iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 1h

“The government stopped paying Mangala’s hospital staff at the start of the crisis. It gave no reason for the suspension, but the decision damaged morale and hindered efforts to organize a response, doctors said.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 1h

“When The New York Times visited the town in September, signs of the struggle to contain the virus were everywhere. The coming treatment center, which will be run by the international humanitarian medical charity Alima, was just a patch of flattened red earth.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 1h

“Violent insurgents sometimes impose checkpoints along the dirt road leading into town. Foreign aid cuts have forced health workers to make painful choices about already scarce resources, including where to build Ebola centers, said Luca Fontana, a senior W.H.O. official”

nytimes.com

How Congo’s Ebola Epidemic Got So Bad So Quickly

What happened in Mangala, where residents were left with little outside support, helps explain how this outbreak became the worst seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

Science Magazine @science.org · 10h

Exclusive: A new analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he was the first to recognize the significance of the famed photograph 51. scim.ag/4rTKck8

scim.ag

How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t

New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

ghost malone ergo propter bones @proptermalone.bsky.social · 3h

how do you send the guy who clowned himself on crudités out to do this

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

Ally Whelan @amwhelan.bsky.social · 4h

Five alarm fire y’all

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 4h

“Rekha Lakshmanan, the executive director of the Texas-based Immunization Partnership, an advocacy group, said that the investigation could have a chilling effect on pediatricians, making them think twice about urging vaccinations or opening a practice in Texas.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 4h

“It is unclear why he opened this investigation, though some people in Texas have speculated that he began it to court Mr. Trump’s endorsement in a competitive primary race (which he eventually received) or to appeal to vaccine-skeptical Texas voters.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 4h

“The efforts have gained steam despite decades of evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines. More than 1.1 million deaths, from diseases like diphtheria, hepatitis B & measles, were prevented by childhood vaccines in the United States from 1994 through 2023, according to an estimate from the C.D.C.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 4h

“In many ways, pediatricians, among the lowest-paid specialists in medicine, make for an unlikely target. But they have become a focus in what has become a wide-ranging campaign to raise doubts about vaccination, part of a 20-year quest for Mr. Kennedy that some of his political allies have joined.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 4h

“Mr. Paxton has also implicated the nation’s largest organization of pediatricians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, in the alleged conspiracy over the workaday task of protecting children from polio, measles, meningitis & more than a dozen other dangerous and sometimes life-threatening diseases”

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

benfranklinsaid.bsky.social @benfranklinsaid.bsky.social · 5h

Sidebar: I am so grateful we have people who love science as much as Julio but going forward people pls put your detached retinas before the email readings omg

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 5h

“A group of Venezuelan anesthesiologists—largely based in the U.S.—recently formed the Venezuelan Anesthesia Perioperative Risk society, or VAPOR, to raise awareness of the mutation among health-care workers, and to promote guidelines for screening and treating patients”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 5h

“Understanding how anesthesia works, Levy told me, could enable scientists to design better drugs that precisely target the brain, without lingering side effects. Though modern anesthesia drugs are generally quite safe, they are imperfect.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 5h

“They restart as soon as anesthesia is discontinued. But in some… mitochondria could become so impaired that their brain cells die. Morgan had found some of these hypersensitive patients before, but he believes Uli’s mutation could help pinpoint more precisely how anesthesia works on mitochondria”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 5h

“But Morgan and Sedensky kept working out the details of their theory. Inhaled anesthetics such as sevoflurane, they now argue, work by inhibiting the mitochondria, inducing a kind of temporary brownout in the brain. The bubbles used to transport brain chemicals become frozen in place”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 5h

“Anesthesia likely taps into something evolutionarily ancient in the body. A one-cell protozoan, a Venus flytrap, and a human are all susceptible to anesthesia—and two of those things don’t even have a brain.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 5h

“I asked what seemed like a basic question: How does sevoflurane work? “If you can figure that out, you have a Nobel Prize,” Levy told me. “The reality is, we don’t know.” We don’t know how any inhaled anesthetics work. But this novel mutation out of Venezuela, he &Morgan thought, might hold a clue”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“The study, with Yaremy as a co-author, was the cover story of the June 2026 issue of Anesthesiology, the official journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Accompanying it was an editorial written by two physician-scientists in the U.S., Richard Levy, at Stanford, and Philip Morgan”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“As the lab experiments were ongoing last summer, tragic news came out of Chile. Five children there had suffered terrible outcomes after routine anesthesia; four were dead, according to an alert from the Chilean Society of Anesthesiology. All five children were Venezuelan.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“General anesthesia today is usually achieved through a cocktail of drugs, both inhaled and intravenous. Of these, sevoflurane is one of the most popular, particularly for children… But sevoflurane seemed to behave differently—and dangerously—in the presence of the T-to-C mutation.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“This mutation is extremely rare, even in Venezuela, but it is an estimated 15 times more prevalent in Carabobo… The Spanish researchers hypothesized that this old mutation had taken on new, potentially fatal importance in the era of modern anesthesia.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“A haunting pattern appeared in the cases she was able to pull together. All seven patients in the study had received sevoflurane. Most of them could trace their maternal relatives to Carabobo; Yaremy’s own maternal grandmother was from the state. And all seven had the same T-to-C mutation.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“She found Julio Montoya, an expert in mitochondrial disease at the University of Zaragoza, in Spain, who saw her email in a waiting room as he was about to undergo emergency surgery for a detached retina. With his one good eye, he read it and replied immediately. He was keen to investigate.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“Yaremy now began searching for a scientist to study her family. She suspected that Uli and Matías carried the same mutation, as might other relatives. Two of her mother’s sisters, she realized, had also suffered complications after surgery that now seemed to trace back to anesthesia.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“In children with mitochondrial disease, neuron death can be triggered by physiological stress of any kind: fasting, illness, dehydration, and, yes, anesthesia. Perhaps… Yaremy wondered if her son’s reaction to sevoflurane could be caused by a novel mitochondrial mutation”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“Yaremy began chasing down a second clue… an expert examining the facts of the case made a crucial observation: The two symmetrical white spots in Uli’s basal ganglia, he said, looked much like the brain damage found in people with inherited mitochondrial disease”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“The spell breaks. This total reversal has happened millions of times in millions of people, the magic of it now mundane. But Uli had needed hours to find his way back to consciousness, his brain adrift someplace too deep and too dark to return from unscathed.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“The brain under anesthesia is suppressed to such an extent that Emery Brown, an anesthesiologist at Harvard and MIT, has compared it to coma or brain-stem death. “The key thing is that it’s reversible…” When anesthetics stop being administered, the patient starts to rouse within minutes.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“General anesthesia today is often likened, colloquially, to sleep. But what it does to the brain is stranger… To render someone so deeply unconscious, anesthesia shuts down multiple distinct functions in the nervous system, making a patient insensate, paralyzed, and unable to form memories.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 6h

“She had planned to continue her practice for years to come. But… she has begun to reconsider amid the stress and legal costs of defending herself in a statewide investigation by Ken Paxton… who has accused doctors, drug companies and insurers of conspiring to push parents into vaccinating children”

nytimes.com

Texas Pediatricians Face Paxton Investigations for Vaccinating Children

Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and Republican Senate candidate, has alleged a sprawling profit-driven conspiracy. Pediatricians say the accusations are an attempt at intimidation.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 7h

“It will also be a boost for the other candidates in what is one of the most consequential elections in recent Michigan history. There are open races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general, in addition to control of the state legislature being at play.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 7h

“Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian person to serve as vice president, campaigned with El-Sayed last month. Now the Oct. 24 rally with Obama, the first Black president, could give El-Sayed a boost on the first day of Michigan’s required early in-person voting period.”

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 13h

From @theathletic.com: LeBron James will make nearly four times as much promoting the Polymarket prediction market as he will from playing basketball. The deal may not break NBA rules, but it raises uncomfortable questions.

nyti.ms

LeBron’s Polymarket deal may not break NBA rules, but it raises uncomfortable questions

LeBron James will make nearly four times as much promoting a prediction market as he will for playing basketball.

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 8h

The confirmed #measles count in Pennsylvania has topped 1,000. Important to note that confirmed cases make up only a portion of all cases, especially given infections among PA's Amish community probably do not come to public health's attention in many cases. app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrI...

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 11h

“Former President Barack Obama will campaign alongside Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit later this month, lending his support to the progressive nominee after a bruising Democratic primary exposed divisions within the party.”

apnews.com

Obama is to appear with El-Sayed in Detroit as the ex-president gets more involved in the midterms

Former President Barack Obama plans to appear with Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit this month. Obama will attend an Oct. 24 rally.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 11h

“It’s a promising development, though because shingles is typically rare in people younger than 50, the data can’t prove whether the protection will last as they age, Bartelt said. Still, the new data suggests potential lifelong benefits of chickenpox vaccination.” h/t @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

nbcnews.com

Shingles cases dropping among people who got chickenpox vaccine, data shows

The virus that causes chickenpox can reactivate during adulthood, causing the painful, itchy rash known as shingles.

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 12h

Are you a postdoc or new faculty member who would benefit from an invited talk? My department is looking to bring someone for spring. Due to budgetary reasons, you must be either: 1. In driving distance to Orono, ME OR 2. Working on alpine or Arctic plants

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 12h

Oooh, thank you for sharing this!!

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 12h

At age 7, Alan Alda contracted polio before there was a vaccine. He recalls his parents “had to administer the treatment, which was almost-scalding hot packs of wool on every limb. So, they were practically torturing their kid. I remember thinking it was hard on them” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

cbsnews.com

Alan Alda on fighting Parkinson's with laughter

Alan Alda, now 90, best-known for his role as "Hawkeye" Pierce on the classic TV series "M*A*S*H," talks about living with Parkinson's disease, which he refuses to let define him.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 12h

I’m sorry to hear that. There isn’t a shortage here that I know of. The bigger problem in the US is mixed messages and misinformation.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 13h

“While pediatricians and some clinics offer both flu and coronavirus shots, they’re available for most ages through pharmacies. For example, Walgreens says it now offers both shots for ages 3 and older, no prescription needed… just remember it can take two weeks for protection to kick in”

apnews.com

Here's why experts say now is an ideal time to protect yourself from flu

Experts say now is an ideal time to get a flu shot, before influenza starts spreading widely. It's also a good time for vulnerable people to get vaccinated against another winter risk, RSV, and to get...

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Reposted by Kathleen Bachynski

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 15h

Stabs this whole interview with a copy of The Caliban and The Witch.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 14h

“Physicians are expected to explore what is driving a patient’s stated preference… A society that permits assisted dying should also ask whether it has done enough to help people sustain their sense of dignity and meaning in life. Death must not become the only kind of relief people can imagine.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 14h

“Unfortunately, psychological care of this kind for patients requesting assisted dying is not routinely offered by doctors or other health care providers, nor is it routinely covered by insurance. It should be the standard of care and fully funded.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 15h

“What form should that pause take? We do not believe patients requesting assisted dying need to be assessed for a psychiatric disorder as a matter of course. We do, however, find that most benefit from counseling and reflective conversations.”

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 15h

A perspective from Canada: “we do not seek to dissuade patients from going forward with the procedure. We are arguing instead that medical providers pause, that they help their patients (in both Track 1 and Track 2) consider and truly understand alternatives that might relieve their suffering”

nytimes.com

Opinion | Assisted Death Is Not a Choice of Last Resort in Canada

Assisted dying accounts for more than 5 percent of deaths in Canada.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 15h

An attempt “to start the ball rolling includes the Susan Katz Caffeine Safety Act (named for a 21-year-old woman who died of cardiac arrest after consuming an energy drink), which would impose mandatory disclosure of caffeine amounts in beverages & food. But this bill has failed in both 2025 & 2026”

statnews.com

Energy drinks’ new college sports partnerships make them more dangerous than ever

“In the absence of population-based evidence, the energy drink cabal is having an easy time of it,” writes Kent Sepkowitz.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

“The crowd roared when drivers took a particularly adept angle, winced when they hit other cars and, in between, murmured the usual unsolicited coaching of sidewalk parking spectators: “Turned too early.” “Too far, too far.” “OK, now bring it home.”

nytimes.com

Tight Competition: The Contest to Name Philly’s Best Parallel Parker

Out of more than 900 applicants, 15 were chosen to compete in three rounds, including “Tight Squeeze” and “Under Duress.”

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