Dad/Doctor/Dude. Radiation Medicine faculty at UVM. I have a 120-pound dog, GMRS license, and 2nd doctorate in Radiation Biology. Certified metaphysician.
Rutland, Vermont
Joined September 2010
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Jason Beckta retweeted
Bold.Forward.Unbound and pushing the edge! @yazshaz & colleagues
Mayo Clinic researchers are studying whether low-dose radiation therapy can slow the progression of Parkinson's disease by targeting inflammation in areas of the brain affected by the disease.
The clinical trial is the first to investigate low-dose radiation as an anti-inflammatory approach in patients with early-stage Parkinson's disease.
Learn more: mayocl.in/4hX0IMP
A month before midterms, a bot farm allegedly gets taken out. Let's see what true organic human content is!
Oh. Apparently it's a very wealthy, famous celebrity feuding with a Brooklyn art studio that sells automata priced at $15,000.
I miss the bots 🙁
Cool, cool. Sure, it wasn’t for sale. That’s the narrative Art of Play is gonna go with 👍 so the whole conversation we had when I asked you if it was for sale whilst pointing to the price tag hanging on the wall with the title Singing Bird didn’t happen as you elevator eyed me saying in a condescending tone “yes, it’s for sale but it costs 15,000 dollars so if you’d like me to find something comparable for you I can.” That all never happened and now it’s not for sale. Okay, cool. So you’re not only rude, you’re also a liar. Got it ✅
And by the way, I obviously support small businesses because I was literally at a small business trying to purchase things. I love small businesses and know they are important and I always support them, but you don’t get a free pass to treat people less than in your store just because you are a small business. It’s not that hard to be kind. I never blast people but you my friend were an exception.
Your store is really cool.
Unfortunately, you aren’t.
If there's one source you can count on for accurate and insightful opinions on the intricacies of Medicare billing, it's definitely...*checks notes*...this comedian.
Who also sells...pancake mix.
(back in my day, synthetic astroturfing was at least subtle 🥲)
Give Dr. Oz credit on this one. This is what I voted for. Saving people money and cutting unnecessary waste.
Here is what has been going on. Medicare has been paying twice for overlapping work when someone has an office visit and a procedure on the same day. Those extra costs can eventually mean higher premiums and more out of pocket costs for patients.
@DrOzCMS is pushing a fix so Medicare is not paying full price twice for the same overlapping work. This is the kind of change I want to see in healthcare
I encourage everyone to research how this experiment has gone for Vermont. Google "Green Mountain Care Board".
[insert Luke Skywalker meme here]
Oregon seeks to establish, starting in 2032, medical, vision, dental, and mental health benefits for every state resident from cradle to grave — with no premiums, deductibles, or copayments. Lawmakers could vote on a plan during the 2027 legislative session.
kffhealthnews.org/elections/…
Extremely recently, I was referred an anal cancer patient. Because everything runs in threes, I already had two anal cancer patients either in the works or on beam.
This new patient was supposed to have had a PET scan. I can see no PET scan. I figured someone just forgot to order it or something. The other two patients WITH THE EXACT SAME DISEASE both had PET scans.
I ask the staff to look into it. PET scan had been denied. By Medicare. As not medically necessary.
I was confused. All three of these patients were very similar. How did the other two get the scan but not this patient?
Eventually I get the relevant staff member knocking at my door. I was then told it was denied/not necessary because of the ICD code used.
What?
The ICD code was...C21. It's always C21.
Well, I was informed that wasn't specific enough. As in, C21.0 was "malignant neoplasm of the anus, unspecified."
What?
There's like...there's no laterality of the anal canal, which is how I usually encounter this issue.
Since I can't exactly put "left anal cancer", I am confused.
So I Google this and find that if I change it to C21.1, it magically becomes "malignant neoplasm of the anal canal".
I do this and ask them to resubmit.
Instantly approved.
Of course, I am extremely confused as to how the other two patients got the PET without me "fixing" the ICD code...
But it's American medicine. I know better than to try to investigate. It only brings pain and sorrow.
"ChatGPT, please generate an image of what Zoom school would look like in person. Basically, I want a vibe in the theme of a prequel to Wall-E or Ready Player One. Do not make it overtly dystopian. Bright colors. Imply despair but keep it subtle."
@ASTRO_org Not trying to be controversial or contrarian, but I think the decision to move from an actual, interactive poster session to digital posters has missed the mark. #ASTRO26
Attendance is down.
Exchange of ideas is down.
And most importantly, opportunities for trainees to interact with investigators and others in the field are down.
Poster sessions have always been about far more than displaying data—they create conversations, connections, mentorship, and collaborations, especially for our trainees.
It’s not too late to fix this. Let’s bring back meaningful, in-person poster interaction.
Coming this fall to theaters near you, a stunning documentary about one of the most challenging periods in medical history, when families were ripped apart and the landscape was forever altered...
"Pfft, low dose radiation is a scam! It has nowhere near the incredible evidence we see with hyaluronic acid injections! Oh, don't forget to schedule your injections at least twice a year for the rest of your life on your way out."
[Editor's note: I'm not actually against the "gel" injections, just wanted to...point something out]
Rheumatologists to "radiation therapists" 🫤 (aka #radonc):
Leave our OA patients alone, Germany is wack, placebos are therapy
...and the @RushRadOnc folks are sus? (rush.edu/treatments/low-dose…)
(!)
This is an extraordinarily measured take on this topic.
What's interesting to note is how much resistance there is to asking the question (how quickly the sword-and-shield "conspiracy theory" label is brandished).
The video is excellent and only 30 minutes.
Also, um, something of note - they open and close the video by discussing a critique of Hawking by an MIT Professor Emeritus.
It was...difficult...for me to actually find this article. But, it's definitely real. I was able to add it to my archives.
The video also references a 1999 paper where 200 physicists were asked to name the 5 most important scientists...and only one of them listed Hawking.
So, you have to ask yourself, in that context and theme:
Why in the world would the MIT Faculty Newsletter choose to publish this article?
(it's...hopefully obvious)
web.mit.edu/fnl/volume/311/k…
Hahahaha Matt is being so kind with his word choices.
I would also add that the quality of the clearly AI-authored posts are higher here.
The other platforms...look. All I'm asking for is PLEASE YOU GUYS, PLEASE STOP USING FREE TIER CHATBOTS TO WRITE YOUR POSTS.
Academic medical centers have become the new "athletics division".
I was in the PhD portion of my training the year VCU reached the Final Four. I remember my PI being very upset by how much attention basketball was getting (perhaps @amyjhawkins remembers this as well).
At the time, I tried explaining to him the halo effect it gave us, that any enhancement to our "name brand recognition" could help labs get funding in the future [because even back then, I realized science and science funding wasn't about merit or quality, it was about who you know and who knows you].
I don't believe I ever swayed him (then again, I don't think I ever swayed him on anything - infamously one time, when I was trying to convince him his RIPA buffer formula was suboptimal, I brought him a paper to support my position, which triggered him to exclaim "Jason no one cares about the data!" and storm off.)
While this is still true, the relative power of athletics as the university "front porch" compared to the hulking brand of the health system has greatly diminished.
I had Gemini (sorry Grok) whip up a comparison for me of collegiate sports vs. academic medical center money/branding today compared to 20 years ago. The numbers speak for themselves.
Sadly, despite this culture shift, I don't think I'll ever get to see myself on the cover of a long-running PlayStation or Xbox series like "Code Blue Simulator 2027" or "NIH Paylines Deathmatch 2031".
UVA is part of a pattern that has unfolded across the country over the past decade. Hospital expansion has concentrated university power in the hands of hospital administrators with little to no interest in scholarship but enormous interest in using science as a marketing ploy.
The academic mission becomes a sales pitch to donors, patients, and government, while the scholars who give that mission substance lose resources and authority.
The business model depends on academic credibility while steadily hollowing out the work that produces it.