PERHAPS IT IS THE DODO BIRD VERDICT THAT SHOULD BE EXTINCT

The Dodo Bird Verdict Is Alive and Well – Mostly

17 meta-analyses have been examined of comparisons of active treatments with each other, in contrast to the more usual comparisons of active treatments with controls. These meta-analyses yield a mean uncorrected absolute effect size for Cohen’s d of .20, which is small and non-significant (an equivalent Pearson’s r would be .10). Its smallness confirms Rosenzweig’s supposition in 1936 about the...

Staphylococcus lugdunensis; a pathogen that should be considered in Iran

Background: Staphylococcus lugdunensis is Gram-positive cocci of the staphylococcaceae family. S. lugdunensis despite having a clotting factor (wall coagulase), was classified in the coagulase negative staphylococcus group (CoNS) for lack of free coagulase. Although this bacterium is part of the human normal flora, in terms of virulence, S. lugdunensis is in second place after S. aureus. S. lug...

“Not Everything That Is Faced Can Be Changed, but Nothing Can Be Changed Until It Is Faced”: A Response to Recent Commentaries

Artificial Intelligence: What It Is, and What It Should Be

What Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the current time is not what it should be. The mainstream works in the field are on domain-specific problems and solutions. Instead, AI should focus on general-purpose systems that are adaptive to its environment, and can work with insufficient knowledge and resources. AI in this sense is unified with Cognitive Science at a general level, with the latter ...

Tigecycline: what is it, and where should it be used?

Tigecycline is the first glycylcycline to be launched and is one of the very few new antimicrobials with activity against Gram-negative bacteria. It evades acquired efflux and target-mediated resistance to classical tetracyclines, but not chromosomal efflux in Proteeae and Pseudomonas. Cmax+ is low, but tissue penetration is excellent and the compound has shown equivalence to imipenem/cilastati...