Written & Curated by Zaki Qayoumi, aka “Zack”
Founder • CEO • COO • CTO • Senior Project Manager • Director • President • VP • Chairman‑of‑the‑Board • Editor‑In‑Chief, ZACK TECHNOLOGY LLC
Bonjour à tous! Today's edition covers Medicine, Mental Health, and a bit of everything I've been curating across Technology, World Affairs, Electronic Music, and Diplomacy. As always — thank you for reading, watching, and listening.
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VLOGs — “Coffee with Zack” (EN) & “Coffee with Zaki” (FR), each with its own distinct content
🇫🇷 Proud to Pursue La French Tech San Francisco
I'm actively working toward joining La French Tech San Francisco, and I'm especially excited about the La French Tech NOVA program, which supports high-potential entrepreneurs from under-represented and minority backgrounds — entrepreneurs like myself — with mentoring, investor connections, and access to the broader French Tech network. Fingers crossed!
Our Stories. Our Strength.
Each story submitted to The Ehlers-Danlos Society for this ‘#myEDS/#myHSD’ anthology is published “as-is,” with only minimal edits for spelling, grammar, and typographical mistakes. Each profile reflects the personal views, experiences and opinions of the individual authors — and thus does not necessarily represent the views and/or endorsements, individually or collectively, of The Ehlers-Danlos Society, its leadership, staff, boards, or communities. We also cannot confirm any medical claims or comments in the story. — The Ehlers-Danlos Society
Read the stories at ehlers-danlos.com/our-stories
Journaling Bipolar Disorder: Past, Present, Future
Writing about bipolar disorder across the past, present, and future helps untangle personal history, track daily emotional shifts, and build a hopeful path forward. Organizing your writing around these three timeframes offers a clear, structured way to process your mental health journey.
The Past: Reflecting and Releasing
- Unpacking history: Write about how symptoms or misdiagnoses affected your early years without judging your former self.
- Examining patterns: Look back at previous episodes to spot early warning signs or triggers.
- Addressing regrets: Acknowledge past mistakes or painful moments, noting that dwelling on them can weigh down your current day.
The Present: Grounding and Tracking
- Daily check-ins: Write down your current energy levels, sleep patterns, and exact mood instead of broad summaries.
- Separating self from illness: Remind yourself that intense feelings right now are part of a temporary phase, not your entire identity or reality.
- Mindful acceptance: Focus on small, manageable tasks that keep you anchored in the here-and-now rather than racing ahead.
The Future: Rebuilding and Hoping
- Setting realistic expectations: Shape goals that fit your well-being, accepting that your path may look different than expected.
- Separating from fear: Recognize that your upcoming days do not have to mirror your hardest past breakdowns.
- Visualizing stability: Write down moments where you felt peace or optimism to serve as an anchor during future low points.
- bphope.com — Knowing Our History
- bphope.com — Journaling for Stability
- bphope.com — 6 Ways to Break the Cycle of Negative Thinking
- r/bipolar discussion thread
- YouTube reference
- creatingchange.net.au — Early Warning Signs
- healthcentral.com — Waking Up With More Energy
- reachlink.com — Why Hypomania Feels Like Your Best Self
- bphope.com — 5 Tips for Managing Uncertainty
- Jared Monroe Foundation — Awareness
via Gemini AI
4,900 Episodes: A Decade of DJ Electronic Music Podcasts
Hitting 4,900 episodes over a decade of DJ electronic music podcasts is a monumental achievement in sonic curation and digital endurance. This milestone represents thousands of hours of therapeutic rhythm, human connection, and community healing.
Understanding the Therapeutic Impact
Electronic music acts as a powerful catalyst for cognitive and emotional wellness:
- Entrainment: Synchronizes brainwaves to steady, repetitive beats.
- Release: Triggers dopamine through anticipated musical drops.
- Regulation: Lowers stress by pacing physical heart rates.
- Catharsis: Channels complex emotions without requiring verbal processing.
Celebrating the Milestone
1. Leverage the Archive — Curate a retrospective grouped by therapeutic themes ("Anxiety Relief," "Euphoric Energy"); highlight fan favorites; showcase how the mixing style has evolved.
2. Deepen Audience Connection — Host a 24-hour marathon countdown to episode 5,000; gather listener testimonials; design limited commemorative merchandise.
3. Prepare for the 5,000 Roadmap — Form clinical partnerships with certified music therapists; refresh the visual identity/artwork; pitch the story to electronic music media outlets.
via Gemini AI
Video Game Therapy & the Role of DLC
Video game therapy (VGT) uses interactive digital play to improve mental health, and downloadable content (DLC) increasingly serves as a vehicle to expand these clinical benefits. Games provide a safe, structured space to practice emotional regulation, mindfulness, and cognitive pacing; DLCs expand on these foundations with specialized therapeutic content, charity fundraisers, or targeted cognitive extensions.
Clinical Video Game Therapy Types
- Digital Therapeutics (DTx): FDA-reviewed or prescribed games, like EndeavorRx, built directly for ADHD.
- Serious Games: Full games designed primarily for therapeutic purposes, like SPARX for treating teen depression.
- Purpose-Shifted Commercial Games: Off-the-shelf games used by therapists to build rapport, treat PTSD, or build fine motor skills — e.g., playing Tetris to disrupt traumatic memory consolidation.
How DLCs Enhance the Therapeutic Experience
- Extending Narrative Psychoeducation: Indie titles like Vampire Therapist teach real CBT; its Couples Therapy DLC adds relationship-dynamics content.
- Charity & Mental Health Awareness: Developers release cosmetics/level packs donating proceeds to Child's Play or Safe In Our World.
- Preventing Content Burnout: For chronic pain or long hospital stays, expansions offer fresh, low-impact environments to combat boredom and manage cognitive load.
via Gemini AI
Medical Breakthroughs Worth Watching
1. Twice-Yearly Injectable for HIV Prevention (Lenacapavir)
Lenacapavir is a first-in-class, long-acting PrEP drug requiring only a twice-yearly injection. In the landmark PURPOSE-1 trial (South Africa and Uganda), it reduced new HIV infections to zero among the cisgender women who received it — a major milestone for young African women facing high HIV incidence.
2. Fully Personalized CRISPR Gene Therapies
CRISPR-Cas9 has moved from lab to clinic. In late 2023, the UK MHRA and US FDA approved the first CRISPR-based therapies (Casgevy / exa-cel) for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia, using autologous, ex-vivo edited hematopoietic stem cells.
3. The Expansion of GLP-1 Metabolic Drugs
GLP-1 receptor agonists, first designed for glycemic control and weight loss, are now shown to significantly reduce major cardiovascular events and slow chronic kidney disease progression, per the FLOW trial and recent meta-analyses.
4. Multi-Cancer Early Detection (Liquid Biopsies)
Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) tests analyze cell-free DNA, methylation patterns, and proteins from a single blood draw to screen for multiple cancers at once. Tests like Galleri are undergoing large-scale validation (e.g., the PATHFINDER study) to detect cancers before symptoms arise.
5. AI Outperforming Human Diagnostics
AI models trained on medical scans and ECGs are performing specialized diagnostic tasks, sometimes outperforming human experts — while generative AI is also being used to design novel antibiotics against drug-resistant superbugs.
6. CRISPR for Alzheimer's Disease
Researchers are applying CRISPR to the genetic pathways behind amyloid-beta and tau accumulation, alongside stem-cell approaches to correct pathogenic variants and reprogram risk alleles like APOE.
7. Neurovascular Stent Retrievers for Strokes
The double stent retriever (DSR) technique, used as a rescue strategy when single stent retrievers fail, achieves successful recanalization in over 92% of cases for acute ischemic stroke.
8. Non-Invasive Fetal DNA Testing (NIPT)
NIPT now screens beyond aneuploidies to single-gene disorders using next-generation sequencing on maternal blood — enabling early detection without the miscarriage risk of CVS or amniocentesis.
- Mohan, et al. (2022). Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology. PubMed 34358384
9. Next-Generation Endovascular Catheters
Pharmaco-mechanical infusion catheters (e.g., the Bashir catheter) improve pulmonary embolism treatment via expandable baskets that create fissures in the clot for greater thrombolytic-drug exposure.
- Giri, J. et al. (2023). Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. ahajournals.org
Note: Item 10 (Robotics & Augmented Reality in the OR) reflects a broad ongoing trend across surgical specialties rather than a single trial. via Gemini AI
Parkinson's Disease: The Latest Breakthroughs
The landscape of Parkinson's disease (PD) research has shifted aggressively from symptom management toward therapies addressing the underlying biology of the disease.
1. Biomarker Breakthrough: α-Synuclein Seed Amplification Assays (αSyn-SAA)
The αSyn-SAA test detects misfolded alpha-synuclein — the toxic Lewy body protein — in cerebrospinal fluid, and increasingly in blood and skin biopsies, identifying PD pathology in prodromal individuals with over 87% positivity. A July 2026 European Medical Journal review notes newer assay generations can distinguish PD from more aggressive synucleinopathies like Multiple System Atrophy (MSA).
2. Stem Cell Therapy: Positive Phase 1/2a Readouts
The European STEM-PD trial (Lund University & University of Cambridge) reported encouraging one-year results: eight patients received brain injections of stem cells programmed into dopamine-producing neurons. Scans confirmed successful engraftment with no unexpected side effects, and 6 of 7 surviving participants reported symptom reduction and lowered medication needs. Published in Nature Medicine.
3. Targeted Gene Therapy (AB-1005)
AB-1005 uses a harmless AAV2 viral vector to deliver the GDNF gene directly into the brain's putamen, promoting dopamine-neuron survival. Following a successful Phase 1b trial (stabilized motor symptoms over 18 months), the Phase 2 REGENERATE-PD trial is now underway across the US, UK, and Europe.
4. AI-Designed Drugs Targeting Brain Inflammation
Insilico Medicine's ISM8969, developed entirely with AI, targets the neuroinflammation that drives PD progression rather than dopamine alone. After restoring motor skills in mouse models, the company plans to pursue FDA approval for human trials.
5. Genetic Precision: Targeting GBA1 and LRRK2 Mutations
Parkinson's is increasingly viewed as a collection of genetic subtypes. The GBA-PD (ACTIVATE) trial tests BIA 28-6156 for carriers of pathogenic GBA1 variants, while the LRRK2 (LUMA) trial tests BIIB122 to inhibit LRRK2 kinase and slow early-stage PD — both expected to conclude in 2026.
via Gemini AI
Coffee with Zack ☕ — Jeudi 30 Juillet 2026 Preview
What's up, everybody! It's Thursday (Jeudi) July (Juillet) 30, 2026. Today we discuss the world of Medicine. The ongoing exploding-diarrhea outbreak (Cyclosporiasis) is now in 45 states, so avoid Taco Bell for the foreseeable future — upsetting, because I haven't had 2 Chalupa Supreme Chicken (they don't make steak anymore) and a Crunchy Taco (Beef) in forever. Guess I'll have to wait a minimum of 3 months. Anyway, hope you enjoy these latest stories.
I'm still watching E.R. and Grey's Anatomy — those seasons are going to take some time, but I'm doing my best. I also love old reruns of Doogie Howser, M.D. I'm holding off on any other medical TV shows until I'm through those two.
P.S. Fauci had a hearing — if you have any doubt, just ask your family physician. He or she will remind you that we live on Planet Earth, and on Planet Earth we believe in Science, and when we believe in Science, we believe in vaccines, because they've saved the lives of over 150 million people throughout history. #VaccinesSaveLives. If it wasn't for DoD Operation Warp Speed, maybe humanity would have been forsaken — that's the reality. Was it a lab leak? Yes, it was — but that's another topic.
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