartoonist and writer at StatisticallyFunny blog

Does it work ? Beware of the too-simple Answer...
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. ”

Continue reading Does it work? Beware of the too-simple answer
by Hilda Bastian

See more Comics – about Doctors – Prescriptions Drugs – the FDA – the Pharmaceutical Industry

Related:
While heavily marketed, the DES Drugs never worked, more the opposite… like EDCs, they increase the risk of cancer and have transgenerational effects…

On Flickr®

Watch the Diaporama, and the Art photo set on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)

Catch-22: Clinical Trials Edition

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.

Catch-22: Clinical Trials Edition
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.

Continue reading Women and children overboard
by Hilda Bastian, 23 April 2013

All our posts about the #AllTrials campaign. More about Big Pharma – Clinical Trials – Prescriptions Drugs – the FDA – the Pharmaceutical Industry

On Flickr®

Watch the Diaporama, and the health comics album on  DES Diethylstilbestrol's photostream on Flickr

If you already have a flickr® account, add us as a contact
Email your photos to des.daughter@gmail.com with a short description and title :-)