Ground Truths

Ground Truths is a Substack focused on the intersection of biomedicine and technology, providing in-depth analysis on COVID-19, autoimmune diseases, vaccine development, genetic research, the integration of AI in healthcare, and the future implications of biotechnological advances.

COVID-19 Research and Vaccines Autoimmune Diseases and Treatments Genetic Research and Lifespan Extension Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Biotechnological Advances Cardiovascular Health Diagnostic Errors in Medicine

The hottest Substack posts of Ground Truths

And their main takeaways

Covid, 4 years on

15003 implied HN points • 13 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Public Health
  1. The global excess mortality due to Covid has reached about 30 million lost lives, impacting life expectancy in 204 countries. Long Covid continues to affect tens of millions worldwide.
  2. Vaccination rates and political affiliation have shown stark differences in Covid death rates, with data indicating the protective benefits of boosters for older individuals.
  3. New variants of SARS-CoV-2, like BA.2.87.1, are being monitored for mutations, with the current consensus suggesting it is less immune-evasive. Vaccines have shown major protection against cardiovascular outcomes.

Long Covid and Cognitive Deficits

10104 implied HN points • 28 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Long Covid Brain function Medical Research
  1. Two new studies show cognitive deficits after Covid in large populations, with impacts on memory, executive function, and reasoning.
  2. The cognitive decline from Long Covid can range from 3 to 9 IQ points, showing significant impact even after symptoms resolve.
  3. Research indicates that cognitive decline from Covid can persist for up to 3 years, emphasizing the long-term effects of the virus on brain function.

Towards Solving the Long Covid Puzzle

10191 implied HN points • 22 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Research Treatment Infections Vaccination
  1. Recent studies shed light on the disrupted blood-brain barrier in Long Covid, with implications for brain fog and inflammation.
  2. Persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections increase the risk of Long Covid, with viral loads indicating active replication.
  3. Interferon-gamma biomarker shows promise in diagnosing and treating Long Covid, potentially aiding in clinical trials.

Lighting up Long Covid

15222 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Long Covid Vaccination Clinical Trials
  1. A new study on Long Covid analyzed 6,600 proteins to identify potential biomarkers like complement activation.
  2. Vaccination offers substantial protection against Long Covid, especially in those not at risk of severe illness.
  3. Recent reports highlight potential neurologic damage from Covid and call for more research on effective treatments.

Toward the eradication of medical diagnostic errors

6255 implied HN points • 28 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Artificial Intelligence
  1. Diagnostic errors in medicine are a serious problem, leading to harm or disability for many patients.
  2. Artificial intelligence (AI) shows promise in improving diagnostic accuracy by supporting clinicians and reducing workload.
  3. Using advanced AI models like GPT-4 can enhance diagnostic accuracy and provide valuable second opinions in medical practice.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Polygenic Risk Scores: Ready for Prime Time?

3980 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Genetics Risk Assessment Prevention Data Analysis
  1. Polygenic risk scores can provide valuable information on high genetic risk for diseases like heart disease and cancer, beyond traditional clinical risk factors.
  2. The use of polygenic risk scores is advancing thanks to efforts like the eMERGE consortium, incorporating multi-ancestry data and rigorous validation.
  3. Actionable polygenic risk scores have the potential to reduce health disparities and enhance preventive strategies in medical practice.

The BA.2.86 variant and the new booster

14434 implied HN points • 08 Sep 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Vaccines Immunity Variants Boosters Long Covid
  1. First human data for the new XBB.1.5 booster vaccine show good levels of neutralizing antibodies against BA.2.86 and other variants.
  2. Multiple lab studies have characterized the immune response to the BA.2.86 variant.
  3. Wastewater data and hospitalizations suggest a new wave of COVID-19 cases, highlighting the need for booster shots to provide enhanced protection against severe COVID and Long Covid.

An Exciting New Approach to Autoimmune Diseases

11985 implied HN points • 17 Sep 23
🏥 Health & Wellness
  1. Tolerogenic vaccines aim to suppress the immune response, offering a new approach to autoimmune diseases.
  2. Current treatments block the immune system with drugs, lacking specificity and leaving patients vulnerable to infections and side effects.
  3. Leveraging the liver's unique tolerogenic environment shows potential in inducing immune tolerance as a treatment for autoimmune conditions.

The TED A.I. Conference

4942 implied HN points • 14 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Ethics Chip Manufacturing Regulation Future outlook
  1. TED held its first dedicated A.I. meeting this year, featuring discussions on large language models and controversies surrounding them.
  2. The conference debated between accelerating A.I. development and approaching it with caution for safety concerns.
  3. Experts discussed Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and its potential impact on various aspects of human activity.

When the Breakthrough Obesity G-Agonist Drugs Exceed Expectations

7742 implied HN points • 24 Sep 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Obesity Medical Research Cardiovascular Health Diabetes
  1. The expanding GLP-1 drug family shows potential for treating obesity with new triple agonist drugs.
  2. Clinical trials with G-agonists reveal reductions in major cardiovascular events and heart failure symptoms.
  3. GLP-1 drugs have shown promise in treating early type 1 diabetes, cognitive function, alcohol use disorder, and more.

My review of THE COMING WAVE

7567 implied HN points • 09 Sep 23
🕹 Technology AI Genomics Large Language Models
  1. AI is on the brink of transforming our lives with the majority of interactions being with AIs, not people.
  2. The book 'THE COMING WAVE' by Mustafa Suleyman discusses the future of AI integrating life science and digital applications.
  3. The book offers a balanced perspective on AI's potential, historical context, and the challenges and opportunities it presents.

Long-Term Long Covid

1181 implied HN points • 21 Aug 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Long Covid Diabetes
  1. New reports show long-lasting effects of COVID-19 on health at the 2-year mark.
  2. Severe COVID-19 cases lead to worse outcomes and long-term impact compared to mild cases.
  3. Long COVID remains a significant concern, with uncertain long-term health implications like autoimmune diseases and atherosclerosis.

Unleashing Our Immune Response to Quash Cancer

3 HN points • 10 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Vaccines
  1. Cancer cells have various tricks to evade targeted therapies like changing their driver mutation and cell identity, stealing the mitochondria from T cells, and spreading predominantly during sleep.
  2. Immune response strategies like immune checkpoint inhibitors, therapeutic cancer vaccines, antibody-drug conjugates, and oncolytic viruses are being developed to combat cancer.
  3. Combining different immunotherapy strategies and approaches like engineering T cells show promise in overcoming the challenges of treating cancer and improving patient outcomes.