Dr Mairi Treanor-Taylor

PhD in squamous skin cancer from @CRUK_SI | Med student @EdinUniMedicine | BMedSci Anatomy

[The BMJ @bmj_latest]

Doctors are too often dismissive of women’s symptoms when they present for treatment for reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, and heavy menstrual bleeding, a parliamentary inquiry has concluded
https://t.co/cAGpDySJNJ

[Samuel Hume @DrSamuelBHume]

I love this story

In 2003, it was reported that the stress response protein, MIC-1 (aka GDF-15), is raised in cancer patients with muscle wasting and weight loss (cachexia):
In 2007, a monoclonal antibody that blocks MIC-1 (GDF-15) was found to boost appetite and weight gain in mice with cancer cachexia:
And just recently in 2024, a clinical trial found that the GDF-15 monoclonal antibody boosted appetite, physical activity, weight gain, and skeletal muscle mass in human patients with cancer cachexia:
Sources:

2003 study - https://t.co/mToknEBYby

2007 study - https://t.co/dhTpPsJxoF

2024 study - https://t.co/x16XkDJdCL

[BBC Health News @bbchealth]

Afghan women to finish medical studies in Scotland https://t.co/qXE2xdMSsV

[CRUK Scotland Inst @CRUK_SI]

The Liver Cancer, Disease and Regeneration group headed by Prof Tom Bird is looking to appoint a Scientific Officer

📅Closing date: 23 August 2024

👉Find out more and apply here: https://t.co/cTOukiGXDu

[Genomics England @GenomicsEngland]

100,000 genomes have now been sequenced through the NHS GMS – supported by Genomics England - which has led to new diagnoses, more specific treatment, and improved outcomes for thousands.
Find out more via this link: https://t.co/dvZEZArJBA

[Dr Mairi Treanor-Taylor @Mairi_TT]

@CraigDSmith99 @CRUK_SI @EdinUniMedicine Thank you very much Craig! Likewise for you👏🥳 Medicine has gained a great researcher.

[Dr Mairi Treanor-Taylor @Mairi_TT]

Surrounded by loved ones, I graduated from my MB-PhD this summer. Had a great three years in Glasgow @CRUK_SI in the Inman lab. Now navigating ways to remain involved in research as I finish medical school @EdinUniMedicine

[The Royal College of Radiologists @RCRadiologists]

We're facing a #cancer emergency and the time for action is now.

We've penned an open letter to party leaders, warning that the UK risks undoing decades of progress in cancer care without immediate intervention.

RT to show your support!

@Keir_Starmer @RishiSunak @EdwardJDavey

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Mikaela Loach, "I thought the best way to create change in this world was to become a doctor" @mikaelaloach

"When I was on the wards I noticed people were sick, not just because of disease, but because of the social conditions they're living in, their housing, their poverty.. People would be sick because of these social reasons"

"We would do the important job of making sure they could survive for longer: medication, treating them.. Then sending them back out into the environment that made them sick.. So they'd just come back a few months later with similar issues"

"What Wes Streeting is saying about addresisng waiting lists by using unused private health capacity doesn't make sense as it would be NHS doctors that would be used"

"We have a very sick nation and we need to stop them getting sick in the first place. And the way we do that is to build a robust social care system. And stop continuing policies that push people into sickness"

[Dr Mairi Treanor-Taylor @Mairi_TT]

@AmyShergold @CRUK_SI @UofGCancerSci Congratulations Amy!🎊

[Samuel Hume @DrSamuelBHume]

Women are 4-times more likely to have autoimmune diseases than men. Why is this?

From Dou et al. in Cell, today

In females, the second X chromosome is silenced by a long non-coding RNA, called Xist (pronounced 'exist') - males don't express Xist

Xist, together with almost 100 unique proteins, wraps itself around the second X chromosome, silencing it. It's thought that Xist-protein complexes are highly immunogenic, and may represent targets for autoantibodies

Dou et al. devised a system to induce expression of Xist in male mice. They found that Xist expression led to the production of autoantibodies, similar to levels found in female mice (RIBO P0/P2 are lupus autoantibodies, CENPA/B are scleroderma autoantibodies):
In a mouse model, these autoantibodies in Xist-expressing males were sufficient to cause significant lupus pathology (including in the kidney and the lung):
In humans, autoantibodies against the Xist ribonucleoprotein complex were enriched in female patients with lupus, scleroderma, and dermatomyositis

Therefore, Xist may solve the puzzle of female-biased autoimmunity

https://t.co/95sqEMGqJ8

[Edinburgh Cancer Research @EdinCRC]

MB PhD OPPORTUNITY 2024! Funded PhD positions available for highly motivated University of Edinburgh or University of Glasgow medical students! Details in the attached image and at the link below 👇:
https://t.co/ptBOHO4Hvk

[STV News @STVNews]

No cervical cancer cases have been detected in women who have been fully vaccinated against HPV, Public Health Scotland has revealed.
https://t.co/FiWZMAw6jw

[CRUK Scotland Inst @CRUK_SI]

🩺PhD opportunities for MBChB or BDS students🩺
The TRACC Programme is recruiting medical or dental students looking to gain top quality research training as well as securing clinical qualification with @UofGlasgow or @EdinburghUni
👉Find out more: https://t.co/BB1VOKAdVg

[Jonatan Pallesen @jonatanpallesen]

Incredibly, the placebo effect is (mostly) not real.

It is a result of statistical confusion. Whenever you have a group with extreme values, they tend to exhibit regression to the mean. Eg. on average, sick people tend to become more healthy over time.

Thus if you give one group medicine, and one group placebo, the placebo group will also tend to get better over time, because of regression to the mean.

People have then misinterpreted this to think that it is the placebo pill that actively does this.

If you want to demonstrate a placebo effect, you have to construct a study where there are three groups:
• A. treatment
• B. placebo
• C. no treatment, no placebo

If B and C get different outcomes, that would demonstrate a placebo effect.

When this has been tried, mainly there has been no provable placebo effect. See the paper in the screenshot. (There is some evidence for an effect for pain, but this get's into a slightly different debate.)

The fact that the placebo effect is mainly not real, fortunately frees us from having to come up with convoluted explanations, as to why the placebo effect would work even when we tell the patient that it is a placebo, as in the quoted tweet.

[Andrew Ji @andrewlji]

This looks like a really nice resource for those of us studying #skincancer #scc, congrats to the authors!

[Dr Mairi Treanor-Taylor @Mairi_TT]

See our new paper that maps disease progression in squamous skin cancer (or cSCC). 🧬

This work aims to help future prognostication and to illuminate potential therapeutically actionable targets. 💊

https://t.co/6BYy9iAakB

[One Health Genomics Edinburgh @GenomicsEdi]

New paper:

Driver gene combinations dictate cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma disease continuum progression @EdinCRC @EdinUni_IGC @EdinUniMedicine @weepatri @Mairi_TT

https://t.co/2dxt54xwF4

[Cancer Research UK @CR_UK]

Melanoma skin cancer cases in the UK have reached an all-time high. With 17,500 cases being diagnosed per year, our projections revealed these numbers could continue to increase by around 50% over the next 20 years.

Find out what’s causing this 👇 1/2 https://t.co/snxrGKmjAK