Hua Hin Forum

There’s a lot more we would like to know,” says Vos, who contributed to the analysis. “But given that it is such a simple, low-cost intervention with potentially such a large impact, who would not want to use it?

As clinical researchers are sometimes fond of saying, parachutes have never been tested in a randomized controlled trial, either.

Big Boy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 19, 2020 3:01 pm I don't know about limiting the spread of Covid, it seems to be limiting the spread of everything. From June onwards we're into the coughs, cold and flu season. That barely seems to have happened this year.

He said there has been "near extinction of influenza in New Zealand following our very effective Covid-19 response", as numbers vanished from the two standard systems for surveillance - resulting in a 99.8 percent reduction in flu cases.

According to Baker, there were usually 1600 more deaths in winter, compared to other seasons, and around a third of those were caused by influenza, mostly in older people with long-term health conditions.

"What the Covid-19 response has done has largely eliminated those excess winter deaths and mortality as a whole is down around 5 percent," he said. "So that means an extra 1500 people will survive this year who wouldn't have."

At first glance, the cited article looks to be quite legitimate. It is listed in PubMed Central, a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM). This is a U.S. government website (as evidenced by the “.gov” in the URL). It was published in the medical journal Medical Hypotheses, which on the surface seems quite reasonable. The author lists his affiliation as Cardiology Division, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System/Stanford University, which is seemingly a reputable organization that lends credibility to the article. It looks very much like other science journal articles you may have seen—there is an Abstract, an Introduction, mentions of the World Health Organization and other reputable scientific organizations, and a table that lists the potential health consequences of mask-wearing. Delving more deeply, you might notice that the article is littered with footnotes, listing 67 references!

This may include both incorrect and unsubstantiated claims. In this example, you can find both, including:

An assertion that the case fatality rate of COVID-19 is considerably less than 1%, which is backed up with a citation from March 26, 2020 (VERY early in the pandemic). While the true case fatality rate of COVID-19 is not definitely established, as of March 1, 2021, the lowest case fatality rate in the world (New Zealand) is 1.1% (ourworldindata.org).

An indirect suggestion that wearing a mask can cause hypoxemia (oxygen deficit) without citing any studies that show mask-induced hypoxemia. Through a series of alarming pieces of information about the dangers of hypoxemia, it creates an air of urgency that seeks to frighten the reader about mask-wearing (“It is well established that acute significant deficit in O2 [hypoxemia] and increased levels of CO2 [hypercapnia] even for a few minutes can be severely harmful and lethal, while chronic hypoxemia and hypercapnia cause health deterioration, exacerbation of existing conditions, morbidity and ultimately mortality.”) While the references that point out the dangers of hypoxia are valid, there are no references that provide evidence connecting mask-wearing to hypoxia.

The sources cited are not quoted nor are page number references provided. Reputable scientific papers cite sources and include page numbers for the citation and often provide directly-quoted material.

Incorrect spelling (“...400,000 people showed a 13% increased morality [sic] risk among people”) and grammar issues (“As described earlier, wearing facemasks causing [sic] hypoxic and hypercapnic state that constantly challenges the normal homeostasis…”). While this can be a result of an author whose primary language is not English, most journals have editorial staff that ensure correct spelling and grammar before publication.

HHTel wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:38 am That article has been thoroughly examined. Another conclusion is 'Seeing is not necessarily believing'.

At first glance, the cited article looks to be quite legitimate. It is listed in PubMed Central, a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM). This is a U.S. government website (as evidenced by the “.gov” in the URL). It was published in the medical journal Medical Hypotheses, which on the surface seems quite reasonable. The author lists his affiliation as Cardiology Division, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System/Stanford University, which is seemingly a reputable organization that lends credibility to the article. It looks very much like other science journal articles you may have seen—there is an Abstract, an Introduction, mentions of the World Health Organization and other reputable scientific organizations, and a table that lists the potential health consequences of mask-wearing. Delving more deeply, you might notice that the article is littered with footnotes, listing 67 references!

This may include both incorrect and unsubstantiated claims. In this example, you can find both, including:

An assertion that the case fatality rate of COVID-19 is considerably less than 1%, which is backed up with a citation from March 26, 2020 (VERY early in the pandemic). While the true case fatality rate of COVID-19 is not definitely established, as of March 1, 2021, the lowest case fatality rate in the world (New Zealand) is 1.1% (ourworldindata.org).

An indirect suggestion that wearing a mask can cause hypoxemia (oxygen deficit) without citing any studies that show mask-induced hypoxemia. Through a series of alarming pieces of information about the dangers of hypoxemia, it creates an air of urgency that seeks to frighten the reader about mask-wearing (“It is well established that acute significant deficit in O2 [hypoxemia] and increased levels of CO2 [hypercapnia] even for a few minutes can be severely harmful and lethal, while chronic hypoxemia and hypercapnia cause health deterioration, exacerbation of existing conditions, morbidity and ultimately mortality.”) While the references that point out the dangers of hypoxia are valid, there are no references that provide evidence connecting mask-wearing to hypoxia.

The sources cited are not quoted nor are page number references provided. Reputable scientific papers cite sources and include page numbers for the citation and often provide directly-quoted material.

Incorrect spelling (“...400,000 people showed a 13% increased morality [sic] risk among people”) and grammar issues (“As described earlier, wearing facemasks causing [sic] hypoxic and hypercapnic state that constantly challenges the normal homeostasis…”). While this can be a result of an author whose primary language is not English, most journals have editorial staff that ensure correct spelling and grammar before publication.

https://www.amgenbiotechexperience.com/ ... -believing

Amgen Biotech Experience is a scientific education program. It's been around for around 30 years.
This particular 'lesson' is teaching students how to identify the facts and fiction in seemingly valid reports.