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Description, Goals, Aims and Scope, Key Aspects |
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Message from the Editor-in-Chief concerning Medical Veritas: The Journal of Medical Truth |
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Editorial Introductions |
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00158 |
When evidence-based medicine (EBM) fuels confusion: multiple sclerosis after hepatitis B vaccine as a case in point by Marc Girard
Abstract: Background: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) may be used to discard valuable data under the pretext that it does not correspond to the "best" criteria of proof, even when no results complying with these "best" criteria are available. Since their infrequent occurrences make it impossible to assess most adverse effects using randomised clinical trials (RCTs), drug safety offers frequent examples of selective assessment of data based upon this poor understanding of the fundamental tenets of EBM. While the gold standard of pharmaco-epidemiology (case/control studies) is usually ranked amongst the lower levels of evidence and is unattainable in many instances, the majority of safety problems are simply assessed using subjective specifications ("acceptable," "hard to interpret," "not enough evidence," "not causally demonstrated"). This vaccine-safety example illustrates that such specifications are almost always biased by prejudices and application inconsistencies. Methodology: Taking it for granted that any review of evidence must be complete, it must also be emphasized that such reviews must be fair. This means that the significance of the results must be assessed according to: a) the reliability of their sources (sponsoring, methods used, transparency of results, vested interests) and b) the weight of evidence which, in previous instances, was deemed to be "sufficient" to justify regulatory measures or practical recommendations. Principal Findings: Applied to the issue of demyelinating disorders after vaccination against hepatitis B, this conceptual framework makes it possible to show that: (1) the authors of most studies challenging the reality of a neurological risk have vested interests (which are not always of financial nature); (2) the criticism directed by national (French Agency, U.S. CDC) and international health agencies (WHO) towards investigations supporting a neurological risk after hepatitis B vaccination ranges from nonsense to documented forgery; and (3) even in the greatest journals, the process of publication has been tainted by the self-serving influence of the drug makers. Conclusions/Significance: (1) The level of evidence demonstrating a significant risk of central demyelinating disorder after hepatitis B vaccine is far higher than that normally accepted to justify strong regulatory measures as exemplified by the historical precedents of thalidomide, aminorex, diethylstilbestrol, practolol, dexfenfluramine, tolcapone, and cerivastatin. (2) The dynamics of biased controversies over drug safety is based upon a worrying perversion of two key-points of scientific legitimacy: the publication process on the one hand, and the game of refutation on the other. However, the secular rules of Hippocratic prudence still offer valuable guidance to prescribers that, in practice, can be used to manage today's money-driven controversies that focus on promoting the "benefits" of drugs while downplaying or ignoring the often all-to-real "risks" associated with these same drugs. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1436–1451] |
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Analysis of causes that led to subdural bleeding, skull and rib fractures, and death in the case of baby Averial Buie by Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati
Abstract: A female infant from Texas stopped breathing and her mother took her to the hospital. Blood analysis revealed the baby suffered from severe metabolic and respiratory acidosis, hyperglycemia, hyperkalemia, and lymphocytosis. A chest X-ray showed evidence of pneumonitis. Physical examination revealed no evidence of injury caused by trauma. She was treated with epinephrine, sodium bicarbonate, antibiotic, and other medications. She developed bleeding outside the skull and intracranially. No skull or rib fractures were noted on the CT scans and X-rays taken during the fist four days following admission. However, skull and rib fractures were observed on the CT scan and X-rays taken at a later date.
Resuscitation efforts failed and the baby died at 11 days following admission. At autopsy, the medical examiner (ME) found healed skull and rib fractures, bleeding of various ages outside the skull and intracranially, and brain edema and necrosis. His microscopic examination of the H & E stained sections of the lung revealed evidence of bronchopneumonia, hyaline membranes in the alveoli, and bleeding. The ME alleged that the baby's injuries were caused by trauma and her father was accused of killing her.
My investigation reveals that the infant suffered from acute bronchopneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome on August 6, 2004, which led to hypoxemia, severe metabolic and respiratory acidosis, hyperkalemia, loss of consciousness, respiratory failure, and cardiac arrest. Her bleeding, brain edema and necrosis, and skull and rib fractures occurred in the hospital. These injures were caused by infection and medications. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1452–1469] |
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Analysis of causes that led to baby Stryker Eoghan Burke's sudden death by Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati
Abstract: Stryker is a 55-day-old white male infant who was found dead in his bed on September 6, 2005. Based on the finding of methanol (20 mg/dL) and formic acid (23.2 mg/dL) in a blood sample taken from his heart at the time of autopsy, his parents were accused of poisoning him with methanol. My investigation reveals that the baby died as a result of severe hyponatremia. He had a critically low serum sodium level of 114 mmol/L (normal range: 135-145 mmol/L). Moreover, the gross and microscopic examinations of the brain showed evidence of edema and hypoxia and these lesions are reported in people suffering from hyponatremia.
My investigation also reveals that there is no evidence that the baby suffered from methanol poisoning. He did not show any symptom of methanol poisoning prior to his death. His brain, spinal cord, eyes and optic nerves, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and other tissues were examined grossly and microscopically and no lesion was observed that indicated intoxication with methanol.
It is likely that the methanol and formic acid detected in Stryker's blood resulted from the contamination of the blood with formalin used to fix tissues. This fixative contains 1 to 1.5% methanol and 3 to 4% formaldehyde. The oxidation of formaldehyde to formic acid is facilitated by formaldehyde dehydrogenase present in the red blood cells. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1470–1483] |
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The relationship of the toxic effects of mercury to exacerbation of the medical condition classified as Alzheimer's disease by Boyd E. Haley
Abstract: Mercury(II) or Hg2+, is neurotoxic. When exposed to normal brain tissue homogenates, neurons in culture, Hg2+ (mercury(II) or mercuric mercury) is capable of causing many of the same biochemical aberrancies found in Alzheimer's diseased (AD) brain. Also, rats exposed to mercury(0), metallic mercury, vapor show some of these same abnormalities in their brain tissue. Specifically, the rapid inactivation of the brain thiol-sensitive enzymes (tubulin, creatine kinase and glutamine synthetase) occurs after: (a) the addition of low micromolar levels of Hg2+, (b) exposure to mercury vapor (Hg0) or (c) the addition of Thimerosal (ethylmercurythiosalicylate sodium salt). Moreover, these same enzymes are significantly inhibited in the AD brain. Further, exposure of neurons in culture to nanomolar levels of Hg2+ has been shown to produce three of the widely accepted pathological diagnostic hallmarks of AD. These AD hallmarks are elevated amyloid protein, hyper-phosphorylation of Tau, and formation of neurofibillary tangles (NFTs).
This paper proposes the hypothesis that elemental mercury, organic mercury compounds, and other blood-brain permeable toxicants, which have enhanced specificity for thiol-sensitive enzymes, are the etiological source of AD. Included in this category are other heavy metals such as lead and cadmium that act synergistically to enhance, by many-fold, the toxicity of metallic mercury and organic-mercury(II) compounds, like Thimerosal. This hypothesis also explains the genetic susceptibility to AD that is expressed through the APO-E geneotype. Specifically, a reduction of APO-E gene type that contains two cysteines decreases the one of the innate detoxification capabilities of APO-E, the removal of mercury and other thiol-reactive toxicants from the central nervous system. This increases brain exposure to thiol-reactive toxicants and elevates the risk of AD. Also, the increased exposure to mercury through breathing the mercury vapor emanating from mercury amalgam dental fillings can have a deleterious effect on olfactory capability. This effect may explain the high correlation between the loss of sense of smell and the subsequent development of AD. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1484–1498] |
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The brain, thinking, and behavior in autism: attention by Mary Joann Lang and Martha Klassen
Abstract: The focus of this article is on attentional issues in children with autism. There are two issues discussed: (1) attention and mental energy, and (2) attention and processing of information. In the mental energy section, issues presented concern impact sleep/wake cycle and dietary sensitivities on attention. In the processing of information section, attention is broken down into areas which include: selective/focused; shifting; working; sustained, and joint. Case examples are provided in order to illustrate the concepts presented and how they relate to children with autism. Suggestions are made with regard to assessment of attentional issues. Discussion of the development of a transdisciplinary team approach to evaluate and address attentional issues is included. Recommendations are made regarding how to collect baseline data in order to determine sleep and eating patterns. There are also interventions that may be used in the home and in the school setting. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1499–1504] |
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Case Study in the Public Health Menace of Tuberculosis (TB) Testing by Leonard George Horowitz
Abstract: The Tuberculosis Control Program (TCP) in Hawaii illustrates medical malfeasance and gross negligence of laws governing public health practices enacted to protect persons, civil liberties, and religious freedoms. This case illuminates the commonly accepted, albeit contraindicated, practice of testing low-to-no-risk persons for tuberculosis (TB) using invasive methods. Intelligence and evidence strongly condemns this medical malpractice since TB testing generates large percentages of false positives among victims commonly persuaded to further intoxicate themselves "prophylactically" with dangerous chemotherapeutics. Due to the absence of risk-to-benefit studies, lacking scientific support for TB testing of persons known to be at low-to-no-risk, the use of fraudulent persuasion tactics, neglect of medical contraindications for TB skin testing (TST) and long term use of chemotoxic drugs rifampin and isoniazid, this case documents institutionalized fraud coupled with gross criminal negligence as prime correlates and antecedents of the profitable contrivance of TB testing, politically masquerading as legitimate public health practice. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1505–1509] |
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Gulf War illnesses, anthrax vaccine, and steps toward improving DVA healthcare and research for Gulf War Veterans. Testimony. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Subcommittee on Health Hearing, July 26, 2007 by Meryl Nass
Abstract: Thank you for inviting me to testify before this Health Subcommittee. My name is Meryl Nass, and I practice internal medicine in Bar Harbor, Maine. I have conducted a specialty clinic to treat patients with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and Gulf War illnesses for eight years. I also have a longstanding interest in the scientific evaluation and prevention of bioterrorism, particularly anthrax. Since 1998, I have spoken and written about the many soldiers and veterans who became ill after receiving anthrax vaccinations, usually with illnesses indistinguishable from Gulf War Syndrome. I hope to clarify outstanding questions about the vaccine in this talk. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1510–1514] |
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Ghost management: How much of the medical literature is shaped behind the scenes by the pharmaceutical industry? by Sergio Sismondo
Abstract: Funding: Research for this article was supported in part by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The funder played no role in the decision to submit the article or in its preparation.
Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Sismondo S (2007) Ghost management: How much of the medical literature is shaped behind the scenes by the pharmaceutical industry? PLoS Med 4(9):e286. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040286 [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1515–1519] |
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Editorial—Reminiscences of America's children in the 1930s as compared with today, and the possible role of vaccines in causing retrogressive changes by Harold Buttram
Abstract: It is now universally recognized that we have a steadily growing epidemic of childhood autism, learning disabilities, and other developmental disorders, with comparable increases in asthma and allergies. By any measure now available, these conditions were rare during the 1930s and 1940s. If this trend is to be reversed, we must seek for causes.
As largely disclosed during the U.S. Congressional Hearings on issues of vaccine safety, which took place from 1999 to December, 2004, there are gross deficiencies in vaccine safety testing. Because of this lack, we have no means of identifying or proving adverse reactions when they do occur.
Almost totally lacking until now, the great need is for definitive before-and-after tests specifically designed to search for adverse effects of vaccines on the neurological and immune systems as well as genetics of our children, and in findings adverse effects to make appropriate safety modifications in vaccine programs. Over the years there have been a scattering of before-and-after vaccine tests showing that there can be harm to the immune and central nervous systems, bringing suspicion on vaccines as an underlying cause of current childhood epidemics. However, these have always been of limited scale, seldom if ever with adequate follow-up.
In the opinion of this observer, until the safety of vaccine programs can be assured by such testing, any further mandating of childhood vaccines well remain morally and ethically untenable.
This article was originally written in support of "Vaccination News." [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1520–1521] |
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Gastrointestinal pathology in autism: Description and treatment by Arthur Krigsman
Abstract: This paper, adapted from conference presentations, describes various lesions found in the gastrointestinal tracts of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using endoscopy. Some of these lesions, which are illustrated in color, are common to children with ASD, while others are similar to those found in neurotypical children. While not curable, all of these lesions are treatable. What is exciting is that most of these children respond extremely well to some combination of a restricted diet, anti-inflammatory medication, probiotics, antibiotics, antifungals, and digestive enzymes. [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1522–1530] |
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Parent/Parent Forum: |
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Parent Forum—Jonny and Sierra's story: from serious vaccine adverse reactions to recovering "autism" by Barbara H. Labrecque and Butch Labrecque
Abstract: Jonny and Sierra both had a normal birth and met developmental milestones. Following vaccination, they both experienced a serious vaccine adverse reaction and through diet and biomedical interventions are recovering from "autism". [©Medical Veritas, 2007 Nov; 4(2):1531–1536] |
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Book Reviews: |
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We Band of Mothers: Autism, My Son & the Specific Carbogydrate Diet by Judith Chinitz, MS |
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What To Eat by Marion Nestle |
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The War on Cancer: Anatomy of Failure by Guy B. Faguet |
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Changing the Course of Autism by Bryan Jepson, MD with Jane Johnson |
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Guide for Authors |
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Editorial Board |
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