Kidney Punch

beyond reasonable doubt: a significant improvement

John Pickering • Jan 15, 2015

• $100Dialysis,
• Beyond reasonable doubt,
• medical literature,
• medicine,
• p value,
• reasonable doubt,
• significance testing

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 […] … Read More

Fat Mate: Fat chance lost

John Pickering • Jan 02, 2015

• Blenheim,
• Callaghan Innovation,
• Diet,
• diet pill,
• Plant and Food,
• Randomised controlled trial,
• Satisfax

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, […] … Read More

Cheesecake files: Just how deadly is it?

John Pickering • Nov 27, 2014

• $100Dialysis,
• Acute Kidney Injury,
• Acute Renal Failure,
• AJKD,
• AKI,
• Cardiac Surgery,
• Cardiopulmonary Bypass,
• CPB,
• death,
• Dialysis,
• kidney,
• my work,
• RRT

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 […] … Read More

Can Doctors and Nurses help Dialysis patients recover?

John Pickering • Nov 07, 2014

• $100Dialysis,
• Acute Kidney Injury,
• Acute Renal Failure,
• chronic kidney injury,
• Dialysis,
• nephrologists,
• Nephrology,
• nurses,
• research,
• survey,
• UC San Diego

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 […] … Read More

Publication police and how to choose where to publish

John Pickering • Nov 03, 2014

• journal,
• open access,
• open access journal,
• publish,
• research funding

“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 …..”             Publication Police files, Nov.3 2024 Will peer pressure eventually lead to discrimination against those who publish behind a paywall?  Is it now […] … Read More

A funding model that works (for me)

John Pickering • Sep 26, 2014

• acute care,
• Canterbury District Health Board,
• Canterbury Medical Research Foundation,
• Emergency Care Foundation,
• Emergency Department,
• my work,
• science funding,
• translational research

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 → … Read More

It’s all about the math, dummy!

John Pickering • Sep 18, 2014

• election,
• electoral commission,
• electoral maths,
• Fun,
• mathematics,
• Overhang,
• Party vote,
• Vote2014NZ,
• Wasted vote

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 → … Read More

World Science Week: Where are we in the world?

John Pickering • Aug 26, 2014

• budget,
• Green Party,
• Labour Party,
• National Party,
• OECD,
• OECD countries Research and Development expenditure,
• Research and Development,
• United Future,
• World Science Week

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 → … Read More

Policy our lives depend on: Health research in election 2014

John Pickering • Aug 21, 2014

• ACT,
• election,
• greens,
• Health Policy,
• Internet Mana,
• Labour Party,
• Maori Party,
• National Party,
• New Zealand First,
• politics,
• research,
• United Future

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 → … Read More

Cheesecake files: A stadium full

John Pickering • Aug 06, 2014

• Acute Kidney Injury,
• Biomarkers,
• kidney,
• Kidney Attack,
• my work,
• Urine

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 → … Read More