I was really disturbed by the article about placebos and thought it was too non-specific and sensational. 97% of physicians used placebos - right, by what definition? So I went looking and found the source study for the article. Here is a link:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0058247
And citation:
Howick J, Bishop FL, Heneghan C, Wolstenholme J, Stevens S, et al. (2013) Placebo use in the United Kingdom: results from a national survey of primary care practitioners. PLoS ONE 8(3): e58247.
The authors didn't post their questionnaire as a supplement, unfortunately, but responses regarding use of the individual 'placebo' types are discussed in more detail than in the article we read in class. The paper reports that 12% of docs reported using a "pure" placebo (i.e. sugar pills or saline injection) "at least once" in their career - but it is difficult to see details from the table, which groups the rare and never responses. The proportion of doctors who reported "occasional" use of a pure placebo, which by their definition includes "at least once in the last year," is 1.5%.
In terms of the impure placebos, the most common "impure placebos" used were "positive suggestions," which was used by 51.7% of docs at least once a week and by 19.6% occasionally (i.e. at least once in last year), and "antibiotics for suspected viral infections," which was used by 25.2% of docs at least once a week and by 51.2% occasionally. I would have really liked to see the numbers with these two items removed. I have a real problem with the article (probably the press release) reporting on this paper. Again - the sensationalism...
Another interesting tidbit the authors reported - there were some differences in use by physician sex. "More females used positive suggestions on a frequent basis (64% versus 52%, RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.40, P = 0.0013), and more males prescribed off-label uses of potentially effective therapy frequently (18% versus 10% RR 1.82, 95% CI 1.23 to 2.71, P = 0.0029). "
Here is the table I referred to:
Check out various links on cells and post your impressions:
I appreciated the interactive 'Virtual Cell', but the animations were kind of old school so I went in search of more. Totally geeked out. Here are a few more interactive (or video) options:
Cell Organelles And Their Function Animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKEaTt9heNM
Here's another (not video): http://www.cellsalive.com/cells/cell_model_js.htm
Ooh pretty: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/insideacell/
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