IMO it would be better for the government to keep this sort of general library content on a url that doesn’t contain NIH. They have the disclaimer,
> As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health.
Anyway, it seems like an interesting collection of anecdotes that would be a good place to start searching. I don’t see as much value in some of his speculations. The bit about dogs not getting asthma seems a little out of scope.
Actually, do dogs get asthma? Quick googling seems to provide contradictory answers, with the general trend that apparently cats get it more often, and apparently dogs get some sort of allergic reaction thing that is technically not asthma, but is very similar?
> keep this sort of general library content on a url that doesn’t contain NIH.
Why? The author makes it clear its purely anecdotal. Someone might come across this and decide to do a further, more scientific study. I would argue that this is valuable content that could lead to better insights on our sleep. Not having it on the NIH website would make it less likely to be viewed.
Because inclusion on the NIH website, in the same general format as peer-reviewed articles are given, can give it the aura of being promoted or at least vetted by NIH, even with the disclaimer.
If you look through Snopes there are tons of examples of hoaxes and false gossip that end up spreading because they are found on an "official" website (or official-looking website), even if that official website is just a library where anyone can publish.
Totally agreed. I also liked some of the anecdotes in this article, but I always have to do an eye roll when I read an article that claims that "primitive" cultures don't suffer from disease X, and look they do thing Y that modern cultures don't, so of course thing Y must be the the reason for the difference! Conveniently ignoring the 6387 other stark differences in culture, behaviors and diets between the cultures.
I think the hypothesis of how sleeping positions affect back pain would be worth studying, but that's all it is, a hypothesis.
> As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health.
Anyway, it seems like an interesting collection of anecdotes that would be a good place to start searching. I don’t see as much value in some of his speculations. The bit about dogs not getting asthma seems a little out of scope.
Actually, do dogs get asthma? Quick googling seems to provide contradictory answers, with the general trend that apparently cats get it more often, and apparently dogs get some sort of allergic reaction thing that is technically not asthma, but is very similar?