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Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

@hpolymenis.bsky.social

870 followers 620 following 560 posts

Professor, microbiologist, veterinarian, teacher, daughter, wife, mother, fighter for social justice, 6 1/2 year pancreatic cancer thriver, and patient advocate.

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Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis @hpolymenis.bsky.social · Dec 3

By the casual comments of the admins nominees for top science posts- this is going to be super bad for US health, science and science infrastructure. I don’t see universities with plans in hand. It’s patently wrong to play the wait and see game here. They already told you they want to burn it down.

a baby yoda holding a blue wallet with the words plan you must written above it

ALT: a baby yoda holding a blue wallet with the words plan you must written above it

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote a thing about how this split the MMR up into monovalents is bullshit that Andrew Wakefield cooked up. It will be used to strip access to the MMR.

The MAHA movement continues to destroy public health.

open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

The Monovalent Mirage

A pretend alternative to the MMR exists, just ask Andrew Wakefield

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Fumiko Ladd Chino, MD FASCO @fumikochino.bsky.social · 1d

#Priorauthorization #UtilizationManagement for costly 2nd-line 💊 is understandable but nearly one-half of plans have quantity limits for generic ondansetron, a cheap ($16 for 60 8mg tabs) & effective 1st-line drug

Make this make sense.

#fixPriorAuth
@michaelannica.bsky.social
@jamanetworkopen.com

Prior Authorization, Quantity Limits, and Step Therapy for Antiemetics

This cross-sectional study evaluates whether antiemetic drugs for patients with cancer who have Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace or Medicaid plans are subject to utilizatio...

jamanetwork.com

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer @letswinpc.org · 1d

Social worker Lauren Shaffer provides tips and insights into managing scanxiety, the worry that accompanies follow-up scans and tests for cancer patients. https://bit.ly/3FTbV0J

Scanxiety—A Nearly Universal Experience Among Cancer Patients

Social worker Lauren Shaffer provides tips and insights into managing scanxiety about follow-up scans and tests for patients.

bit.ly

Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 2d

Vaccine disinformation/misinformation is as damaging as banning vaccines because it accomplishes the same thing i.e. fewer people get vaccinated as a result.
RFK. Jr's agenda doesn't need to explicitly take vaccines off shelves to meet its goals pseudoscience and misinformation are doing the job.

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 2d

PubMed Update (no pun intended)

Publications with Pub Date

8/1//24 62209
9/1/24 64765
10/1/24 68211

8/1/25 61610
9/1/25 63719

10/1/25 35936 (as of 10/2/25)
10/1/25 38673 (as of 10/6/25, 8:00 AM)

It appears that ~40% of the expected number of publications are missing for 10/1/25

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a man in a black vest says no bueno in front of mountains

ALT: a man in a black vest says no bueno in front of mountains

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 3d

Fun fact: Peyton Rous discovered the first cancer-causing virus in 1911– but didn’t receive the Nobel Prize until 1966, when he was 87 years old. It can be to be tough to be ahead of your time.

Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation @laskerfdn.bsky.social · 3d

#LaskerLaureate Peyton Rous born #OTD in 1879. He was recognized for his work on the causes of cancers, the source of antibodies, and the mechanism of blood cell generation and destruction. 🧪 ow.ly/zp3b50KH2pY

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 4d

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 6d

Great article by a polio survivor. Salk declined to patent the polio vaccine, saying “it belongs to the people.”

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 6d

"Physician-scientists are the artisans working through the night, arguing, racing, debating seemingly crazy ideas, all the while taking on complex questions to find a cure to benefit all of humankind. Vaccines are manmade miracles among us." www.thebulwark.com/p/polio-vacc...

The Polio Vaccine Was a Miracle—and We Must Not Forget It

As a polio survivor, I am a dinosaur today. My great hope is that our country’s living memory of the disease ends with my generation.

www.thebulwark.com

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Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis @hpolymenis.bsky.social · 6d

First evening since my first immunotherapy tx (7 days in) and I’m learning to manage the fever. Tylenol and Advil in my car, in my office and in my nightstand. 😂

a man in a yellow suit is making a chemical experiment and the caption says better living through chemistry

ALT: a man in a yellow suit is making a chemical experiment and the caption says better living through chemistry

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Eric Feigl-Ding @drericding.bsky.social · 6d

Shutdown fight—to save the average American family $13k in Obamacare health insurance subsidies. GOP want to dissolve this and then allow rates to rise to any amount.

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 8d

Very concerned about this...

"A shutdown will allow a 'backdoor impoundment'. OMB could gut the government’s capacity to administer programs it opposes. The administration could kill programs unilaterally without the inconvenience of Congress-- all perfectly legal."

www.govexec.com/management/2...

www.govexec.com

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Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis @hpolymenis.bsky.social · 8d

Radiation to eye day 10 today! Last treatment- then we have sbrt to my pelvis and continuing immunotherapy. So far worst side effect is fever and it’s not so bad. Btw our fundraiser for #letswinpc! Had raised $4600!!! You can still donate to help us reach 5k! letswinpc.kindful.com

Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer | Kindful

letswinpc.kindful.com

Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Benoit Bruneau @benoitbruneau.bsky.social · 9d

thank you to all the NIH staff who stand by their duty and put in heroic efforts to get it done. I'll never forget it and will be eternally grateful.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 9d

The fiscal year ends tomorrow.

Here are results from NIH Reporter downloaded an hour ago.

The total amount of funding committed for FY2025 at this point is 99.0% of that for FY2024. The same difference could be due to a variety of technical factors.

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$A graph showing the fraction of annual grant funding committed for NIH for fiscal years 2015 to 2025. The fiscal year 2025 lagged behind but then caught up over the last two months.$

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 10d

Today is the 97th anniversary of penicillin's discovery!

Many know the story of Fleming's serendipitous find. But fewer know that the antibiotic-producing mold drifted in from a nearby lab where it was being studied during an unusually cool period that allowed it to grow.
apnews.com/today-in-his...

Today in History: September 28, Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1924: First round-the-world flight 2020: Global COVID death toll reaches 1 million 2022: Hurricane Ian strikes Florida

apnews.com

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social · 11d

Tuesday Sept 30 in Baltimore MD

publichealth.jhu.edu/events/2025/...

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 11d

It is really funny that Jimmy Kimmel Live showed more moral fortitude and adherence to a system of values than Columbia University

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Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis @hpolymenis.bsky.social · 12d

Immunotherapy started yesterday… so far only side effect is a low grade fever.

Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 12d

In reporting this piece on the new trial for a Huntington's treatment, I was struck by one thing in particular:

The joy.

One of my sources wept for joy. He has spent his entire career studying this disease, he said it was the happiest day. www.sciencenews.org/article/hunt...

Huntington's progression slowed by experimental gene therapy

An experimental gene therapy slowed Huntington’s by up to 75 percent in a small clinical trial. While not a cure, it may give patients longer lives.

www.sciencenews.org

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 12d

Great article.

"We’ve come too far to go back to a time when autism was stigmatized and defined solely in terms of deficits; when mothers were made to feel guilty; when people whose well-being was at stake were excluded from shaping narratives and policies that alter their lives and happiness."

J. Offir, PhD @joffirphd.bsky.social · 13d

Gift 🎁 link. A great piece by a dad & cultural anthropologist who teaches about mental health.

Two excerpts:

🔹️"The administration’s project is built on the premise that an autism diagnosis is a terrible tragedy and that scientists and doctors have failed to...

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...

Opinion | Autism Has Always Existed. We Haven’t Always Called It Autism.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 12d

Lifestyles of the small and circular.

Researchers at the UK's Sanger Institute reveal how plasmid microevolution and recombination have allowed antibiotic resistance genes to rapidly disseminate on mobile DNA elements.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Pre- and postantibiotic epoch: The historical spread of antimicrobial resistance

Plasmids are now the primary vectors of antimicrobial resistance, but our understanding of how human industrialisation of antibiotics influenced their evolution is limited by a paucity of data predati...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 13d

I often emphasize that there are rarely "silver bullets" that magically solve problems but vaccines are one of the closest things we have and it's mind-boggling and enraging to watch this "debate" unfold during my lifetime

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 14d

The polio immunisation program started in the USA in 1955.

Look what happened next.

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Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis @hpolymenis.bsky.social · 14d

Shifting from excitement about immunotherapy to being a little bit frightened of the unknown. what are the side effects going to be- how do I plan for that....

a cartoon of winnie the pooh wearing a purple hat

ALT: a cartoon of winnie the pooh wearing a purple hat

media.tenor.com

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Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis @hpolymenis.bsky.social · 15d

Immunotherapy drugs I’ve been stressing over were approved by insurance!

a man and a woman are jumping in the air in a living room .

ALT: a man and a woman are jumping in the air in a living room .

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 16d

Here is a plot in terms of PROJECTS rather than dollars. I am using projects rather than awards so that projects that received supplements do not get double-counted.

While the FY25 curve is improving, it seems that the number of funded projects will drop by 3000-4000 compared with FY24.

A graph showing the number of projects funded per year by NIH for fiscal years 2021-2025. Fiscal year 2025 shows a reduction in the number of projects of approximately 3000-4000.

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Reposted by Dr.Dr. Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 17d

In civil society, if you feel the need to keep what you're doing secret you very well shouldn't be doing that thing.

I'm thinking that this is what the lawyer types mean when they say an action reveals "consciousness of guilt."

Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 17d

NEW: Air Force jets are doing ICE flights to Africa with transponders turned off, making them nearly un-trackable.

This includes the third-country removal to Ghana and another secret flight. We figured out where it landed.

From me for @rollingstone.com:

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

ICE Is Deporting People to Africa on Nearly Un-Trackable Military Flights

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is deporting people to African countries like Ghana on military flights that are nearly un-trackable.

www.rollingstone.com

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