Carlos E. Figueroa Castro, MD, MS, FACP

ChatGPT wrote “Goodnight Moon” suicide lullaby for man who later killed himself ChatGPT used a man's favorite children's book to romanticize his suicide.

Are we really supposed to trust #openai with our health after this? arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

This is messing up my #IDWeek2025 !! #AWS

For maximum functionality please use Google Chrome or Firefox.

From a comment in the discussion: idweek2025.eventscribe.net/aaStatic.asp...

Anyone having problems connecting to the #IDWeek2025 Opening Plenary livestream?

My evenings have been preoccupied with the intricacies of video editing, mostly with Da Vinci Resolve and not recognizing .mp4 files. VLC and Handbrake didn't work for me.

Claude.AI and ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v dnxhd -profile:v dnxhr_hq -pix_fmt yuv422p -c:a pcm_s16le output.mov

#linux

There it is, in a nutshell.

< 72 h from launch → 48 placebo / active-controlled vaccine RCTs logged - now including all 5 COVID trials

1.43 M participants

Crowd-powered, freely accessible evidence that buries the “never placebo-tested” myth.

Browse or drop a PMID 👇
bit.ly/3EuYzqI

cc @bradspellberg.bsky.social

Measles Cases in European Region Highest in More Than 25 Years The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that measles cases in the European region more than doubled from 2023 to 2024, reaching about 127 000—the highest number since 1997. The increase has been ...

Measles cases in Europe hit a 25-year high—127,000+ in 2024 alone.
Low MCV1 coverage post-pandemic is fueling the surge. But it’s not just the rash: measles can trigger immune amnesia, wiping the body's memory of past infections. A setback we can’t afford #IDsky
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

CDC struggling to fight raging measles outbreak after deep funding, staff cuts In first 4 months of the year, US measles cases are over double last year’s count.

"In first 4 months of the year, US measles cases are over double last year's count. "

arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

Kai Arzheimer (@kaiarzheimer@fediscience.org) Attached: 1 image Now back to work #AcademicWriting #AcademicChatter

fediscience.org/@kaiarzheime...

The Volunteer Data Hoarders Resisting Trump’s Purge Can librarians and guerrilla archivists save the country’s files from DOGE?

"A recently leaked list of pages marked for deletion on military websites includes references to the Enola Gay—not, as it turns out, a member of the L.G.B.T.Q. community but, rather, the B-29 bomber that nuked Hiroshima."

Who is next, Al Gebra and Al Gorithm?

www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

NIH to ax grants on vaccine hesitancy, mRNA vaccines Move reflects vaccine skepticism of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

NIH is abruptly terminating at least 33 research grants for projects studying why some people are hesitant to receive vaccines or evaluating strategies that could encourage vaccine uptake. scim.ag/4how23i

Not having immediate access to social media is working wonders. Desktop access is more than enough. I still exist.

Come together, right now The chaos, conflicting information, firings, and hurtful rhetoric of the Trump administration’s approach to science over the past month are causing anxiety, grief, and concern for the scientific commu...

“The weeks ahead may be the greatest test that the US scientific community has ever faced” @holdenthorp.bsky.social

Come together, right now | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Infographic on Measles in Red, light blue and yellow. It contains the timeline for measles, facts and the R0 that each person can infect 12 to 18 people in an unvaccinated population. Be Wise, Immunize with the MMR vaccine. Getting the vaccine is much safer than getting the disease.

Measles are contagious.
Measles cause 1 in 4 people to be hospitalized.
Measles can be deadly especially in children.
Measles can cause blindness & deafness.
Measles can cause brain damage yrs later.
Measles can cause "immune amnesia".

Measles are preventable with MMR vaccine.

#medsky #IDsky 🛟 😷🧪

PLOS statement on recent US Executive Orders and scientific integrity - The Official PLOS Blog Since its founding over twenty five years ago PLOS has been dedicated to advancing open science, ensuring that knowledge is accessible to…

PLOS remains committed to the principles of #OpenScience: integrity, transparency, inclusivity, and collaboration.

Recent policy changes in the U.S. raise concerns about the impact on the global research community and scientific integrity. Read the statement: plos.io/3D4O8cH

Newfound bat virus that uses notorious receptor poses ‘spillover’ risk The virus is related to the pathogen that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome and capitalizes on the same ‘entry receptor’ used by SARS-CoV-2.

🦠 HKU5-CoV-2: What We Know So Far
Been getting a lot of questions about HKU5-CoV-2, the newly identified bat-derived coronavirus. Here’s what we know, and why you don’t need to panic.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Canada has bought 500,000 doses of bird flu vaccine Canada’s public health agency has bought 500,000 doses of avian flu vaccines in what it called a 'proactive' measure to protect vulnerable people at risk of catching the virus.

"Canada’s public health agency has bought 500,000 doses of avian flu vaccines in what it called a “proactive” measure to protect those who might be at increased risk of exposure to infected animals."

ctvnews.ca/health/artic...

#OneHealth #AvianInfluenza

We’re not just treating asymptomatic bacteriuria—we’re also treating asymptomatic pyuria and nitrituria(ASPN). Madness!
🆕💫Study found ASPN led to 40% more unnecessary antibiotic use than ASB. Time to rethink our approach! #IDsky
cambridge.org/core/journals/…www.cambridge.org/core/journal...09

What if We Can't Rely on PubMed? - Absolutely Maybe PubMed is incredibly reliable. And a lot depends on it. It’s an ecosystem built around MEDLINE, the steady feed of new publications…

Hate that it has come to this, but it's time to consider PubMed vulnerable to enshittification. My latest post @plos.org discusses the lines we need to fight to hold – and alternatives we can rely on internationally:

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/02/14/w...

#medlibs

Reminiscing: An underground dance club, $2 admission fee (one free beer with your ticket). A funny sack passing for a locker. “Rock lobster”, “Rock in the Casbah”, “Carmela”, “Que pena”, “Song 2”, “Connected”, “El pito”, and “Born Slippy” in eclectic harmony. Dancing till 2am. Walking back home.

Judges suspend NIH plan to slash payments and order health agencies to restore web pages Lawsuits argued that cutting “indirect cost” rate would have “devastating” impact on research

At least temporarily staving off what many saw as a crushing blow to U.S. biomedical research, a federal judge has suspended a plan by the Trump administration to slash billions of dollars in payments from the NIH that now go to universities to cover the overhead costs of research. scim.ag/40T7g5q

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF STATES’ EX PARTE EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ANGEL KELLEY, D.J. Plaintiff States’ Ex Parte Emergency Motion For Temporary Restraining Order [Dkt. 4] is GRANTED. Defendants and their officers, employees, servants, agents, appointees, and successors are hereby enjoined from taking any steps to implement, apply, or enforce the Rate Change Notice (NOT-OD-25- 068) within Plaintiff States until further order is issued by this Court. Counsel for Defendants shall file a status report with the Court within 24 hours of the entry of this Order, and at biweekly intervals thereafter, confirming the regular disbursement and obligation of federal financial assistance funds and reporting all steps that NIH, HHS and their officers, employees, servants, agents, appointees, and successors have taken to comply with the Court’s temporary restraining order.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, ATTORNEY GENERAL DANA NESSEL ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, STATE OF ILLINOIS, STATE OF ARIZONA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, STATE OF CONNECTICUT, STATE OF COLORADO, STATE OF DELAWARE, STATE OF HAWAI’I, STATE OF MAINE, STATE OF MARYLAND, STATE OF MINNESOTA, STATE OF NEW JERSEY, STATE OF NEW YORK, STATE OF NEVADA, STATE OF NEW MEXICO, STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, STATE OF OREGON, STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, STATE OF VERMONT, STATE OF WASHINGTON, and STATE OF WISCONSIN, plaintiffs.

BREAKING: Federal judge temporarily blocks NIH indirect costs rate cap issued Friday as applied to states that sued over the act this morning.

Judge Angel Kelley, a Biden appointee, ordered further briefing as well, and set a hearing on Feb 21 in the case. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Natural History of Clostridioides difficile–Related Disease Progression in the 2-Step Testing Era Among adults tested for Clostridioides difficile, nucleic acid amplification test–positive, toxin-negative status was associated with later toxin positivit

I think this lends support to treat NAAT+/Tox- if symptomatic, at risk for CDI, and without other explanations for diarrhea. Scoring system for preemptive therapy next? Natural History of Clostridioides difficile–Related Disease Progression in the 2-Step Testing Era academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...

Direct link to repositories:

source.coop/repositories...

Announcing the Data.gov Archive | Library Innovation Lab

“Today we released our archive of data.gov on Source Cooperative. The 16TB collection includes over 311,000 datasets harvested during 2024 and 2025, a complete archive of federal public datasets linked by data.gov.”

🧪 #Archives #OpenData #OpenSciencelil.law.harvard.edu/blog/2025/02...e/

as the kids say … first #IDSky post, kinda nervous 🫣 but excited to share our clinic’s early utilization of doxy PEP data 📈📊

Honestly didn’t predict we’d bankrupt medical schools as the boomers were retiring. Another own goal as they say grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Windows 10's demise nears, but Linux is forever If you want a desktop that's secure and reliable, forget about Microsoft

Windows 10's demise nears, but Linux is forever www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/w...

Now the whole country gets the experience of what it's like when private equity buys the place you work