‘Who Would Do Something So Stupid?’: What We Heard This Week

“Conceptually, you might think, ‘Who would do something so stupid?'” — Elliot Fishman, MD, of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, discussing the malicious potential of deepfake X-rays.

“Sadly, younger physicians are about to be re-educated about what these diseases look like.” — Paul Offit, MD, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, on the resurgence of childhood illnesses like Haemophilus influenzae type b.

“There’s been over 100 cases in the last 3 weeks.” — U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Joanne McGovern (Ret.), of the Yale School of Public Health measles data tracking project, discussing Utah as a measles hotspot.

“It seems like the most promising alternative to antibiotics.” — Steffanie Strathdee, PhD, of the University of California San Diego, highlighting the success of experimental bacteriophage therapy for multi-drug resistant infections in cystic fibrosis patients.

“Imagine our surprise to find that not only was there lower bone turnover, but prednisolone caused patients to be less overweight and have a better HbA1c.” — Karim Meeran, MD, of Imperial College London, on a trial favoring prednisolone over hydrocortisone for maintaining bone health in adrenal insufficiency.

“Influencer promotion can shape medication demand, blur the line between personal experience and advertising, and potentially contribute to inappropriate use.” — Raffael Heiss, PhD, of the MCI Management Center Innsbruck in Austria, on the lack of transparency in social media posts promoting prescription drugs.

“This has major implications for public health.” — Mark Taylor, MD, of the Edinburgh Practice in Scotland, after finding that people with pre-existing depression or anxiety were less likely to have mental health worsening while taking a GLP-1 medication.

“The things that get reported tend to be overestimates.” — Andrew Gelman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York City, discussing standard clinical trial statistics and Bayesian methods.

“I guess this isn’t going to work.” — Matthew Johnson, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, suggesting what participants randomized to placebo might have thought during a psychedelic trial for depression.