Melinda Davies
@melindadavies.bsky.social
she/her. Medical librarian currently based in Portland OR. Previously of Southern California and Southeast England. Big fan of junk food and Sade.
Mr Mel mathed it out and said we’ve spent ~7 years of our marriage just asleep next to each other
October 5, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Mr Mel mathed it out and said we’ve spent ~7 years of our marriage just asleep next to each other
Non-USA #medlibs might find this useful www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
October 1, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Non-USA #medlibs might find this useful www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Melinda Davies
🧵I couldn't quite make myself look at the new MAHA report, so I settled for today's opinion piece in the Washington Post: wapo.st/4mf4Ma7
As a #medlibs and #SystematicReview / #EvidenceSynthesis person, I of course had a look at the links/citations they include. Let's go over them, shall we?
As a #medlibs and #SystematicReview / #EvidenceSynthesis person, I of course had a look at the links/citations they include. Let's go over them, shall we?
Opinion | Linda McMahon and RFK Jr.: Children need natural sources of mental health
Overzealous use of therapy can cause the crises it claims to cure.
wapo.st
September 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
🧵I couldn't quite make myself look at the new MAHA report, so I settled for today's opinion piece in the Washington Post: wapo.st/4mf4Ma7
As a #medlibs and #SystematicReview / #EvidenceSynthesis person, I of course had a look at the links/citations they include. Let's go over them, shall we?
As a #medlibs and #SystematicReview / #EvidenceSynthesis person, I of course had a look at the links/citations they include. Let's go over them, shall we?
“"Those signs aren't made in basements. They're made in professional printing offices and they cost a lot of money," he said.”
September 7, 2025 at 9:26 PM
“"Those signs aren't made in basements. They're made in professional printing offices and they cost a lot of money," he said.”
It can be so hard advocating for yourself. If you are succeeding at it, well done, you got this. If you are struggling with it, take a breath, drink some water, keep trying. You’re not done yet.
August 6, 2025 at 6:07 PM
It can be so hard advocating for yourself. If you are succeeding at it, well done, you got this. If you are struggling with it, take a breath, drink some water, keep trying. You’re not done yet.
Reposted by Melinda Davies
1/ This is a long 🧵, so buckle up & I hope you read till the end.
The HHS Secretary, is planning to remove all 16 members of the USPSTF the expert panel that decides which preventive services (cancer screenings, HIV prevention meds) must be covered by insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
The HHS Secretary, is planning to remove all 16 members of the USPSTF the expert panel that decides which preventive services (cancer screenings, HIV prevention meds) must be covered by insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
July 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
1/ This is a long 🧵, so buckle up & I hope you read till the end.
The HHS Secretary, is planning to remove all 16 members of the USPSTF the expert panel that decides which preventive services (cancer screenings, HIV prevention meds) must be covered by insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
The HHS Secretary, is planning to remove all 16 members of the USPSTF the expert panel that decides which preventive services (cancer screenings, HIV prevention meds) must be covered by insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
Reposted by Melinda Davies
100 health groups sound alarm after ‘abrupt’ cancellation of USPSTF meeting. The influential task force dictates whether health insurers must cover preventive services such as mammograms and low-dose CT lung exams, which now may be in jeopardy.
radiologybusiness.com/topics/healt...
radiologybusiness.com/topics/healt...
Senator, 100 health groups sound alarm after ‘abrupt’ cancellation of USPSTF meeting
The influential task force dictates whether health insurers must cover preventive services such as mammograms and low-dose CT lung exams, which some say could be in jeopardy.
radiologybusiness.com
July 12, 2025 at 3:16 AM
100 health groups sound alarm after ‘abrupt’ cancellation of USPSTF meeting. The influential task force dictates whether health insurers must cover preventive services such as mammograms and low-dose CT lung exams, which now may be in jeopardy.
radiologybusiness.com/topics/healt...
radiologybusiness.com/topics/healt...
"Secretary Kennedy declared that HHS has failed to address root causes of disease, mandating radical restructuring of HHS. Yet the USPSTF is a clear success. It interprets evidence and makes guideline recommendations that are widely trusted and followed..."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Health and Human Services Restructuring—Threats to the US Preventive Services Task Force and Health
This Viewpoint discusses restructuring of the USPSTF while ensuring that its functions are safeguarded to avoid destabilizing vital public health infrastructure.
jamanetwork.com
June 24, 2025 at 11:12 PM
"Secretary Kennedy declared that HHS has failed to address root causes of disease, mandating radical restructuring of HHS. Yet the USPSTF is a clear success. It interprets evidence and makes guideline recommendations that are widely trusted and followed..."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
I'm wfh and someone is watching the first Jurassic Park in the other room. How am I supposed to work in these conditions?
June 24, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I'm wfh and someone is watching the first Jurassic Park in the other room. How am I supposed to work in these conditions?
How are folks handling #copyright when it comes to using things like chatGPT/Claude/CoPilot for #evidencesynthesis tasks. E.g. using CoPilot to do QA/bias assessments, or Claude for data extraction. Do you use only open article pdfs? Has anyone seen any work on this? #systematicreviews #medlibs
May 29, 2025 at 9:08 PM
How are folks handling #copyright when it comes to using things like chatGPT/Claude/CoPilot for #evidencesynthesis tasks. E.g. using CoPilot to do QA/bias assessments, or Claude for data extraction. Do you use only open article pdfs? Has anyone seen any work on this? #systematicreviews #medlibs
Reposted by Melinda Davies
“No CDC childhood vaccine was ever placebo-tested.”
False.
Our crowd-sourced sheet lists 24 saline-placebo RCTs for 7 schedule vaccines:
1 Rotavirus (8 RCTs)
2 Hib (5)
3 Hep B (4)
4 Varicella (3)
5 Hep A (2)
6 Measles/MMR (1)
7 Influenza LAIV (1)
Data 👉 bit.ly/3EuYzqI
@bradspellberg.bsky.social
False.
Our crowd-sourced sheet lists 24 saline-placebo RCTs for 7 schedule vaccines:
1 Rotavirus (8 RCTs)
2 Hib (5)
3 Hep B (4)
4 Varicella (3)
5 Hep A (2)
6 Measles/MMR (1)
7 Influenza LAIV (1)
Data 👉 bit.ly/3EuYzqI
@bradspellberg.bsky.social
Placebo-Controlled Vaccine RCTs (Living List)
bit.ly
May 8, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“No CDC childhood vaccine was ever placebo-tested.”
False.
Our crowd-sourced sheet lists 24 saline-placebo RCTs for 7 schedule vaccines:
1 Rotavirus (8 RCTs)
2 Hib (5)
3 Hep B (4)
4 Varicella (3)
5 Hep A (2)
6 Measles/MMR (1)
7 Influenza LAIV (1)
Data 👉 bit.ly/3EuYzqI
@bradspellberg.bsky.social
False.
Our crowd-sourced sheet lists 24 saline-placebo RCTs for 7 schedule vaccines:
1 Rotavirus (8 RCTs)
2 Hib (5)
3 Hep B (4)
4 Varicella (3)
5 Hep A (2)
6 Measles/MMR (1)
7 Influenza LAIV (1)
Data 👉 bit.ly/3EuYzqI
@bradspellberg.bsky.social
I’ve just finished book 5 of The Saxon Series, audiobook, and I see that book 6 has a different reader again. That will be the 4th so far. I hate this.
May 1, 2025 at 1:17 AM
I’ve just finished book 5 of The Saxon Series, audiobook, and I see that book 6 has a different reader again. That will be the 4th so far. I hate this.
Best strawberries 🍓 in the world. Thanks to the farm workers. The striped mountains in the background are Topatopa.
Roman shared this photo with us from Oxnard CA sharing: it was drizzling why we were working earlier, but luckily, it cleared up. The view and the air are perfect and we're hoping to get in a few more hours as we only make minimum wage at this time of year. #WeFeedYou
March 26, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Best strawberries 🍓 in the world. Thanks to the farm workers. The striped mountains in the background are Topatopa.
Reposted by Melinda Davies
In 15 yrs of reporting, I've never had so many health & biomed researchers & outreach orgs tell me they're afraid to talk w/press or barred from speaking bc of new comms policies.
I understand the fear of losing funds. I don't know if silence does more harm than good. If you can speak up, pls do.
I understand the fear of losing funds. I don't know if silence does more harm than good. If you can speak up, pls do.
March 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
In 15 yrs of reporting, I've never had so many health & biomed researchers & outreach orgs tell me they're afraid to talk w/press or barred from speaking bc of new comms policies.
I understand the fear of losing funds. I don't know if silence does more harm than good. If you can speak up, pls do.
I understand the fear of losing funds. I don't know if silence does more harm than good. If you can speak up, pls do.
Call your trial/device/score/tool something that doesn’t already come up in the corpus challenge. Winner gets to have their research found without making life hard for their peers. Even an odd spelling will get you points eg the TRYAL trial is a bzillion times better than the TRIAL trial.
March 19, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Call your trial/device/score/tool something that doesn’t already come up in the corpus challenge. Winner gets to have their research found without making life hard for their peers. Even an odd spelling will get you points eg the TRYAL trial is a bzillion times better than the TRIAL trial.
Reposted by Melinda Davies
Reposted by Melinda Davies
In light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
January 31, 2025 at 2:19 PM
In light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
Had a chat with a good friend recently and she mentioned how much her boycott efforts have actually positively impacted her savings
March 14, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Had a chat with a good friend recently and she mentioned how much her boycott efforts have actually positively impacted her savings
Thinking about how researchers or academics can mitigate the professional impact of removing their name or withdrawing papers that have been rewritten to comply with #censorship
March 11, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Thinking about how researchers or academics can mitigate the professional impact of removing their name or withdrawing papers that have been rewritten to comply with #censorship
![Sign texts is a pubmed search that reads
NOT ("Censorship, Research"[Mesh] OR "Propaganda"[Mesh] OR "Fascism"[Mesh] OR (censor*[tiab] OR propaganda[tiab] OR fascis*[tiab] OR (oppressive[tiab] AND (state[tiab] OR states[tiab] OR government*[tiab] OR power[tiab] OR powers[tiab])))](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:m74f4wirudhnwpjrttc2j7h5/bafkreibmaumqzydeq5xettcykyeg2nligvxmmhdhkvd6m2rilg5jprrtou@jpeg)
March 7, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Wondering if any of the academic publishers or database providers have made any comment or are doing anything wrt the indirect rate cut down to 15% eg Elsevier, Ebsco, Wolters Kluwer/Ovid #medlibs surely many library resource budgets will be impacted.
March 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Wondering if any of the academic publishers or database providers have made any comment or are doing anything wrt the indirect rate cut down to 15% eg Elsevier, Ebsco, Wolters Kluwer/Ovid #medlibs surely many library resource budgets will be impacted.
“Many jobs” like?
If you have zero education, but learn how to ask AI models the right questions , in many jobs you will be able to outperform someone with an advanced degree, but who is unwilling to use Large Language Models.
Just takes a smartphone, curiosity to experiment and a mindset to learn.
Just takes a smartphone, curiosity to experiment and a mindset to learn.
February 18, 2025 at 2:46 PM
“Many jobs” like?
🧵"So this is how liberty dies..."
Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up.
I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states 1/9
Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up.
I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states 1/9
February 14, 2025 at 10:30 PM
The anti-abortion billboard near me got defaced. They changed it pretty quickly, it’s a tedx ad now.
February 10, 2025 at 2:53 AM
The anti-abortion billboard near me got defaced. They changed it pretty quickly, it’s a tedx ad now.
Reposted by Melinda Davies
If your boss or company tells you to do something unethical: don't say yes. Make them write it down.
If they won't put it in writing yourself. Send an email (bcc yourself?): "Following our conversation on x date at x time regarding x, I am writing to clarify your directives. According to my notes, you instructed me to A, B, and C. If any of this is incorrect, please advise. I have some concerns."
February 7, 2025 at 7:16 PM
If your boss or company tells you to do something unethical: don't say yes. Make them write it down.