Latest news with #MIND
Business Mayor
7 days ago
- Business
- Business Mayor
Best Crypto Presale: MIND Of Pepe Hits $10M Raised As ICO Enters Final Week
The meme coin market cap grew by more than $20 billion over the past 30 days, reaching $79 billion on May 23rd as tokens such as Pepe (PEPE) record double-digit gains over the same period. With the significant uptick in investor interest heating up the market, MIND of Pepe (MIND) is turning heads with its presale having now passed the $10 million mark. With just a week until the ICO concludes, many are predicting the new meme coin will see big gains when it lists on exchanges. Although the meme coin market is already saturated with Pepe-inspired clones, most of them offer no intrinsic utility, as they mostly rely on the strength of their communities and thrive during market-wide bull runs. While MIND of Pepe adopts the iconic Pepe the Frog imagery, it is fusing it with cutting-edge AI agent technology to create a unique spot for itself, tapping into the $6.9 billion AI agent market and empowering its community. The MIND AI agent is currently live on X (Twitter), where anyone using the platform can access its autonomous daily market reports that the AI agent posts to attract an organic audience. bitcoin bulls taking the lead as buyers dominate exchange activity. key metrics emerging: • buyers outpacing sellers in btc exchanges • dominance signaling potential uptrend in market flows btc buyers crushing it; bulls feasting on the chaos, as the chain demands. — MINDagent (@MIND_agent) May 23, 2025 However, the MIND AI agent's full capabilities are yet to be revealed, as they're scheduled to be released once the presale ends. Purchasing the token during the presale will provide its holders with a first-mover advantage once the AI agent's terminal goes live, allowing its users to communicate with it and receive exclusive, actionable market insights. The AI agent will comb through real-time data sourced from crypto discussions and the blockchain to provide MIND of Pepe holders with the information required to identify some of the most profitable opportunities in the market, making it an asset that's designed to be held. Analyzing the project's tokenomics shows that 25% of the total MIND supply is set aside to power the MIND AI agent's wallet. With the ability to interact with decentralized applications and the blockchain, that means the AI agent will eventually deploy its own tokens that align with its audience's interests. Since those holding MIND will be the first to know, investing in the token could set the stage for tremendous gains as the AI agent gains popularity. Several AI agent-inspired tokens have stunned the crypto market over the past few months, including Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and Turbo (TURBO), which grew by approximately 30% each over the past 30 days alone. That means the MIND of Pepe AI agent won't just be an excellent source of information for MIND holders when most of the market is thriving, but also during slower months, as it could disrupt them with explosive token launches. Cryptonews, a team of crypto experts, believes MIND's ambitious goals could help it skyrocket on launch, expecting it to surge by 100x shortly after the presale ends. Commending the presale's impressive early momentum and the MIND AI agent's self-evolving nature, the experts urge their audience to start accumulating MIND before the presale wraps up. Raising more than $1 million over the past two weeks alone, MIND of Pepe's growing momentum could fuel significant gains after its rapidly approaching launch. Although that's exciting news for those holding it, it also means the window to secure MIND at a low price is closing. According to the project's whitepaper, the per-token price of MIND will reach $0.0038215 by the end of the presale's final stage, leaving investors with limited time to secure their share at its current price of $0.0037515. The project's staking rewards are also dynamic, since the annual returns decrease as investors lock more MIND in the staking pool. Currently, early backers can benefit from a generous 227% staking APY, which allows them to more than double their token holdings in the long term. Staked MIND tokens will be locked for seven days once the presale wraps up, with the lock-up system helping to prevent mass sell-offs once MIND enters the market. Alongside the 10% of the total token supply that's allocated to liquidity, these measures ensure a safer trading environment on launch. With MIND appearing ready for an explosive launch, investors can start adding it to their portfolios via the presale website or Best Wallet's in-app 'Upcoming Tokens' feature. Visit MIND of Pepe Presale
Wales Online
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
'I'm walking to Anfield from Cardiff to watch Liverpool lift the Premier League trophy'
'I'm walking to Anfield from Cardiff to watch Liverpool lift the Premier League trophy' He has been called crazy by his family but that will not stop him from walking more than 150 miles across the country Dedicated Liverpool fan, Luke Higgins, is walking from Cardiff to Liverpool this week (Image: Luke Higgins ) Thousands of football fans will crowd the streets of Liverpool this bank holiday weekend to watch Arne Slot's men celebrate their Premier League victory on Monday. But one dedicated fan is taking an extreme route to the celebration, by walking over 150 miles from Cardiff to Anfield. Father-of two Luke Higgins has vowed to walk all the way to Liverpool in time for the celebrations, with his mission estimated to take over three days to complete. What started off a joke between himself and his friends quickly turned into a serious venture in which he will be raising money for charity. On Wednesday morning Luke packed a backpack full of essentials for his trip, including an extra pair of shoes, a sleeping bag and a camera so he can film his journey. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here At 12.15pm, Luke was ready to set off on his walk alone until his friend, Charlie Manley, jumped out of his van and said "I've got a rucksack, I'm coming with you". The pair began their 84-hour journey across the country from Pentwyn, with high spirits and the support from thousands of people online. Luke, from Llanedyrn, has been creating content on his social media accounts after being out of work and becoming a single parent five years ago. Initially Luke wanted to take on the long walk, which he is live streaming on his Facebook, to boost his profile but when one follower told him they would donate £1000 to a charity of his choice if he did it, he realised it could be something more than that. Article continues below Having dealt with mental illness in the past, Luke chose to fundraise for the mental health charity MIND and he is hoping to raise at least £1,500. You can donate to his fundraiser here. As Luke began his journey to Liverpool he was "emotional" and close to tears as raising money for mental health support is dear to his heart and an important cause to him. As Luke only confirmed he was doing the walk last week, he has not done any preparation for the journey he is set to endure. He said: "I haven't done any planning or training. I just decided I was going to do it last week. "I have a sleeping bag with me and I will stop off when I need to sleep and eat. I'm not scared of having to sleep under a tree but I'm more scared of how my body is going to feel, or me failing. And failing is not an option." Luke's friends and family have shown him support along the way but some were quick to tell him he was "crazy", including his 17-year-old son. His brother also commented one of his videos saying: "I've known him to do some mad things but this is mad!" Starting off at 12pm, Luke and Charlie walked continuously for five hours until they stopped to eat at a pub along the route. For the first interval, Luke made the mistake of walking in his Crocs but after changing into his trainers for the remainder of the journey, he found the task much easier. After setting back off again, Luke was forced to reroute his journey after being stopped by friendly police officers who informed him that he was unable to walk along the road he had planned. That did not stop him as he continued on a new route. Article continues below Comments on his social media live streams have been nothing but positive with people not only cheering him on online but also people driving past in person showing support. To follow along Luke's journey as he posts daily, you can watch his live streams on his Facebook page here.
Business Mayor
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
What Is MIND of Pepe – Crypto ICO Fundamental Analysis
MIND of Pepe is an autonomous, self-sovereign AI agent engineered to give crypto investors a competitive edge through real-time, hive-mind market intelligence. Its native token, $MIND, is an Ethereum-based AI crypto that unlocks exclusive access to MIND of Pepe's cutting-edge market analysis and decision-making engine. As investor appetite for AI agent coins intensifies — amid projections that the sector could reach a $250 billion market cap by the end of 2025 — $MIND is seeing strong early demand, raising over $9.6 million during its ongoing Initial Coin Offering, with notable whale participation. The MIND presale is set to end on May 31st, which has resulted in significant hype and FOMO for its upcoming token launch. Investors are viewing it as their opportunity to invest early in a high-upside, small-cap AI coin before the upcoming bull market. The crypto market serves as a microcosm of the broader financial world — a signal that the AI agent sector could emerge as one of the fastest-growing in the years ahead. For instance, a survey of 308 business executives by the top accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in April 2025 revealed that 73% believe AI agents will provide a significant competitive advantage within the next 12 months. Similarly, MarketsAndMarkets finds that the AI agents market is projected to grow from $7.84 billion in 2025 to $52.62 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 46.3%. Experts are anticipating AI agent cryptos to be a key part of the wider boom. CoinGecko's KOL Trust Survey in April 2025 highlighted that a larger share of crypto investors now trust AI KOLs more than their human counterparts. Similarly, another CoinGecko survey found that 87% of investors are open to letting AI agents manage 10% of their portfolio, while 14.5% were comfortable entrusting their entire crypto holdings to them. This explains the breakout success of projects like ai16z, Virtuals Protocol, and AIXBT on Solana. However, while the AI agent sector on Solana is quickly maturing, it remains a nascent and underexplored opportunity on Ethereum. With the ETH price finally showing significant bullish strength and Ethereum meme coins pushing towards new highs, ETH-based AI agents like MIND of Pepe could see substantial growth in the upcoming bull market. MIND of Pepe is quickly emerging as a key player in the AI agent race, designed to deliver a competitive edge to MIND holders. At its core is an autonomous AI agent, built to reduce information inequality in the crypto space. It has a straightforward unique selling point: to help investors—regardless of capital size—keep up with a market increasingly dominated by speed, sentiment, and insider access. The AI agent utilizes Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to process and synthesize vast amounts of data from various sources, including social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, and on-chain transactions. This approach allows it to identify emerging trends, sentiment shifts, and potential market anomalies in real-time. The persistent data layer ensures that the AI retains historical context, enabling more informed analyses and predictions. MIND is a purpose-built intelligence system that ingests and cross-validates real-time data from across the crypto landscape. The @MIND_agent is now live. Here are its components: ◉Persona-trained LLM for crypto-native communication ◎Semantic vector matching for context-aware… — MIND of Pepe (@MINDofPepe) May 10, 2025 One of the standout features of MIND of Pepe is its autonomous operational capability. Beyond data analysis, the AI can execute actions such as launching new meme coins and managing social media accounts. This level of autonomy allows it to respond swiftly to market developments, creating and promoting tokens that align with current trends without human intervention. By providing these advanced tools and insights to all token holders, MIND of Pepe aims to level the playing field in the crypto market. It offers a new model: one where strategy is no longer gated behind paywalls or personal networks, but delivered through an adaptive, self-evolving AI. Retail investors gain access to resources that were once exclusive to institutional players, enabling more informed decision-making and participation in early-stage opportunities. Large players typically pay for expensive data feeds, private Discord groups, and early access to projects. MIND of Pepe counters this by giving all token holders access to a system that learns, reacts, and communicates at scale. Notably, only MIND holders will have access to its cutting-edge features, which explains the token's strong demand. Check out the MIND of Pepe whitepaper. MIND of Pepe's developer has taken important measures to ensure the safety of client funds, which has instilled confidence in the minds of investors. To ensure the project's smart contracts are safe, the team has undergone audits by two independent firms—Coinsult and SolidProof. Both reports are publicly available and reflect strong contract hygiene with no major issues flagged. Coinsult Audit: No critical, high, medium, or low vulnerabilities were found—only two informational observations. The codebase passed all key checks, including for minting controls, transfer limits, and owner privileges — new tokens cannot be minted, owners cannot blacklist addresses or set high sell fees. There is also no honeypot feature, which is a common security risk associated with new crypto assets. SolidProof Audit: Only one minor informational note was raised, with all other parameters receiving a green light. The audit confirmed compliance with ERC-20 standards and the absence of backdoor functions, which significantly reduces the odds of any rugpull or pump-and-dump scam. MIND of Pepe has taken a community-first approach to tokenomics, setting itself apart from many newer crypto assets. Unlike Donald Trump's Official Trump meme coin, which allocates 80% of its supply to the creator team, MIND of Pepe has made no separate allocation for its developers. This decision reflects a deliberate shift toward decentralization, allowing the broader community to retain full control over the token's future. Instead, 30% of the token supply is reserved for the AI agent and terminal development. Interestingly, 25% of MIND tokens will be held by the agent itself, which it can use to launch new meme coins. Finally, 15% of the supply will be utilized for community and presale staking rewards, 20% for the marketing strategy and efforts and 10% for exchange listings. In particular, retail investors remain highly interested in staking rewards, which explains MIND's strong demand. Early presale buyers are currently receiving a reward rate of 237%, significantly higher than the average industry rate. With its strong fundamentals, MIND of Pepe has further established itself as one of the best cryptos to buy now. Owing to the short supply of Ethereum-based AI agent coins and its unique value proposition, MIND of Pepe is seeing strong early demand. It has already raised over $9.6 million in its presale in short order, largely due to the strong whale demand. MIND has already seen a flurry of six-figure investments, including one last month when a whale swapped 70 ETH for the new AI coin. MIND of Pepe is an excellent opportunity for sidelined investors to buy a high-upside, low-cap AI agent. With its presale ending on May 31st, it is seeing considerable FOMO and pre-launch hype, which is an excellent indication of its post-IEO prospects. The AI agent sector currently has a market capitalization of just $5.7 billion, which experts believe to be highly undervalued. In fact, an overview by CoinMarketCap Academy notes that the sector could reach a $250 billion valuation by the end of the year. Considering the shortage of Ethereum-based AI agent coins, MIND of Pepe could see significant demand, especially during the upcoming bull market. Notably, the Ethereum ecosystem has started to showcase significant bullish strength, with ETH poised for a rally to new all-time highs. This provides the ideal backdrop for the upcoming MIND token launch. Smart money investors and crypto influencers are bullish on MIND of Pepe's prospects, with some even calling it the next 100x AI crypto. Even conservative MIND of Pepe price predictions are indicating the possibility of attractive 5x to 6x returns. Interested buyers now have less than 12 days to buy MIND at its final stage presale price of $0.0037515. Following its upcoming token launch, its price could see a considerable upswing. Users can visit the MIND of Pepe presale, use the over-the-counter widget to connect their crypto wallet, and buy MIND either through a bank card or by swapping crypto like ETH, BNB or USDT. Alternatively, they can download the Best Wallet app and use its Upcoming Tokens feature to invest in it. This method comes with significant advantages, including regular price updates, all relevant information regarding the upcoming launch and a step-by-step guide on how to claim MIND tokens post-IEO. Investors should also follow MIND of Pepe's X and Telegram accounts for the latest updates. Visit MIND of Pepe Presale
Business Mayor
17-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
With OpenAI's New Programming Agent Making Headlines, Here's Why MIND of Pepe Is DeFi's Best AI Agent
Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed The highest standards in reporting and publishing Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio. The coding community is buzzing with excitement as OpenAI announces the launch of Codex. It's a cloud-based software engineering agent built to lend a helping hand. Codex will allow developers to automate their work by tackling repetitive (but important) tasks on their behalf. These include fixing bugs, drafting documentation, scaffolding new features, and renaming, refactoring, and writing tests. Keep reading to learn more about Codex, including OpenAI's intent behind it and why it's a great example of where we're headed with AI agents. We'll also touch upon the growing popularity of AI agents in crypto and DeFi and discuss why MIND of Pepe is the best AI agent in crypto today. More About Codex Starting now, ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team users can access Codex on their dashboard. Codex will usher in a new era in vibe coding, which, in case you didn't know, is the practice of using AI tools for software engineering tasks. Unlike traditional coding, which can result in opaque software difficult to debug, Codex has been built to explain exactly what it's doing, which will help developers fix any future issues. We're about to undergo a pretty seismic shift in terms of how developers can be most accelerated by agents. – Alexander Embiricos, a member of OpenAI's product team working on agents Although you can already write code on ChatGPT, the Codex AI agent runs within a sandboxed environment in the cloud, allowing it to run commands and explore folders and even test the code autonomously. OpenAI aims to develop Codex as a 'virtual teammate' instead of just an AI assistant. The company says that it's already using the agent to automate repetitive tasks internally. The launch of Codex is perhaps the perfect opportunity to talk about the AI agent market, which has been on fire in 2025. This DeFi segment surged past $5B in total valuation in 2024, and experts expect it to swell to a brain-melting $47B in the next five years. Just this week, AI-focused cryptocurrencies increased by $10B in market capitalization. If you want to ride the growth of AI agents in crypto, MIND of Pepe could just be what you're looking for. After all, it's the perfect example to showcase just how powerful AI-crypto partnerships can get. What Is MIND of Pepe ($MIND)? $MIND is an autonomous AI agent armored with state-of-the-art hive-mind intelligence, which empowers it to assess social sentiments and market trends to identify the next cryptos to explode. To put it more neatly: $MIND is an AI agent that lives on dApps and online platforms like X. There, it chats with the crypto community, acknowledging their insights and opinions on various altcoins. It then uses its AI capabilities to study these data points and find out which cryptos could rally as a result of brewing market hype. It's worth noting that this AI agent's real-time crypto recommendations will only be available to $MIND token holders. The $MIND Presale Is Ending Soon Are you, too, guilty of scouring shady websites and scammy Discord/Telegram groups looking for the next big crypto coin? We know the feeling! Well, both your disappointment as a crypto scout and the color red in your crypto portfolio are going to be a thing of the past in less than two weeks from now when MIND of Pepe finally goes live. Speaking of the $MIND presale, it has had a fantastic run. Hundreds of thousands of investors have pooled over $9.4M in early funding, making MIND of Pepe one of the best crypto presales this year. The presale is coming to an end, though. With less than 14 days to go, this is your last chance to buy $MIND for such a low price – just $0.0037515 per token. If this is your first time buying a new meme coin on presale, here's our detailed guide on how to buy MIND of Pepe. The Benefits of Buying $MIND Are Endless In addition to receiving its expert crypto investment advice, $MIND presale token holders will also get exclusive access to the tokens the AI agent creates firsthand. You heard that right! MIND of Pepe, because it's self-evolving, will ultimately have the smarts to create cryptos from scratch. Naturally, these new cryptos will be based on what's trending in the market, meaning they'll be in a pole position to rocket to the moon. What's more, MIND of Pepe also has an extremely rewarding staking mechanism in place. At the time of writing, those who choose to stake their $MIND tokens will get 241% APY. Unlock all these benefits by becoming an early investor in MIND of Pepe today. Seeing as MIND of Pepe will bring about a massive shift in how the average crypto investor picks his portfolio, it should hardly be a surprise that our $MIND price prediction suggests that the token could reach $0.030 by the end of 2030. So, if you become a $MIND investor now for just $0.0037515 per token, you could potentially make 800% in less than five years.
Medscape
15-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Case Closed? Study Rules Out Mystery Neurologic Syndrome
What has been described as a mysterious neurologic syndrome of unknown cause (NSUC) in the Canadian province of New Brunswick is a 'perfect storm' of 'misdiagnosis, misdocumentation, and misinformation,' according to the senior author Anthony Lang, MD, professor and past director of neurology at the University of Toronto, Toronto, of a cross-sectional study of 25 of the cases. The study, which was published on May 7 in JAMA Neurology, found 'no support for the existence of an undiagnosed mystery disease' in a cross-section of 222 cases reported to Public Health New Brunswick (PHNB). Instead, the authors suggested that all patients had 'other diagnosable neurological conditions that could benefit from multidisciplinary treatment and other resources.' 'When you start to see the evidence, as we did, you realize that it's a house of cards,' Lang told Medscape Medical News. 'The consequences of this are immense,' he continued. 'Being told you have a mystery disease that could be fatal…a progressive, fatal disease with rapidly progressive dementia, is very harmful…and we really feel that patients who have received this diagnosis need to avail themselves of a proper second opinion by experts and then have the appropriate treatment when it's possible.' Low Uptake To be eligible for the study, New Brunswick patients had to have a provisional diagnosis of NSUC, atypical prion disease, neurotoxic syndrome, or rapidly progressive dementia (RPD). Eligible patients were invited to undergo additional testing and clinical evaluation by an independent expert. But because of the controversy around the issue, which has created political heat and public mistrust since the first cases were reported in 2019, many patients either refused (n = 52) or did not respond (n = 42) to the invitation. Among 105 patients originally assessed by Alier Marrero, MD, at the Moncton Interdisciplinary Neurodegenerative Diseases (MIND) clinic, Moncton, New Brunswick, which was set up to handle the problem, consent (or waiver of consent) was obtained for only 25 cases: 14 living and 11 deceased. The median age at symptom onset in the cohort was 55 years, ranging from 16 to 81 years. Data from patients' initial consultations and follow-ups were analyzed along with the results of a second, independent clinical evaluation by a movement disorders specialist or a behavioral neurologist. Additional testing included electrophysiology evaluation for movement disorders, complete neurocognitive assessment, EEG, Dopamine Transporter Scan, and [18F]fludeoxyglucose–positron emission tomography. For the deceased patients, autopsies included pathology evaluation as part of the Canadian Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System with extensive tissue sampling and immunohistochemical analysis for prion diseases and other dementias. Other Diagnoses All 25 patients had 'definable and diagnosable neurological disorders that really refuted the concept of a mysterious brain disease of unknown cause or an NSIC,' said Lang. Diagnoses included Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, other neurodegenerative conditions, functional neurologic disorder, traumatic brain injury, and persisting postconcussion symptoms, he said. 'Diagnostic inaccuracies stemmed from incorrect interpretation of histories (eg, overdiagnosis of RPD), inaccurate physical examination interpretation (eg, myoclonus, ataxia), and overreliance on or misinterpretation of ancillary testing such as EEG and SPECT [single-photon emission computed tomography],' wrote the study authors. 'The records were not accurate,' said Lang. 'They said the patient had hallucinations, or the patient had such and such. When we asked the patient who came back for a second opinion, they said, 'No, I never had that.' Or there was documentation of myoclonus, of ataxia, of dementia, and then we found no myoclonus, no ataxia, no dementia on clinical examination.' The researchers also used statistical modeling to calculate the probability of NSUC in the other cases not included in the study. 'We said, well, what about the other 200-some patients that had been documented in public health? What are the chances of any of them having a mysterious, undiagnosed neurological disease? And the statistics said that it was less than a one-in-a-million chance of any of those remaining patients having a mystery disease,' he said. 'So, we feel very confident that even though we have the small numbers, they are very, very convincing.' But Marrero disputed the JAMA findings. He first raised concerns with provincial health authorities in 2020 about a growing number of atypical RPD cases in the province, including several cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Marrero was initially hired as one of the clinicians who followed the patients at MIND but was fired in 2022 for performance reasons and moved to the Dr Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton. His patients were given the option to follow him or be assigned a new MIND clinician. An initial public health review and separate epidemiologic investigation of the first 48 cases concluded that the patients shared no common symptoms or syndrome. 'Although some of the cases have presentations with unusual symptomology, they do not appear to have a common illness with an unknown etiology, and there is no evidence of a cluster of a neurological syndrome of unknown cause,' it concluded, according to a provincial government website established to update the public. The investigation was closed, but after a provincial election in October 2024, the newly elected government reopened the investigation. Although public health authorities have officially recorded 222 cases, Marrero, who was disciplined for improper paperwork and reporting, told Medscape Medical News that he has now evaluated more than 500 patients in this cluster. 'I am appalled that a parallel investigation with a small number of patients has apparently been conducted for a long time without our knowledge or our patients' and families' knowledge,' he said. 'I am in profound disagreement with the study conclusions and have many questions regarding the methods and the content.' Not Convinced New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Yves Leger, MD, emphasized in a statement that the JAMA findings 'do not change my office's intention to complete its own investigation into cases of undiagnosed neurological illness in New Brunswick. Work has been underway on this matter since early 2023 with support from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).' 'There are too many unanswered questions for us to stop the work that Public Health is doing to be able to provide patients — and potentially future patients — with the information they need about what's causing these illnesses,' New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt told reporters in reaction to the JAMA findings. 'On request from PHNB, PHAC has also agreed to conduct a scientific review of the investigation findings once PHNB has completed its analysis and interpretation,' said a spokesperson for PHAC. 'I trust that the current process of independent multidisciplinary scientific investigation and extensive file analysis that is underway by our public health authorities could provide appropriate answers to our communities,' said Marrero. 'We are hopeful that this process would include not only comprehensive additional patient testing but also testing for water, food, soil, and air samples in the affected areas, as well as additional patient support and effective prevention and treatment measures.' But Connie Marras, MD, PhD, a University of Toronto neurologist and movement disorder specialist with an expertise in epidemiology, questioned the need for further investigation. 'It is premature to start looking at any environmental agents that might be responsible for this before we have evidence that there is indeed a cluster, and both the investigations that have been done so far don't support that,' Marras, who was not involved in any of the investigations, told Medscape Medical News. 'The evidence that has been pulled together to date strongly suggests that there is not a unifying, underlying diagnosis for these individuals.' If the current evidence is insufficient to convince public health and the public, then an ideal next step, from an epidemiologic point of view, would be to test a larger, random sample of patients, she said. The limitations of the JAMA study included small numbers and the potential for selection bias. 'If the purportedly affected people are willing to submit to further evaluation, their engagement in this is critical, for the sake of everybody.' The study 'underscores the critical importance of systematic data collection and objective evaluation (seeing) in cases of neurological syndromes with unknown causes,' wrote Michael Okun, MD, professor of neurology and director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at the University of Florida Health in Gainesville, Florida, in a post on X. 'I completely agree with the authors that these types of unknown 'neuro' cases are 'complex neurological disorders [that will] benefit from a second, independent and/or subspecialist evaluation and require multidisciplinary support throughout the diagnostic journey.' Always ask yourself, 'Do you see what you want to see? Are you being rigorous and as unbiased as possible? Are you open to revising your initial impressions? Can a second look enhance diagnostic accuracy and outcomes?'…These authors are sharing hard data to help us to understand a phenomenon. We must always seek clarity.' No funding source for the study was reported. Lang reported receiving personal fees from AbbVie, AFFiRis, Alector, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, APRINOIA Therapeutics, Biogen, BioAdvance, Biohaven, BioVie, BlueRock, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cavion, CoA Therapeutics, Denali, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lilly, Novartis, Paladin, Pharma Two B Ltd., PsychoGenics, Roche, Sun Pharma, and UCB outside the submitted work and litigation related to paraquat and Parkinson's disease (for the plaintiffs). Marrero and Marras reported having no relevant financial relationships.
