Susannah Fleming

This article suggests the possibility of training AI on pre-existing proposals and their review reports, scores and related decisions. I.e. training them on a system which is known to preferentially award larger amounts of money to white men. What could possibly go wrong?

Often but not always. Eg if you're doing a challenge trial of a malaria vaccine in the UK you probably wouldn't bother.

IIRC one of the early COVID vaccine trials used a meningitis vaccine as the comparator for this reason as there literally weren't other COVID vaccines to compare to.

Or sometimes a completely different vaccine! Because then the "inactive" arm still gets generic vaccine side effects like sore arm and mild fever, which would otherwise potentially unblind the study.

Applications for most funded Oxford DPhils closed at lunchtime, so this is a great opportunity for funding if you've not applied yet (and looks really good too).

The only problem I would have with this is that blue is objectively the Best Colour. I'm 100% with him on the sparkles though.

Most men should not be screened for prostate cancer, says UK expert body It recommends that only men with a confirmed genetic risk of prostate cancer should be screened for the disease.

Trade-offs are pretty much ubiquitous in healthcare, even more so the more it deals with populations. But for all screening there are harms from false positives and harms from false negatives that need to be balanced quantitatively. >

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There are reasons why someone might want to seek assisted dying even in the presence of optimal palliative care. I get that. But I also have a lot of concerns about pressure to seek AD for people with reduced capacity, reduced autonomy, or inadequate palliative care.

I think this is a lot of why I have gut-feeling concerns about assisted dying.
Palliative care, done well, can be life changing. I have seen it done well. But it seems like at the moment, we'd rather fund assisted dying than palliative care.

GOSH Charity National Research Programme Grants GOSH Charity

GOSH Charity are launching a National Research Programme Grant funding scheme!

UK researchers are eligible to apply for funding to support research programmes aiming to create a step change in an area of rare or complex paediatric disease.

Find out more 👇

www.gosh.org/apply-for-fu...

I don't want a LLM, I want an LMS that actually fucking works.

#VaccinesWork

We’re thrilled to publish this blueprint for developing patient-focused respiratory diagnostics with @lifearc.bsky.social Accelerating the diagnosis of chronic lung conditions is key to improving #LungHealth and meeting the #LungGrandChallenges.

Well this is even more terrible than the previous terrible thing.
Mental note to self: deploy trans flag badge more often

I am a great fan of fancy cordials (particularly Fitzpatrick's, who don't sponsor me, but probably should).
And today I learned that Americans don't have squash/cordial and my brain does not compute.

Signed Away | Sara Nović The hearing world continues to pillage and caricature the deaf community—most recently with the proprietary, sign-based system Makaton.

I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not thebaffler.com/outbursts/si...

This is on Monday. Do join us if you can and are interested in more inclusive academic workplaces

"Drinks" / "socials" / "coffee" in areas with no or minimal seating.
I have literally had to beg for a chair at a pre-dinner drinks session that went on for an hour in a bar with no seating at all, and the bar staff just kept saying "oh, you'll go in for dinner in 10 minutes".

Photo taken at the Neues Museum in Berlin (which luckily has elevators!). It shows lots of stairs both left and right and several floors with people walking up. Some windows at the top.

Can we please discuss accessibility at conferences?

When organizers and schedules assume that everyone can walk fast and climb stairs, people with mobility issues (visible or invisible) might feel excluded.

/

Just ask - "Could it be Caffeine?" #AnaesthesiaSky

An altar with candles, a crucifix, and blue, white and pink flowers.

Prayer service for #TransgenderDayOfRemembrance.

Remembering the dead, and praying for a world where all can flourish.

To all my trans friends and acquaintances (out or not). I see and value you for the brave, amazing people you are. I stand with you.
For all those who are no longer with us, I remember you and will fight for those who come after you to not suffer as you did.

Since getting a car in April, I have driven into town I think 3 times, only 1 of which would have passed a congestion charging point. And I could have claimed expenses for all of them if need be.

oh, of course.

Where on Earth did the £70 come from? It's frustrating how much disinformation there is on these things.
<- has 100 free day passes and will be utterly miserable if I have to drive into Oxford more than a few times a month anyway

My veins thank you for your service. I have learned to tell people to ignore my visible veins and only go for palpable ones (which also run away, but less successfully.)

OK, yes, I am a doctor, but I'm not a *medical* doctor. I am qualified to tell you whether the research looks valid, but not to actually provide health advice.

I am not a doctor, but I am a researcher, and this looks like a well designed study. Definitely going to be using a nasal spray on myself next time I get a cold.
www.nihr.ac.uk/news/nasal-s...

and "file it in my preferred referencing software under the right project"

and does some sort of sensible naming for e.g. publication pdfs that download as 117.pdf, or sometimes, pdf.pdf
Scan the text and call it firstauthoryear.pdf please!