bcapstone at aol.com (BCapstone) writes: [deleted]
I'm getting very tired of this. Numerous people have offered
advice and appropriate caveats, and BCapstone has taken the
suggestions he likes as derived truth, while shouting down the
critical comments over and over again at great length. That
looks like fanatacism, not medicine, and it certainly isn't
science.
For instance, the suggestion that PCR might be useful must be
tempered with the caveat that PCR is extremely sensitive to
contaminants. Sure, an unknown rod can perhaps be isolated
using optical tweezers (sheesh!), and PCR run. But what are
the odds that the *entire process* can be performed not only
under perfectly sterile conditions, but also in the complete
absense of exogenous DNA. Even when bacteria can be cultured
in great abundance, contamination is still a serious problem.
This is especially problematic when the desired DNA is from
a COMPLETE UNKNOWN. By what twisted logic will you decide if
a PCR product belongs to the unknown and not a contaminant?
Is this procedure amenable to BCapstone's stated goal of the
moment; rapid, accurate diagnosis of infection in patients?
Absolutely not.
I said these things to BCapstone in private weeks ago, and
got in reply a long diatribe explaining why I was wrong and
he was right and how it was too important not to do. It is
my impression, based on BCapstone's articles, that BCapstone
is neither a trained scientist nor a licensed doctor, but
someone who is only pretending to understand the science
and medicine involved.
BCapstone has asked for considerable professional advice and
references to research laboratories. I think he has more
than used up his share of the professional courtesy provided
by this newsgroup. And he has the very bad grace to argue
with the advice he's been given.
If I see even one more article from BCapstone on this issue,
I am tempted to complain to his service provider or send him
a bill for my time, or do both.
Sorry for being so harsh, folks, but enough is enough.
--
Una Smith una.smith at yale.edu
Dept. of Biology, Yale Univ., New Haven, CT 06520-8104
