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NICE publishes draft update to Fertility Guideline | PET

Reposted by Julia Brown, PhD

geneticsandsociety.bsky.social @geneticsandsociety.bsky.social · 18d

In a proposed update to its guidelines, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence retains its recommendation of three NHS-funded IVF cycles for those eligible under 40 and critiques unproven IVF add-ons. The draft is open for consultation until October 21.

Updated NICE draft guidance recommends three NHS-funded IVF cycles for eligible under 40s and recommends against IVF add-ons.

www.progress.org.uk

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Sep 11

Excellent piece by @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social @awaisaftab.bsky.social on the therapeutic effect of diagnosis +
the need for qual research. Reading Parson’s “sick role” theory in undergrad sociology was the moment I realized how much is missed by psych models. www.cambridge.org/core/service...

www.cambridge.org

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Sep 5

“Metrics can be measured only by taking into account the starting point and ending point, as well as relevant features of the journey — the whole story.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/o...

Opinion | What I Got Wrong About D.E.I.

People are having fewer babies: Is it really the end of the world?

Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Aug 22

“Declining fertility is only a disaster if you don’t adapt" (by valuing individual lives more through better access to education and healthcare) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Steep population declines in most countries are expected to have negative impacts over the next several generations, but adaptation is possible.

www.nature.com

Opinion | I’m a Proud Conservative. My Disabled Son Needs Medicaid to Live.

Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Aug 21

What a shame that Fox News couldn’t publish this instead. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/o...

For many Duchenne families, halt to gene therapy is heartbreak upon heartbreak

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Reposted by Julia Brown, PhD

Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · Jun 28

NEW: People are being involuntarily committed to psychiatric care facilities — and even ending up arrested or jailed — after becoming fixated on ChatGPT and other chatbots and spiraling into psychosis.

futurism.com/commitment-j...

Futurism

MIND GAMES
/ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

People Are Being Involuntarily Committed, Jailed After Spiraling Into "ChatGPT Psychosis"

“I don't know what's wrong with me, but something is very bad — I'm very scared, and I need to go to the hospital.”
JUN 28, 9:00 AM EDT

by

MAGGIE HARRISON DUPRÉ

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Jul 24

“I feel like the balance that is being discussed right now, is actually very much out of kilter with what are acceptable risks for me as a parent, acceptable risks to me as physician and what I think should be acceptable risks to FDA and Sarepta” www.statnews.com/2025/07/24/d...

As gene therapy maker Sarepta Therapeutics tangles with FDA over its Duchenne treatment, patients and their families are caught in the middle.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Julia Brown, PhD

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Jul 17

Not a good idea, uninformed
Front page @washingtonpost.com today www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Jun 27

www.geneticsandsociety.org/biopolitical...

The tech billionaires and rogue scientists moving to commercialize CRISPR babies

Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified

www.geneticsandsociety.org

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Jun 25

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/o...

Opinion | ‘Motherhood Should Come With a Warning Label’

How Bondi Junction killer fell through cracks in mental health system

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Jun 1

Another tragic case of the risks of coming off clozapine altogether (and why psych meds are complicated). In Australia, clozapine takers also need blood monitoring each month, a crucial community-oriented check in that I believe helps as much as the medication itself.

ABC News (Unofficial) @abc-news.bsky.social · May 31

How Bondi Junction killer fell through cracks in mental health system: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-01/bondi-junction-killer-fell-through-cracks-mental-health-system/105355258

Joel Cauchi stabbed six people dead at Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in 2024. For five weeks an inquest has sought to uncover shortcomings that led to that day.

www.abc.net.au

Opinion | There’s a Link Between Therapy Culture and Childlessness

Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 31

“I had been the pregnant woman fetishizing the normal test result. Now that I was the mother of a child with a rare condition, I found an enemy in my past self”. Just finished Second Life by @amandahess.bsky.social. It is brilliant.

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 31

It’s also true that therapy teaches how those that upset us reflect unresolved parts of ourselves. It allows for more intentional parenting, ideally with more compassion for grandparents, & the littlest versions of ourselves. Too many boomers & their kids missed out. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Empathy can take a toll – but 2 philosophers explain why we should see it as a strength

Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 29

"when deciding complex policy questions ... resisting empathy impairs our decision-making. It keeps us from understanding what’s at stake ... it is vital to ask ourselves what policies we would favor if we were ... fully informed of the plight of others." theconversation.com/empathy-can-...

Empathy affords us a more accurate understanding of others’ experiences and emotions. Just like pain, it can be hard to bear – but that’s also the source of its strength.

theconversation.com

At a major genome-editing summit, spotlight turns to the value of human life

Reposted by Julia Brown, PhD

Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · May 28

🧵 Speaking at the Global Observatory for Genome Editing summit at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge this week, I highlighted a critical challenge: the deliberate fracturing of our knowledge ecosystems along ideological lines. www.statnews.com/2025/05/27/g...

Earlier gatherings focused on gaining public acceptance for what scientists want to do with CRISPR. This meeting flipped that on its head.

www.statnews.com

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 28

Great discussion highlighting limitations to genetic determinism. More discussion still needed on parental pressures and variations of "autism", including insights from people with lived experience www.npr.org/2025/05/28/1...

Can doctors test embryos for autism? And should they? : It's Been a Minute

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer, obesity, autism, bipolar disorder, even celiac disease. These c...

www.npr.org

CRISPR is used in landmark treatment to correct genetic misspelling of a single patient

Reposted by Julia Brown, PhD

STAT @statnews.com · May 15

For the first time, scientists say they have reached into the genome of a severely ill child and rewritten the unique misspelling in his DNA.

In a world first, scientists used CRISPR to fix a baby's unique genetic mutation. The report offers hope for personalized treatments of rare diseases.

buff.ly

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 7

A great piece about why social acceptance and feelings of competence is everything for those struggling with psychosis. (Many anthropological studies show as much). www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/n...

He Hears Voices in His Head. He Also Helped Win an Election.

Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 6

Great commentary by Dr. Ravitksy. "I would like young women to really have options," for society (and markets) to make it possible to start a family when pregnancy in less risky, where workplaces are more accommodating of mothers who work, where women don't have to gamble under economic coercion...

The Hastings Center for Bioethics @hastingscenter.bsky.social · May 5

🚨 Hastings in the spotlight! 🚨

HC President Vardit Ravitsky featured on 60 Minutes, where she discusses the growing trend of #eggfreezing and the opportunities and risks it raises about pausing the biological clock. 🧬⏳

Watch: cbsn.ws/3Z1owoI

#Bioethics

Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 3

Excellent piece!

Opinion | What Kennedy Gets Right, And Wrong, About Antidepressants (Gift Article)

Reposted by Julia Brown, PhD

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · May 3

My opinion piece in today’s @nytimes.com . I discuss how clinical neglect of medication-related harms has made RFK Jr’s stance on antidepressants appealing to so many and moving the public conversation in a productive direction requires us to remedy this neglect.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/o...

Harm from these drugs is real. Let’s not cede the conversation to Kennedy.

Much of what we see now is fake, and the reality we face is full of horrors. More and more of the world is slipping beyond my comprehension.

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · May 3

“ChatGPT will reify the problems that it purports to solve, and thus make itself essential: encouraging users to rely less and less on inner resources and personal capacity … with which we handle the task of being alive.” — 🙏🏼Jia Tolentino www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

My Brain Finally Broke

www.newyorker.com

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Julia Brown, PhD @juliaehbrown.bsky.social · Apr 23

"On the internet it could seem that our children were defined by the medical system, or else the tabloids. But inside the photo app on my phone, I could create a proud corrective archive." Beautiful piece on Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome by a mother, Amanda Hess www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/m...

My Son Has a Rare Syndrome. So I Turned to the Internet. (Gift Article)

Social media became a place of both solace and torment. How much was mine to share?