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Becky Smith

@rlsdvm.bsky.social

4.1K followers 4.6K following 1.9K posts

Epidemiologist at UIUC, working in One Health

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · Sep 10

Our book is up and available for preorder!

We spoke with K-12 and public health administrators from around the US about how they navigated the COVID-19 pandemic together. The biggest lesson was to build the partnerships before you need them, so start now! Ships in time for Christmas!

K-12 Schools and Public Health Partnerships: Strategies for Navigating a Crisis with Trust, Equity, and Communication

Amazon.com: K-12 Schools and Public Health Partnerships: Strategies for Navigating a Crisis with Trust, Equity, and Communication: 9781041002406: Perkinson, Leah, Barrios, Lisa C., Smith, Rebecca Lee, Roegman, Rachel: Books

www.amazon.com

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Reposted by Becky Smith

Bethany Halford @bethanyhalford.bsky.social · 16h

When my colleague @maxhenrybarnhart.bsky.social told us he was going to get dengue, I wasn't sure he was thinking clearly (or if @cenmag.bsky.social was paying him enough). But his interesting piece on clinical trials shows he was onto a good story. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

I was injected with dengue virus to learn about clinical trials

I became a test subject in a clinical trial for a new dengue treatment. Here’s what I discovered

cen.acs.org

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 1d

194/250 is Spatiotemporal patterns of Lyme disease in North Carolina: 2010–2020

Incredible to see the leading edge of expansion documented so clearly

Redirecting

doi.org

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 1d

Waning super moon still shining on IGB this fine autumn morning

Moon just barely shining in a clear blue sky, seen through a gap in the red blob statue in the plaza in front of IGB, with sunlit trees in the distance

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 2d

193/250 is Pathogenicity and Competitive Fitness of Salmonella enterica Serovar 4,[5],12:i:- Compared to Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Derby in Swine

I'm all for fewer gravestone names in science, but 4,[5],12:i is a little ridiculous . . . good solid paper, though

Frontiers | Pathogenicity and Competitive Fitness of Salmonella enterica Serovar 4,[5],12:i:- Compared to Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Derby in Swine

Since 2014, Salmonella 4,[5],12:i:- has emerged as the most common serovar of Salmonella enterica identified from swine samples submitted to veterinary diagn...

www.frontiersin.org

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 3d

This is worth reading.

12 is planning to be an artist (graphic novelist), and AI art hurts her soul because of everything here. She was telling me today that she doesn't like modern art, but she respects the way the artists interpret it. AI doesn't do that and can't do that.

The Oatmeal @theoatmeal.bsky.social · 3d

Let’s talk about AI art.

theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal

This is a comic about AI art.

theoatmeal.com

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 3d

192/250 is The effect of outcome choice on vaccine dose allocation: a modelling study

Example of when a simple model can be highly informative. What do we mean by "optimal" and how does that change our choices?

Redirecting

doi.org

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 4d

191/250 is Risk as feelings

Great review of why homo economicus is not a reasonable proxy for humanity. Also implications for the current political climate.

Risk as feelings - PubMed

Virtually all current theories of choice under risk or uncertainty are cognitive and consequentialist. They assume that people assess the desirability and likelihood of possible outcomes of choice alt...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 4d

cont.: blue mist flower, showy goldenrod, pannicled aster

Some new aster names, thanks to a handy guide to identifying the white asters of the Midwest (I don't plant them, they volunteer, and iNaturalist was wrong on all of them)

Ramping down now for winter

Joe Pye weed (clusters of pink and white blossoms with tight petals and long white stamens) with a fuzzy bee in the middle

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 4d

This week's bloom census, all continuing:
lavender, hydrangea, coneflower, pokeweed, lady's thumb, plantain, brown-eyed susan, whorled mountain mint, Joe Pye weed, tomatillo, hydrangea tree, partridge pea, switchgrass, Drummond's aster, goldenrod, white snakeroot, sky blue aster, calico aster, ...

Asters - white daisy-like flowers with yellow centers amid a range of different green leaves. In the bottom left, some of the leaves are shading to yellow on the edges

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 6d

We had to drive to the next town (Mahomet) to get an appointment, though, and even they couldn't get the dose in time

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 6d

Family <almost> fully vaxxed - apparently, it's hard to come by pediatric COVID-19 boosters, but the older can get adult doses and the younger could at least get flu

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 7d

It might be Friday afternoon when you have to look at your calendar to remember the names of your lab members...

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 8d

190/250 is Maternal vaccination as a Salmonella Typhimurium reduction strategy on pig farms

I want to use these data to fit models for vaccine effects - is it prevalence/incidence or shedding?

Maternal vaccination as a Salmonella Typhimurium reduction strategy on pig farms - PubMed

Salmonella vaccines have the potential to reduce the prevalence of Salmonella in pigs and result in a reduction of human cases attributed to pork.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 9d

Incredible and worth reading

Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 9d

Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.

harpers.org/archive/1941...

Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson

harpers.org

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 9d

Dot and the Kangaroo - I remember nothing but having nightmares about the bunyip sequence. Not the bunyip, the animation

Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 9d

Back in college in the early 00s, I was convinced this movie was a childhood fever dream. No one knew about it and I couldn't find any info online based on my sparse memories. I finally bought it on DVD during lockdown and haven't stopped watching it.

Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · 9d

No Suck Fairy detected: "Flight of the Navigator"–the delightful adventures of a boy and his very cool spaceship–is one of those movies you loved as a kid that truly holds up almost 40 years later 🌟

reactormag.com/flight-of-th...

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 9d

189/250 is Rapid systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence for effectiveness of primary production interventions to control Salmonella in beef and pork

Fairly comprehensive (although dated - we need an update)

Redirecting

dx.doi.org

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 10d

188/250 is Should Scientists TalkAbout GMOs Nicely? Exploring the Effects of Communication Styles, Source Expertise, and Preexisting Attitude

Fascinating that a polite style is penalized for scientists!

Should Scientists Talk About GMOs Nicely? Exploring the Effects of Communication Styles, Source Expertise, and Preexisting Attitude - Shupei Yuan, Wenjuan Ma, John C. Besley, 2019

The present study investigated the effects of communication styles, source expertise, and audiences’ preexisting attitudes in the contexts of the debate regardi...

doi.org

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 11d

187/250 is Be Mean or Be Nice? Understanding the Effects of Aggressive and Polite Communication Styles in Child Vaccination Debate

I'd love to see if the impact of tone is mediated at least partly by agreement with the message. Also, note date: 2018!

Be Mean or Be Nice? Understanding the Effects of Aggressive and Polite Communication Styles in Child Vaccination Debate

The current study investigated the effect of communication style in the child vaccination debate. Based on expectancy violation theory, this study tested the effects of aggressive, neutral, and pol...

doi.org

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 11d

186/250 is Interventions to reduce non-typhoidal Salmonella in pigs during transport to slaughter and lairage: Systematic review, meta-analysis, and research synthesis based infection models in support of assessment of effectiveness

Great synthesis! The amount of bias potential in these studies ...

Redirecting

dx.doi.org

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 11d

The blue mist flower surprised me - I had planted it 4 years ago about 20 yards away and it didn't survive the winter, haven't seen it since

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 11d

cont: Queen Anne's lace, Missouri ironweed, sunflower, devil's beggartick, white snakeroot, horseweed, smooth blue aster, sky blue aster, false aster

New: blue mist flower, showy goldenrod

Blue mistflower: fuzzy round periwinkle blossoms in a clump on a long green stem with oblate green leaves along it at intervals

Showy goldenrod: yellow star-shaped blossoms clumped along the last 1.5 inches of a green stem, with long stamens sticking out, over mostly bare ground with some dead leaves

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 11d

This week's bloom census
Continuing: catmint, lavender, hydrangea, asiatic dayflower, coneflower, white avens, lady's thumb, plantain, brown-eyed susan, white vervain, peppermint, whorled mountain min, Joe Pye weed, tomatillo, hydrangea tree, partridge pea, switchgrass, forked aster, goldenrod ...

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 11d

One under-appreciated aspect of being in a large college on the outskirts of campus - flu shot clinic right outside my office

Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 14d

185/250 is Implications of asymptomatic carriers for infectious disease transmission and control

More good foundational work - the models are basic, but we need to start somewhere

Implications of asymptomatic carriers for infectious disease transmission and control | Royal Society Open Science

For infectious pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae, some hosts may carry the pathogen and transmit it to others, yet display no symptoms themselves. These asymptomatic...

dx.doi.org

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Becky Smith @rlsdvm.bsky.social · 14d

Once you get settled, I'll need to get you in to speak to one of our seminar series

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