John Pickering
beyond reasonable doubt: a significant improvement - Kidney Punch
Jan 15, 2015 •
For the second time in a week I have removed the word “significant” from a draft manuscript written by a colleague of mine in clinical medicine. In a significantly p’d I wrote about the myth of significance – that is about the ubiquitous use of the term “significant” in the medical literature to mean a […]
Fat Mate: Fat chance lost - Kidney Punch
Jan 02, 2015 •
I expect New Zealand tax dollars science spending to be better than what I read in the media this morning. Headlined in the Press was “Blenheim ‘fat mate’ loses 13.5kg in 8 weeks.” The story was of someone on a trial of a locally produced diet supplement having lost weight. So far nothing to peak my interest, […]
Cheesecake files: Just how deadly is it? - Kidney Punch
Nov 27, 2014 •
Everyone said it did, but how did they know and by how much? Statements like “The development of AKI [Acute Kidney Injury] after CPB [Cardiopulmonary Bypass Surgery] is associated with a significant increase in infectious complications, an increase in length of hospital stay, and greater mortality.” (Kumar & Suneja, Anaesthesiology 2011 14(4):964) are common place […]
Can Doctors and Nurses help Dialysis patients recover? - Kidney Punch
Nov 07, 2014 •
In the case of dialysis dependent acute kidney injury patients this is a question which Dr Dinna Cruz and colleagues (University of California San Diego) are asking and seeking opinions from both nephrologists and non-nephrologist doctors and nurses involved in care of dialysis patients. It was a question which arose out of discussions at this […]
Publication police and how to choose where to publish - Kidney Punch
Nov 03, 2014 •
“I confess, I published behind a paywall. I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t want to, but but but I’m almost out of funds and and …..
A funding model that works (for me) - Kidney Punch
Sep 26, 2014 •
I’ve been a strong critic of the bias towards project rather than people based funding in public grants for science research. Now, I celebrate being the recipient of people based funding thanks to a combined initiative of the Emergency Care Foundation, the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation, and the Canterbury District Health Board. What has transpired is … Continue reading →
It’s all about the math, dummy! - Kidney Punch
Sep 18, 2014 •
No one understands the electoral maths of the NZ electoral system including the electoral commission apparently. Last night I put the latest figures from the “Poll of Polls” into the electoral commission calculator and I discovered the calculator was broken! I put the figures in with United Future winning one electorate seat, but when it crunched … Continue reading →
World Science Week: Where are we in the world? - Kidney Punch
Aug 26, 2014 •
It’s World Science Week. So, where are we in the science world? One measure showing our commitment to science is our expenditure on R&D. If we compare ourselves to the other OECD countries, we see that we are right at the bottom of the pile at 1.27% of GDP and have recently been overtaken by Hungary. … Continue reading →
Policy our lives depend on: Health research in election 2014 - Kidney Punch
Aug 21, 2014 •
We all care about health – ours, our family’s, and even that of one or two politicians (perhaps). We also care that the 15 billion dollar annual health budget is spent on health care that works. I contend that both these cares are only as good as the health research that underpins the treatments we receive. Therefore, … Continue reading →
Cheesecake files: A stadium full - Kidney Punch
Aug 06, 2014 •
As we’ve been enjoying the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games my latest cheesecake appeared in print online. The topic once more is Kidney Attack biomarkers – those pesky little proteins in the urine that appear when your kidney is injured. This time I have been getting stuck into some math (sorry) to try and … Continue reading →