Tom Yates
Epidemiology, infection
profiles.ucl.ac.uk/37299-tom-yates/about
- Reposted by Tom YatesWe published explosive stories about the president of El Salvador. Now we can’t go home
- Reposted by Tom YatesPlease join us in person or online @lshtm-dash.bsky.social on 26th February to hear about @georgiatomova.bsky.social's recent work on 'How can different modes of survey data collection introduce bias?' www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/e...
- Reposted by Tom YatesAssumption of the Virgin, by Guido Reno, 1598-99, 📸 by Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey
- For those who like to dig into the weeds, the Supplemental Material has finally been uploaded
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- Reposted by Tom Yates'How to interpret hazard ratios', with @dominicmagirr.bsky.social and @timpmorris.bsky.social thestatsgeek.com/2026/01/15/h...
- Reposted by Tom YatesIf you are interested in all things ✨causal inference✨, please join our multidisciplinary Causal Inference Interest Group (CIIG). We host monthly seminars featuring speakers with various academic backgrounds and research interests. Links below. cc @clscohorts.bsky.social @pwgtennant.bsky.social
- Written by a family friend
- ✉️ "Iran is a country to love – complicated, contradictory, capable of tremendous beauty and cruelty – like every place humans have ever tried to build something lasting." Read why Iran is so much more than the bloodshed in the news ⬇️ telegraph.co.uk/bluesky-tmg/iran-to…
- This story should focus much more on the ground breaking STAMPEDE trial The big story here is innovative, ambitious, robust randomised trials, not squabbles between charities and regulators
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- NEW LETTER We raise statistical and ethical concerns about a M tuberculosis transmission study Researchers intentionally delaying TB treatment should not be enrolling people with very low CD4 counts academic.oup.com/jid/advance-... @davidadambarr.bsky.social @jidjournal.bsky.social
- Reposted by Tom YatesThis was the funniest line to me: “If there is one thing to strongly object to about these guidelines, it’s that they are likely to be hard for many people to follow.” Oh really? That’s the one thing to strongly object to? It’s just too hard for people to eat enough steak, cheese and beef tallow?
- That and the complete scientific illiteracy of rejecting the idea that saturated fat is bad for you
- The industry connections of an advisory panel for the new dietary guidelines are notable, especially in light of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s criticism of corporate influence. www.statnews.com/2026/01/07/n...
- Reposted by Tom YatesI know a bit about the past of MR, something about the present, and look forward to discussing whether MR has a future, and if so, how that should look
- If you are interested in the past, present, and future of Mendelian Randomisation, join us later this month for a Causal Inference Interest Group seminar on MR with none other than @mendelrandom.bsky.social Zoom registration link: ucl.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
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- Not sure I understand @mainstreamlabour.bsky.social's approach to decision making How is being asked to vote "yes" or "no" to slates of NEC candidates that have been preselected by somebody a meaningful vote? Why not allow supporters an opportunity to choose candidates to endorse?
- The UK should be clear that there will be material consequences - not just words - if Netanyahu persists in actions like these which set back hopes of a fair negotiated peace settlement There are two communities on this land, and neither is going anywhere @stellacreasy.bsky.social
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- Reposted by Tom YatesI'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students. I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
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- Reposted by Tom YatesSymposium & workshop on inequalities in infectious disease dynamics at LSHTM in April 2026. We aim to will bring together leading researchers and practitioners to share ideas, discuss recent advances, and reflect on future directions. Details & application: iddconf.org/lshtm-sympos... Closing 21 Jan
- Reposted by Tom Yates👇Great thread on TB strain concordance/strain discordance among household contacts. If I read correctly, findings from a 1998 small series from San Francisco consistent with the much greater analysis. ++ Implications for transmission and management of contacts.
- Reposted by Tom YatesCool work! Was just thinking that someone needs to do this analysis as we need better quantitative estimates. Reaffirms concern that studies using cross-sectional HH IGRA to investigate determinants of infectiousness (e.g. symptoms) are going to have major limitations.
- NEW PREPRINT! We systematically reviewed molecular epidemiology studies looking at strain discordance in pairs of people with TB disease and history of household contact We found 30 studies from 18 countries. Excluding 4 studies at high risk of bias, we had data on 1544 household case pairs [1/n]
- Strain discordance - using 24 loci MIRU-VNTR, RFLP or WGS - is COMMON! Around a third of household case pairs in low and medium incidence countries have different strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) More than half of pairs in high incidence countries have different strains [2/n]
- You can estimate the proportion of TB attributable to recent household transmission as Strain CONCORDANCE * proportion of people with TB with a history of exposure to a putative household index case As the latter proportion was not usually provided, we borrowed from external data (see link) [3/n]
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View full threadBig thanks to those who reanalysed data for us and to coauthors, especially Martha, who turned a part complete project into a paper Supplementary material not yet uploaded to SSRN - trying to fix this, but message me directly if you want a copy I'll upload code/data to GitHub on Monday [13/13]
- Reposted by Tom Yates🎉 Big news! The MRC Centre for Clinical Research Efficiency (CoRE) is here. By accelerating the testing of new medicines, the MRC CoRE will help bring better treatments to patients sooner. 🔗 Learn more: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-st...
- I can't strike but, for those dunking on my colleagues who are striking tomorrow, here is a super useful figure from @instituteforgovernment.org.uk This uses CPI rather than RPI, i.e. the more conservative of the measures by which real terms pay has been cut for NHS workers
- This is a really lovely paper by @dopapus.bsky.social and team Self report of TB symptoms depends on lots of external factors and there are more robust markers of disease extent / severity available to inform surveillance and clinical management #TBSky #EpiSky
- Epidemiology friends, is there good primary research on any of this? Potentially challenging, as most of us buy food wrapped in plastic. My starting point - I don't give a toss about "naturalness", don't think "synthetic chemicals" is a coherent category, and like my exposures/outcomes well defined!
- Reposted by Tom YatesWe can’t accept this attempt to hide the destruction that two years of a genocidal war has brought on Gaza. Palestinians must be allowed to recover, and foreign journalists must be able to report freely. (2/2)
- Reposted by Tom YatesThe ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza was just extended today — almost two months into the ceasefire. International reporters still aren’t allowed to talk to Palestinians on the ground and report on what’s happening. (1/2)
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- 'In her telling, racism and xenophobia seem not themselves objectively bad things that must be combatted, but a natural outcome that occurs when too many rights are given to immigrants ... If only they had fewer rights, then ... we would hit some golden ratio where everyone will be happier.'
- Are heat pump tariffs a good idea if you have solar panels? House is only being heated for e.g. four months of the year. Hot water can be had for free when solar panels firing in middle of day, perhaps with a 6am topup. Without a battery, hard to avoid peak time electricity use, esp with kids
- Have there been UK/NHS based outpatient RCTs that were as light touch as RECOVERY? What is the best way to randomise to low risk interventions whilst not creating too much disruption in a busy clinic? @davidadambarr.bsky.social
- Reposted by Tom YatesOverall, the combination of tax rises and giveaways since last year’s Budget is progressive. Incomes for households in the bottom half of the distribution have increased by 1.0 per cent and incomes for households in the top half fell by 0.7 per cent.
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- Reposted by Tom YatesAnnouncing an end to the fuel duty freeze is also pretty momentous! Though people are a bit more believe-it-when-I-see-it about this good news as chancellors always like to pretend they will soon (but not today) increase fuel duty, as this really helps to balance budget projections.
- Reposted by Tom YatesScrapping the two-child limit will be transformational for children. This is a much-needed fresh start in our country’s efforts to eradicate child poverty and while there is more to do it gives us strong foundations to build on. 1/2
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- Or is everyone using #unionconf25
- Reposted by Tom YatesLeaving those who flee persecution or their kids in limbo- either when making a claim or when they try to rebuild lives- is not just cruel. It’s counterproductive to integration & costly to all. Asylum reform needs to be both effective & ethical. And those of us not frightened to fight for it.
- Reposted by Tom YatesNew PhD position available at @mrcctu.bsky.social to develop guidance on balancing statistical and clinical considerations when choosing an estimand in RCTs. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- Tax switch is good idea Equalise CGT and income tax Remove tax relief from wealthy pensioners Tax land / expensive property Criminal justice reform, so no need to build new prisons Let asylum seekers work Put some of money raised into pockets of people on low incomes @stellacreasy.bsky.social
- Oh, and end the freeze on fuel duty!
