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“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”(Mark Twain)

November 24, 2020Quotes

“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”(Mark Twain)

The same can be said about the scientific literature which is prone to survivorship bias and conflict of interests as pointed out by my anaesthetist Dr Dennis Kerr:

“If you don’t read the scientific literature you are uninformed. If you read the scientific literature you are misinformed.” (Dr Dennis Kerr)

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” (Benjamin Disraeli)

Confidence in the Covid-19 Vaccine is already being eroded

November 24, 2020Comments

Trust in the Covid-19 vaccine is being already being eroded with the following developments:

The Pfizer CEO sells 60% of his Pfizer shares the day after announcing that Pfizer had a vaccine which was 90% effective;

Pfizer upgrades the effectiveness of their vaccine tp 95% after Moderna releases a press release that they also had a vaccine which was 95% effective;

Even the Russians did not want to sound like they were exaggerating by saying that the Russian vaccine was “92%” effective.

This is more akin to an auction rather than scientific rigour and certainly raises a lot of questions about true effectiveness, safety and secondary agendas.

Combining the above with the W.H.O.’s mismanagement of the pandemic has resulted in many already deciding that they will not take the vaccine

Covid-19-Vaccine-Confidence

Early mobilisation after hip and knee replacements with LIA pain control REDUCES risk of blood clots.

November 12, 2020Articles

This study reports the results of a multimodal thromboprophylaxis protocol for lower limb arthroplasty involving risk stratification, intraoperative calf compression, aspirin prophylaxis and early (within 4 h) post-operative mobilisation facilitated by the use of local infiltration analgesia.

The study also aimed to identify risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) within a 3-month period following surgery for patients deemed not at elevated risk.

Click on the link below to open the article.

DVT JOS Article 2020 (1)

Skin In The Game – Social and Economic Policy

November 12, 2020Comments

The problem with centrally allocated social and economic policy is that the central authority usually does not have skin in the game.

Hence the delay in the World Health Organisation (WHO) dealing with the Covid-19 crisis while it was still predominantly in China and could have been contained had they moved to quarantine international borders early, not waited for “evidence” that it was a respiratory virus which spread from person-to-person and not waited for “evidence” that masks are of benefit because they reduce transmission and viral load.

The W.H.O.’s delay led to the world’s governments also moving slowly.

Favourite Quotes -Dr Nassim Nicholas Taleb

November 12, 2020Quotes

“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” (Dr Nassim Nicholas Taleb)

“People tolerate inequality if the person at the top got there by risk-taking (and therefore can fail because they have skin-in-the-game). People do not tolerate inequality when the person at the top got there by rent-seeking.” (Dr Nassim Nicholas Taleb)