Passing this on for METUPUK. Please sign the EnhertuEmergency petition and share it widely (link is here: metupuk.start.page/ ). Now is also the time to contact your MP and urge them to table questions in Parliament. Patients put trust in the drug appraisals process and it has NOT delivered.

The benefits of detecting breast cancer early

For the patient, it's the high probability of a cure and treatment that's less disruptive or has fewer long-term effects.

For those with an eye on costs, it's got to be the much lower costs.

Costs rise exponentially by increasing stage of breast cancer.

In a recent study, the cost of treating stage IV compared with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) was 35.6 times higher.

Wilkinson AN et al. Curr Oncol. 2023;30:7860-7873. Available here: mdpi.com/1718-7729/30/9/571

Thanks to @ANwilkinson on the scary X app.

Drowning does not look like drowning

In 10 percent of drownings, adults are nearby but have no idea the victim is dying. Here’s what to look for.

slate.com/technology/2013/06/r

Science blues in Brexit Britain.

Cochrane UK in Oxford to close at the end of March 2024

Cochrane UK, based in Oxford, has announced it will close at the end of March 2024 with the end of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funding.

More here: uk.cochrane.org/news/cochrane-

Tips on writing an introductory paragraph

[NOTE, this is as seen on Twitter, and was developed by Dr Asad Naveed]

Are you stuck in your research paper's introduction paragraph again?

Here is a 3-step framework on how to write a compelling introduction section of your paper (see diagram):
1. Attention (labelled orange):

Write about what is known.

Define the problem and grab your reader's attention with a quote, or a statistic.
2. Connection (labelled light blue):

Write about what is unknown.

What is yet to be found?
3. Thesis (labelled dark blue & purple):

Write about how you will fill the gap and your rationale, purpose and hypothesis.

A well-written introduction can set the stage for your research and establish context and relevance.

This approach allows you to start broadly and narrow down as you progress.

Eventually, this framework will keep your reader engaged from the very beginning.

It'll also act as a roadmap guiding the reader through your argument.

If you want to see more tips like this and you have a blue bird account, look for: @dr_asadnaveed

You can't stop evolution

A paper published in Nature yesterday reports on how an engineered minimal cell contends with the forces of evolution.

Open access paper available here: nature.com/articles/s41586-023

Dr Veera M. Rajagopal on Twitter has a good summary on the development of the minimal genome (the barest minimum of a bacterial genome required for life), which led to the engineering of the minimal cell.

If you're on Twitter, it's available here: twitter.com/doctorveera/status

According to the Nature paper: even when you reduce a bacterial genome to its absolute minimum where every nucleotide matters, the genome undergoes mutational events generation after generation as much as the non-minimal genome. One simply cannot stop the evolution.

As posted on the Nobel Prize profile on Twitter.

Today we remember one of the world's greatest scientists: Marie Skłodowska Curie, who died in 1934.

Curie was the first person to be awarded the twice and is still the only person to receive the prize in two different scientific fields.

The link below gives a short overview of her achievements, as posted by the Nobel Prize on Twitter.

youtube.com/shorts/xJ9G_jFqk2U

The myth that vaccines cause autism

Demystified by Dr Susan Oliver on Twitter. I am tooting her tweet here.

Thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the myth that vaccines cause autism is doing the rounds again. [Dr Susan Oliver says] Cindy and I explain why it is bollocks.

youtube.com/watch?v=H_w7vocY4Y

Renshaw01 boosted

@Renshaw01 If only those were Fediverse addresses...

Now that Twitter effectively has closed public tweets, best to move them over to here too. ;)

Five women scientists at the White House

An astronaut, an aquanaut, two astrophysicists and a molecular biologist.
Dr Sian Proctor, Sydney Hamilton, Dr Raven Baxter, Dr Jordan Foreman, and Amethyst Barnes.

@DrSianProctor
@SeeSydSoar
@ravenscimaven
@itsspacejordan
@Amethistaaa

This appeared to be an event to celebrate Blackspaceweek and the NASA Artemis Generation Roundtable (apologies if the information is incorrect)

Renshaw01 boosted

Please, I'm begging you, if you're a researcher, archive your data, back up your files, have a data succession plan.

Chat to your library, chat to your colleagues. The best time is as you collect the data, the second best time is now.

I'm dealing with multiple different data nightmares now. People leave academia, people retire, people pass away with a plan to make a plan.

No judgement here, just sadness for all that hard work thrown into uncertainty.

@tard

You raise a good point. I do not think it is meant to be a ranking.

From what I can gather from the article, the list should be taken in the spirit of these are 10 of the (many) women scientists whose work has changed the world.

I look forward to seeing other lists of women scientists whose work changed the world.

New Nature article looks at how to end misogyny and inequalities in science

Don’t get mad, get equal: putting an end to misogyny in science
Subtle forms of misogyny attack female leadership and coerce women to conform to conventional gender norms. It’s time to call out these behaviours, say Alison Bentley and Rachael Garrett.
Article available at: nature.com/articles/d41586-023

Meet 10 Women in Science Who Changed the World

Great article in the March Discover magazine. The 10 women mentioned in the article are:
1. Ada Lovelace, Mathematician
2. Marie Curie, Physicist and Chemist
3. Janaki Ammal, Botanist
4. Chien-Shiung Wu, Physicist
5. Katherine Johnson, Mathematician
6. Rosalind Franklin, Chemist
7. Vera Rubin, Astronomer
8. Gladys West, Mathematician
9. Flossie Wong-Staal, Virologist and Molecular Biologist
10. Jennifer Doudna, Biochemist

The prognosis for women with early invasive breast cancer has improved substantially since the 1990s

[Retooted with hashtags and error amended]

The earlier we detect and treat breast cancer, the better the outcome.

The prognosis for women with early invasive breast cancer has improved substantially since the 1990s

The earlier we detect and treat breast cancer, the better the diagnosis.

FREE Science journalism masterclasses

The Open Notebook’s Science Journalism Master Classes will help you sharpen your ability to find and vet story ideas, craft effective pitches, report and write impactful stories, spot scientific hype, collaborate with editors, and more. Find out more about the classes below.

theopennotebook.com/science-jo

Women diagnosed today are 66% less likely to die from breast cancer than 20 years ago

In a study looking at half a million women in England with early breast cancer, those diagnosed between 1993-1999 had a 5-year breast cancer mortality risk of 14.4%, but those diagnosed 2010-2015 had a 5-year mortality risk of 4.9%.

Read the full paper by Professor Carolyn Taylor and her team here: bmj.com/content/381/bmj-2022-0

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