Robert Dickson

Pulmonary & Critical Care physician at the University of Michigan. I study the microbiome's role in lung disease and critical illness.

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@doc_BLocke There was a time when Twitter facilitated (or at least permitted) what you're describing. I think that's long gone, and it's now mainly bad faith engagement and polarized agenda-pushing. I miss when people were at least trying to understand each other.

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@DrToddLee @doc_BLocke @nickmmark Would you please link to this metaanalysis of RCTs of pip-tazo vs cefepime in sepsis? I'm not aware of it.

I trust you're being thoughtful about this and not confusing non-abdominal sepsis with febrile neutropenia, which (1) isn't sepsis and (2) is often of gut origin.

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@doc_BLocke My email address is [email protected]. It's also in the manuscript. If you have more critiques of our work, I earnestly urge you to reach out to discuss. It'll be more constructive than inadvertently misrepresenting it on social media.

(6/6)

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@doc_BLocke ...we didn't stop there! We tested whether gut microbiota predict AKI in humans (yes) and controlled murine experiments (yes). We also call for prospective human studies. We designed a translational study precisely because of limitations to observational research.

(5/6)

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@nickmmark I think there is still low-hanging fruit all around us. We are just looking at our feet and walking past it. The brain has a lymphatic system. Individual cells have mechanosensation and feel pressure. Adults humans have brown fat. All discovered since I graduated med school.

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@DrWillWatson Because "EP" was taken?

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

Wait until these guys find out about pip-tazo!

As someone who solidly believes in the biological potency of the microbiome: "can alter the gut microbiome" is a laughably unserious endpoint. This is so cynical.

[Dr. Marty Makary @DrMakaryFDA]

Today, the FDA is taking action to remove concentrated ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for children from the market. A growing body of research is demonstrating how ingested fluoride can alter the gut microbiome. This is especially concerning with young children where the microbiome is in a critical state of development. When it comes to children, this FDA will always err on the side of safety.

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@ProfJDChalmers @NEJM Outstanding, congrats James!

[James D Chalmers @ProfJDChalmers]

We did it!
Absolutely thrilled to share the results of the ASPEN trial published today in @NEJM
Brensocatib(10mg and 25mg vs placebo) reduced exacerbations over 52 weeks and slowed lung function decline
A new treatment for bronchiectasis patients
https://t.co/u94U83zFk6

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@mbeisen Jenny.

√(Jenny²).

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

Come learn to study the lung microbiome at ATS 2025! Meet and learn from an all-star team of experts. San Francisco, May 16th.

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

Come learn to study the lung microbiome at ATS 2025! Meet and learn from an all-star team of experts. San Francisco, May 16th.

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@MaxJordan_N inverse cri du chat

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@nickmmark Figure generated without LLM assistance. (That wouldn't be true today!) https://t.co/xxuxU2dfyP

[Robert Dickson @robertpdickson]

@nickmmark jesus this is dystopian. it should provoke in us the same pity as AI companions, but instead it gets likes and retweets.

human comfort is more than just a hack for simulating warmth and contact.

(also seems deliriogenic? deliberately disorienting to situation.)

[Illegitimate Scholar🧭 @ill_Scholar]

This man from the Middle Ages had a knife hand as a prosthetic

Thread 🧵 on the Germanic man with a knife for an arm and how we know