Don't Just Read the Guidelines

Episode 14 is with Dr Becks Shaw. Becks is an academic haematology registrar in Liverpool, UK who is currently finishing off her PhD with Prof Cheng-Hock Toh. Her work has been centred on TTP including the long term neurological consequences of this aggressive microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia. Here we discuss her work including the ConNeCT study, a questionnaire based follow-up study of patients with TTP.

On this episode, I chat with Dr Stephen Hibbs, a haematology registrar in East London, UK. I first met Stephen at the 2022 BSH annual meeting through his involvement with "The Crucible", and played the piano like an absolute boss! This is a wide ranging interview touching on his work with BSH, guideline writing for South Sudan, his upcoming PhD on the sickle cell patient journey, what classic Russian literature can teach us about medicine, and the perfect bone marrow list. Don't miss it!

In this episode, I interview Asim Cengiz Akbulut, who is a post-doctoral researcher and Head of Stem Cell Research University Maastrict, Nethelands. We talk about a recent conference that we met at called MCCT, a small conference on coagulation with loads of discussion groups, and we talk about Cengiz' research into vascular calcification using inducible pluripotent stem cells, as well as a bit on non-coagulant effects of vitamin K. It's jam packed with interesting science. You can find out more about Cengiz via LinkedIn (https://nl.linkedin.com/in/asim-cengiz-akbulut-95319477) and read a really neat review on vitamin K that he coauthored here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6413124/

This is my winning talk from the 2022 BSH Crucible Session. The question was: What current haematology practices would seem absurd to the haematology community in 2050?

2050: A year of re-enlightenment is the story of how our current system of medical evidence and trials doesn't work for patients, why this is the case, and what we can do to fix it.

Did you know that platelets develop in the lungs? No, neither did I!

In this episode I talk to Dr Sam Kemble and Dr Paul Harrison of the University of Birmingham about their recent work on platelet maturation which has recently been published in Blood Advances: https://ashpublications.org/bloodadvances/article-pdf/doi/10.1182/bloodadvances.2021006073/1861735/bloodadvances.2021006073.pdf

On this episode, I discuss platelet ageing with Dr Harriet Allan, post-doctoral researcher at Queen Mary University of London. We discuss Harriet's recent paper: "Proteome and functional decline as platelets age in the circulation" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jth.15496)

I also mentioned a really good podcast series on Dinosaurs which is extremely tenuously related to this topic... but it's great all the same! Here's the link: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/A-Grown-Up-Guide-to-Dinosaurs-Podcast/B08DCWN9N9

Blain Murphy is an academic psychologist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. In this episode, we discuss his PhD which investigated the psychological impact of a diagnosis of MGUS on patients' quality of life. It's a real eye opener and a must listen. You can find Blain's paper here: https://www.ejoncologynursing.com/article/S1462-3889(21)00007-7/fulltext.

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Just me for this episode. I give a short run down of the evidence for anticoagulation for AF in patients with end stage renal failure who are on dialysis.

Here are some links to the articles mentioned in the episode:

1) Randhawa et al (2020). Association Between Use of Warfarin for Atrial Fibrillation and Outcomes Among Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease. A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2763969

2)Siontis et al. (2018) Outcomes Associated With Apixaban Use in Patients With End-Stage Kidney Disease and Atrial Fibrillation in the United States https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.035418

3)Königsbrügge O et al (2019). Atrial fibrillation in patients with end‐stage renal disease on hemodialysis: Magnitude of the problem and new approach to oral anticoagulation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6781927/

Justin Wheat is an MD/PhD student at the Albert Einstein Medical Centre in New York, USA. His expertise is in DNA transcription factors, how these influence haematopoiesis, and how they go wrong in leukaemia. We talk about the genesis of leukaemia and how transcription is at the heart of it, touching on well known transcription factors such as RUNX1, GATA1 and GATA2. Justin is a really good orator, and can explain difficult concepts really well.

You can check out his paper: Single-molecule imaging of transcription dynamics in somatic stem cells here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2432-4?proof=t and his recent review here: https://ashpublications.org/blood/article-abstract/138/8/625/476230/Gene-expression-at-a-single-molecule-level?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Find Justin on Twitter @JCWheat4

In this episode, I talk to Tom Bull, of HaemBase.com and Alex Langridge of Buku Medicine. Both soon to be consultant haematologists, Tom and Alex have set up amazing online resources for medical education. We talk about their projects, as well as the future of haematology and medicine as a whole. This is really thought provoking and something not to miss.

Here are the links to the sites mentioned in the show:

Tom Bull's www.haembase.com

Alex Langridge's www.bukumedicine.co.uk

My MCQ site: www.pathquestionbank.com

NHS Entrepreneurs: https://www.england.nhs.uk/aac/what-we-do/how-can-the-aac-help-me/clinical-entrepreneur-programme/

Tom and Alex are both on Twitter:

Tom: @TomboxaneA2

Alex: @Alangridge1