This land was make for you and me. Happy #IndependenceDay. Happy 250th.

I often refer people to #hospice (normal in #geriatrics). If Oz wanted people on hospice to get palliative chemo or dialysis he could change the Medicare rules. He could make hospice facilities a thing so family caregivers aren't so overworked! What on earth is he wasting time on?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.

Dr Oz: "When you sign someone up wrongly for hospice, you take their insurance away to get those benefits. People die because of that."

Thank you, @uclahealth.org for sharing my work! It's exciting that potentially important data on health and immunity are hidden in a TB test we routinely order. I hope this opens up new ways to study the immune system at a population level. www.uclahealth.org/news/release...

Data hidden in tuberculosis screening tests sheds light on patients’ overall mortality

Scientists have long known that the immune system plays a key role in aging. As people age, they have weaker responses to vaccination, greater risks of infection and higher levels of inflammation. A n...

uclahealth.org

omg, omg, omg, I just learned that a different donor wants to donate $10,000 to our @3wishesprogram.bsky.social! I just started to cry.

Thanh Neville, MD, MSHS@thanh-neville.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We did it!!!! We hit 100 donors! Thank you everyone who helped! And it's not too late to you want to donate our @3wishesprogram.bsky.social, the campaign runs until Wednesday. bruingivingday.ucla.edu/campaigns/3-...

Dr. @thanh-neville.bsky.social and @3wishesprogram.bsky.social do much to help patients and families cope with the end of life. If you can, help them unlock a $10k gift by joining me and 98 others with a small donation (literally any amount)!

Thanh Neville, MD, MSHS@thanh-neville.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I need a favor. A donor has agreed to give the @3wishesprogram.bsky.social $10,000 if we are able to show that >100 people believe in this program & willing to make a donation by 4/29/26. $5, $10, amount does not matter. Please help, I would be so grateful. bruingivingday.ucla.edu/campaigns/3-...

Happily ditched cherry blossoms in Tokyo to take my niece to see her favorite cartoon character, but go on about how childless men don't care about kids.

Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist@nameshiv.bsky.social · 4mo ago

everytime something like this is posted it's by someone who doesn't actually know any single men

I figure this is the place to celebrate: I finished reading my first novel in another language! #booksky #languagesky

Lucky enough to get tickets to #LA28. The price gap between men's and women's Olympic #basketball events is a chasm. It's not much better for other sports.

Is this #demography erasure?

Dan Goldstein@dggoldst.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Nature meta-research project puts claims in social-science paper to the test. Refs in last post I'm interested in Econ and Psych so I focused on that: Econ had about the same rate of "not reproducible" analyses as Psych and a worse rate then Political Science.

I'm late to the party, but: Other than exercise, plant-based diets, and social engagement, there aren't individual-level interventions for #longevity with very strong evidence for the moment. #Geriatrics

M. Nolan Gray 🥑@mnolangray.bsky.social · 4mo ago

What's something that experts/practitioners in your field universally agree upon, but that remains a "hot take" among the general public?

This is as clear a statement as can be written about being Jewish in America right now.

Michael Ian Black@michaelianblack.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I don't know how to speak about being Jewish right now. michaelianblack.substack.com/p/my-only-pr...

What a perfect description of age, period, and cohort effects. #demography

Amanda Jean Stevenson@amandajean.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I have a joke about aging but you'll never know if it’s because I’m old or because I was born in the 80s or because things suck rn

What people don't understand about #Osaka compared to the rest of Japan is that they're much more outgoing and happy to show what proper plumbing looks like in a way that doesn't inconvenience you.

@mulboyne.bsky.social · 5mo ago

This large metal cylinder in Osaka is not connected to the road overhead. It's new sewerage, and the top is supposed to be at road level. For reasons no-one can yet explain, the pipe rose 10m overnight. www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/202...

The people criticizing Grumbach don't know how to enjoy some D-in-D. Difference-in-Difference, obviously.

Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We gotta stop penetrating people with smartphones.

ALL drugs are potentially unsafe. A rule of thumb in #geriatrics is that a new patient problem is likely from a new medication. It could be an interaction, it could be issues with drug metabolism. Many problems are better-address without medications at all. Prescribing is key to patient safety.

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 6mo ago

FDA Chief Makary just said that most drugs should be sold over the counter and not require a prescription, unless it’s “unsafe, you need laboratory tests to monitor…or if it could be used for some nefarious purpose or it's addictive”. Bacteria celebrate as antibiotic resistance enters the chat.

CCPR is excited to host @mikegeruso.bsky.social to discuss his book, After the Spike, Wednesday, Jan 11 @6pm, in UCLA's 314 Royce Hall. Comments by CCPR Director @marthajbailey.bsky.social & @philipncohen.com. Reception to follow. RSVP here: eventsrsvp.ucla.edu/CCPRLecture2...

This week CCPR's seminar series will feature @philipncohen.com discussing his book, "Research is Not Enough: Public Engagement and the Citizen Scholar." Join us on January 14 @12pm in Public Affairs 337.

COVID continues to exact heavy toll on older US adults, study suggests Roughly 1 in 100 adults aged 65 and older were hospitalized each year of the study period. www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...

Let it not be lost on us that the flu season is real, real bad the year that the administration fucked around with the flu vaccine committee and decided not to cooperate with international disease experts. Stark cause and effect, and it's only going to get worse if we let RFK continue his work.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 7mo ago

“These viruses are serious, dangerous, and life-threatening. We are seeing children who are seriously ill, families grieving devastating losses, and hospitals under capacity strain.” www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/h...

Just a couple shots protect you from having to bury your child. THIS ISN’T HARD. VACCINATE!

High school student suddenly dies from bacterial meningitis: School district

YouTube video by ABC News

youtu.be

With the changes to the #CDC child vaccine schedule, expect to see more older adults get seriously ill from preventable #flu, #RSV, and #COVID infections. Vaccines for children protect the people who look after them, too.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but replacing an asshole with another asshole is only progress if you're doing anus transplants.

Oh, just get vaccinated (part 5,000) "Many shots seem to have “off-target” benefits, such as lowering the risk of dementia, studies have found." (gift article)

Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew

nytimes.com

"Ryleigh did not receive a #flu shot this year." Horrible. Preventable. Transmissible. I take care of older people and it's awful enough when they get seriously ill and disabled or die from severe flu. I never want to know the heartache when it's a child. Get #vaccinated.

Dorit Reiss@doritreiss.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Healthy 16-year-old girl dies from flu complications: ‘It doesn’t make sense’ www.fox8live.com/2026/01/02/h...

I'm watching "M" for the first time and it's chilling, but is the amount of #beer at work normal for #Germany? Everyone seems drunk off their ass except for Beckert (which might have helped with some of his...issues?).

Awful and potentially avoidable. Even if you think your kids will be fine, their grandparents might not be. Don't let your kids become viral vectors. #Vaccinate

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Devastating. Yesterday, a 5-year-old boy died from the flu. Dr. Oz was spewing advice earlier this week where he downplayed the importance of vaccines and recommended “getting sunlight”. I don’t know whether Micah was vaccinated, but of the kids who died from flu last year, 90% were not.

I just finished two weeks covering the #geriatrics service. Every time, I guide families about the #caregiving needs of their loved ones. All the options rely on #immigrants to do the hardest work. Know-nothing white supremacy will harm older adults and their families

Eric Michael Garcia@ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 7mo ago

The caregiving industry could not survive without immigrants. But a third of the staff at one Miami nursing home lost their jobs after the Trump administration ended the programs letting them work legally. www.notus.org/immigration/...

I may be preaching to the choir, but get your #flu shot! Scared of needles? There's an inhaled vaccine! Allergic to eggs? We've got recombinant and cell-based vaccines! Dislike the US #healthsystem? Any #vaccine at all will make you less likely to have to interact with it!

tri-Sarah-tops@sarahndipity.bsky.social · 7mo ago

we did not get a quiet day. go get your damn flu shots people.

we did not get a quiet day. go get your damn flu shots people.

tri-Sarah-tops@sarahndipity.bsky.social · 7mo ago

happy liminal space between holidays friyay of weirdness for everyone who has to go work today (like me) I hope everyone calls off/cancels appts and no one bothers you and you just get a quiet day

@rbreich.bsky.social's blog post today gives a clear example of #ageism. It's sadly persistent. This is mostly bias against older adults. For clinicians, this is also not knowing how to assess aging physiology. #Frailty provides some tools to help. Many are at efrailty.hsl.harvard.edu #medsky 1/8