I fully agree with a post by @MattWalshBlog, and I'm retweeting it unironically.
The ways of the Lord are inscrutable ...
Does this indicate:
1. a concerted attempt by the US Govt to deescalate war with Iran
2. total confusion about its objectives
Interesting either way, and not mutually exclusive ...
Can you spot the flaw in the below graph? After all, it suggests New Zealand had much higher cumulative excess mortality in 2020-24 compared to Sweden and US...
You can read more on the assumptions behind excess mortality – and how to make the metric tell any story you like – in my recent piece: https://kucharski.substack.com/p/excess-mortality-or-excessive-assumptions
How do tissues organise, adapt, or collapse? 🧬
We’re looking for a postdoc with strong quantitative skills to tackle these questions in a highly interdisciplinary project bridging spatial omics, ecology & mathematical modelling.
Apply 👉 https://tinyurl.com/3d37d3st
Please share.
R to @BallouxFrancois: Many thanks to everyone involved in this major multidisciplinary collaboration. A special mention to @cedriccstan for his herculean efforts leading to those new insights that required running a set of highly challenging analyses. The preprint will form a chapter of his PhD, which @LucyvanDorp and I have been blessed to supervise.
7/
R to @BallouxFrancois: The strains recovered from patients for the most common bacterial pathogens were genetically diverse and unrelated to each other. This suggests that many infections arise from pre-existing patient colonisation rather than hospital disease outbreaks.
5/
R to @BallouxFrancois: The study sets a new benchmark for understanding the complex (anti)microbial dynamics of HAP. The scale of the cohort and depth of metagenomic analysis are unprecedented, and could lead to actionable insights—particularly regarding diagnostic blind spots and antibiotic resistance surveillance.
6/
R to @BallouxFrancois: Our analyses reveal extensive multidrug resistance in a substantial fraction of samples. Species often dismissed as commensals, such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, were among those carrying high levels of resistance, raising questions about their potential role as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes within the respiratory tract.
4/
R to @BallouxFrancois: We uncovered a surprisingly high prevalence of fungal taxa -- including Candida and Aspergillus spp. -- in approximately one-third of patients, challenging the current perception of their role in pneumonia pathogenesis. Fungal pneumonia may be far more common than generally acknowledged. 2/
R to @BallouxFrancois: The lung microbiomes are largely indistinguishable across ventilated and non-ventilated patients, suggesting that invasive mechanical ventilation is not a driver of microbial differences in HAP.
3/
New preprint analysing microbial signatures of Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (HAP). HAP is a major cause of morbidity / mortality, yet it remains poorly defined microbiologically. We profiled the respiratory microbiomes of 250 HAP patients in the UK. Metagenomic sequencing detects putative pathogens in a significant number of PCR- and culture-negative samples, suggesting that conventional diagnostics underestimates the diversity and prevalence of HAP-associated microbes.
1/
Link to the study: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.09.669460v1
Israeli propagandists allege that starvation in Gaza is staged because a photojournalist took a photo (literally his job) of hungry people waiting to receive aid. Israelis think this helps their case, but normal people are finally seeing how desperate and deranged they are.
The responsibility for the al-Ahli hospital bombing on Oct 17 2023 remains contentious. Since then, Israel bombed every single hospital in Gaza.
The responsibility for the starvation of this child suffering from cerebral palsy remains contentious. The world should intervene before Israel starves every single child in Gaza.
He didn't just die because we cut off food, but also because we destroyed the healthcare system in Gaza and won't allow insulin in, is a weird flex ...
We just bought this 3D dog "painting" from an antique shop on our way home from a boozy party. Right now, I think it's amazing. I wonder how I may feel about it tomorrow ...
R to @BallouxFrancois: Fish on plate.
R to @BallouxFrancois: Fish ...
Lovely barbecue party, and this random cat joined. He doesn't even seem interested in the food, just chilling ...
I have challenged @grok in the replies here - this is not caused by any underlying condition but lack of proper medical nutritional support NG or PEG supplemental feed.
Underlying conditions does not make it ok to starve a child.
It gets worse 🧵
1/2
"I'm a human rights lawyer." 🤔