randomized controlled trial Archives

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harsh reality photo — What? No sleep mask? No weighted blanket? No blackout shades? She’s a witch! *Photo* by C_Scott (Pixabay)

Happy New Year! With the holidays slowing down the pace of listener questions, Dave asks new co-host LJ Agostinelli and old hands Rob Humble and Hillary O’Brien to discuss the harsh truths and pleasant realities of studying medicine. Plus, Yahoo! Answers gets another visit, and manages to live up to Dave’s characterization of it as the saddest place on the internet.

This Week in Medical News

Scientists make themselves chuckle while proving a point about the gold standard of research, the randomized controlled trial, by elaborately studying whether parachutes save lives. Expensive drugs eek out a win over cheap exercise in treating high blood pressure, causing doctors and patients everywhere to cry, “Meh.” And in the battle to curb the ever-increasing national sleep debt, Dave gets a weighted blanket for Christmas.