Festive cheer for all?

One Cheer for Representationalism?†

When Dewey declared in  that pragmatism would ‘give the coup de grace to representationalism ’, he had (to say the least) underestimated the tenacity of the intended victim. Even as he wrote, Russell was at work on the waggons which were to carry so much of philosophy into new lands—regions where Frege’s referentialism was part of the bedrock (or so it seemed). A century later, despite rene...

Festive medical myths.

In the pursuit of scientific truth, even widely held medical beliefs require examination or re-examination. Both physicians and non-physicians sometimes believe things about our bodies that just are not true. As a reminder of the need to apply scientific investigation to conventional wisdom, we previously discussed the evidence disputing seven commonly held medical myths. The holiday season pre...

Economic evaluation study (CHEER-compliant)

Cetuximab (Cetux)/Bevacizumab (Bev) treatments have shown considerably survival benefits for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in the last decade. But they are costly. Currently, no data is available on the health economic implications of testing for extended RAS wild-type (wt) prior to Cetux/Bev treatments of patients with mCRC. This paper aimed to evaluate the cost-effectivene...

Habitat: a festive air, serious business.

Festive flu delay . . . and other stories.

A recent Minerva article (BMJ 2017;356:j54, doi:10.1136/bmj. j54) on antihypertensives and acute kidney injury inaccurately stated the results. The statement should have said “Compared with patients without chronic kidney disease, having stage 4 chronic kidney disease increased the risk of acute kidney injury by a factor of 6-8 times (independent of antihypertensive use).” Although the risk of ...