3 ms·
You wouldn't expect a fecal transplant to help if the bacteria were entirely incidental though.
by roywiggins 5y ago
You wouldn't expect a fecal transplant to help if the bacteria were entirely incidental though.
- PragmaticPulp 5y agoTwo patients and no control group is virtually useless for drawing any conclusions: > Indeed, researchers recently reported in Frontiers in Psychiatry that fecal transplants improved symptoms in two depressed patients. Depression research is challenging because even placebo groups tend to have dramatic improvements.
- robocat 5y ago> Two patients and no control group is virtually useless for drawing any conclusions That is a frequentist argument. If the response to treatment is significant enough, then that is a worthwhile signal (cliché: parachutes save lives without a control group). Placebo is an obvious contender. However presuming the patients had a chronic condition with plenty of previous interventions, then the placebo effect has had plenty of chances in the past. If it were due to placebo then there would be something to learn about why the placebo effect were so effective in that situation!