Ronald Fisher advocated testing using p-values, Harold Jeffreys proposed use of objective posterior probabilities of hypotheses and Jerzy Neyman recommended testing with fixed error probabilities. Each was quite critical of the other approaches. Most troubling for statistics and science is that the three approaches can lead to quite different practical conclusions. This article focuses on discu...

1. Kaplan SS, Ogitvy CS, Gonzalez R, Gress D, Pile-Spellman J. Extracranial vertebral artery pseudoaneurysm presenting as subarachnoid hemorrhage. Stroke. 1993;24:1397-1399. 2. Saver JL, Easton JD, Hart RG. Dissections and trauma of cervicocerebral arteries. In: Barnett HJM, Mohr JP, Stein BM, Yatsu FM, eds. Stroke: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Churchill Liv...

In 1911, members of a British expedition walked across the Antarctic to the South Pole, but in the punishingly hostile environment, retracing their steps back to the edge of the continent proved fatal. Over the last 100 years, knowledge about human physiology has greatly increased and, on the centenary of this most extreme of all journeys, this essay explores the true extent of the physiologica...

The patient presented to the hospital emergency department (ED) with fever, body ache, headache, nausea and vomiting. She had a history of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) and splenectomy. Her vital signs at triage were T 101.6, P 166, R 66, B/P 114/62. Her acuity level was considered emergent/urgent. According to the nursing staff, the patient appeared to be very ill. Two hours later ...

Acute renal failure (ARF), induced by either toxins or ischemia, is associated with significant morbidity. The pathogenesis of ARF is complex and is characterized by renal vasoconstriction and oxidative stress in association with tubular and microvascular injury and interstitial inflammation. In many situations, ARF is associated with a rise in serum uric acid as a result of both increased gene...

Data on species richness and taxon age are assembled for the extant hexapod orders (insects and their six-legged relatives). Coupled with estimates of phylogenetic relatedness, and simple statistical null models, these data are used to locate where, on the hexapod tree, significant changes in the rate of cladogenesis (speciation-minus-extinction rate) have occurred. Significant differences are ...

Given knowledge at the time, the recent 2015-2016 zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic probably could not have been predicted. Without the prior knowledge of ZIKV being already present in South America, and given the lack of understanding of key epidemiologic processes and long-term records of ZIKV cases in the continent, the best related prediction could be carried out for the potential risk of a generi...

An early English explorer of North America, Captain John Smith reported use of a wild food called mattoume by native inhabitants of Virginia. Botanical identification of mattoume has been a mystery. In an attempt to solve the mystery of which plant species Captain Smith observed, I compare the botanical descriptions of wild rice and several other possible species that were mentioned either in s...