Recent content by jchinnis

It isn't somatic. So it can't be psychosomatic.

This is completely wrong. Both dB and dB SL are relative measures in exactly the same way. The former is relative to an arbitrary standard sound that approximates the hearing threshold of a normal-hearing person. The latter is relative to a sound that matches the hearing threshold of a...

Stephen, you may recall that I went through a major worsening of my tinnitus, along with sudden hearing loss, not that many years ago. I had succeeded in getting back to normal (for me anyway!) a couple of years after my tinnitus first arrived in 1989. I remember talking with you at the time. I...

@dan, I'm very familiar with drug-related research sponsored by the ATA, as I am with Billy Martin's work. My advice is just to call this a petition for a retigabine study and not a retigabine trial. The word trial carries with it a lot of unintended meaning.

Avoid the word, "trial." I had just skimmed this thread, and that word--as Dr. Nagler mentioned it might--implied something huge to me.

If we are trying to get a drug approved for tinnitus, it will require (in all places I'm familiar with) a clinical trial of some size and rigor. Such a trial can cost way, way more than ATA or any other such charity can afford. Drug trials are generally funded by the pharmaceutical firm that...

I'm sympathetic to that view, @jarvic. I have some experience in the evaluation of medical research and am published as well. But I came away with a different view after reading the guidelines. I think the panel was pretty well-balanced and knowledgeable. I know a few of its members. At least...

The American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation, the medical association for physicians who specialized in disorders of the ears, nose, and throat, recently released the first ever clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of tinnitus. Full text is available here...

Corporations have to make profits for their shareholders. Charity is done for publicity and sometimes to take advantage of tax loopholes. And I'm not sure that tinnitus research publicity would help the sales of the types of firms you just mentioned. I strongly believe that there are two kinds...

I don't think that logic is exactly correct. I know that in my own case, I spent a good while reading research papers and getting familiar with tinnitus from a research standpoint. I think it gave me a more objective and emotionally neutral way of thinking about it. I think one should read the...

@jazz Funding a lot of research, lobbying for government funding of tinnitus research, working to get tinnitus included in the direct activities of government research centers all cost money. The grants cost money, and having people work on these activities in an effective way also costs money...

The "T As" are each very different. The ATA--which is the only one I know in detail--solicits competitive proposals and also lobbies for greater government funding. It also works to establish research centers (government). It exists to do whatever is necessary to cure tinnitus.

I hope people will sign up to donate this weekend, as the deadline is upon us. I know that there are excellent and novel research proposals that are not being funded due to lack of money for them.

Sorry. I really have no information of that type.

You may have to register to read this, but it discusses reasons for fraud and lack of rapid progress in stem cell research: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/825279