Anikó Lovik

Why fund research into weird sounding shit again?
#researchsky #academicsky

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Led by the Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, Gin Mahli, we wrote an Editorial about recent changes to US research funding, the far-reaching consequences of this for science, and the importance to resist this.
doi.org/10.1192/bjp....

My PhD student, Charilaos Chourpiliadis’s new paper in JAMA Network Open was published today. Main message: prescribed use of psychiatric medication was linked to a higher risk of #ALS and poorer prognosis in patients diagnosed with the disease. ja.ma/3ZQXwIW

Venous Bicarbonate as a Prognostic Biomarker and Proposed Proxy for Vital Capacity to Be Used as an Eligibility Criterion in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Clinical Trials Graphical abstract, Venous bicarbonate as a prognostic biomarker and proposed proxy for vital capacity to be used as an eligibility criterion in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinical trials.

New paper from my former PhD student, Juliette Foucher with her master’s student, Therese Wellander about using venous bicarbonate as a prognostic biomarker and proxy for vital capacity in ALS clinical trials published today in Brain and Behavior onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Plasma troponin T reflects lower motor neuron involvement on electromyography in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Chamoun et al. report that cardiac troponin T in plasma is positively correlated with lower motor neuron involvement on EMG in patients with amyotrophic la

#Medsky🧪 #neurosky #Cardiactroponin T (cTnT) is elevated in neuromuscular conditions without apparent #cardiacdisease, incl #AmyotrophicLateralSclerosis (ALS) @braincomms.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/braincomms/a...

We are seeing multiple instances of reviewers doing manuscript reviews via use of AI/LLM.

If you don't want to do a review the old-fashioned way, better to decline the request.

Giving someone else's manuscript to AI is a violation of intellectual property rights/laws; the manuscript isn't yours...

DOGE’s Chaos Reaches Antarctica Daily life at US-run Antarctic stations has already been disrupted. Scientists worry that the long-term impacts could upend not only important research but the continent’s delicate geopolitics.

“The damage caused by gutting the [Antarctic] science budget like this is going to last generations.”

“If the South Pole [station] is shut down, it’s basically nearly impossible to bring it back up. Everything will freeze and get buried in snow.” 🧪

My linocut print on white Japanese washi paper with bark inclusions, in a vertical gradient of copper to green ink of ground, grass and ground pangolin. Every scale of the pangolin is printed on different Japanese washi papers in various colours and patterns.

The 3rd Saturday in February is is World Pangolin Day to draw attention to the plight of the world’s most trafficked animals, these magnificent scaly mammals. 🧪🐡 There 8 species of pangolin in Africa & Asia, all endangered, threatened by poachers for their meat & scales (used in traditional 🧵

📢 New paper! Led by the University of Edinburgh and King's College London! Results found nearly 300 unknown genetic links to depression! @markjamesadams.bsky.social is our Generation Scotland's bioinformatician & lead analyst of this study! doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

A fascinating 2023/24 study of publishing timelines over 140,000 academics in STEMM showing discipline & country-specific attrition of academic careers from the publication of first paper. The probability of continuing after 19y just 38-43%. Interactive maps at:
public.tableau.com/app/profile/...
🧪

2024 was exciting! Thank you to our volunteers & Cassandra Art for representing us so creatively! 🧠Some highlights: Loneliness study launch, Big Data Matters lesson plan👩‍🏫Usher Open Doors🔭Mental Health Youth Forum event, presentations & vital research made possible by volunteers! Join us for 2025!

Ridgeline chart showing the distribution of global daily air temperature differences from the pre-industrial reference period (1850-1900), for every year between 1940 and 2024. Each individual year resembles a hill, shaded in a darker shade of red and further to the right for warmer years. The trend is clearly towards warmer years, with 2024 standing out as first year above 1.5C.

NEW: 2024 has just been confirmed as the warmest year on record, and the first to breach the 1.5C threshold.

We used a ridgeline (Joy Division inspired) chart to visualise daily temperature anomalies since 1940.

2024 clearly stands out with 100% of its days above 1.3C and 75% above 1.5C.

"A study of federally funded research projects in the United States estimated that principal investigators spend on average about 45% of their time on administrative activities related to applying for and managing projects rather than conducting active research"

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Are @zbmed.bsky.social aware of the negative reaction on social media to their just-announced contract with MDPI. There's a great many red flags they seem to have missed, e.g.
deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/08/gues...
deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-...
+ @hansonmark@bsky.social's account below

Statistical consulting guidelines for new researchers in psychiatry and mental health – beyond ChatGPT | BJPsych Advances | Cambridge Core - www.cambridge.org/core/journal...