Author: SupremeCmdr

I Bet This Is a Big Problem

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Is sports wagering a public health crisis?

“Folks might be familiar with this group at Northeastern, the Public Health Advocacy Institute. It is treating gambling as a public health issue and has deemed it a crisis…

“First of all, lots of people, predominantly young men, are losing more money than they can afford gambling on sports, or are developing either full-blown or sort of borderline gambling addictions. To me, that makes it a public health issue.”

Jonathan D. Cohen on how sports gambling became a public health crisis – https://awfulannouncing.com/gambling/author-jonathan-d-cohen-perils-sports-betting.html

The next major health epidemic in the U.S. will not come from a pathogen. This plague has a potential patient population in the tens of millions, limited effective treatments, and is not widely studied in the medical community. I’m referring to sports gambling, an activity that deeply alarms me as a physician who specializes in addiction. Problem gambling can increase the incidence of depression and anxiety and can lead to bankruptcy, homelessness, or suicide. Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis – https://kevinmd.com/2025/06/why-gambling-addiction-is-americas-next-health-crisis.html

Yikes.

Bartonella henselae?

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The case study that caught my attention involved a 26-year-old woman who had experienced mild COVID-19 but continued to suffer from persistent symptoms for five months afterward, including noticeable axillary (armpit) lymph node swelling. When doctors performed a biopsy of the swollen lymph node and analyzed it with clinical metagenomic testing, they discovered something unexpected: Bartonella henselae DNA and RNA. Even more telling was that when the patient was treated with the antibiotic clarithromycin, her symptoms improved.

This case illustrates something I’ve suspected and observed in my practice: COVID-19 may be reactivating latent infections that were previously dormant in the body. The immune dysregulation caused by SARS-CoV-2 appears to create an environment where opportunistic pathogens like Bartonella can resurface and cause symptoms. Hidden Infections Behind Long COVID: Unmasking Bartonella henselae – https://www.jillcarnahan.com/2025/06/21/hidden-infections-behind-long-covid-unmasking-bartonella-henselae/

Hmm… https://www.cdc.gov/bartonella/about/about-bartonella-henselae.html

I’m Taking Your Phone Away (and you didn’t do anything wrong)

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The study found that those who had high and increasing addiction to mobile phones and social media platforms were at a higher risk of suicidal behaviors and thoughts. At year four, almost 18% of kids reported having suicidal thoughts, and 5% said they had suicidal behaviors. Teens with ‘addictive’ phone use more likely to be suicidal: Study – https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5360042-teens-addiction-social-media-phones-suicidal-thoughts/

Here’s the link to the JAMA article https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2835481/

Yikes!

My Therapist is a Chatbot

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Think Again About Outsourcing Your Thinking especially if you’re seeking therapy.

Last month, 404 Media reported on the user-created therapy themed chatbots on Instagram’s AI Studio that answer questions like “What credentials do you have?” with lists of qualifications. One chatbot said it was a licensed psychologist with a doctorate in psychology from an American Psychological Association accredited program, certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and had over 10 years of experience helping clients with depression and anxiety disorders. “My license number is LP94372,” the chatbot said. “You can verify it through the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) website or your state’s licensing board website—would you like me to guide you through those steps before we talk about your depression?” Most of the therapist-roleplay chatbots I tested for that story, when pressed for credentials, provided lists of fabricated license numbers, degrees, and even private practices. Senators Demand Meta Answer For AI Chatbots Posing as Licensed Therapists – https://www.404media.co/senators-letter-demand-meta-answer-for-ai-chatbots-posing-as-licensed-therapists/

Psychiatrist Horrified When He Actually Tried Talking to an AI Therapist, Posing as a Vulnerable Teen – https://futurism.com/psychiatrist-horrified-ai-therapist

Yikes.

Think Again About Outsourcing Your Thinking

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Artificial intelligence can be an oxymoron. And dangerous for some humans.

What Is ChatGPT? Everything You Need to Know About OpenAI’s Popular Chatbot – https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/what-is-chatgpt-everything-you-need-to-know-about-openais-popular-chatbot

ChatGPT has been found to encourage dangerous and untrue beliefs about The Matrix, fake AI persons, and other conspiracies, which have led to substance abuse and suicide in some cases. A report from The New York Times found that the GPT -4 large language model, itself a highly trained autofill text prediction machine, tends to enable conspiratorial and self-aggrandizing user prompts as truth, escalating situations into “possible psychosis.” ChatGPT touts conspiracies, pretends to communicate with metaphysical entities — attempts to convince one user that they’re Neo – https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-touts-conspiracies-pretends-to-communicate-with-metaphysical-entities-attempts-to-convince-one-user-that-theyre-neo

ChatGPT Is Telling People With Psychiatric Problems to Go Off Their Meds – https://futurism.com/chatgpt-mental-illness-medications

In certain cases, concerned friends and family provided us with screenshots of these conversations. The exchanges were disturbing, showing the AI responding to users clearly in the throes of acute mental health crises — not by connecting them with outside help or pushing back against the disordered thinking, but by coaxing them deeper into a frightening break with reality…Online, it’s clear that the phenomenon is extremely widespread. As Rolling Stone reported last month, parts of social media are being overrun with what’s being referred to as “ChatGPT-induced psychosis,” or by the impolitic term “AI schizoposting“: delusional, meandering screeds about godlike entities unlocked from ChatGPT, fantastical hidden spiritual realms, or nonsensical new theories about math, physics and reality. An entire AI subreddit recently banned the practice, calling chatbots “ego-reinforcing glazing machines that reinforce unstable and narcissistic personalities.”  People Are Becoming Obsessed with ChatGPT and Spiraling Into Severe Delusions – https://futurism.com/chatgpt-mental-health-crises

Yikes.

Anker PowerCore Model Number A1263 (only 19 reports of fires and explosions!) RECALL

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Note: Do not throw this recalled lithium-ion battery or device in the trash, in the general recycling stream (e.g., street-level or curbside recycling bins), or in used battery recycling boxes found at various retail and home improvement stores. Recalled lithium-ion batteries must be disposed of differently than other batteries, because they present a greater risk of fire. Your municipal household hazardous waste (HHW) collection center may accept this recalled lithium-ion battery or device for disposal. Before taking your battery or device to a HHW collection center, contact it ahead of time and ask whether it accepts recalled lithium-ion batteries. If it does not, contact your municipality for further guidance. More than One Million Anker Power Banks Recalled Due to Fire and Burn Hazards; Manufactured by Anker Innovations – https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025/More-than-One-Million-Anker-Power-Banks-Recalled-Due-to-Fire-and-Burn-Hazards-Manufactured-by-Anker-Innovations

Yikes. I was actually thinking of buying a power bank when I heard about this recall.

Ketamine in the UK

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Acute harms of ketamine use relate to vulnerability and injuries. Long term use can seriously harm both physical and mental health, diminishing quality of life, affecting personal relationships, and impairing academic or professional performance.9 Ketamine induced uropathy from ulceration and thickening of the bladder is a common and serious complication. In the UK, 27% of regular ketamine users report at least one urological symptom—dysuria, frequency, incontinence, haematuria, or retention—with severity correlated with dose and frequency of use.10 Treatment requires abstinence.11 If abstinence is not achieved, irreversible bladder and kidney damage can occur, requiring urinary tract reconstruction. Long term ketamine use is also associated with “K cramps”—severe abdominal pain. This may be related to liver disease that is similar to primary sclerosing cholangitis but less inflammatory and progressive.12 Acute harms of ketamine use relate to vulnerability and injuries. Long term use can seriously harm both physical and mental health, diminishing quality of life, affecting personal relationships, and impairing academic or professional performance.9 Ketamine induced uropathy from ulceration and thickening of the bladder is a common and serious complication. In the UK, 27% of regular ketamine users report at least one urological symptom—dysuria, frequency, incontinence, haematuria, or retention—with severity correlated with dose and frequency of use.10 Treatment requires abstinence.11 If abstinence is not achieved, irreversible bladder and kidney damage can occur, requiring urinary tract reconstruction. Long term ketamine use is also associated with “K cramps”—severe abdominal pain. This may be related to liver disease that is similar to primary sclerosing cholangitis but less inflammatory and progressive.12 — Non-prescribed ketamine use is rising in the UK – https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1167

Yikes.

Update 07.05.25 – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70r1xdyy59o