Biomedical Rat

Discover how we present various AMR issues through videos and quizzes.

We hope our free online course inspires and educates, while providing valuable insights into resistome analysis.

Join us and share your thoughts to help us improve the learning experience.

www.futurelearn.com/courses/expl...

Critical Illness in an Adolescent with Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Infection | NEJM Influenza A(H5N1) viruses are an emerging zoonotic threat and have spread widely throughout birds in North America. Recently, influenza A(H5N1) infection led to serious illness in a teenager in Canada.

Critical Illness in an Adolescent with Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Infection

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

The great Big Biomedical Scientist Quiz 2024 (scroll to the end for the answers) To round off the year, our final cover feature for 2024 is a biomedical science quiz. Following are 11 rounds of questions set by the IBMS Specialist Advisory Panels, which are comprised of experts in...

The great Big Biomedical Scientist Quiz 2024 (Round 11 added)

thebiomedicalscientist.net/2024/11/27/g...

Congrats!

Glad I'm not the only one spending/wasting the holidays being productive 😂

Bird flu (avian influenza): latest situation in England Find out about the latest bird flu situation in England and guidance for bird keepers and the public.

www.gov.uk/government/n....

*order

Mandatory housing for poultry in England to prevent bird flu spread Defra has implemented a mandatory housing order for poultry farmers and bird keepers in parts of England, due to an increased risk of avian…

DEFRA issues mandatory housing for poultry in England due to increased H5N1 risk

www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/2482327...

Not entirely sure I want to have an online voice these days, but I do love science, ID, and microbiology (especially streps). In the time-tested tradition, here’s a photo of my new puppy, Ranni, as a placeholder while I figure this thing out.

It’s quite funny that a single report from China about overwhelmed hospitals caused by seasonal flu gets more attention than the acute H5N1 bird flu situation in the US has in the last year.

We have all different sorts of mammals infected and 66 confirmed human cases.

Bar chart illustrating the number of human H5N1 bird flu cases across various countries, highlighting trends by year.

Human H5N1 bird flu cases by year and country, according to the CDC.

After eight years of almost no cases, 2024 is set to be one of the years with the most reported cases. The US stands for the vast majority of cases.

Hurray!!

I grew up on IRC (still use it!) and being chained to the platforms of megacorps had always been an alien concept to me - IRC networks were run by groups of volunteers mostly, and in a way the Fediverse (Mastodon for example) is a modern continuation of that.

Bsky is fine but it's still BigTech :)

Why are courgettes sometimes delicious and sometimes taste like dogshit? There is no in between. 🤮

Does current AI represent a dead end? Eerke Boiten, Professor of Cyber Security at De Montfort University Leicester, explains his belief that current AI should not be used for serious applications.

Does current AI represent a dead end?

Hard agree. Ignoring its legal/copyright issues, LLMs and generative AI pose a lot of problems that make them unsuitable for anything serious and are contrary to engineering principles.

www.bcs.org/articles-opi...

Traditional song of the season

The H5N1 bird flu virus from the seriously ill case in Louisiana shows it was developing mutations that could help it spread more easily in humans, according to the CDC.

Lmao! We have a nun at the hermitage with the same issue, she used to put it down to allergies but it happens randomly throughout the year.

I don't envy you, few things are more annoying than a runny nose, especially on top of fatigue & pain 💀

I feel a bit creepy having an anonymous account, probably should update it - though it's quite nice being a cute rat 😋

Sounds very frustrating and I hope you get some relief from it soon :/

Through the stereoscope it was the right colour but I think it may have been over-stained in methylene blue - will take the filter out of the condenser tomorrow and see if it looks any better on the camera

I'm a little early for my time zone, but I figured I'd post now before tomorrow gets away from me:
If you celebrate it, Merry Christmas. If you don't, have a great day anyways, do something you enjoy.

Rushed it and thought of using one side for a thick smear, will try to get a good uninterrupted smear with a feathered end next time :D

Not bad considering the smear was absolutely horrific

First attempt. should be more orangey but the camera doesn't pick it up

Festivities

Forgot to ordered distilled water. Deionised would do as it's only for stain washing but... well, it's Christmas Eve 👀

Improvisation ensues until I can find some cheap glassware

It's only a 5MP camera, will probably upgrade it at some point

Chloroplast.

Need to work out how to get it in focus more