Countrygirl
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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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Frankly it just diabolic to me that this genuine researcher has to suffer the nastiness of the intrigue and jealousy of lesser mortals looking for personal glory (it goes on I hear in academic and science circles even worse than simple mortals could ever imagine). Much hope Dr Mikovits will never be downed by politics and carry on her marvellous researches.
Where are the others, like Alter, Silverman, Ruscetti, Klein?
Has it occurred to you that Mikovits is wrong?
That her study is fatally flawed and that Science is right to ask her to withdraw it?
Frankly it just diabolic to me that this genuine researcher has to suffer the nastiness of the intrigue and jealousy of lesser mortals looking for personal glory (it goes on I hear in academic and science circles even worse than simple mortals could ever imagine).
I don't think there are many people here who don't think that's a real possibility. It's a slightly patronising question.
That's possible too, but it's also a possibility with the prostate cancer studies too. Before we've heard back from the BWG and Lipkin studies it does seem strange and premature to retract only the CFS study.
Really, that's not the impression I get from a brief perusal of this part of the forum.
Not if Science are about to publish something in June that contradicts the Mikovits study, which seems likely. They're doing her a favour by asking her to retract rather than doing it for her.
Has it occurred to you that Mikovits is wrong? That her study is fatally flawed and that Science is right to ask her to withdraw it?
Wow, that's one of the most bizarre comments I've read. Surely if Mikovits is wrong ,as seems increasingly likely, you should be pleased that no more time and money is going to be wasted on research that won't go anywhere.
This is the way science works, for results to be accepted they have to be reproducible. Probably a large percentage of studies published in Science, Nature etc are wrong because they publish cutting edge research, their finding only really become accepted after they've been reproduced by other labs. This is how HIV came to be accepted as the cause of AIDS etc etc. It's no good bad mouthing and shooting the messenger if Mikovits is wrong. You talk as if all scientists except her are corrupt or part of some conspiracy.
Has it occurred to you that Mikovits is wrong? That her study is fatally flawed and that Science is right to ask her to withdraw it?
The authors are aware of ten negative CFS papers listed in PubMed on the subject
of XMRV. Most of the negative studies failed to find any evidence of XMRV in any
sample type. This would suggest that the methods and materials used in the
non-replication studies are insufficient to use when attempting to detect human
gammaretrovirus in the blood of human samples. The methods, processes, and
materials of Lombardi et al. need to be followed precisely. The Alter and Lo study is the
only study which has attempted a partial replication of the methods and materials of the
Lombardi study, which confirmed evidence of MLV related viruses. Studies using
multiple different methods are not replication studies, and studies optimized to detect
murine gammaretroviruses and not human gammaretroviruses must be seriously
questioned. See, Virulence attachment.
Good science trumps false beliefs, even when we want the beliefs to be true. It is time to move on.
Hi, Bob, thanks for the reply. I only have an academic interest - my sister thought she had CFS and asked me to look into the XMRV story for her as I'm a scientist. I have to say that I'm pretty taken aback by some of the comments here about scientists, it's pretty shocking really. I'm entirely agnostic about XMRV though I have to say from what I've read, it seems unlikely that it's the cause of CFS.
Surely if Mikovits is wrong ,as seems increasingly likely...
You talk as if all scientists except her are corrupt or part of some conspiracy.
"The U.S. National Institutes of Health is sponsoring additional carefully designed studies to ascertain whether the association between XMRV and CFS can be confirmed. Science eagerly awaits the outcome of these further studies and will take appropriate action when their results are known."
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/05/31/science.1208542.full.pdf
Hi, Bob, thanks for the reply. I only have an academic interest - my sister thought she had CFS and asked me to look into the XMRV story for her as I'm a scientist. I have to say that I'm pretty taken aback by some of the comments here about scientists, it's pretty shocking really. I'm entirely agnostic about XMRV though I have to say from what I've read, it seems unlikely that it's the cause of CFS.