#weak evidence

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

https://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/2021/11000/letter_to_the_editor__regret_after.29.aspx

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/107/9/e3937/6572526?login=false

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1054139X22007194

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/1/121

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02163-w

https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p382

https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p382

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-outcomes/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11930-023-00358-x

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2150346

[lotrmusical]

never let anyone tell you that trawling through mediocre victorian poetry isn't worth it. we just happened upon an absolute BANGER of a worm poem. go read it or else 🪱🪱🪱

[bastardofharrenhal]

i hate the idea of sansa ending up as this cold ice queen when through out the books one of her defining characteristics has been kindness. kindness to dontos when joffrey wanted him executed, kindness to the woman with the baby during the riot, kindness to an injured lancel despite cersei's words, kindness through warning margaery of the type of person joffrey is, kindness to sandor clegane and sweetrobin in the vale. sansa even says that once she was queen, she'd wish to rule with kindness when cersei encourages her to rule with fear during the battle of the blackwater. i cant imagine a world where grrm would genuinely go with the idea that only once you refuse love and warmth can you rule

[shiftywing]

just saw someone describe crane as a weaker "little dragonet" while condemning icicle for killing her

[sneakyboymerlin]

Since we’re all in agreement now that Gwaine is (sub)textually in L word (lesbians) with Merlin, can we stop no-homo-ing them in every fic 😭 if I have to see “Gwaine did all that because Merlin is like a brother to him” one more time I’m gonna create a zombifying parasite that takes humans as hosts and then also they ship merwaine because of the parasite and there is peace on earth. worm

[quotidianish]

HE’S FUCKING TRANSGENDER!!!!

[dead-generations]

People in general make very myopic analysis of ideology and rhetoric. for example: no one seems to understand why charges of human sacrifice were so vital to Cortez's justifications for his colonial project against the Aztec. Or why it appears so viscerally throughout the west's history and particularly among Christians.

The condemnation of human sacrifice in the west is a really core element of the development of the ideological self conception of two of the biggest cultural cornerstones of the west: Rome and Judea.

The Romans considered their lack of human sacrifice to be an essential component of the civilisation (verb) of their culture, what marked it as elevated above the muck of barbarism. That they would not sacrifice people to their gods was a specific position they took actively, it was something they acknowledged as possible but ghastly. No where was this more clear than in their positioning of their culture against the pheonecians who they charged with human sacrifice. Indeed human sacrifice was in some ways foundational to the foundational Myth of Carthage itself (the existence and extent of the practice is debated)

The early Israelites likewise considered themselves marked and righteous for not carrying out human sacrifice to gods in a region (they alleged) was rife with the practice. Funnily enough the pheonician culture emerged in the same region in the same time period from the same pool of myths and gods - go figure.

The Catholic church of course was the inheritor of the legacies of Rome and of ye Olde Testament. So when Cortez emphasised Aztec human sacrifice, this was a political act. He was saying they are not civilised as we the inheritors of Rome are, their gods are as wicked as Baal. This was important for him specifically in his justification of his actions to the Spanish crown and it formed part of the cornerstone of his legal argument (along with the narrative of Montezuma willingly becoming a subject of Spain and his people subsequently rebelling)

Even when not consciously understood, this is cultural and ideological legacy that gives the charge of ritual human sacrifice so much weight and largeness in the western cultural zeitgeist to this day. It is why evil cults and satanists slaughter virgins in dark caves.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Max Stephens and Alex Barton

Published: Jun 9, 2023

Puberty blockers will not be routinely offered to children suffering from gender dysphoria, the NHS has said. Clinicians and psychologists said the decision “will go down in history” in the safeguarding of children. Guidance for two new regional gender clinics opening in England confirmed that the hormone-suppressing drugs would not be “routinely offered”. The clinics will replace the controversial Tavistock gender clinic, which is closing after a damning independent review from Dr Hilary Cass deemed it “not safe”. The Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), based at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, London, was expected to close in spring this year, but it is still running. The reason for the delay is unknown. A southern hub will open this autumn, but a northern hub is not expected to open until April 2024. The Tavistock does not prescribe puberty blockers for children, but it can refer them for such drugs. Clinical research only On Friday, NHS England published an update following its previously stated intention to only commission puberty-suppressing hormones as part of clinical research. It read: “We are... proposing that, outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents who have gender incongruence/dysphoria.” A spokesman confirmed that children treated at the new gender clinics would not be routinely offered puberty blockers as part of their treatment, but there may be exceptional circumstances in which a clinician could make a case for a child to have them. ‘Seismic’ decision An independent review, led by Dr Cass, was commissioned in September 2020 amid a rise in demand, long waiting times for assessments, and “significant external scrutiny” around the London-based Gids clinic’s approach and capacity. In 2021, the Court of Appeal ruled that children will be allowed to take puberty blockers without parental consent. The NHS said it aimed to start a study by next year on the impact of puberty blockers on gender dysphoria in children and young people with early-onset gender dysphoria. James Esses, co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists, which is focused on safeguarding children, said: “The fact that the NHS is holding firm on their intention to prevent the use of puberty blockers outside of the context of clinical trials is seismic. “This will hopefully bring an end to vulnerable children being placed down a pathway to irreversible harm.” ‘Puberty blockers don’t help’ David Bell, a former governor turned whistleblower from Tavistock said: “All the evidence shows that puberty blockers don’t help, and there is clear evidence of physical and psychological harm caused by them, so this change is in line with the evidence we have. “A very large percentage of children being treated for gender dysphoria have other problems such as autism and depression, and many are upset or confused about their sexuality.” An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is today publishing an interim specification for gender services for children and young people, in line with advice and recommendations from the Independent Cass Review. This will allow the new centres to finalise their preparation for service provision later this year. “The NHS is now engaging on the proposal that puberty blockers will not be made routinely available outside of research. We will develop a study into the impact of puberty blockers on gender dysphoria in children and young people with early-onset gender dysphoria, which aims to be up and running in 2024.”

[axelsthoughtss]

At least Kant is actually helpful (well tbf he had years of practice) to Bison. Fadel is just babysitting Style half of the time.

[fiona-fififi]

"Buck stated clearly he wasn't in love with Eddie without even spiraling about it."

Can someone please explain to me how Buck obsessing over what Tommy said about Eddie so much that he had to rant about it to Maddie hours later is NOT Buck spiraling?? That conversation literally displayed the spiraling that was happening. The fact that he was able to say he's not in love with Eddie so "confidently" in that scene is precisely because he spent the time in between convincing himself that Tommy couldn't possibly be right. Hence how he got from so much anger he slipped up and admitted to his feelings for Eddie to ranting annoyance in which he loudly proclaimed too vehemently he could not possibly be in love with his straight best friend.

Like, come on now. They literally showed us the spiraling.

[salt-baby]

caught my younger sibling walking around with numb hands for weeks like that was normal so PSA theres some weak evidence that the following are common in POTS:

B12 Deficiency

- characterized by numb (pins and needles) hands and feet, which is persistent for days no matter what position your limbs are in

- take dissolvable B12 tablets once daily by holding them under the tongue for a couple minutes

- ideally those should be the like 2000000% DV ones, since B12 is water-soluble and near impossible to take too much of

- B12 shots can be prescribed for very severe deficiencies

- if this doesn't go away in like a week, See Your Doctor! these are peripheral neuropathy symptoms and that's something 1000% worth checking out ASAP

Magnesium Deficiency

- characterized by a tight kind of muscle soreness (for some reason always in my calves) that doesn't go away with rest

- others report tremors or being unable to keep the legs still

- either take a supplement daily or epsom salt baths

- be warned that oral magnesium works as a laxative, so start low and work your way up

Vitamin D Deficiency

- can cause fatigue and the "seasonal depression" kind of mood

- this is just really common in the general population, not just in people with POTS

- oral supplementation works fine, most daily vitamins have it

- in more severe cases your doctor can prescribe higher dose supplements

Also if you keep getting these symptoms all the time or it doesn't go away within a couple days of supplements, you probably need to see a doctor

[lambclovers]

fingers crossed for outie mark and helena bonding over being functioning alcoholics in s3

[adrift-in-thyme]

One thing that really got me about this update is that while they’re back on the road now and Twi is alright…it’s not a victorious departure. It’s sorrowful, it’s fearful, and it’s ridden with guilt and regrets about what just happened

Their body language says it even more than their words do. They’re slumped, they’re tense, they’re frowning rather than smiling. Hardly anyone cracks a joke this time around.

Their journey is beginning to take a toll on them. And although the Shadow just suffered a crushing defeat he doesn’t have the same emotional aspect that our heroes have had — and continue to have — to deal with.

I definitely foresee some arguments — maybe even physical altercations — in the future. That alone makes them vulnerable to the Shadow’s revenge (which previous updates have shown he doesn’t hesitate to exact. He’s angry. He’s coming for the heroes. Especially Twilight.)

I look forward to seeing how this will all play out

Credit to @linkeduniverse

[nightmarearian]

do you think the abyss healed Childe’s scars?

realistically I know it’s stupid graphics & model “limitations”

But do you think his skin looks as normal as it did before he fell.

Cause when they’re hit, an abyss monster.

They disintegrate.

Do you think Ajax’s scars healed like that? In the abyss? After it, too?

Do you think they burned? Or was it numb, as the darkened skin faded away with little, yellow, glowing particles?

That he has no evidence of his suffering for those three months in hell (and his only companion’s silence) but dull eyes no one wants to look at?

Callouses on his hands and feet that no one pays attention to? Takes care of?

That he shows his prowess and uncanniness and abyssal hunger because that’s the only way how? Yes. he is hungry and wants a fight. Look at him. He’s off. Broken now.

Look at him.

Please.

[daily-hanamura]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Editorial Board

Published: Dec 15, 2024

The Biden Justice Department on Dec. 4 challenged before the Supreme Court a Tennessee law that bans the use of puberty blockers and hormones for gender-transition treatments in minors on the grounds that it unlawfully discriminates based on sex.

The court’s decision will be consequential in the 24 states with these restrictions, but it won’t resolve the crux of the debate over pediatric gender medicine: whether, as the plaintiffs argued, the treatments can be lifesaving or, as some global health authorities have determined, the evidence is too thin to conclude that they are beneficial and the risks are not well-understood.

This unresolved dispute is why Tennessee has a colorable claim before the court; it would be ludicrous to suggest that patients have a civil right to be harmed by ineffective medical interventions — and, likewise, unconscionable for Tennessee to deny a treatment that improves patient lives, even if the state did so with majestic impartiality. The issue is subject to legal dispute in part because the medical questions have not been properly resolved.

Multiple European health authorities have reviewed the available evidence and concluded that it was “very low certainty,” “lacking” and “limited by methodological weaknesses.” Last week, Britain banned the use of puberty blockers indefinitely due to safety concerns.

“Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led,” British Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said in a press release. “The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people.”

The uncertainty is the result of scientists’ failure to study these treatments slowly and systematically as they developed them. Early studies from a Dutch clinic seemed to show promising results, but the research started with only 70 patients (dropping to 55 in a follow-up study) and no control group. Treatment results that look impressive in small groups often vanish when larger groups are studied. That’s why the Food and Drug Administration generally requires large, randomized controlled trials of drugs: to ensure that encouraging initial results aren’t mere statistical noise.

Conducting gold-standard medical research on gender-transition treatment was never going to be easy; it would have been obvious to those in any control group that they were getting placebos, making it impossible to conduct a “double-blind” study. Yet researchers could and should have used randomized control groups, gradually expanding a patient population enrolled in systematic clinical research, to rigorously assess effectiveness, refine treatment protocols, and — crucially — improve their ability to tell which patients benefit, since at least some patients who transitioned later experience regret and suffer the fate the treatments were supposed to avoid: a body that doesn’t match their gender identity.

Yet as other doctors began copying the Dutch, clinical practice outraced the research, especially as treatment protocols rapidly evolved. A British study attempting to replicate the Dutch researchers’ success with puberty blockers “identified no changes in psychological function” among those treated.

Some clinicians appear reluctant to publish findings that don’t show strong benefits. The British lackluster results were published nine years after the study began, after Britain’s High Court ruled that children younger than 16 were unlikely to be able to form informed consent to such treatments. Internal communications from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health suggest that the group tried to interfere with a review commissioned from a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

Johanna Olson-Kennedy, medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, told the New York Times that a government-funded study of puberty blockers she helped conduct, which started in 2015, had not found mental health improvements, and those results hadn’t been published because more time was needed to ensure the research wouldn’t be “weaponized.” Medical progress is impossible unless null or negative results are published as promptly as positive ones.

The failure to adequately assess these treatments gives Tennessee reason to worry about them — and legal room to restrict them. We have serious reservations when states make decisions about minors’ medical care, rather than leaving them to parents. But in the absence of clear data — and with the possibility of significant publication bias or researchers massaging their results — parents might not have adequate information.

No matter how the court rules, though, the federal government should supply the missing evidence at the heart of this dispute. Randomized trials would be best, though harder to pull off now, since children who are placed in a control group might drop out and seek blockers and hormones elsewhere. Congress should nevertheless fund new research of maximum possible rigor, overseen by scientists who are not gender medicine practitioners. Those studies should set timetables and specify the outcomes to be studied in advance to avoid the risk that researchers will pick and choose what to show the public. Children with gender dysphoria deserve clearer answers.

==

Shockingly, this is from The Washington Post.