News from the USA, United States of America

[bicentennial]

"We have a big paper dropping at 23:30 GMT/6:30 PM ET. It's not about Long Covid, but I think it is one of the most important studies our team has done. For my Long Covid community: we are working very hard, we have a pipeline of projects, and new work is coming. My team and I are committed to this and will always show up for you." Ziyad Al-Aly

The BMJ published his research paper that day (linking it to his own commissioned opinion, and an editorial)
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and risk of substance use disorders among US veterans with type 2 diabetes: cohort study.

- with 2 more bio-statisticians on board

Miao Cai, bio-statistician 12
Taeyoung Choi, bio-statistician 123
Yan Xie, director of pharmaco-epidemiology 1234
Ziyad Al-Aly, director 12567

The BMJ commissioned him to write this linked opinion on harm reduction
GLP-1 drugs hold promise for treating substance addiction.

And the BMJ commissioned an editorial from Fares Qeadan, associate professor of bio-statistics:
Metabolic medicines and addiction: what GLP-1 receptor agonists might add to substance use care

Fares Qeadan, associate professor of bio-statistics

- Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- fqeadan@luc.edu

- detail included because apt statisticians can and do publicly debunk prejudicial pseudo-science

I did wonder whats to do with Long Covid or ME/CFS, but these receptor agonists and antagonists are a hot topic, sometimes. So all this to do with ZIyad AL-Aly's USA research could link to/from S4ME discussion on:

Ozempic, tirzepatide and other GLP-1RAs - impact on ME/CFS

Utility of Glucagon-Like-Peptide-1-Receptor Agonists in Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, 2025, Lawrence B. Afrin M.D, Blitsheyn et al

Central glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor activation inhibits Toll-like receptor agonist-induced inflammation 2024 Wong et al

Targeting the DPP-4-GLP-1 pathway improves exercise tolerance in heart failure patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 2019, Chen et al

And if he gets a thread for his bio, input and output, then here's how the USA found him, outstanding:

Ziyad Al-Aly is an American physician and clinical epidemiologist who is currently:

- clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis

- Director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center

- Chief of the Research and Development

at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

He has led multiple studies on Long COVID and its sequelae.


Early life:

Al-Aly was born in Tripoli, Lebanon to teachers. He grew up during the Lebanese civil war which dominated Lebanon from 1975 to 1990, emigrating to the United States in 2000.


Career:

- over 140,000 research citations (in top 1%), significant influence and broad community recognition.


Long COVID research:

- he led the work to provide the first systematic characterization of the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

- then he led the work to characterise the increased risks of cardiovascular disease, neurologic disorders, mental health disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and kidney disease following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

- his lab also produced evidence characterizing the effects of COVID-19 vaccines on long COVID and the health consequences of repeated infections with SARS-CoV-2.

- in 2024, he testified before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as an expert witness on Long Covid.

- he called for the establishment of an NIH institute with a funding of at least $1 billion per year, to address Long Covid and Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions and Illnesses (IACCIs also called post-acute infection syndromes)


Pharmaco-epidemiology including:

- work characterizing the adverse health effect of proton pump inhibitors and comparative effectiveness of anti-hyperglycemic medications.

- examining the effectiveness of COVID-19 antivirals including paxlovid (nirmatrelvir / ritonavir) and molnupiravir on acute COVID-19 outcomes and long COVID.


Environmental epidemiology research including:

- evaluated effects of air pollution on kidney health, diabetes, obesity, and early mortality.


Honors and awards:

- outstanding contributions to research

- one of the 100 most influential people in health in 2024

- research and advocacy that led to the recognition of Long Covid as a chronic disease

- driving major advancements in medicine and shaping the future of healthcare. 

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

And if he gets a thread for his bio, input and output, then here's how the USA found him, outstanding:

That looks like a typical plastic recyclable CV to me. What has he actually achieved - in plain English?

Do we need re-posting of Twitterati here?
My enthusiasm is further dampened by reference to Afrin and Blitshteyn I am afraid.

Where is the actual science?

 

[bicentennial]

I dont know where is the actual science.. if there is any.

This collation post could be moved. It is hard work knocking down nonsense as fast as it arises. It might help to have consensus on a symbolic scale to slap on stuff already known to be bad, poor, middling, good, or superb science, and clear markers for incomplete research stages.

I'd like a fact-sheet for GPs and patients, collecting all the snippets I cant retain, explaining these distinctions.

I almost left out the discredited Afrin reference, but then I added the Afrin thread in by an after-thought, as it is likely to give some critique showing Afrin made a disreputable nonsense. And that critique might be needed to balance some interest on the Ozempic / Tirzepatide... thread, which thread I only scanned.

Tirzepatide is GLP-1 drug attracting reckless patients in the USA as advertised by Scripps Reseach. People need a lot of informing now that re-purposed drugs occupy a lot of the research budgets, and the rollercoaster hopes and fears continue, intensely, with a LOT of new-comers acclimatising to deniable pandemic aftermaths.

LoCITT: Remote Long COVID Trial to Evaluate Repurposed Drug Across US

Personally I have no hope of pharmaceutical drugs and am lucky that I need not rely on them, for now. I always found them too problematical. So this type of drug action is still double-dutch to me. The tirzepatide trial is arousing keen interest. And the Ozempic thread gaves another link, to a semaglutide case report:

Significant improvement of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) with semaglutide: a case report - Clinical Autonomic Research

link.springer.com

This is a 2026 paper out of the University of Buffalo, New York and the University of Victoria, BC, Canada, led by the Department of Neurology, University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Hazard warning - its a POTS trial too, and I don't have recourse to a potted version of the distinctions to be made about POTS, in this sweltering hotch-potch of international speculation run rife. The factsheet is urgently needed, as Australia found out when including POTS as "associated" in its ME/CFS Guideline draft - only to find the scope stage may need repeating because so few doctors and so few POTS patients responded

Also its a paywalled paper

 

[forestglip]

My enthusiasm is further dampened by reference to Afrin and Blitshteyn I am afraid.

Just a note that I think @bicentennial was just linking to other papers about GLP-1s. As far as I can tell, that's the only connection to Afrin and Blitshteyn.