It feels like critical appraisal is about to have a bit of a moment... let's do it right, people!

One insurance denial for Teressa's husband stated, “your newborn does not meet the criteria for coverage.” “This is when I really start to think they’re just denying,” she recalled. “They’re not even looking. They’re just ‘deny, deny, deny.’” ➡️ Full story: www.propublica.org/article/ment...

After a North Carolina man attempted suicide twice, his wife tried to get him help at an inpatient clinic. But their insurance provider refused to cover the treatment, deeming it “not medically necessary.”

“Just Let Me Die”: After Insurance Repeatedly Denied a Couple’s Claims, One Psychiatrist Was Their Last Hope

After a North Carolina man attempted suicide twice, his wife tried to get him help at an inpatient clinic. But their insurance provider refused to cover the treatment, deeming it “not medically necess...

propublica.org

Question for folks in medicine and science: What are some of the best invited editorials you have ever read? What made them so good?

Lots of gold in this list!

Swapnil Hiremath 🍁🇨🇦@hswapnil.medsky.social · last yr.

💯 this Forget the introduction Never read the discussion Make up your own mind www.nephjc.com/news/10steps

🥞 #496 Hotcakes are here! 🩺 www.thecurbsiders.com We’re diving into: 🌿 CBD-induced liver injury 💉 IV iron for HFrEF 🛏️ Bedtime BP meds ✋ Carpal Tunnel & RA ❤️ FDA approval of finerenone for HFpEF ✨ featuring @paulnwilliams.bsky.social @rbganatra.bsky.social, Dr. Nora Taranto, Dr. Matthew Watto

“The study authors asked GPT 4o-mini to evaluate the quality of 217 papers. The tool didn’t mention in any of the reports that the papers being analyzed had been retracted or had validity issues. In 190 cases, GPT described the papers as world leading, internationally excellent, or close to that”

ChatGPT tends to ignore retractions on scientific papers

Study finds the chatbot doesn’t acknowledge concerns with problematic studies

cen.acs.org

"Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who oversees the CDC, did not make a statement the day of the shooting. Late the following morning, more than 30 minutes after posting photos of fishing with his family, Kennedy posted condolences on his official X account..." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/u...

After Years of Anger Directed at C.D.C., Shooting Manifests Worst Fears

nytimes.com

Fewer than 10% of published observational studies in this sample used DAGs to justify confounder selection. This is a huge missed opportunity for both readers and researchers. DAGs are invaluable in research design and critical appraisal.

Miranda So PharmD MPH (Epidemiology)@mirandapharmdmph.bsky.social · last yr.

Enjoyed reading this review from @jamanetworkopen.com ! I have been providing an educational series for team members about reseach methods. We had lots of discussions about how to manage confounding in observational studies. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNAS

The link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ...

doi.org

Updated CAP and UTI guidelines??? Yes please!

Bill Hader Eating Popcorn GIF

Alt: Bill Hader Eating Popcorn GIF

media.tenor.com

🔥🔥Just published 🔥🔥 ATS CAP guidelines 2025 Diagnosis and Management of Community-acquired Pneumonia. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline Free access pdf #IDsky#EMIMCC www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/...

Bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, use sponges on their beaks while hunting fish to protect them from sharp rocks while they forage at the expense of echolocation. Only about 5% of the population has mastered this culturally transmitted skill! 🧪 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Did you know that a subset of patients with atrial fibrillation have symptoms triggered by cold drinks?! Neither did I! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Characterizing Patients With Cold Drink‐Triggered Atrial Fibrillation

Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia with significant health implications. Identifying modifiable lifestyle triggers is important in mitigating recurrence and improving patie.....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Wake up new cause of liver enzyme elevation just dropped

You're looking at three golden tortoise beetles (Charidotella sexpunctata). They're native to the Americas, generally the east coast of North America all the way down to Argentina. The gold coloration is structural, semi-reflective layers in the cuticle selectively reflect wavelengths of light.

I'm not saying you can't generate a hypothesis from data. I'm just saying that generating a hypothesis from the entirety of human knowledge that preceded your data is a much safer bet.

This little fart-squirrel (Mephitis mephitis) is stamping, a warning behavior before the *big show*. She's hoping to scare you off with her ferocity so she doesn't have to use her scent glands. These types of bluffing moves are "deimatic" behaviors, from Greek 'deimatóo' = "to frighten".

new IBCC chapter: constipation! most ICU patients are constipated, so we manage this on a daily basis. but our approach is often super random ("I was taught this in residency") so I tried to create an evidence-based treatment strategy for constipation...🧵 #1/7 #EMIMCC emcrit.org/ibcc/constip...

a cartoon character from south park is sitting on the floor and making a surprised face .

ALT: a cartoon character from south park is sitting on the floor and making a surprised face .

media.tenor.com

what we truly care about is tonicity (forces that pull H2O across membranes) not osmolality sodium is actually a pretty good proxy of tonicity (ie “effective” osm), maybe better than measured osm also if we start juggling sodium levels and osmolarity at the same time it gets too damn complicated

a man with a beard is surrounded by mathematical equations on his face .

ALT: a man with a beard is surrounded by mathematical equations on his face .

media.tenor.com

Really enjoyed this one despite @paulnwilliams.bsky.social abstaining from some top-shelf trial name-related humor with "the eagle has landed" - take a listen and see what i mean!

@thecurbsiders.bsky.social · last yr.

New!!! 🥞 #484 Hotcakes: Vitamin D3, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and Physical Performance, Gabapentin and Falls, Gepotidacin for UTI, and Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss www.thecurbsiders.com

I had google AI create this podcast for tonight's NephJC podcast. Take a listen. Tell me what you think Would you like NephJC to produce this as a regular part of the educational package? This would not replace the irreplaceable Freely Filtered. notebooklm.google.com/notebook/8e8...

Question for my #Geriatrics #GeriSky brain trust: What are the best apps for scheduling home health aides or other elder care professionals? Something with: - A shared calendar for scheduling shifts - Hours logging - Any other features you have found useful Thx!

NEW @bmj.com research determines the incidence and prevalence of dementia in a nationally representative cohort of US Medicare beneficiaries www.bmj.com/content/389/...

Sunday sillies: "I'll allow it" edition. #math

Thanks to everybody who chimed in! I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist. So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>

Julia M. Rohrer@dingdingpeng.the100.ci · last yr.

Does anybody have a good visualization to explain how interactions can be confounded, and why interactions require interaction controls? @urisohn.bsky.social maybe? (Asking because I have an idea, but want to check out what exists already before investing the effort)

🎙️Brand New!!! #482 #shmconverge25 recap is here!!!!! Highlights and Pearls from SHM’s Annual Meeting 🥼🩺🩻🎰 We recap the top pearls for the hospitalist from #SHM #Converge25 hitting updates in GI, stroke, anticoagulation, perioperative medicine, artificial intelligence, and more.