Sergio Said:

What is Socialism REALLY??

We Answered:

In socialism, the government steps in a sorta regulates some parts of the economy. They might control the mining industry or the oil industry or the national railway system.
Capitalism allows the market to regulate itself. The U.S. government sometimes steps in the market to fix stuff up, but its nothing compared to socialism.

Clyde Said:

where is the The National Library of Medicine?

We Answered:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world's largest medical library. The Library collects materials and provides information and research services in all areas of biomedicine and health care.

Kim Said:

What is the name of the software package that allows you to search databases produced by the National Library?

We Answered:

Medline is your best answer here, but probably a better idea is not to focus on a database, but just go to www.nlm.nih.gov

Gregory Said:

Are My SAT II's/GPA high enough?

We Answered:

You have a good chance at lower league ivy's such as Cornell but it all depends on your SAT/ACT Score. You need a 2200 usually to have a shot, or a 2300 to have a really good chance at the higher Ivy's like Harvard, Standford etc.

Lucille Said:

Is there any alternative medicine that has definitive proof of efficacy?

We Answered:

Mostly, no. If it did, it would no longer be alternative. With that said, St Johns Wort has quite a bit of credible evidence supporting it. However, there are valid reasons why at this moment in time, Doctors are reluctant to prescribe it. In short, more data is needed before safe recommendations can be made.

Pretty much everything else (e.g. homeopathy, acupuncture, reiki and faith healing, etc) lacks scientific plausibility and has repeatedly failed high quality RCTs.

Roger Said:

Do you guys ever use PUBMED to research alternative medicine(s)?

We Answered:

Just to establish some facts first:

PUBMED is simply a database of journals (like an online library), some are academic, some not so academic (i.e. their quality varies dramatically). While it contains high quality journals (The Lancet, JAMA etc) it also contains some low quality, 'throwaway' journals (mainly full of advertising, summaries of others' studies and are normally posted out free) as well as journals that contain complete nonsense (paranormal activity, talking to the dead etc).

Unfortunately therefore, inclusion solely in PUBMED is not a guarantee of quality. Want some proof? How about this recent article from the journal 'Explore':

"CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that certain mediums can anomalously receive accurate information about deceased individuals. The study design effectively eliminates conventional mechanisms as well as telepathy as explanations for the information reception, but the results cannot distinguish among alternative paranormal hypotheses, such as survival of consciousness (the continued existence, separate from the body, of an individual's consciousness or personality after physical death) and super-psi (or super-ESP; retrieval of information via a psychic channel or quantum field)."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17234…

..and yes, when they say 'Mediums' they mean as in talking to the dead! Of course other low quality journals such as Homeopathy, Alternative Medicine Review (and a few others with 'Alternative' and 'Complementary' in the title) are also included in PUBMED too. Unfortunately, as the alt med community is small and their research background is limited to say the least, 'peer review' in this context (i.e. studies only reviewed within this tight knit community) and not offered out to medical doctors, tends to produce results which are not really peer reviewed at all and poor practises like small sample groups, unsuitable statistical tests, incorrect interpretation of data etc cannot be filtered out so easily (hence conclusions such as people talking to the dead!) Obviously the chances of getting an article published in these journals is far higher than one with rigorous standards, hence their appeal.

Though ensuring that the article you've found is credible isn't easy, the fact it's published in a well respected medical journal will go a long way towards this. Other journal articles citing the original or expanding on the research is another indicator, though there are plenty of correct methods such as Jadad Scoring if you're interested.

Unfortunately there's no control over how people choose to interpret these articles, so it's not surprising that a study entitled: "Herbs may show protective cancer effect" is taken by some as being absolute proof that herbs DO show a protective effect!

There are many other databases such as Scopus, Elselvier, Web of Science etc (and to a far lesser extent Google Scholar) that should also be used by anyone serious about researching.

Frank Said:

Is it dangerous for girls to wear bras?

We Answered:

I don't see how wearing a cupped garment can cause your cells to mutate and become a tumor. And i personally would rather wear my bra and be comfortable then be scared to wear one and have your boobs show through because you think that a cloth garment will cause cancer.