The Critical Appraisal Blog

Superego Cafe in Hong Kong / Australia

2008-08-21T08:15:15Z

We’ve had a successful year running critical appraisal courses. So far the courses have been limited to venues in England. In February 2009 Superego Cafe is planning to run critical appraisal courses in Hong Kong and Australia. To assess demand, potential delegates are asked to express their interest by filling in our online form - click here. Full details will be released at the end of September 2008.

More holidays for everyone

2008-01-16T10:26:35Z

Surveys are notoriously susceptible to a number of biases (or mistakes) and conflicts of interest. The BBC website has published details of a new survey with the headline, "MPs back new bank holiday plan." The first problem with the survey is that it was carried out for Thomas Cook, a holiday company which will stand to benefit handsomely from more holiday bookings. Conflicts of interest like this do not necessarily mean the results of the research are not valid but shortcomings in the study methodology may exist due to this conflict. The people questioned were Members of Parliament, whose answers may well have been influenced by the knowledge that such a plan would be a vote-winner amongst their hard-working constituents. Had the researchers asked employers the same question, they would probably have got a very different response. Not many employers would be keen to take on the financial burden of another paid holiday for their valued employees!

Blind drunk

2008-01-14T17:57:43Z

The absence of blinding can lead to misleading results, as a story on the BBC news website shows. Researchers have shown that a person’s enjoyment of wine can be heightened if they are told that it is an expensive one. The only information the subjects in the study were given was the price of the wine - but in a number of cases, they were not told the real price. In one case, the volunteers were given two identical red wines to drink and were told that one cost much less than the other. Most of the subjects in the study described the ‘higher priced’ wine as much more enjoyable, even if it was the same as the ‘cheaper’ wine. The subjects associated the price of the wine with prestige, expecting it to be a good vintage, with a good label, even though they didn’t have that information. Expectation can affect the encoding of experience.

Anti-TNF may improve Alzheimer's disease

2008-01-10T08:21:53Z

A case report published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation gives hope to patients with Alzheimer's disease and their carers. Rapid cognitive improvement was seen within minutes in a patient with late-onset Alzheimer's disease following perispinal etanercept (an anti-TNF drug). Previous research has suggested that excess tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is centrally involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. It has recently been shown to mediate the disruption in synaptic memory mechanisms, which is caused by beta-amyloid and beta-amyloid oligomers. The beneficial effects seen with etanercept may be related to amelioration of the effects of excess TNF-alpha on synpatic mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease. As with all case reports, this finding has been welcomed cautiously. The case report doesn't prove this treatment works but will motivate scientists to conduct larger efficacy trials.

Journal of Neuroinflammation: Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer's disease following perispinal etanercept administration 2008, 5:2 doi:10.1186/1742-2094-5-2

Alcohol is good for you

2008-01-09T09:08:20Z

A good example of a cohort study is published today in the European Heart Journal. Danish researchers followed 12,000 people recruited between 1976 and 1978. At the inception of the cohort the people were questioned on a number of lifestyle risk factors. Over a 20 year period nearly 6000 of the subjects died and 1200 developed heart disease. Analyses of the results showed that those people who were moderate drinkers had a 30% lower risk of heart disease than teetotallers. Those who combined moderate drinking with regular exercise had even better outcomes, with a risk as much as 50% lower than physically inactive non-drinkers. Moderate drinking was defined as up to 14 units a week.

European Heart Journal: The combined influence of leisure-time physical activity and weekly alcohol intake on fatal ischaemic heart disease and all-cause mortality doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm574

Final preparations

2008-01-03T09:12:45Z

The Christmas festivities are over for another year. My first job for the new year is to finalise the handout for the upcoming critical appraisal courses in Birmingham, Manchester and London. The handout design is based on that which we introduced at the National Pharmacists Meeting in Birmingham in November 2007. The feedback from that meeting was great but this handout is even better! Every time we do a course we think of better ways of teaching the subject so the handout is never really finished. It's a bit like 'painting the Forth Bridge'.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T00:05:00Z

2007 has been a year of expansion for Superego Cafe. As well as continuing our successful MRCPsych revision courses, we launched our critical appraisal classroom courses to universal acclaim and we started to offer our services on a consultancy basis. Our customers already include some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. We will not be slowing down in 2008! The coming weeks will see the launch of the world's first multimedia online critical appraisal course and the launch of brand new MRCPsych courses for the new examination structure in 2008. The Superego Cafe team thanks all its customers for their support and wishes you all a very happy and successful 2008!