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Robert A. Fink, M. D. wrote: > > Date sent: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 20:56:16 -0700 > Send reply to: Parkinson's Information Exchange <[log in to unmask]> > From: "J. R. Bruman" <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: R. Sandyk > To: [log in to unmask] > > > Beginning in 1980, there are 555! That's > > an average of more than one every two weeks for the past 20 years. > > They begin in German, then switch to English in the South African > > Medical Journal, and most recently in the International Journal of > > Neuroscience, concentrating on the various effects of magnetic > > stimulation. > > And how does someone manage to do that? Does he have a machine > that automatically spits out papers with the flick of a switch? Evidently, Dr. Sandyk believes the academic maxim, "publish or perish". I didn't read all 555 abstracts, but a very quick scan indicates that they are usually of minor importance: isolated case reports, preliminary experiments, speculation based on other published results, and so on. No big controlled, randomized, double-blind trials- those cost a lot of time and money, and would be difficult to do solo; and I don't recall use of scarce and costly resources such as PET scans. Sandyk's papers appear most recently in the International Journal of Neuroscience, not the Journal of Neuroscience, which is different (and source of numerous citations in the CSRs). I haven't heard of Touro College, where he is presently located, but that may not be significant. I don't know his connection, if any, with the magnetic gadget peddled in Israel, but without more detail I stand by my early judgement that Dr. Sandyk is simply another face in a big crowd, doing the best he can with what he has, to find that elusive breakthrough that will make him rich and famous. I certainly would not invest anything in his current claims, but wish him good luck in his search. As you know, magnetic fields certainly do affect living tissue (we all live in the Earth's field, and some creatures navigate by it; the MRI scanner employs such a powerful field that the subject can't have any metal object on or in his body) but whether those effects are significant, harmful, beneficial, or innocuous, is still uncertain. Cheers, Joe -- J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013