Myths and fallacies

The linear no-threshold (LNT) assumption is over 70 years old and holds that all ionizing radiation exposure leaves cumulative effects, all of which are harmful regardless of how low the dose or dose rate is. The claimed harm centers on the risk of future radiogenic cancer. This has been shown countless times to be fallacious, and hundreds of scientific studies-both experimental and observational/epidemiological-demonstrate that at low enough doses and dose rates, ionizing radiation stimulates an evolved adaptive response and therefore is beneficial to health, lowering rather than raising the risk of cancer...

BACKGROUND: Cellulitis is commonly treated in the emergency department (ED). Patients who present with cellulitis incur significant health care costs and may be overtreated with antibiotics. The accurate diagnosis and treatment of cellulitis plays an important role in cost-effective, high-quality medical care, as well as appropriate antibiotic utilization. OBJECTIVE: We aim to describe common fallacies regarding cellulitis. We present 10 myths that result in misdiagnosis, overtreatment, or inappropriate empiric management of cellulitis...

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Cardiotocography (CTG) has disappointingly failed to show good predictability for fetal acidemia or neonatal outcomes in several large studies. A complete rethink of CTG interpretation will not be out of place. Fetal heart rate (FHR) decelerations are the most common deviations, benign as well as manifestation of impending fetal hypoxemia/acidemia, much more commonly than FHR baseline or variability. Their specific nomenclature is important (center-stage) because it provides the basic concepts and framework on which the complex "pattern recognition" of CTG interpretation by clinicians depends...

Proficiency in research design and statistical analysis is crucial to the success of a clinical pharmacist. However, new pharmacy graduates and residents may not have received adequate training and education in these areas. During the authors' tenure as clinical pharmacists, several statistical "myths" were consistently maintained by residents and new clinical practitioners. The purpose of this narrative review is to discuss and dispel several of these statistical fallacies. The myths discussed involve 3 common areas of consideration when evaluating any clinical study: assessing the risk of bias from confounding (propensity score analysis and multivariable modeling), interpretation of the main study findings ( P values and hypothesis testing), and secondary evaluations (subgroup analyses)...

A young woman presents with an intracranial arachnoid cyst. Another is diagnosed with migraine headache. An elderly man awakens with a stroke. And a baby delivered vaginally after 2 hours of questionable electronic fetal monitoring patterns grows up to have cerebral palsy. These seemingly disparate cases share a common underlying theme: medical myths. Myths that may lead not only to misdiagnosis and treatment harms but to seemingly never-ending medical malpractice lawsuits, potentially culminating in a settlement or judgment against an unsuspecting neurologist...

A chronic total occlusion (CTO) is defined as an occlusive (100% stenosis) coronary lesion with anterograde Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction 0 flow for at least 3 months. CTOs are common in patients referred for coronary angiography (up to 33%) and are associated with angina, impaired quality of life, and reduced survival. Unfortunately, CTO percutaneous coronary intervention continues to be underperformed worldwide (10% to 15% at most institutions, ∼30% where expert operators are available). The aim of this study was to address common fallacies pertaining to CTOs among cardiologists by providing a concise review of pertinent previously published reports along with an update on safety and efficacy of state-of-the-art CTO percutaneous coronary intervention techniques...

Many prevalent practices and guidelines related to Gastrointestinal endoscopy and procedural sedation are at odds with the widely available scientific-physiological and clinical outcome data. In many institutions, strict policy of pre-procedural extended fasting is still rigorously enforced, despite no evidence of increased incidence of aspiration after recent oral intake prior to sedation. Supplemental oxygen administration in the setting of GI procedural sedation has been increasingly adopted as reported in the medical journals, despite clear evidence that supplemental oxygen blunts the usefulness of pulse oximetry in timely detection of sedation induced hypoventilation, leading to increased number of adverse cardiopulmonary outcomes...

This analysis examines the roots of clinical practice regarding oxygen therapy and finds that some aspects have changed very little over the past 200 years. Oxygen is commonly prescribed and administered as a therapy across all healthcare settings, particularly for the treatment and management of respiratory conditions, both acute and chronic. Yet despite its widespread use and recent advances in understanding and guidance, poor practice and controversies regarding its use persist. This historical analysis highlights origins in practice that may suggest where the roots of these fallacies lie, highlighting potential ambiguities and myths that have permeated clinical and social contexts...

Asthma is a common childhood atopic disease associated with chronicity and impaired quality of life. As there is no cure for this disease, treatment relies on avoidance of triggers such as food and aeroallergens, the use of inhaled bronchodilators/corticosteroids and antiallergic or immunomodulating therapies. Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) and bronchodilators have been the mainstay. However, in Asia, myths and fallacies regarding Western medicine and corticosteroids are prevalent and lead to nonadherence to treatment...

UNLABELLED: There are many myths and fallacies surrounding the conservative or non-surgical management of patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD).This paper is not a treatise on splint design and does not champion any one particular treatment philosophy. It is, however, produced as the outcome of many years of lecturing and talking to fellow practitioners and represents the most frequently asked questions and common misconceptions encountered by the authors, who have addressed the topics raised with the intention of helping to avoid pitfalls...

Lucy Bregman's approach to Schreber'sMemoirs is scrutinized and found to be based on a number of fallacious and contradictory assumptions that call her interpretation of the book as personal religious myth into question. A social constructionist approach to mythology maintained by Berger and Luckmann is advanced, suggesting that at best Schreber's work qualifies as a quasi-mythical attempt to explain the source of his personal sociopsychic suffering. The family and interpersonal dynamics of Schreber's quasi-myth are investigated...

Lack of independence of data points or the pooling fallacy has been suggested as a potential problem in the study of handedness in nonhuman primates, particularly as it relates to whether hand use responses should be recorded as individual events or bouts of activity. Here, I argue that there is no evidence that the concept of statistical independence of data points or the pooling fallacy is a problem in the evaluation of population-level handedness in previous studies in nonhuman primates. I further argue these statistical concepts have been misapplied to the characterization of individual hand preferences...

Pakistan presently has one of the largest cohorts of young people in its history, with around 36 million people between the ages of 15 and 24 years. One of the main reasons for high population growth in Pakistan is almost stagnant contraceptive prevalence rate of 30% nationally and 17.4% amongst youth. The study was conducted to explore the perceptions regarding myths and fallacies related to male contraceptive methods among married youth aged 18-24 year in Karachi, Pakistan. Qualitative exploratory study design was adopted and a total of eight Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted...

I comment on Eagly and Wood's biosocial constructionist evolutionary theory (2011; DOI: 10.1007/s11199-011-9949-9). Although this gender feminist theory allows for evolved physical differences between men and women and evolved psychological similarities for men and women, it fails to consider evolutionary accounts of psychological sex differences. I hypothesize that gender feminists' reluctance to acknowledge that evolution has left different fingerprints on men's and women's bodies and brains stems from two common misunderstandings of evolutionary psychology: the myth of immutability and the naturalistic fallacy...

INTRODUCTION: This narrative review was carried out to collate the work of researchers on health-seeking behaviour in Pakistan, to discuss the methods used, highlight the emerging themes and identify areas that have yet to be studied. STUDY DESIGN: Review. METHODS: An overview of studies on health-seeking behaviour in Pakistan, found via searches on scholarly databases intended to locate material of medical and anthropological relevance. RESULTS: In total, 29 articles were reviewed with a range of different methodologies...

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric epidemiology is an important cornerstone of research in psychiatry and integral for the treatment and care of people suffering from psychiatric disorders. However, psychiatric epidemiology is a difficult science, which is often beset with methodological problems. AIMS: In light of this, the current review sought to explore 13 of the common methodological issues in psychiatric epidemiology. METHODS: Many methodological problems result from misunderstandings...

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This article explores the myths surrounding piriformis syndrome. It looks at the syndrome's history ranging from early hypothesis to acceptance; then from disfavor to resurrection as a diagnosis for patients with leg pain devoid of objective neurologic deficits, without disc herniations. It includes a critical review of the clinical literature and treatment strategies. It calls for a renaming of the syndrome to "nonlocalizing sciatica" and restriction of surgical resection of the piriformis to cases where all other treatment has failed...

Highly reliable evidence for piriformis syndrome and other pelvic sciatic syndromes arises from three major categories of data: magnetic resonance neurography diagnostic imaging, open magnetic resonance-guided injection studies, and patient treatment outcome studies. This article reviews the evidence in each category. This is part of a Point-Counterpoint discussion with Dr. Robert Tiel's presentation of "Myth and Fallacy".