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posted by LaminatorX on Friday August 22 2014, @12:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the on-the-toilet dept.

Scientific reports have increasingly linked the bacteria in your gut to health and maladies, often making exaggerated claims. Did you hear about the mice who were given fecal transplants from skinny humans and totally got skinny! Well, some of the more gut-busting results might not be as solid as they seem. Epidemiologist Bill Hanage offers five critical questions to ask when confronted by the latest microbiome research:

1) Can experiments detect differences that matter? (are they specific enough?)

2) Does the study show causation or just correlation?

3) What is the mechanism?

4) How much do experiments reflect reality?

5) Could anything else explain the results?

(disclaimer: Nature is owned by Macmillan Publishers Limited Company. )

UPDATE: Corrected Nature ownership.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by martyb on Friday August 22 2014, @03:56PM

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 22 2014, @03:56PM (#84375) Journal

    Thanks for pointing that out! The reference was in the original submission and we failed to detect the mistake. Story has been updated and should appear soon on the main page.

    For those interested in more details on the ownership, According to Nature's Company information [nature.com] page:

    Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases, and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.

    ...

    Focusing on the needs of scientists, Nature [soylentnews.org] (founded in 1869) is the leading weekly, international scientific journal.

    ...

    NPG is a trading name of Nature America, Inc., and Macmillan Publishers Limited, a global publishing group founded in the United Kingdom in 1843. Nature America, Inc. is a wholly-owned US subsidiary of Macmillan Publishers Limited.

    That said, I'm off to study "How to Read a Story Submission Like an Editor" =)

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