Dr. Peter Hall

Neuroimmune activation in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with worsening seizure following the COVID-19 pandemic: A [18F]DPA-714 PET/MR study TSPO PET and inflammatory markers reveal spread neuroinflammation in temporal lobe epilepsy with seizure worsening after COVID-19.

"Our study highlights the presence of widespread neuroinflammation in the brain and increased levels of inflammatory cytokines in the plasma of individuals with post–COVID-19 active temporal lobe epilepsy.".
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Spinal Cord Tau and Protein Copathologies Associated With Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy This case-control study evaluates spinal cord pathologies associated with exposure to repetitive head impacts or chronic traumatic encephalopathy neuropathologic change in the brain among autopsied in...

P-tau abnormalities appear in the spinal cord of CTE cases, not just the brain. This may open pathways toward in vivo biomarkers (finally!). #CTE #brain
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today

Continuous glucose monitoring sensor data, with a foundation model, predicts risk of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular outcomes better than HbA1c
New @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

In China, A.I. Is Finding Deadly Tumors That Doctors Might Miss

A.I. detecting early pancreatic cancer in China, based on @naturemedicine.bsky.social validation publication
"I think you can 100% say AI saved their lives."
gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/w...

Resolving the mysteries of brain clearance and immune surveillance This review by Kipnis et al. explores recent advances in brain fluid dynamics, emphasizing CSF flow’s role in waste clearance, the glymphatic and meningeal lymphatic systems, and neuroimmune interacti...

How do the metabolic waste products get cleared from our brain? And how does this process intersect with the brain's immune system?
An exceptional review by
@jonykipnis.bsky.social
and colleagues
cell.com/neuron/fullt...

AI chatbots versus human healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-analysis of empathy in patient care AbstractBackground. Empathy is widely recognized for improving patient outcomes, including reduced pain and anxiety and improved satisfaction, and its abse

Many complexities, but AI does seem to perform well in initial head-to-head tests, when using text as the medium.
Text is, however, a very limited modality in relation to fluid, real-time interpersonal exchanges more typical of psychotherapy or emotional support #AI
academic.oup.com/bmb/article/...

Acute and chronic viral infections, including Herpes Zoster (Shingles), Hepatitis C, HIV, CMV, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2, are linked with a substantial increased risk of cardiovascular events, from a systematic review. Figure for SARS-CoV-2 below
newsroom.heart.org/news/some-ac...

People with some cancers live longer after a COVID vaccine mRNA vaccines seem to boost the effectiveness of an immune therapy for skin and lung cancer ― in an unexpected way.

Longer survival among cancer patients may be an unexpected benefit of COVID vaccination.
www.nature.com/articles/d41....

RIP Dr. Nolan R. Williams (1983-2025) professor at Stanford. He was a pioneer in the treatment of depression and a friend. I read this Substack eulogy on him this morning, and I thought it really captured both the man and his brilliance.
thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/p/a-eulogy-f...

Neuroprotective mechanisms of exercise and the importance of fitness for healthy brain ageing Ageing is a scientifically fascinating and complex biological occurrence characterised by morphological and functional changes due to accumulated molecular and cellular damage impairing tissue and org...

An up to date review on the Brian health officials impacts of exercise, with a focus on mechanism #brainhealth

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Waning immunity. A significant Covid wave in England. No new variant.
Thanks Prof Pagel for highlighting and contextualizing

One third???

Our capability to prevent diseases from occurring is gaining momentum. Using A.I. to predict >1,200 diseases 20 years ahead adds to the ways we'll be able to achieve primary prevention.
nature.com/articles/d41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/dawn-of-a-...

Dawn of A New Era of Primary Prevention in Medicine Recent groundbreaking reports highlight our newfound potential to prevent diseases

A groundbreaking paper published @nature.com today—the first large health language model—predicts >1,000 diseases for a person and when.
Implications here:
erictopol.substack.com/p/dawn-of-a-...

Coming tomorrow. Something that's been talked about for many decades, but not done. That's changing.
Subscribe; it's free, and you'll get the link by email and future posts.
erictopol.substack.com

Glucagon-like Peptide-1 receptor agonists as emerging therapeutics in bipolar disorder: a narrative review of preclinical and clinical evidence - Molecular Psychiatry Molecular Psychiatry - Glucagon-like Peptide-1 receptor agonists as emerging therapeutics in bipolar disorder: a narrative review of preclinical and clinical evidence

We know GLP-1 drugs reduce brain inflammation. But I didn't anticipate bipolar disorder as a possible indication in the future
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ChatGPT Will Get Parental Controls and New Safety Features, OpenAI Says After a California teenager spent months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life, OpenAI said it would introduce parental controls and better responses for users in distress.

OpenAI said on Tuesday that it planned to introduce new features intended to make its chatbot safer, including parental controls, “within the next month.”

Plasma tau biomarkers for biological staging of Alzheimer’s disease - Nature Aging Montoliu-Gaya, Salvadó et al. develop a blood-based model using tau biomarkers measured in a single analysis enabling biological staging of Alzheimer’s disease to support the diagnosis, prognosis and ...

How plasma p-Tau markers can predict if and when there will be transition to mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease in cognitively unimpaired individuals, along staging of the disease
www.nature.com/articles/s43...

China rushes to build out solar, and emissions edge downward Chinese officials have showcased what they claim will be the world's largest solar farm on the Tibetan plateau

China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America's entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024

www.independent.co.uk/news/china-a...

US pediatric group breaks with federal policy, recommends COVID vaccines for young children The American Academy of Pediatrics on Tuesday recommended that all young children get vaccinated against COVID-19, differing from federal policy that no longer recommends routine vaccination for healthy children.

COVID Vaccine for children

Cats develop dementia in a similar way to humans, study finds The breakthrough was hailed as a “perfect natural model for Alzheimer’s” by scientists who worked on it

Naturally occurring dementia analog in cats may turn out to be a good model for humans. #dementia
www.the-independent.com/life-style/h...

Possible genetic clues to ME/chronic fatigue syndrome identified in massive study DNA analysis of more than 15,500 people with the debilitating condition identifies eight tentative “genetic signals”

For #ME/CFS, genomics assessed in >15,000 indviduals
with 8 genomic loci identified.
"Validation of ME/CFS as a biomedical condition and an important corrective to psychologizing ‘all in the mind’ perspectives on the disease”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publicati...

Our Brain—Immune Axis Gets A Jolt Facts, data and analytics about biomedical matters

A rundown on the big advances we’re seeing on the brain-immune axis

erictopol.substack.com/p/our-braini...

I’m floored … this is pretty astounding. #SARS-CoV-2 #Covid19

Neural anticipation of virtual infection triggers an immune response - Nature Neuroscience Serino et al. show that seeing an infectious avatar approach the body in virtual reality triggers an immune response, indicating that the brain prepares the body to fight infections even for perceived...

Infection-related visual stimuli are enough to prime the immune response via the brain
#immune #brain
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Enjoying the silence.

#summermorning #enjoythesilence #summer #nature #silhouette #sunrise

The story behind the photograph of a starving Gaza baby Photographer Ahmed al-Arini told BBC Newshour he had to catch his breath between each photograph.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

People in Gaza are ‘walking corpses’, says Unrwa, as agency says it has 6,000 aid trucks ready to enter – Middle East crisis live Philippe Lazzarini says Unrwa findings show one in five children is malnourished in Gaza City and says agency has food and medical supplies

Oh my god, this has to stop. Let the trucks in…
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Online misogyny seeping into classrooms in 'frightening' ways, teachers and experts say | CBC News A Dalhousie researcher has found misogynistic comments from students are disrupting  learning environments as teachers deal with degrading remarks and male-supremacist sentiments.

Even in post-secondary, we are seeing some highly misogynistic language popping up in online venues, with little to no moderation. Definitely not helping the situation, as it maintains an illusion of endorsement or credibility.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...