Author | Lightnews

Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · 14d

Guys, my lab published a cool tool for hypothesis generation from large omics datasets. Go check it out, it's really cool. #cdifficile #cdiff

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

CAT-GxD: Centralized Access to Gene Expression Datasets

Extensive multi-omic bacterial gene expression datasets are publicly available, but tools that unify these datasets for interpretation and hypothesis-…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Jul 11

The bare minimum we should all strive for.

A person with the professional title "Appropriate Adult"

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Jul 7

How prevalent are bacteria and microbes in kidney stones? What is the best method to detect them? What are the clinical implications of it? Check it out in our new publication from a very interesting collaboration. #microbiology #NephroSky #Kidney

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Bead beating demonstrates enhanced bacterial detection in kidney stone culture compared to traditional mortar-pestle processing | Microbiology Spectrum

This study provides a rapid and standardized method for kidney stone culture using bead beating, which significantly improves microbial detection compared to traditional mortar-pestle techniques. This method accelerates processing and enhances sensitivity ...

journals.asm.org

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Jun 15

[Daughter]: how do you get allergies?

[Me]: well, allergies are your body's reaction to -----

[Daughter]: OOH A PRETTY ROCK!

Lol, never change kid.

Happy Father's Day everyone.

Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · May 2

You know you're in Tucson when...

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Reposted by Farhan Anwar

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · Apr 23

“The spread of measles in the Southwest now constitutes the largest single outbreak since the United States declared the disease eliminated in 2000, federal scientists told state officials… the current tally is likely to be higher because it takes time for the agency to collate state reports.”

Measles Surge in Southwest Is Now the Largest Single Outbreak Since 2000

Growing case numbers suggest that the national total will surpass that seen during the last large outbreak in 2019.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Farhan Anwar

Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · Mar 23

Figured I’d hop on here today for the 15th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.

With everything going on right now, it’s easy to feel like regular folks can’t make a difference – but the ACA is a reminder that change is possible when we fight for progress.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Mar 13

The institutional Democratic Party is guided by an almost pathological level of conflict avoidance in almost every direction. “What can we do to make the least number of people mad?” is just a bankrupt way to operate.

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Mar 13

@bungiehelp.bungie.net Hey, is something going on with your servers?

Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Mar 8

Yeah because foodborne illnesses aren't ever a problem 🙄

Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Mar 7

For those in #Tucson, there will be a @standupforscience.bsky.social Rally at the U of A today

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Mar 2

What fun thing happened in your community today? We went to a pet parade

Beginning of the parade, flag bearers at the front followed by the Tucson High Marching Band

Mobility is a Journey, dogs with mobility enhancements

The Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids (TRAK) with their mini horses

Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat with the UA Pomline

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Feb 26

Hooray...

Absolutely Petrify Ng @pronounced-ing.bsky.social · Feb 26

Two really troubling passages from the new Muslim Ban (and it won't just be about Muslims, either). OUR MISSING HEARTS is not a dystopia, Exhibit 974.

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The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social · Feb 26

Everyone puts things like "Loving husband and father" on their gravestone. What a sad way to sum up an entire life. What about "Hard working employee"

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Alex Sundermann, DrPH @sundermannaj.bsky.social · Feb 24

Some FDA employees fired last week are already being rehired

Includes 12 from surgical/infection control devices

🏥 These folks review tools that keep hospitals safe

A messy, chaotic process with real #PublicHealth impact

Article by @lizzylawrence.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/2025/02/23/f...

Trump administration rehires some FDA employees it fired

The Trump administration has started quietly rehiring some FDA employees just days after it fired them.

www.statnews.com

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Feb 24

Law & Order doesn't seem as poignant these days...

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JAMA @jama.com · Feb 20

In a new Editorial, JAMA editors, JAMA Network Editors in Chief, and JAMA editorial leadership address the recent executive orders that have impacted the scientific process and reaffirm their commitment to scientific and editorial integrity.

ja.ma/4b5LsIt

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Feb 20

Sounds like a "spirit of the law" argument. This will be challenged I hope

Alex Sundermann, DrPH @sundermannaj.bsky.social · Feb 20

41/47 (87%) of NIH study sections are cancelled this week

Frustrating to see all this good research stalled (& not funded)

You can search for study sections that ‘did not meet as scheduled’ here with ones with * ⤵️
www.csr.nih.gov/RevPanelsAnd...

Review Dates

www.csr.nih.gov

Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Feb 17

👀

TRAstonDrs @castltrastondrs.bsky.social · Feb 16

Google is so powerful that it "hides" other search systems from us. We just don't know the existence of most of them.
Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information.

Reposted by Farhan Anwar

TRAstonDrs @castltrastondrs.bsky.social · Feb 16

Google is so powerful that it "hides" other search systems from us. We just don't know the existence of most of them.
Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information.

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Feb 17

Last day of the #TucsonGemShow. Dioptases are quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

Reposted by Farhan Anwar

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · Feb 11

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Feb 11

Look who's here 👀

@petebuttigieg.bsky.social

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Farhan Anwar @anwarsolutions.bsky.social · Feb 8

So what does a 15% indirect mean for grad student stipends, RA-ships, postdoctoral pay? #academicsky

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Ilan Schwartz @germhuntermd.bsky.social · Feb 7

I am deeply disappointed by the subdued response of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (@idsainfo.bsky.social) to the dismantling of public health structures, both in the US & globally

Here's what I wrote in the closed listserv (response: 🦗) in hopes of stimulating discussion here #IDSky

Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the administration continues to charge ahead, running roughshod over norms, laws, and the dignity of and most basic protections for the people most vulnerable to infections. Many of the changes are summarized here, up to date as of Feb 4. Who will speak up, or better still, ACT UP for these individuals?

The National Science Foundation has reportedly shared with program officers a list of forbidden "DEI"-related words that will result in grants being flagged. These include routinely used terms like "female", "biased", "systemic", "inclusion" and "exclusion" along with other words that specifically target vulnerable populations. While few clinical researchers rely on NSF grants, it can be reasonably expected that similar censorship with grants from NIH, CDC, etc is inevitable.
USAID funding remains frozen, and in fact there are reports of efforts underway to eliminate the entire agency. The effects have already been devastating for programs dedicated to controlling TB, malaria, and HIV, among others. Despite claims that these would be exempt, distribution of antiretrovirals remains frozen.
The Senate Finance committee advanced RFK Jr for confirmation as HHS Secretary. Kennedy's disdain for evidence-based medicine is no secret. He is a conspiracy theorist who engages in dangerous race-based pseudoscience. The IDSA has fallen short of other professional societies (e.g. the American Public Health Association, which represents 25,000 public health professionals) in calling for the outright rejection of RFK Jr's nomination.
The CDC and NIH remain muzzled, unable to communicate with interstate or international agencies or the public. They have been instructed to recall submitted or accepted manuscripts to scrub objectionable language. They remain barred from traveling until at least the end of April. How will these actions affect our ability to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks?

Meanwhile, our members are experiencing significant moral injury, and some have expressed levels of morale that rival the nadirs felt during the worst of COVID19. Every day it is a new insult, the cumulative effect being the disassembly of public health protections and further marginalization of the most vulnerable in society.

Reticence to call attention to ourselves, potentially putting our work in the administration's cross hairs, is entirely understandable. After all, we don't want to imperil existing and ongoing advocacy efforts, including those related to bolstering the ID workforce. A sober analysis would concede that the likelihood of any potential actions moving the needle on any of these issues is low. I would argue, however, that standing up for what is right is the most important thing we can do to reinforce our commitment to social justice and to our members and the patients in our care.

What we can do and how we can do it is up for debate; some bold ideas have already been presented in the IDea exchange forum and I welcome further input from colleagues. What is certain is that as rank-and-file individuals, our voices can easily be dismissed, but as a trusted, bipartisan professional organization that represents >13,000 infectious diseases experts, we cannot be ignored, and we must not allow ourselves to cower in silence. The reality is that things are going to get worse, and standing up to the assault on public health will only get more difficult as the administration becomes further emboldened and the actions set in motion gather steam.

In the words of John Lewis, "If not us, then who? If not now, then when?"

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