Posts by linger
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Access: The Blue Inhaler, in reply to Joe Wylie,
BBT unequivocally does not work by the mechanism originally claimed for it. Nevertheless, many people using it report some benefit. This suggests that the main mechanism of operation may be as a placebo.
Happily,
(i) asthma is a condition exacerbated by stress, and so it may be expected to respond quite well to placebo; and
(ii) the expense, and long-term course of interactive training, and increase in patients’ perception of conscious control over their symptoms, and availability of reassuring support, are all design features that together make BBT one of the most effective placebos possible (right up there with fake surgical interventions, which tend to have a very high success rate).So I am certainly not suggesting that BBT is of no medical benefit.
If you find it works for you, then I am happy that it works for you.
But without a clinically proven mechanism, that still may not be a good enough reason for it to be officially recommended as a treatment option. -
Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Paul Campbell,
So "prominent" means there's a higher chance of rampant dickishness?
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Access: The Blue Inhaler, in reply to Hilary Stace,
The theories of overbreathing and consequent lack of sufficient carbon dioxide in the breath seemed plausible […though] the promise of getting rid of your inhaler and curing your asthma with Buteyko was overselling it.
It appears the former statement is dubious, and the latter more on the mark.
Money quotes from the meta-analysis cited by Thrash Cardiom above:The three studies designed to test Buteyko’s proposed mechanisms of action […] do not support Buteyko’s theories…
The five studies comparing BBT to a control for treatment of asthma […] show a variable though reasonably consistent reduction in […] drug use. Even more consistent however is the utter lack of any change in the participant’s pulmonary function tests.Hence, at best,
these studies imply that BBT can alter a patient’s perception of their symptoms, and perhaps prevent overuse of asthma medications
but
BBT does very little to alter the underlying pathophysiology of asthma, and [there is] absolutely no evidence […] that BBT can cure asthma.
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Very appropriately attributed at the Huffington Post to
Sean Gallagher, an animation designer with Telegael Studios in Ireland
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Hard News: A cog in the Mediaworks machine, in reply to bob daktari,
one we applaud cause JC and the other we mock cause Weldon
more accurately, 'cause there's no reason to expect it to be well done.
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Polity: On tour with The Boss, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Odd … placed in that context, Little’s suddenly spookily reminiscent of Tony Barry from Goodbye Pork Pie.
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Hard News: Radio being made, in reply to Russell Brown,
it often sounded weird and didn’t work
and let's face it, "all muscle and pump" is decidedly in that category.
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Hard News: Radio being made, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
A picture may be worth a thousand words
Sometimes the words are more valuable, and the pictures, as James Littlewood says, are
generic, often irrelevant, more often distracting than enlightening
— as sent up mercilessly in this clip from ABC’s The Hamster Wheel (Season 2, Episode 4, 17 October 2012):
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Hard News: Bowie, in reply to Rob Hosking,
Fair few musical connections around Red Dwarf. Actresses for the series included Clare Grogan (lead singer for Altered Images) as Kristine Kochanski in series 1-6, and singer Suzanne Rhatigan (whose album To Hell With Love featured several songs co-written by Craig Charles) as one of the aspects of the GELF ("Camille", series 4).
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Hard News: Bowie, in reply to linger,
The Mitch Benn tribute to Bowie has just been repeated as predicted. Currently available to stream until February 12th.