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Netherlands

Trial By Error: FITNET-NHS Falls Short in Recruitment Drive

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By David Tuller, DrPH

Professor Esther Crawley, Bristol University’s methodologically and ethically challenged pediatrician and star researcher, has weighed in with an interim analysis of FITNET-NHS, her trial of online cognitive behavior therapy for adolescents with what she calls CFS/ME. Poor Professor Crawley! Despite her ambitious goal of enrolling a whopping 734 participants, early recruitment fell way below expectations. She is now pursuing a scaled-down, shrunken version–MINI-FITNET-NHS, perhaps?

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Trial By Error: Recent Posts on Dutch Stuff from Simon McGrath and Lou Corsius

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By David Tuller, DrPH

Last week I wrote about the questionable decision by Dutch health funders to support a new research project from Professor Hans Knoop, a high-profile member of the CBT/GET ideological brigades. Although full details were not available, the project appeared to presume that post-Covid syndrome patients could benefit from cognitive restructuring designed to prevent them from sabotaging their own recovery.

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Trial By Error: A Couple of Blog Posts Worth Reading

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By David Tuller, DrPH

I’ve been writing about so-called “medically unexplained symptoms,” or MUS, for the last couple of years. Much of that has come in the form of critiques of specific studies making excessive claims about the healing powers of cognitive behavior therapy.

Recently, a blogger named Goodelf has posted a couple of revealing posts about the overall approach to MUS in the UK, especially about how proponents of the concept have presenting data in misleading ways. Both articles have been posted on the Opposing Mega site, originally established a few years ago to counter a stupid proposal from the then-leadership of the CFS/ME Research Collaborative. The first article was about a seminal study on the supposed prevalence of MUS and on rates of misdiagnosis.

I’ve posted below the opening of the second article, which elaborates on the issue and is titled “A Letter to Jeremy Hunt.”

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TWiV 497: Europic 2018

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At Europic 2018, a meeting on picornaviruses in the Netherlands, Vincent speaks with Sasha Gorbalenya, Jim Hogle, Ann Palmenberg and Frank van Kuppeveld about their careers and their research.

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Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv