But the current study cannot rule out that the Merck drug increases other causes of death, as the Pfizer drug appeared to do.

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Despite the disappointing results, the study doesn't entirely rule out the possibility that DHA may have some benefit if taken earlier in life.

CNN: Fish oil ingredient doesn't slow Alzheimer's

Then you need to study up on the dreaded wash sale rule.

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Considering many of the public personalities we venerate, these findings make a lot of sense, though I would like to see a follow on study that examines observer perceptions when the rude rule breakers are caught.

FORBES: Why Absolute Rudeness Impresses Absolutely

"Our study is the largest to date, but on the basis of our results we cannot rule out small increases in esophageal cancer risk in individuals taking bisphosphonates, " says the study's lead author, Chris Cardwell, Ph.

CNN: Study: No esophageal cancer risk from bone drugs

Researchers found no difference between those who took the supplement and those who didn't, though because of the number of study participants, researchers said they couldn't rule out a small effect one way or the other in certain groups of people.

WSJ: Sunscreen Each Day Stops Wrinkles

But Scott Zeger, the head of the department of biostatistics at Johns Hopkins, who performed the statistical analysis in the study, points out that clustered sampling is the rule rather than the exception in public-health studies, and that the patterns of deaths caused by epidemics are also very variable by location.

ECONOMIST: The Iraqi war

He proposed starting with a smaller preapproval trial to rule out risk and then doing a second, larger study, after approval.

FORBES: The Great Drug Debate

Crossbench peer and chancellor of the University of the West of England Baroness Butler-Sloss said she was concerned that "Malaysian students who come to Bristol to do the bar vocational course or the solicitors course in order to go back and better run the rule of law in Malaysia" would be unable to study in the UK after the changes.

BBC: Student visa cuts 'will do enormous damage' - Labour