I still think MDPI journals can have legit papers every now and then, but they are totally buried in a mountain of low-quality papers and terrible reviews.
Long story short, I avoid citing MDPI stuff in general because they ignore reviewers.
In January, I reviewed a Review for a crappy MDPI journal.
It was 100% AI, missing citations, etc. I sent a massive report, and the authors withdrew it.
Today, I see it published without a single change in another even crappier MDPI journal.
Beautiful work in this paper. I think anatomy is often under-appreciated. I'm glad to see things like this #neurosicence 🧪🧠
An opposing molecular gradient axis underlies primate cortical organization | Science https://t.co/ozQNXLJOie
https://t.co/QQS4yRjlJ5 On the cover: In this issue of Neuron, Du et al. @DuSiling show that repeated microglial depletion enables peripheral monocytes from both the blood and skull bone marrow to infiltrate the brain and engraft as monocyte-derived macrophages with distinct identities. Inspired by a passage from the Zuo Zhuan (“The first beat of the drum rouses the soldiers’ spirits; the second weakens their resolve; by the third, they are exhausted”), the artwork depicts three rounds of microglial depletion gradually exhausting the endogenous microglial niche. The two advancing armies represent distinct peripheral sources of invading cells: one arriving from the blood, illustrated by the army bearing the red flag, and the other emerging from the skull bone marrow, portrayed as descending from the mountains. Artist credit: Ying Xu.
Most of what we know about how the brain makes decisions comes from studying young, healthy brains. But a new paper argues that aging brains have a lot to teach us. By applying cutting-edge computational tools to older brains, researchers @dgsomucla believe we can uncover entirely new insights into how neural circuits maintain stability and flexibility over time. This could move the field from describing cognitive decline to understanding resilience, helping us understand how to extend the years we spend thinking clearly and living fully. https://t.co/9GoK82YFEq
Exciting new work from @RobertoZoncu, led by all star first authors @clairegoul and @aakritijain24 reveals the mechanism mediating the sensing of lysosomal damage and recruitment of ESCRT for membrane repair. Beautiful work!🤩
https://t.co/fpazvFMciI
As a clinical health psychologist who has written >20 papers on COVID, I would emphasize 4 facts:
1) Long COVID is not a psychological diagnosis nor manifestation of a psychological condition
2) Billions of dollars need to be invested in biomedical treatments and preventives, and that money is not being invested because of wealthy short-term interests, which prop up various narratives, including in the media
3) Behavioral interventions can help with infection/reinfection prevention (e.g., COVI-CAN pilot) and stress/coping support (gaslighting/ostracism as huge issues), but these are not cures, and the same interventions are relevant to people with cancer, organ failure, immunocompromising conditions, etc.
4) Many psychological/behavioral "treatments" for Long COVID are directly harmful to patients and are indirectly harmful to society by incorrectly framing the issues
I would consider these issues obvious in summer 2020.
Articles like this should not be written in 2026, but it is a consequences of cultural evolution, or organizational selection by consequences. The organizations that write puff pieces propping up pseudoscience get the gold, while truth tellers do not. It would be useful to examine the organizational practices at WIRED that led to the incentive systems that allowed this piece to manifest.
Aquí es un ejemplo de un sesgo…de hecho no bajaron los proyectos sino que se volvieron mucho más competitivos por que se empezaron a ver mos resultados de la política científica…el punto es aceptar que la competencia es cada vez más dura.
Loss of Rab27b in A53T+ mice did not alter motor behavior or survival, but did⬆️proteinase-K resistant α-synuclein in the cortex, striatum, & substantia nigra as early as 6 months of age; In the AAV αsyn model, Rab27b KO resulted in dopaminergic cell loss
https://t.co/Rq986RVRFb
Today I'm posting a new blog about an astonishing scientific own goal. Hundreds of papers have reported using a completely wrong antibody to investigate the tumor suppressor p16. This mistake has happened because scientists have muddled the names of two proteins 🧵
The Ly Lab @CRI_UTSW is recruiting two #postdocs to study intercellular DNA transfer. Join us to tackle fundamental questions at the intersection of genome instability, cell-cell communication, and cancer evolution. Please share! 🙏
Full posting: https://t.co/INoSPaqx95
Yes! ASAP7y works well with both conformal immersion microscopy (CIM):
https://t.co/inwrH1oCCd
and other widefield methods including tandem lens macroscopy:
https://t.co/hrIcONFQ8p
helping to unveil fast dynamics (see video).
Congrats to the ASAP team:
https://t.co/zv1tG0CNUM
No os podéis perder el último libro de @LluisMontoliu publicado por @pinolialibros, dedicado en esta ocasión a los “Impostores de la ciencia”. Imagino que ya sabéis cuál es mi capítulo “favorito”.
Sí, ya os hablé sobre ello en este hilo👇
https://t.co/BkwyzvPoaM
In the latest issue! Transplantation of encapsulated mitochondria alleviates dysfunction in mitochondrial and Parkinson’s disease models https://t.co/hPFFrxYCNK
A pocas horas de la cuenta pública, les dejo mi columna sobre el peligro que acecha a la ciencia: El inminente desmantelamiento del Ministerio de Ciencia que amenaza el futuro de la investigación chilena | Interferencia https://t.co/n44xpQylqK
Many alternative medicine treatments are rooted in vitalism: the belief in a magical energy force that cannot be scientifically measured.
Energy healing: biofield
Homeopathy: vital force
Acupuncture: Qi
Ayurveda: prana
Thought field therapy: fields
Chiropractic: innate
Etc.