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BLOG: PLOS ONE
For an upcoming column, I did some journal reading. Real, live, honest-to-goodness full article reading of scientific articles in our ophthalmology literature. Remember, I’m the “black box research” guy: If you give me a black box and tell me that what’s inside it is effective and safe, I’ll keep changing the left-side inputs until I get my desired right-side outputs. Credit for this visual and for giving me the vocabulary to describe the way I’ve always been wired goes to my friend Greg Glassman of CrossFit fame.
Anyway, I was reading JAMA Ophthalmology — Archives of Ophthalmology for all you fellow old folks — and I came across a very pertinent DES article. In and of itself, that’s pretty cool. Time was finding a DES article in Archives, Ophthalmology or the American Journal of Ophthalmology was akin to stumbling upon a unicorn on Madison Avenue. On top of that, the article was on a topic of great interest to us and provided actionable conclusions (tune in for my take in an upcoming blog).
After reading the article twice, I did something else that is uncharacteristic: I browsed the references. Cool stuff, but mostly the kind of background science that I find most helpful to simply believe so that I can concentrate on refining the in-office applications that naturally follow the hardcore science. I did “rediscover” a fascinating website in the process, PLOS ONE. My introduction to PLOS ONE was a fascinating article on the regional differences in life expectancy in the U.S. and their underlying causes. “The eight Americas” is still relevant as we debate the future of health care and its provision in the U.S., and I highly recommend searching for this article on PLOS ONE.
There are a number of pretty cool articles on DES on that site, too, and I’ll weigh in on a couple in a little bit. Take a gander at PLOS ONE when you have a minute or two.
Disclosure: White reports he is a consultant for Bausch + Lomb, Allergan, Nicox, Shire and Eyemaginations and on the speakers board for Bausch + Lomb and Allergan.