New Study: Ozempic Slashes Risk of Kidney Disease

Daily Upsider on March 15, 2024

Novo Nordisk’s leading medication, Ozempic, has shown promise in reducing the risk of kidney disease advancement and related fatalities in patients with diabetes, according to preliminary findings from a late-stage clinical trial announced on Tuesday.

The study demonstrated that Ozempic significantly decreased the risk of kidney disease progression and deaths from kidney or cardiovascular issues by 24% among diabetic individuals with chronic kidney disease, in comparison to a placebo.

These findings contribute to the accumulating evidence of the broader health benefits offered by Ozempic and similar medications. These treatments have seen a surge in popularity over the last year, despite the challenges of variable insurance coverage and substantial costs. This has mostly come from non-diabetics who have been using it as a weight loss drug. Ozempic has not been approved as a weight loss drug, but has the same active ingredient as several drugs that are.

Novo Nordisk plans to release comprehensive data from the study later in the year and intends to seek broader regulatory approval for Ozempic in the U.S. and Europe based on the study’s positive outcome.

Addressing chronic kidney disease could represent a significant market for Ozempic, as approximately 40% of diabetes patients are affected by this condition, which is characterized by the gradual decline of kidney function.

The trial, named FLOW, was conclude in October — a year ahead of schedule— because of the encouraging results. Initiated in 2019, the FLOW trial monitored around 3,500 diabetic patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease.

This news arrives amidst growing competition from pharmaceutical rival Eli Lilly which aims secure broader insurance coverage for Wegovy, another weight loss injection by the company. Notably, Wegovy was shown in a previous late-stage trial to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 20%.

If this treatment option continues to produce safe results, it could be a great thing for people suffering from chronic kidney disease.

The Surprising Inspiration for the Sci-Fi Epic, Dune

Daily Upsider on March 14, 2024

“Dune: Part Two” has made quite the impact, drawing in large crowds with its stunning visuals, sound, music, and story. But were did the idea of Arrakis, the desert planet central to the story come from? While sci-fi stories set on desert planets are a bit of a (overused) troupe nowadays, published in 1965, Dune is certainly not new to the scene.

When Frank Herbert witnessed ecologists working on the sands along Oregon’s coast, it sparked inspiration for his iconic sci-fi novel, Dune.

Near Florence, Oregon, a vast expanse of sand dunes separates the Pacific Ocean from dense forests. These dunes are in a constant state of flux, reshaping the landscape dramatically over time, reminiscent of scenes from another planet.

It was the encroaching dunes threatening local infrastructure in the 1950s that first drew Frank Herbert, then a budding journalist, to the area. He saw firsthand how the US Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and other agencies were combating this threat by stabilizing the sands, an effort akin to terraforming.

This visit profoundly influenced Herbert, later serving as a key inspiration for Dune, where controlling desert sands is a central plot element. Herbert’s depiction of the desert planet Arrakis and its inhabitants’ efforts to terraform their world echoes the real-life attempts to manage Oregon’s dunes.

According to a biography written by Herbert’s son Brian Herbert, the idea of transforming the dunes made a huge impression. “Dad realized he had something bigger in front of him than a magazine article,” Brian Herbert wrote. “He sat back at his desk and remembered flying over the Oregon dunes in a Cessna. Sand. A desert world. He envisioned the earth without the technology to stop encroaching sand dunes, and extrapolated that idea until an entire planet had become a desert.”

Herbert’s connection to nature was deep-rooted, nurtured by his upbringing in the Pacific Northwest. His broad interests fueled his science fiction narratives, with dunes becoming a focal point after learning about Oregon’s terraforming efforts.

His observations during a visit to Florence, where he surveyed the dunes and discussed strategies with scientists, informed his later work. The SCS’s initiatives, particularly the planting of European beachgrass to anchor the shifting sands, directly paralleled the fictional endeavors of Dune’s Fremen people. “Downwind sides of old dunes presented the first plantation areas. The Fremen aimed first for a cycle of poverty grass with peatlike hair cilia to intertwine, mat and fix the dunes by depriving the wind of its big weapon: movable grains.” Herbert wrote, describing the Arrakis project in Dune’s appendix.

Herbert’s article “They stopped the moving sands” never saw the light of day, but his experiences significantly shaped Dune’s world. From that we got the iconic novel, and some excellent films too!

If you want to see my review of Dune: Part Two, you can find it here.

Trillion Dollar Credit Card Debt Not Bad?

Daily Upsider on March 14, 2024

In 2023, American consumers accumulated an unprecedented level of credit card debt, surpassing the trillion-dollar mark. Luckily, this number is not as dire as it first seems to be.

Although there’s a noticeable increase in credit card debt in nominal terms, when adjusted for inflation, it’s almost 20% lower than its late 2008 peak, as per WalletHub’s analysis using data from the New York Fed. Economists believe Americans are well-prepared to manage their debt.

Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial, explained to CNN, “Consumers still have a lot of money left over to be able to spend, so the credit card data is often misinterpreted. The dollar value of credit-card debt is at an all-time high, but so is population, employment and consumer income.”

He also highlighted that the data does not account for the approximately 55% of borrowers who settle their balances in full each month, a point also noted by the New York Fed.

Looking at the larger economic scene, the US job market remains robust, and wage increases are outpacing inflation. January saw the addition of 353,000 jobs, maintaining the unemployment rate at 3.7%. The stock market is stable, sentiment regarding the economy has notably improved recently, and holiday spending was robust.

This sustained job market vitality enables Americans to continue managing their debts, save money, and maintain spending levels.

Therefore, despite the upsurge in credit card debt and existing economic challenges, the overarching view suggests that Americans and their economy are, to date, resilient.

Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club

Daily Upsider on March 13, 2024

In the Boston area, a unique gathering of individuals, some long-time friends and others recent connections, meet every few months for breakfast. The occasion is marked by an extraordinary act of kindness: they collectively tip their server a substantial gift, aptly reflected in the group’s name, the Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club.

The initiative was started by Richard Brooks, an attorney, with encouragement from his wife Laurie. While group’s name suggests a $1,000 gift, they often exceed this amount, with one lucky server recently receiving a $2,050 tip. The sum varies depending on the number of participants, with each member contributing $100 towards the tip.

Brooks, 64, shared his personal connection to the gesture with Nice News, saying, “I was a waiter, so I know what it’s like to get a tip. And I still remember my first tip that was big, and it was a whopping $20. And I still remember it because I was paying myself through school.”

The concept for the Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club was inspired by a story Brooks heard from his brother about a similar generous act at a group meal. Brooks, who has a tradition of randomly giving out $100 bills to brighten people’s days, was immediately captivated by the idea. On January 2, 2023, he took to Facebook to create his version of the group, inviting anyone interested to join. The response was swift, with about a dozen people eager to participate.

Their first meeting took place at an iHop three months later, where they left a $1,400 tip. The club has grown in popularity, covered by both local and national media, but Brooks maintains a rotating email list of around 30 people to keep the gatherings manageable.

ChatGPT 5?

Daily Upsider on March 13, 2024

There has been no official release of detailed information about ChatGPT-5 by OpenAI yet, but there are some fascinating details and hints about what we can expect from the next generation of AI.

Improved Contextual Understanding
One of the primary areas for improvement in any AI model is the depth of contextual understanding. ChatGPT-5 could potentially offer even more sophisticated interpretation of user inputs, understanding not just the text but the implied meanings, emotions, and intentions behind words. This would make interactions more fluid and natural, reducing misunderstandings and increasing the model’s ability to engage in complex conversations.

Sam Altman, in discussions with the Financial Times, revealed that the upcoming GPT-5 model will be trained on an expanded dataset. This includes not only publicly accessible internet data but also significant proprietary datasets from various organizations, encompassing diverse forms of long-form writing and conversations.

Altman also pointed out the current limitations of GPT-4, noting its restricted reasoning capabilities and inconsistent reliability. He highlighted an ambition for GPT-5: to consistently deliver the kind of high-quality response one might only stumble upon once in 10,000 attempts with its predecessor.

Enhanced Multimodal Capabilities
While ChatGPT versions have primarily focused on text-based interactions, future versions like ChatGPT-5 looks to expand into multimodal AI, capable of understanding and generating responses that include images, audio, and possibly video. This would open up new applications for the technology in creative fields, education, and entertainment.

During an episode of Bill Gates’ “Unconfuse Me” podcast in January, Altman emphasized the significance of multimodality in the development of GPT-5, stating, “Multimodality will definitely be important. Which means speech in, speech out. Images. Eventually video. Clearly, people really want that. We’ll be able to push that much further but maybe the most important areas of progress will be around reasoning ability.”

Personalization and Adaptation
Another big step in future iterations would be the ability to offer personalized experiences. Adapting to users’ communication styles, preferences, and needs over time could enable ChatGPT-5 to become more of a personal assistant. Learning from interactions to provide more tailored information, reminders, and suggestions that align with individual user habits and schedules.

Greater Reliability and Ethical Considerations
As AI becomes more integrated into critical areas of life and business, reliability, safety, and ethical use become increasingly important. ChatGPT-5 would likely incorporate advanced measures to ensure data privacy, user safety, and mitigation of bias. Ensuring the ethical use of AI and preventing misuse would be central to its design and deployment.

Conclusion
OpenAI’s most recent release, GPT-4 Turbo, showcased improvements over GPT-4, including updated knowledge up to April 2023 (as opposed to GPT-4’s 2021 cutoff), the ability to process longer prompts equivalent to a 300-page book, enhanced instruction-following abilities, and the seamless integration of various tools like the Dall-E 3 image generator and the Bing search engine in response to user requests.

While specific details about ChatGPT-5 remain speculative until official information is released, the trajectory of AI development suggests that future versions of ChatGPT will continue to push the boundaries of what conversational AI can achieve.