MPs have personal beliefs, but also solemn duties: that’s why they must reject the assisted dying bill this week | Gordon Brown www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There’s power and hope in the stories that must be told …

If universities do go down, we will need: *Urban renewal fund to plug the gap *Proper Special Administrative Regime in law *Plan to reapportion students between unis *Research council policy on moving grant money *PhD training centre and partnership moves (1/3)

🚨ACTION🚨 We plan to send this open letter asking ministers and UKRI to rethink their plans for REF2029 imminently. Any UK academic can sign. The REF is important because it allocates £2 billion a year in research funding. Current proposals pose serious risks 🧵 lucaf.org/viewdocument...

Important learning from US experience of looking after 22 weekers 2014-23: many more receiving active treatment, and survival increased from 25.7% to 41%.

Implications of the Sullivan review for medicine described in this BMJ editorial here. Direct relevance to maternity comprehensively described in: www.frontiersin.org/journals/glo...

Ridiculous narcissists and solipsists, thinking that the church is all about a modern liberal-to-conservative axis. Maybe it's been around a bit longer than that eh. Maybe that isn't the be-all and end-all. www.ft.com/content/8f3e...

# publication alert Children born <34 weeks had lower cognitive performance at age 9–10 vs. full-term (≥39 wks), even after adjusting for genetics, SES, and perinatal risks. Late preterm & early term performed similarly to full-term. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The genesis of this scandal was in the aftermath of last big NHS reconfiguration & Public Health England made a decision to axe quality peer review checks on test centres. Concerns by experts were ignored in 2013...a warning from history as the next big change is on the horizon.

🧪The Trump administration's anti-science crusade has US scientists, particularly graduate students and postdocs, eyeing the exits. 🧠drain. #neuroskyence #neurology www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The COLLABORATE trial getting underway in the UK will settle this question once and for all. It's a big one for parents of babies <29 weeks and their clinicians when a supplement to maternal milk is needed. Interested NNUs can sign up: www.imperial.ac.uk/neonatal-dat...

Time to put the brake on TH for infants <36 weeks with moderate to severe encephalopathy jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

In 24,919 child-mother pairs (est. conception May'20- Sep'21), there were no adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy on neurodevelopmental outcomes at 13-15 months. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Then they came for the research funding bodies and there was no science and no evidence ... www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay!

A lot of rich parents are very upset at the government for charging VAT on private school fees. Maybe they should instead ask why private schools have put up fees so far above inflation over the past 15 years. www.ft.com/content/852b...

Perinatal Science International is a novel forum to discuss & develop high-impact research with a multidisciplinary group in a tranquil setting. Numbers limited to 80; registration open! Join us in Venice April 10-12, 2025 @99nicu.bsky.social @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @neonatal.bsky.social

New RCT coming to the UK in 2025! COLLABORATE will determine clinical efficacy, effect size, and safety of widely used enteral feeds in reducing surgical NEC, mortality, and cognitive impairment in extremely preterm babies. 2 randomisations: 1/2

🔈New paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... ComBat was used to harmonise multisite neonatal dMRI in white matter. 1/2

Excited to share our @natureportfolio.bsky.social Mental Health cover story! Led by @alussier.bsky.social, we found that childhood adversity rewires DNA methylation. The twist? Early stress was linked to both depression risk AND resilience mechanisms 🧬 Paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

New paper from us about the gut-brain-axis in preterm infants. ➡️Bacterial community composition associates with MRI features of encephalopathy of prematurity esp Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. www.cell.com/cell-reports... 1/2

Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, yesterday and today. A different 🌎 in 24 hours.

Gordon Brown calling for a commission to strengthen palliative care and make it equitable, rather than rush to assisted dying. Gordon Brown says daughter’s death showed value of ‘good’ dying over assisted dying www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

New publication with a BAPM working group: fn.bmj.com/content/earl...

Thanks to the Guardian for this excellent long read on neonatal intensive care for the smallest babies. Considered opinions from UK neonatalologists explain the issues. Hope gives a window into this world for the wider public www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

Today, the UK House of Lords Preterm Birth Committee has published its report. 23 important recommendations and conclusions on prevention, care provision, need for long term follow-up, & research 👏👏👏 ukparliament.shorthandstories.com/preterm-birt...

Fine particulate matter air pollution associated with increased spontaneous preterm birth, exacerbated by deprivation: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

#medsky let’s start research thread. Show me your newest paper!

There's a growing crowd of neonatologists & early life folk here. Can we restore how things were in the old days in the old place by sharing threads about new studies - our own, or others'? Here's a start: clinicalepigeneticsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... 1/4

I just love this time of year (and the bluesky is very appropriate 😍)

Like #newborns #preemies & the science behind their care here we are! go.bsky.app/JzLem6W

🔇Neonatologists! Please see this 3.5 minute explainer about a UK trial that will start in 2025 to resolve questions about nutrition strategies that protect from surgical NEC and are safest for the brain. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N1s...

Dear NICU-professionals out in the clear blue sky! 🦋 We have been trying to summon a starter pack with users in the field of neonatology. Please let us know if we have missed someone, or if you want to join the list! ⬅️ go.bsky.app/JzLem6W

Protocol paper describing a new data collection funded by MRC. PREterm birth as a determinant of Neurodevelopment and COGnition in children (PRENCOG): protocol for an exposure-based cohort study in the UK bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/9... Contains link to Data Access & Collaboration policy.

The Edinburgh International Book Fest is so special. The stage is set for Salman Rushdie discussing his latest: Knife - Meditations After an Attempted Murder. This is McEwan Hall but the new main venue at Edinburgh Futures Institute, Edinburgh Uni is spectacular.

New @BAPM framework: Neonatal brain magnetic resonance imaging: clinical indications, acquisition and reporting. Written with British Society of Neuroradiologists and endorsed by the British Paediatric Neurology Association and the Society of Radiographers. fn.bmj.com/content/earl...

It was stunning in the Cairngorms today. All seasons.

@garedaba.bsky.social's µBrain: a deep learning supported 3D reconstruction of Allen atlas fetal histology, mapped to gene expression and dHCP fetal imaging data. Just an incredible resource that I am honoured to have made a small contribution to www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Screening methods for ferromagnetic bodies in/on people having an MRI are fallible. Here's a description of an unexpected FMB in a paediatric research participant's ear ... and what we've done about it. casereports.bmj.com/content/17/1...

New preprint from us describing 3T MRI findings, including incidental findings, from a research cohort of neonates enriched for preterm birth: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Very interesting and encouraging pilot at the University of Sussex — hope this can spread to other departments and universities! h/t @deevybee.bsky.social www.ukrn.org/2024/01/30/p...

The state of care in England's maternity services: no shortage of recommendations and improvement efforts, but disappointing progress. Time for a hard look at how "improvement" is being done. www.bmj.com/content/383/...