Stephen Pettit

“Cake causes herpes?” - promiscuous dichotomisation induces false positives - BMC Medical Research Methodology Background Continuous biomedical data is often dichotomized into two or more groups for analysis, despite long-standing warnings from statisticians that this constitutes bad practice. This dichotomisa...

Nice one, from @drg.bsky.social and @jamesheathers.bsky.social

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score is the most widely used tool for evaluating organ dysfunction.

This week, JAMA published the SOFA-2 score, an update that incorporates current organ support therapies and introduces new scoring thresholds.

ja.ma/49vYNe5

ggplot2 hex with tada emoji. Text: Join the v4.0.0 release party with Teun van den Brand and the ggplot2 extenders, Oct 3 at 3pm Et, bit.ly/join-gg-extenders

The new ggplot2 4.0.0 is here! 🎉

This major update includes a foundational rewrite of S7 and user benefits such as smarter labeling and a revamped theming system.

Check the details: www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/09...

BONUS: Join the release party on Oct 3, 3pm ET. bit.ly/join-gg-extenders

#RStats

Islam Most Islamic religious leaders accept organ donation during life, provided it does not harm the donor, and after death to save lives. In 2019, a UK-based Sunni scholar, Mufti Mohammed Zubair Butt, pro...

www.organdonation.nhs.uk/about-organ-...

Yes. There has been work in the UK trying to increase organ donation among black and minority ethnic groups. Cultural touchpoints such as places of worship have been important.

www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/how-you-can-...

Yes. Although organ sharing networks in the US and Europe mean that donor organs tend to move city.

Five years ago today, most historical UK monthly rainfall observations were not available to scientists.

But the 66,000 pieces of paper containing the data had been scanned.

With covid lockdown approaching we saw an opportunity to transcribe the data.

#RainfallRescue began... 🧵

How thousands of football fans are helping to save lives A campaign by one of Brazil's biggest football clubs to encourage fans to become organ donors has led to a massive rise in the number of life-changing transplants.

Huge impact. The waiting list for organ transplants in the city of Recife was reduced to zero in the first year #ISHLT2025

www.bbc.com/news/magazin...

YouTube video by FlockAssociatesLtd Flock Associates - Recife Sport club: Immortal Fans. Integrated Campaign by Ogilvy Brazil

Incredibly powerful campaign to encourage organ donation in Brazil #ISHLT2025

youtu.be/E99ijQScSB8

Ten year outcomes after DCD heart transplantation at Royal Papworth Hospital presented by Hassiba Smail #ISHLT2025

great kickoff to #ishlt2025 Dr. Rebecca Cogswell presenting important updates to 🫀🫁 registry

Speakers at the head table and podium of a convention center meeting room. ISHLT2025 branding is on the podium and behind the stage, and the screen reads "Cardiogenic Shock"

It's #ISHLT2025 Pre-Conference day! More than 490 medical professionals have come together to dive deeper into #CardiogenicShock, #LungTransplantation, #LungFailure, #CTEPH, and #HealthEquity topics with experts from around the world. 💡🌏

a man in a brown jacket is holding a glass dome with the word fox on it . ALT: a man in a brown jacket is holding a glass dome with the word fox on it .

It was great. I smile every time I pass the incubator that’s been built on the Cambridge biomedical campus.

Totally agree about importance of clinical examination. But why do you need a stethoscope to detect the most important driver of type 2 cardio-renal syndrome? Examine the neck veins! #JVP

Ivabradine for patients with stable coronary artery disease and left-ventricular systolic dysfunction (BEAUTIFUL): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial Reduction in heart rate with ivabradine does not improve cardiac outcomes in all patients with stable coronary artery disease and left-ventricular systolic dysfunction, but could be used to reduce the...

Agree. The UGLY side of heart rate reduction.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Agree.

All the physiological variables that contribute to shock are continuous. Need to move beyond categorisation.

Thanks buddy. It’s been a big effort to get EVLP up/running. Marius and Jas have done all the heavy lifting. 👏👏👏

Machine to revive donor organs used in double-lung transplant in UK first Exclusive: Daniel Evans-Smith tells of transformative effect of operation using technology that could cut waiting lists

Very proud of my colleagues who pushed hard to get the UK’s first clinical programme of EVLP up and running.

www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

Blinded Withdrawal of Long-Term Randomized Treatment With Empagliflozin or Placebo in Patients With Heart Failure | Circulation BACKGROUND: It is not known whether the benefits of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors in heart failure persist after years of therapy. METHODS: In the EMPEROR-Reduced (Empagliflozin Outcome ...

www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...

Reference four is priceless. I did not know OFCOM published this list.

R Color Palette Finder The ultimate tool for finding the perfect color palette for data visualization with R and paletteer. Explore over 2000 palettes, see them in action on various charts, simulate color blindness, and exp...

I was today years old when I found this gem of a web app to explore 2500+ color palettes for R:

r-graph-gallery.com/color-palett...

Impella percutaneous ventricular assist device malrotation in social media: a call to action This study suggests that correct Impella orientation is often overlooked, and that Impella malrotation is a common issue in real-world clinical practice, potentially associated with relevant complicat...

This was a fun study leveraging social media to demonstrate the high prevalence in Impella malrotation among cases shared on old Twitter.
If it's malrotated, but it works well, without suction alarms or other problems, do you change it? #cccsky #cardiosky #emimcc
www.pcronline.com/News/Whats-n...

Important question.

We keep SGLT2i going in patients who are supported with inotropes and waiting for an urgent heart transplant. But we tend to stop in those on temporary MCS.

I’ve been looking to diagnose euglycaemic ketoacidosis for ages, but just not seen it yet.

🇵🇭 Philippine Heart Centre
Very happy to share contact details of former fellows if you’d like to find out more about the training, support and friendship that we offered them.

In the last decade, our fellows have gone on to Advanced HF Cons jobs in…
🇲🇾 Institut Jantung Negara
🇸🇬 National Heart Centre
🇦🇺 Alfred Hospital
🇮🇹 Polyclinico Sant Orsola
🇳🇿 Auckland Hospital
🇬🇧 Royal Papworth Hospital
🇩🇰 Aarhus University Hospital

Would you like to become an advanced heart failure cardiologist?

Join our team in Cambridge!

beta.jobs.nhs.uk/candidate/jo...

Correlation

xkcd.com/552

100%. Learning to use R has revolutionised my working life. It’s such a powerful tool for graphics, audit, research, etc. Plus it’s really sharpened my approach to data.

The differences between PCT and CRP are very small. What about using the elements of the white cell count differential?