Kate Louise Mathis
@drmaudbailey.bsky.social
Scottish European | #GreenYes | Academic | Lace knitter | Concrete enthusiast | Gaelic women's poetry | Celtic/Gaelic Revivals | Still acknowledging ongoing pandemic (She/her)
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
👉 New paper highlights that Long COVID is a widespread, multisystem condition with significant neurological & psychological impacts, underscoring urgent need for recognition, care & sustained public‑health attention - to improve the lives of those affected. @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
COVID-19-associated neurological and psychological manifestations - Nature Reviews Disease Primers
This Primer by Wilson and colleagues summarizes the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of neurological and psychiatric manifestations of COVID-19.
www.nature.com
January 24, 2026 at 9:44 AM
👉 New paper highlights that Long COVID is a widespread, multisystem condition with significant neurological & psychological impacts, underscoring urgent need for recognition, care & sustained public‑health attention - to improve the lives of those affected. @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Blocking an international education delegation from entering Palestine, including our general secretary Jo Grady, is an attack on education and international solidarity.
UCU stands with Palestinian educators, students and their unions and with the Palestinian people.
UCU stands with Palestinian educators, students and their unions and with the Palestinian people.
📣Education International sends a strong message to #Palestinian educators after a delegation of education leaders from 15 countries was detained and interrogated for hours.
‼️Attempts to intimidate, isolate, or silence educators will only strengthen our collective determination and solidarity.
‼️Attempts to intimidate, isolate, or silence educators will only strengthen our collective determination and solidarity.
January 24, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Blocking an international education delegation from entering Palestine, including our general secretary Jo Grady, is an attack on education and international solidarity.
UCU stands with Palestinian educators, students and their unions and with the Palestinian people.
UCU stands with Palestinian educators, students and their unions and with the Palestinian people.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Come for the drypoint doodles drawn with someone’s (Eadburg’s?) thumb, stay for the discussion of women’s engagement with books and book culture. A really fascinating article!
The inkless doodles of Eadburg, an 8th-c. nun, discovered by new technology: now published by Jessica Hendy-Hodgkinson in EME doi.org/10.1111/emed... (Open access)
January 19, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Come for the drypoint doodles drawn with someone’s (Eadburg’s?) thumb, stay for the discussion of women’s engagement with books and book culture. A really fascinating article!
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
New study: “SARS-CoV-2 causes lasting immune dysregulation for over 20 months.” And if most or many people are getting infected once every 12 months, then when does their immune system have time to recover? Immune systems protect against colds & infections but also cancer & other diseases. #COVID
January 18, 2026 at 5:53 PM
New study: “SARS-CoV-2 causes lasting immune dysregulation for over 20 months.” And if most or many people are getting infected once every 12 months, then when does their immune system have time to recover? Immune systems protect against colds & infections but also cancer & other diseases. #COVID
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Hundreds of staff leave Edinburgh University amid cuts drive
According to the university, 345 of these departures were the result of a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme run by the institution in 2025.
www.heraldscotland.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
A communication point we need to work on is that the immune system is not a muscle that needs to be flexed. It is a finite resource.
Many parents I’ve talked to view illness sharing as a twisted form of community care for children and coworkers. That by spreading it, they’re making them stronger.
Many parents I’ve talked to view illness sharing as a twisted form of community care for children and coworkers. That by spreading it, they’re making them stronger.
January 17, 2026 at 8:16 PM
A communication point we need to work on is that the immune system is not a muscle that needs to be flexed. It is a finite resource.
Many parents I’ve talked to view illness sharing as a twisted form of community care for children and coworkers. That by spreading it, they’re making them stronger.
Many parents I’ve talked to view illness sharing as a twisted form of community care for children and coworkers. That by spreading it, they’re making them stronger.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
And one more thing. Students. If you have a professor who is, for some reason, outsourcing their own job to ChatGPT....drop the class.
If they tell you to "ask ChatGPT" for sources, drop the class.
Because they apparently don't know their own discipline well enough to teach it.
If they tell you to "ask ChatGPT" for sources, drop the class.
Because they apparently don't know their own discipline well enough to teach it.
January 17, 2026 at 11:00 PM
And one more thing. Students. If you have a professor who is, for some reason, outsourcing their own job to ChatGPT....drop the class.
If they tell you to "ask ChatGPT" for sources, drop the class.
Because they apparently don't know their own discipline well enough to teach it.
If they tell you to "ask ChatGPT" for sources, drop the class.
Because they apparently don't know their own discipline well enough to teach it.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
I have some bad news. One, if you need to use ChatGPT for your graduate application letter, you are not ready for graduate school.
Two, no, not "everyone is doing it" and those who don't do it aren't "losing out." ChatGPT is not an advantage.
Two, no, not "everyone is doing it" and those who don't do it aren't "losing out." ChatGPT is not an advantage.
An impressive number of graduate applications this year used the phrase “curiosity-driven approach” 🤔
January 17, 2026 at 10:46 PM
I have some bad news. One, if you need to use ChatGPT for your graduate application letter, you are not ready for graduate school.
Two, no, not "everyone is doing it" and those who don't do it aren't "losing out." ChatGPT is not an advantage.
Two, no, not "everyone is doing it" and those who don't do it aren't "losing out." ChatGPT is not an advantage.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Both the @agrayarchive.bsky.social and the @aowensarchive.bsky.social are here on Bluesky – follow them for more information!
It's the centenary of the wonderful Agnes Owens' birth this year. Her books are being reissued & a satellite archive has officially opened within the Alasdair Gray archive. I spoke to her son, John, & wrote about this "most unfairly neglected of Scottish authors" in the @heraldscotland.bsky.social.
Finally, recognition for 'unfairly neglected' Scottish author Agnes Owens
Writer Agnes Owens was once seen as “part of a golden age of Scottish literature,” and influenced younger writers, including Janice Galloway,…
www.heraldscotland.com
January 17, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Both the @agrayarchive.bsky.social and the @aowensarchive.bsky.social are here on Bluesky – follow them for more information!
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
'..highlights the urgent need for long-term immune monitoring after SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Persistent T-cell reductions, particularly in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, raise concerns about *chronic immune dysfunction even in nonhospitalized individuals*'.
*my emphasis.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
*my emphasis.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Persistent attenuation of lymphocyte subsets after mass SARS-CoV-2 infection
Growing evidence suggests that lymphocyte subsets are declined in COVID-19 patients, but it is unclear if these alterations persist after widespread e…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 17, 2026 at 11:41 AM
'..highlights the urgent need for long-term immune monitoring after SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Persistent T-cell reductions, particularly in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, raise concerns about *chronic immune dysfunction even in nonhospitalized individuals*'.
*my emphasis.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
*my emphasis.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
In a large sample from multiple studies and 97 million people "SARS-CoV-2 infection increases the risk of autoimmune diseases, particularly those affecting vascular and connective tissue. Risk is amplified by severe infection and attenuated by vaccination"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Association between COVID-19 and New-Onset Autoimmune Diseases: Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 97 Million Individuals - Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology
SARS-CoV-2 infection may induce long-term immune dysregulation; however, its contribution to the development of autoimmune disease remains disputed. We aim to quantify the relative risk of new-onset a...
link.springer.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:57 AM
In a large sample from multiple studies and 97 million people "SARS-CoV-2 infection increases the risk of autoimmune diseases, particularly those affecting vascular and connective tissue. Risk is amplified by severe infection and attenuated by vaccination"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
“She was so good at evoking the claustrophobia and darkness and poverty of economics but plenitude of mind."
An excellent piece on Agnes Owens, by @danigaravelli.bsky.social. Dani has also written the introduction to a new edition of Gentlemen Of The West, which will be published by Polygon in May.
An excellent piece on Agnes Owens, by @danigaravelli.bsky.social. Dani has also written the introduction to a new edition of Gentlemen Of The West, which will be published by Polygon in May.
It's the centenary of the wonderful Agnes Owens' birth this year. Her books are being reissued & a satellite archive has officially opened within the Alasdair Gray archive. I spoke to her son, John, & wrote about this "most unfairly neglected of Scottish authors" in the @heraldscotland.bsky.social.
Finally, recognition for 'unfairly neglected' Scottish author Agnes Owens
Writer Agnes Owens was once seen as “part of a golden age of Scottish literature,” and influenced younger writers, including Janice Galloway,…
www.heraldscotland.com
January 17, 2026 at 12:30 PM
“She was so good at evoking the claustrophobia and darkness and poverty of economics but plenitude of mind."
An excellent piece on Agnes Owens, by @danigaravelli.bsky.social. Dani has also written the introduction to a new edition of Gentlemen Of The West, which will be published by Polygon in May.
An excellent piece on Agnes Owens, by @danigaravelli.bsky.social. Dani has also written the introduction to a new edition of Gentlemen Of The West, which will be published by Polygon in May.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Avoid Covid to preserve your brain
Not good to see the rise in p-tau181, a marker of brain inflammation tied to increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, in a prospective cohort (mean age 56 years) with #LongCovid and neurological symptoms
www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...
www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...
January 15, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Avoid Covid to preserve your brain
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
JAMA: COVID-19 infection in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in early childhood.
We were warned about maternal immune activation YEARS ago.
Clean air, masking, and prevention were never “overreactions.” They were child-protection.
They still are.
We were warned about maternal immune activation YEARS ago.
Clean air, masking, and prevention were never “overreactions.” They were child-protection.
They still are.
January 14, 2026 at 10:41 PM
JAMA: COVID-19 infection in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in early childhood.
We were warned about maternal immune activation YEARS ago.
Clean air, masking, and prevention were never “overreactions.” They were child-protection.
They still are.
We were warned about maternal immune activation YEARS ago.
Clean air, masking, and prevention were never “overreactions.” They were child-protection.
They still are.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Reminder that in the UK an incoming radical, populist government would have immediate access to immense, unchecked executive power.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
NEW
The UK constitution is even more vulnerable than the US constitution
In the face of an illiberal radical assault, what has happened politically in America could easily happen in the UK
By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
The UK constitution is even more vulnerable than the US constitution
In the face of an illiberal radical assault, what has happened politically in America could easily happen in the UK
By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
January 15, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Reminder that in the UK an incoming radical, populist government would have immediate access to immense, unchecked executive power.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
I find Gmail’s new “write this for me” feature deeply sinister. They’re trying to convince you that you are dumb and helpless. Don’t let them steal your ability to formulate thoughts and communicate. You were capable of writing an email in 2022 and you’re capable now.
January 15, 2026 at 7:49 PM
I find Gmail’s new “write this for me” feature deeply sinister. They’re trying to convince you that you are dumb and helpless. Don’t let them steal your ability to formulate thoughts and communicate. You were capable of writing an email in 2022 and you’re capable now.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
A Reform government would look to cut funding to the NHS by £26 billion. At the same time, they are looking to give tax breaks to people who can afford private healthcare
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/health/...
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/health/...
Is Reform UK putting foreign billionaires ahead of our NHS?
A Reform government would look to cut funding to the NHS by £26 billion. At the same time, they are looking to give tax breaks to people who can afford private healthcare
northeastbylines.co.uk
January 13, 2026 at 8:45 PM
A Reform government would look to cut funding to the NHS by £26 billion. At the same time, they are looking to give tax breaks to people who can afford private healthcare
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/health/...
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/health/...
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
World Health Network was featured in The Guardian as experts urge the WHO to update global guidance: surgical masks are inadequate, and respirators should be standard protection in healthcare settings.
Evidence-based public health matters.
Read the full article here
theguardian.com/global-devel...
Evidence-based public health matters.
Read the full article here
theguardian.com/global-devel...
January 13, 2026 at 8:30 PM
World Health Network was featured in The Guardian as experts urge the WHO to update global guidance: surgical masks are inadequate, and respirators should be standard protection in healthcare settings.
Evidence-based public health matters.
Read the full article here
theguardian.com/global-devel...
Evidence-based public health matters.
Read the full article here
theguardian.com/global-devel...
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
3/ More than 40 (yes 40!) studies referenced here wrt COVID and immune system damage (thanks, @panaccindex.bsky.social!)
www.panaccindex.info/p/answered-d...
www.panaccindex.info/p/answered-d...
ANSWERED: Does COVID-19 Impact the Immune System?
A Compilation of Medical Research (45+ Studies)
www.panaccindex.info
January 7, 2026 at 2:57 AM
3/ More than 40 (yes 40!) studies referenced here wrt COVID and immune system damage (thanks, @panaccindex.bsky.social!)
www.panaccindex.info/p/answered-d...
www.panaccindex.info/p/answered-d...
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Annual repost in honour of the day.
This reminds me that I've not yet retold my favourite Kentigern miracle story on this platform.
It's the one in which he takes on a Viking warlord *ominous bass music* FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.
It's the one in which he takes on a Viking warlord *ominous bass music* FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.
Happy feast day to St Kentigern, a.k.a. Mungo!
Celebrate by resurrecting a cook, yoking a stag and a wolf to the same plough, and using the waters of the Clyde to pinch a king's barns.
Also, don't kick him or your foot will rot.
[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/jocelyn-lifeofkentigern.asp]
Celebrate by resurrecting a cook, yoking a stag and a wolf to the same plough, and using the waters of the Clyde to pinch a king's barns.
Also, don't kick him or your foot will rot.
[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/jocelyn-lifeofkentigern.asp]
January 13, 2026 at 9:52 AM
Annual repost in honour of the day.
'Free Gaza'
Cramond Island, January 10 2026
Cramond Island, January 10 2026
January 10, 2026 at 11:20 PM
'Free Gaza'
Cramond Island, January 10 2026
Cramond Island, January 10 2026
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
People are getting so sick with flu that they're not even calling in, just completely passing out for entire days and missing work. This is why you mask, and it's why you don't make fun of people who mask.
December 30, 2025 at 10:55 PM
People are getting so sick with flu that they're not even calling in, just completely passing out for entire days and missing work. This is why you mask, and it's why you don't make fun of people who mask.
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
Pope Leo doing what Keir Starmer won't do, criticise Trump for attacking Venezuela,
"War is back in vogue. And the zeal for war is spreading"
"The principle established after WWII that prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others has been completely undermined"
"War is back in vogue. And the zeal for war is spreading"
"The principle established after WWII that prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others has been completely undermined"
January 9, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Pope Leo doing what Keir Starmer won't do, criticise Trump for attacking Venezuela,
"War is back in vogue. And the zeal for war is spreading"
"The principle established after WWII that prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others has been completely undermined"
"War is back in vogue. And the zeal for war is spreading"
"The principle established after WWII that prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others has been completely undermined"
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
This is not an LLM—so it doesn't have language-related issues—but it's important to be clear that it is very much part of (and in fact represents a new spearhead into) the neoliberal drive to privatize essential public services, and represents tremendously harmful outcomes globally
Using an AI tool, one additional case of cancer was spotted per 1,000 women screened. Crucially this was without increasing false positives - seems an excellent result
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
More breast cancer cases found when AI used in screenings, study finds
First real-world test finds approach has higher detection rate without having a higher rate of false positives
www.theguardian.com
January 8, 2025 at 9:45 AM
This is not an LLM—so it doesn't have language-related issues—but it's important to be clear that it is very much part of (and in fact represents a new spearhead into) the neoliberal drive to privatize essential public services, and represents tremendously harmful outcomes globally
Reposted by Kate Louise Mathis
“Another has refused food longer than 80% of Irish republican hunger strikers who died in 1981.”
Palestine Action Hunger Striker Hospitalised With Heart Muscle Shrinkage
novaramedia.com/2026/01/08/p...
Palestine Action Hunger Striker Hospitalised With Heart Muscle Shrinkage
novaramedia.com/2026/01/08/p...
Palestine Action Hunger-Striker Hospitalised With Heart Muscle Shrinkage
Kamran Ahmed, who hasn’t eaten for 60 days, is experiencing shrinkage to the muscle of his heart and is at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Harriet Williamson reports.
novaramedia.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:24 PM
“Another has refused food longer than 80% of Irish republican hunger strikers who died in 1981.”
Palestine Action Hunger Striker Hospitalised With Heart Muscle Shrinkage
novaramedia.com/2026/01/08/p...
Palestine Action Hunger Striker Hospitalised With Heart Muscle Shrinkage
novaramedia.com/2026/01/08/p...