Christian Holt

OUT from 2025: Trump stroke (embolic)

IN for 2026: Trump stroke (hemorrhagic)

Documents Allege a Federal Agent at Portland ICE Threatened to Shoot an Ambulance Driver Andrew Schwartz

Feds delayed medics who had come to pick up an injured protester. Then, according to confidential incident reports, the agents became aggressive.

AT&T Long Lines

is one of the most monumental efforts that has zero cultural understanding

Willing to work this into my residency application a year from now to see if it works…

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

The frequency at which children are seen by pediatricians in the first two years of life supports not only the early detection of missed developmental milestones, but also a logistical opportunity to give vaccines according to an evidence-based schedule. “Just give them later” won’t be easy to do.

Isn’t this a procedural solution to a political problem? The real nugget of truth is that the Court is telling Congress that the Justices are a purely political branch of government now, unburdened by precedent. If it’s just politics all the way down, impeachment is much easier to put on the table.

With RFK Jr. behind him, Trump pushes unproven link between Tylenol and autism Acetaminophen has been used for decades in Tylenol and many other over-the-counter medications as a pain and fever reliever during pregnancy.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a gastroenterologist who has pushed Kennedy to follow the science on vaccines, called on HHS to release data that supports its claim about Tylenol and autism, adding that “the preponderance of evidence shows that this is not the case.” www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

Block quote from linked PBS story: Kennedy said “autism destroys families” and is an “individual tragedy as well.” [WATCH: What research reveals about the rise in autism diagnoses and why vaccines aren’t the cause] Kennedy said many autistic children were “fully functional” and “regressed … into autism when they were 2 years old. And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”

The HHS Secretary’s comments on his perception of people living with autism spectrum disorder offer a striking contrast to the compassionate and supportive approach that you describe. That’s their starting point: it creates defective people who are a burden to everyone. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

As fringe figures formed policy inside HHS, one longtime employee decided the mRNA decision had crossed a red line. Alastair Thomson, chief data officer at ARPA-H, resigned in protest.
From my interview with him:

Hackers Went Looking for a Backdoor in High-Security Safes—and Now Can Open Them in Seconds Security researchers found two techniques to crack at least eight brands of electronic safes—used to secure everything from guns to narcotics—that are sold with Securam Prologic locks.

Researchers at Defcon just showed they can crack the Securam ProLogic locks used on high-security safes to protect guns, cash, and narcotics in pharmacies.

When they told Securam last year, it sent them legal threats—and didn't fix the flaws.

www.wired.com/story/secura...

preparation of cell-based therapies requires specialized training that takes 4 to 6 months

the PI asked to re-hire his own team

NIH leadership refused, suggesting contractors or temps from elsewhere in NIH

this ignorant suggestion amounts to "replace the surgeon with a pilot or flight attendant"

If they’re enticing people with a prize to volunteer to be hit with a TASER so that they can then meet the inclusion criteria to participate in FDA-regulated and IRB-approved study protocol in clinical research about associated adverse effects, is that ethical research, let alone legal in the US?

I’m really not sure if this is actually clinical research, or if they’re using the concept of clinical research to cloak their product testing with the legitimacy of IRB-approved clinical trials, which opens a whole new can of worms about whether that’s deception in study recruiting.

Related to that, many IRBs require that advertisements for subject participation in clinical research list the name of the study protocol and principal investigator and some even require the IRB approval reference.

If they’re doing clinical research with an IRB-approved study protocol about the effects of controlled energy weapons, how can they reconcile the risk profile? Many IRBs I’ve worked with would also consider it undue coercion to say participants have to complete the entire study to be compensated.

clip from the FAQ of the linked webpage: Can I video the testing? No personal videos are allowed during testing events. This is to protect your privacy, the privacy of our staff and proprietary information related to technology research and development. Can family members or friends come and watch? No. This is to protect your privacy, the privacy of our staff and proprietary information related to technology research and development. Am I compensated for my participation? Compensation is provided in the form of a Axon Product, the type of which is dependent upon whether you are a law enforcement officer or civilian. After signing up to volunteer at a test event, you will be asked to choose your product. You must complete the entire test protocol to receive your compensation. You must also present a valid Law Enforcement ID if you request a Law Enforcement Grade product as compensation for your participation.

Discovered just now that Axon (of law enforcement body-worn camera and TASER fame) is actively recruiting “volunteers” to validate the safety of their controlled energy weapons in clinical research studies. IRB-approved compensation is an Axon product of your choice. www.axon.com/medical-test...

What 'Less Lethal' Weapons Actually Do Rubber bullets and tear gas are not as innocuous as they sound

Wrote this in the summer of 2020, definitely a good sign to be dusting it off now.

"Less lethal" weapons are tools of colonial occupation marketed to police, and tools of police marketed to colonial soldiers. Anti-civilian weapons more than "less-lethal" www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...

Notice and comment period closes after 11:59pm ET TONIGHT. 4 hours left to submit public comment on Schedule F proposed regulations if you think federal civil servants should be insulated from ideological purity tests as political appointees.

Trump rescinds guidance protecting women in need of emergency abortions Abortion rights supporters say scaling back Biden officials’ Emtala guidance will endanger pregnant patients’ lives

Trump rescinds guidance protecting women in need of emergency abortions
Abortion rights supporters say scaling back Biden officials’ Emtala guidance will endanger pregnant patients’ lives
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The NIH Director continues to misunderstand (or mischaracterize) the extent to which research is being gutted. I appreciate this program officer for speaking up.

Purely anecdotal, but even as a medical student I have been getting targeted ads recruiting physicians to leave the US to work in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. Other nations are ready to take advantage of the US attack on academia, and the brain drain might be worse than anticipated.

CBO Confirms GOP Budget Bill Triggers Medicare Cuts Republican Plan Adds to the Deficit, Will Trigger Automatic Cuts Under Federal Law

turns out the GOP budget bill adds so much to deficits that it will automatically trigger cuts to Medicare (not just Medicaid).
Older voters unlikely to be happy about this when word gets out
democrats-budget.house.gov/news/press-r...

Trump Won’t Force Medicaid to Cover GLP-1s for Obesity. A Few States Are Doing It Anyway. - KFF Health News Late last year, South Carolina Medicaid approved a class of medications known as GLP-1s to treat obesity, placing it among the few state programs covering these effective but expensive drugs. But acce...

In early April, the Trump administration announced it will not finalize a rule proposed by the Biden administration that would have allowed an estimated 7.4 million people covered by Medicare and Medicaid to access GLP-1s for weight loss. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Republican Medicaid Cuts Could Force Many Hospitals to 'Close Their Doors' Health care providers at the American Hospital Association’s annual meeting warned that cuts to Medicaid could force hospitals to close.

Republican Medicaid Cuts Could Force Many Hospitals to ‘Close Their Doors’
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Medicaid, with federal funding, reimburses hospitals for emergency care provided to undocumented immigrants who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid. Nothing in the Republican bill changes that.

The House reconciliation bill would penalize states to the tune of $92 billion if they use their own funds to provide health care to undocumented immigrants.
www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

RPI sues after cleaner's error allegedly destroyed decades of research A scientist at the Troy university lost decades of research when a cleaner cut power to a super-cold freezer holding cellular materials, leading to lawsuit.

It made headlines when *one* freezer was silenced by cleaners at my undergrad alma mater. Universities will have to make tough decisions without the funding to keep these sample repositories powered on and properly monitored. www.timesunion.com/news/article...

It’s the polar opposite of harm reduction. I think the quoted post puts it best: it doesn’t cure addiction, it prevents funerals.

By the same logic we shouldn’t have statins, stents, or anything other than self-control if a healthy diet can reduce cardiovascular disease risk.