| George Conklin 2004-10-04, 2:21 am |
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"Leonard Evens" <len@math.northwestern.edu> wrote in message
news:FeidnUtXYe9FSsfcRVn-tw@comcast.com...
> George Conklin wrote:
>
>
> No they don't. Autopsy reports show what they report. If you do a
> certain number of autopsies on men of a certain age, you can expect such
> and such a percentage of them will show evidence of prostate cancer. It
> doesn't follow from this, logically or by any other criterion, that if
> you do something different in living men, that anything particular will
> happen.
What are you talking about? Men develop prostate cancer after they die?
I looked around the Web for the article, but it is not going to be there.
There were about 6 different reports all saying the same thing as the one
published here.
Let me point out that the only way to establish this, using
> your criterion for a scientific proof would be to select a large
> population of men in their 20s, randomly remove half of their prostates
> and examine them as you would in an autopsy---it would be even better to
> kill half of them first---and then do some specific testing procedure on
> the other half. You would then compare the number of diagnosed cancers
> in the second group with those found in the first group.
>
So you are saying that the diagnosis is better at autopsy? So what!!
Men in their 20s still have cancer of the prostate. They have it all their
lives. It may even come and go. Why does this bother you? Men in their
60s, same thing. By 80 we all will have it. So? That is life.
> You only seem to be skeptical about things when it suits your
> preconceived notions. You would be more convincing if you exercised the
> same degree of skepticism about all these matters.
>
I am skeptical about procedures which are not evaluated for 100 years and
I see your very emotional reactions as one reason why this happens. Maybe
some result will emerge after 10 years.
As the article said, men with lung cancer all die. Few men with prostate
cancer do, and it looks as if a lot of men have all the way from the 20s on.
Just facts.
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