Personality Symptoms May Be Linked to Nutritional Issues

 Primary care providers can advise patients on nutrition, and flagging personality symptoms can play a role in more comprehensive patient assessment and treatment.

When patients report cravings, cognitive symptoms, or low energy during consultations, it may be useful to assess their nutritional profiles for potential deficiencies or overconsumption.

Soussan Ayubcha, MD, assistant professor of clinical family medicine and community care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, noted these symptoms could be driven by specific nutritional shortcomings or high intake of ultraprocessed foods and refined carbohydrates.

Sugar cravings. Diets high in ultraprocessed foods and refined carbohydrates, but low in protein and fiber, can lead to blood sugar instability. To address this, ensure adequate intake of vitamin B₆, vitamin B₉, magnesium, and iron, Ayubcha said. Plus, reduce overall refined sugar intake. “A patient can work with [a registered dietician] to calculate appropriate individualized portions of carbs, healthy fats, protein, calories, and optimal timing of meals for the specific patient,” she said.

Weakness and low blood sugar. Symptoms could include low blood glucose, low caloric or protein intake, and iron deficiency. Further, she said chromium and magnesium deficiency can also impair glucose metabolism. She advises screening for iron deficiency. If positive, screen for causes and then treat accordingly. You can treat mild deficiency with an increase in dietary iron and by pairing it with vitamin C-rich foods, Ayubcha said. “Also, ensure adequate total caloric, protein intake, and suggest the patient add magnesium-rich foods.”

Brain fog or poor concentration. This could be caused by vitamin B₁₂, iron, or folate (vitamin B₉) deficiency. And diets high in ultraprocessed foods are independently associated with accelerated cognitive decline, Ayubcha said. “Check B₁₂ levels (often low in patients on metformin, PPIs [proton pump inhibitors], or with vegan/vegetarian diets) and B₉,” she said. Dietary vitamin B₁₂ sources or oral supplementation are best as determined by the primary care providers, but the real key is to reduce ultraprocessed food intake and emphasize a Mediterranean-style pattern.

Lethargy and fatigue. Deficiencies in iron, vitamin B₁₂, vitamin D, or magnesium; inadequate total caloric intake; and poor-quality diets worsen fatigue, she said. Iron supplementation improves fatigue even in nonanemic iron-deficient individuals. Ayubcha suggests you order blood tests for ferritin, vitamin B₁₂, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and magnesium, and prioritize nutrient-dense whole foods and maintain adequate hydration and regular meal timing to sustain energy levels.

Depression. According to Ayubcha, this can be caused by coexisting deficiencies in folate, vitamin B₁₂, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids. Methylfolate and omega-3s (especially eicosapentaenoic acid) have evidence as secondary treatments, she said. Another strategy is to advise patients to adopt the Mediterranean diet as the most evidence-based dietary intervention.

Insomnia, poor sleep. Investigate magnesium deficiency. “Higher dietary magnesium intake is associated with reduced odds of short sleep duration,” she said. Also, vitamins B₆, B₁₂, and B₉ play a role in serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid synthesis, both of which are involved in sleep regulation, she said. Plus, iron deficiency contributes to restless legs syndrome, which can cause major sleep disruptions. Suggest patients consume magnesium-rich foods and tryptophan in the evening to enhance sleep and melatonin production.

Refer to Registered Dietitian?

Registered dietitians (RDs) can be a great resource for patients. 

Samantha P. Flanagan, DO

“RDs have immense knowledge regarding nutrition as well nutritional deficiencies and how to manage them,” said Samantha P. Flanagan, DO, assistant professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and an obesity medicine specialist at Temple Health, both in Philadelphia. Most commercial insurance plans offer coverage for a certain number of dietitian visits per year, usually at no out-of-pocket cost (or a modest copay) to the patient, she said.

Promoting Patient Self-Advocacy

Encouraging patients to discuss any concerns with the provider is a vital first step. Remind them to be as specific as possible with their symptoms, and asking them to keep a list is helpful, said Flanagan.

Conversations about nutritional deficiencies and any testing needed are not always straightforward, so it would be best to plan a visit specifically for this conversation during a routine health-maintenance visit, such as an annual physical exam, she said.

Addressing Appetite Loss Due to GLP-1

Ideally, before starting a GLP-1, patients should already be working with an RD for weight loss, said Ayubcha.

Soussan Ayubcha, MD

Because GLP-1 therapy can significantly decrease caloric intake, patients may become deficient in protein, vitamins, and minerals, and may also become dehydrated. Some patients will need closer monitoring of their overall intake. A practical approach includes encouraging smaller, nutrient-dense meals, prioritizing protein and hydration, and reinforcing RD support if intake is dropping substantially, Ayubcha said.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/personality-symptoms-may-be-linked-nutritional-issues-2026a1000m5j

Kennedy Signs COVID-19 Emergency Use Authorization Declaration Terminations

 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has signed determinations terminating the COVID-19 Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) declarations for drugs and biological products and for medical devices, concluding that the circumstances that justified these emergency authorities no longer exist.

“Americans deserve a regulatory system that is transparent, accountable, and rooted in the rule of law,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “By ending these COVID-19 emergency use authorization declarations, we're reinforcing public confidence that emergency authorities are temporary and targeted.”

The terminations will take effect following advance notice periods to ensure an orderly transition. The declaration for drugs and biological products will terminate 12 months after the Secretary’s determination, while the declarations for medical devices will terminate 180 days after the Secretary’s determination.

The COVID-19 EUA declarations were first issued in 2020 to enable rapid access to medical products during the pandemic. Since then, the public health landscape has changed substantially. FDA-approved, cleared, and licensed products are now widely available through traditional regulatory pathways, reliance on EUA products has declined, and manufacturers have had years to prepare for a transition from emergency authorities.

The advance notice periods are designed to provide manufacturers, healthcare providers, health systems, distributors, and patients adequate time to transition away from products authorized solely under the COVID-19 EUA declarations. During this transition, HHS and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will continue working with manufacturers on appropriate regulatory pathways for products seeking traditional approval, clearance, or licensure.

HHS will publish notices of the terminations in the Federal Register and provide the notifications required by law to Congress.

https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-ends-covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations.html

Iran says Doha talks to focus on frozen funds, Lebanon ceasefire

 

Talks in Doha will focus primarily on the release of Iran’s frozen funds and a ceasefire in Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Baghaei said Iran had no plans to hold talks with the United States in the coming days, adding that an expert delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi was being sent to Doha to follow up on the implementation of a memorandum of understanding, with Qatar as the counterpart.

He said the war in Lebanon must end before negotiations can begin, and that the United States was obligated under the bilateral memorandum of understanding to compel Israel to withdraw from Lebanon.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202606274036

Philip Morris Gets FDA Go Ahead to Market Zyn as Safer Than Cigarettes

 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow Zyn nicotine pouches to be marketed as less harmful to human health than cigarettes, the agency said Tuesday. 

The ‌agency allowed the company to market 10 flavors of Zyn products, which have been authorized for sale in the U.S. since January 2025. These are the first nicotine pouches that are allowed to be marketed with a modified risk claim. 

It’s a significant win for tobacco giant Philip Morris International and comes as the Trump administration loosens restrictions on nicotine products. The pouches are produced and marketed by Swedish Match, a Stockholm-based tobacco company owned by PMI. 

The FDA will allow the 10 Zyn flavors in two different nicotine strengths to be marketed with the claim that “using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.” 

The flavors include Zyn Chill, Cinnamon, Citrus, Coffee, Cool Mint, Menthol, Peppermint, Smooth, Spearmint and Wintergreen, each in 3-milligram and 6-milligram nicotine strengths. 

“FDA’s review of modified risk products is intended to ensure that adult users have clear, science-based information about the relative harms of tobacco products, so they can make informed choices,” Bret Koplow, acting director of the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement.  

“Today’s decision allows these products to be marketed with a modified risk claim that informs adults who smoke about the lower risks associated with these products,” Koplow added.

Zyn pouches contain nicotine but not tobacco. They have surged in popularity among conservatives, especially those in the orbit of President Trump’s White House.  

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson helped popularize the brand among conservatives before later turning against it and launching his own nicotine pouch brand, Alp 

Zyn gained marketing authorization in 2025 when FDA officials said the products can help adult smokers cut back or switch completely. They are not FDA approved, and the agency has said there is no safe tobacco product. 

Health groups have said they worry about Zyn’s appeal to young people.  

The American Lung Association noted data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that Zyn is the most popular nicotine pouch brand for youth, and that more than 90 percent of youth who use tobacco products use flavored products. 

According to the survey, 1.7 percent of respondents said they used pouches. 

 “[N]icotine pouches are not approved to help people quit smoking and these flavored products are already being taken up by youth at increasing rates,” Mike Seilback, an assistant vice president at the American Lung Association, said in a statement.  

“It is appalling that the FDA would authorize flavors like citrus, cool mint and cinnamon as modified risk tobacco products, which attract kids,” he wrote. “The Lung Association calls on the FDA to reverse this action and reject pre-market tobacco applications for flavored tobacco products.”

Seilback added, “We must protect our children from a lifelong addition to nicotine.” 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5947959-fda-zyn-pouches-marketing-less-harmful-than-cigarettes/

Anthropic Launches Claude Science Workbench for Scientists

Anthropic is expanding its AI offerings into the science space with its new Claude Science. Announced at the company's The Briefing: AI for Science event on Tuesday, Claude Science is designed to speed up scientific research by making it easier to access the information scientists and researchers need to perform their work.


The offering isn't a new model — it runs on Anthropic's existing AI models — but rather is what Anthropic calls a "workbench" that researchers can use to bring in data from disparate sources and work on it in one place.

Importantly, Anthropic says that the software's results are all auditable, allowing researchers to validate and rerun them.

The announcement is part of Anthropic's effort to expand its capabilities into different markets to better monetize its services.
Anthropic is expanding its product lines with Claude Science as it prepares for its initial public offering later this year. · Anthropic

In addition to Claude Science, Anthropic has a Claude Code coding product, Claude Cowork agentic AI platform, @Claude for accessing Claude in Slack, Claude Design, and Claude Security for cybersecurity use cases.

Anthropic's chief rival, OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), however, has also expanded into a variety of markets, including financial services, healthcare, design, and cybersecurity. And earlier this month, the company debuted its GTP-Rosalind model for scientific research.


Both companies are racing to drive new revenue streams ahead of their planned initial public offerings. Anthropic filed its confidential IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 1, followed by OpenAI, which filed on June 8.

Anthropic is on track to go public at some point later this year, and while OpenAI was initially expected to do the same, the New York Times has reported that the company could delay its debut on the public markets until 2027.

Although OpenAI jumped out to an early lead in the AI wars, Anthropic has caught up and, in some instances, surpassed its archnemesis.

In March, OpenAI said it had a post-money valuation of $852 billion. Anthropic, however, was last valued at $965 billion.

But Anthropic is also navigating a rocky relationship with the Trump administration. The Pentagon has labeled the company a supply chain threat after it refused to allow the Department of Defense to use its AI models for the mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous weapons.


And on June 12, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick issued an order banning Anthropic from allowing foreign nationals inside and outside the US to use the company's powerful Mythos 5 and Fable 5 AI models due to cybersecurity concerns.

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/article/anthropic-launches-claude-science-in-bid-to-expand-revenue-streams-ahead-of-ipo-170000823.html

'Apollo Chief Economist Rebukes AI, Finds Zero Margin Boost Outside Of Tech'

 In his market note published this morning, Apollo's chief economist Torsten Slok delivers a scathing review of the failure of AI to boost profit margins outside of tech... which of course is what AI is supposed to do since it is meant to boost productivity across the entire economy, not just a select group of chipmakers. 

As Slok shows in the chart below, so far there are no signs of profit margins rising outside the tech sector. He notes that "this is ultimately what we are waiting for, because the value of AI companies today rests entirely on the promise that margins in the S&P 493 will eventually climb."

As Slok notes, the promise of higher margins for all is the link to current (soaring) market prices, since implicit in the valuations of AI companies are assumptions about future earnings. That's why the current debate about token costs, model routing and token marketplaces is important. If token costs converge toward zero for most AI use cases, then there is not enough revenue for all hyperscalers even in a situation where compute demand surges higher, Slok cautions stomping all over the now traditional "but Jevon's paradox" counterargument. (for more discussion, Slok recommends reading this piece from his colleagues in Apollo Thematic Investing).

Going back to the matter at hand, the key issue is the length of the ROI runway outside the tech sector. In a handful of sectors, software and tech above all, implementation is nearly immediate, since these firms can fold AI into their own products and processes overnight (ironically, it is the same software sector that has been crushed in 2026 due to doubts over the terminal values of ventures which may well be made obsolete by the same AI that is meant to boost their margins).

But that is the exception. Across most of the economy, and especially in capital-intensive, heavily regulated sectors, deep process re-engineering and data governance requirements could delay structural productivity gains well beyond what the market currently projects. The list of slow-moving sectors is long, spanning health care, banking and insurance, energy and utilities, defense and aerospace, pharma and life sciences, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, construction and real estate, education, legal and the public sector.

This, according to Slok, creates a dangerous divergence between aggressive, front-loaded valuations today and a much slower cash flow reality, since equity markets priced for instant earnings growth will face a painful repricing if the productivity hockey-stick takes five years rather than five months.

Put differently, companies will slow their AI spending if they don't see ROI quickly, and the current focus on token optimization is an early warning that AI implementation could be a bumpier, slower road than expected.

Slok's bottom line is that a mismatch between current earnings expectations and the actual time firms need to generate ROI on AI investments could have significant implications for many AI company valuations today

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/apollo-chief-economist-delivers-scathing-rebuke-ai-finds-zero-margin-boost-outside-tech

Blackstone Sells Stake In Three Virginia Data Centers Amid Grassroot Outrage

 Up until now, when it comes to real estate, Blackstone was best known in recent years for dumping many of its trophy office properties - which in the aftermath of work from home never recovered their projected cash flow potential - at a huge discount. Now, it may be pulling a page from its old, pre-Lehman playbook  by calling the top in yet another commercial real estate segment: data centers. 

According to Bloomberg, Blackstone is selling its stakes in a trio of data centers across Northern Virginia for $3.5 billion, cashing out of part of a bet it made less than three years ago.

Digital Realty Trust will pay $1.2 billion of cash and offer $2.3 billion of its shares to Blackstone funds, the firms said in a statement Monday. In exchange, the data center company will acquire Blackstone’s 80% interest in two 96-megawatt data centers in Manassas, Virginia, and a 50% interest in a 96-megawatt center in nearby Sterling.

The assets involved in this week’s sale were part of a joint venture that Blackstone announced it would set up with Digital Realty in 2023 as it sought to get ahead in the AI arms race that has engulfed Wall Street in recent years. Blackstone and Digital Realty will continue to work together on their remaining data center investments located elsewhere in Northern Virginia as well as in Paris and Frankfurt. 

“We have developed a strong partnership with Blackstone,” Greg Wright, Digital Realty CEO, said in the statement. “This transaction reflects the next phase of that relationship, allowing us to increase our ownership in a portfolio of fully leased, high-quality hyperscale assets.”

It does. The question is why did Blackstone decide to pull the cord now, just as fresh doubts are creeping whether the Mag 7s will continue funding the AI expansion with virtually unlimited capex.

As part of Wall Street’s broader push into data centers, investment has poured into Northern Virginia, which is considered the country’s largest data center market, and is better known as "Data Center Alley".

That includes Digital Gateway, an ambitious plan for a 2,100-acre corridor in the region that would house as many as 37 data-center buildings. 

Data center developers eyeing that land have faced strident opposition. Compass Datacenters, backed by Brookfield Asset Management, recently pulled out of a yearslong effort to build a key part of the development after facing intense pushback from local residents.  Blackstone’s QTS is also fighting in court to salvage a similarly sized development on adjacent parcels.

The increasingly vocal political and grassroots pushback against new data center construction may explain why Blackstone is getting cold feet just as the AI bubble is peaking.  A recent Gallup poll found that 7 in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including nearly half, 48%, who are strongly opposed. Barely a quarter favor these projects, with 7% strongly in favor.

Half of opponents mention data centers’ excessive use of resources, including 18% each mentioning their use of water and energy. Sixteen percent mention a related environmental concern of pollution, including noise pollution and air and water pollution.

About one in five opponents are concerned with the impact on local quality of life, including increased population, increased traffic and preferring that the land be used for other purposes. A similar share mention potentially negative economic consequences, including higher utility bills, cost-of-living increases, and the cost of building the data centers (which could involve the use of taxpayer funds).

Most of the remaining opposition stems from general or specific concerns about artificial intelligence.

Blackstone, which manages more than $1.3 trillion, bills itself as the largest global provider of data centers, and also owns some of the utilities that power them. It acquired QTS in 2021 and bought Australian computing provider AirTrunk in 2024. In May, the firm held an initial public offering for Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust Inc., its data center acquisition vehicle, which aims to buy already built and leased properties benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom.

The firm has more than $150 billion of data center assets, and it has identified an additional $160 billion worth of opportunities for its pipeline, CEO Steve Schwarzman said in April.  

Affiliates of Blackstone are already selling the Digital Realty equity they’re set to receive from this week’s deal, which is expected to be completed Tuesday. They’re offering the stock at as much as a 2.9% discount to Monday’s closing price of $190.58, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/blackstone-sells-stake-three-virginia-data-centers-amid-grassroot-outrage