BMJ calls Wakefield's research "Irresponsible and Dishonest"

I heard it on NPR. Wakefield is the doctor who linked autism to vaccines. They're blaming current outbreaks of measles and mumps on him. They're not discussing his actual research or findings, beyond saying that some of Wakefield's small sample were children who already had symptoms of autism. Wakefield's study involved looking at the microbes in his patient's guts. It was interesting. I do not know anything about his integrity, but he has lost his medical license and now his reputation is tattered.

No one study proves anything, it only suggests. Scientific findings must be repeatable to be believed. The conventional line now is that there is absolutely no link between vaccines and autism, but the science supporting that assertion is not beyond question. We shall see what people say a decade hence.

BMJ = British Medical Journal

SOURCES NOT YET EXPLORED (I gotta go to class!)
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/735354?src=mpnews&spon=34
http://news.discovery.com/human/vaccine-autism-doctor-accused-of-deliberate-fraud.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/lshumaker/detail?entry_id=80422
http://news.google.com/news/quote?hl=en&expIds=17259,18167,27846,27955&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&cp=5&ie=UTF-8&qsid=k--ZTkiUlIjWvM&ei=1d0lTa6PG4rmsQPfg9CcAQ&sa=X&oi=news_quote_result&ct=more-results&cd=1&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ0gYoADAA
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/12/17/somali-autism/

Poem: Enough

( don't know who the author is )

Headaches

Headaches can be divided into two major categories, known as primary and secondary headaches. Primary headaches are those that occur for no known cause, and are grouped as either migraine, tension, or cluster headaches. They are said to not be caused by an underlying medical condition, and constitute 90% of all headaches. Secondary headaches are because you have a tumor, bleed, infarction, infection, or other brain injury. Some 12% of all Americans suffer from headaches.
( more )

QotD: Ideas

One can resist the invasion of an army but one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.
--Victor Hugo