GLP-1 Drugs May Prevent Thousands of Knee Replacements, Study Finds
Article excerpt
People who take GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for at least three years could prevent thousands of knee replacements annually, according to new research adding orthopedic heft to a class of medications already reshaping how medicine thinks about obesity and diabetes. The finding lands as GLP-1 drugs face simultaneous scrutiny over cost, supply constraints, and side effects, making the potential joint-surgery savings a significant counterweight in the ongoing debate over their value. Separately, researchers publishing in Neurology found that genetic variants linked to elevated pulse pressure, the gap between systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings, carry a modestly increased risk of dementia-related death, a result that deepens the long-suspected cardiovascular-neurological connection at the genetic level. A second Neurology study found that people with epilepsy living in the most rural U.S. Counties face nearly double the in-hospital mortality risk of their urban counterparts, a disparity researchers attribute to fewer neurologists, limited hospital capacity, and geographic distance from specialized care. Pope Francis issued an encyclical on artificial intelligence with direct implications for Catholic health systems, which operate thousands of facilities across the United States; the Vatican's position centers on protecting human dignity against algorithmic decision-making in clinical settings. On the arts side, the McKnight Foundation announced its 2026 Visual Artist Fellows, awarding $25,000 stipends to mid-career Minnesota artists, while more than 100 artists threatened legal action against a major biennale after organizers confirmed they would discount votes cast for withdrawing participants. In professional sports, England cricket captain Ben Stokes warned that strict limits on IPL participation could push players to abandon international cricket entirely, and Rory McIlroy said he will keep cherry-picking PGA Tour events rather than playing a full schedule.
Over 100 participants have threatened legal action against the Venice Biennale Foundation, alleging that Biennale leadership has not honored their official withdrawal from the new “Visitor Lion” awards last month.
Determined by visitor votes, the new awards were hastily instituted after the Biennale's original award jury resigned en masse days before the event opened, and amid intensifying controversy over Israel and Russia's presence in the exhibition. The jury's resignation prompted dozens of exhibiting artists to withdraw from awards consideration in solidarity.
In a statement published on e-flux today, June 3, a group of 67 In Minor Keys artists and 39 national pavilion participants claimed that Biennale leadership has neither replied to nor acknowledged receipt of their May 20 letter asking to be removed from the voting ballots for the Visitor Lions. Despite first issuing their “explicit request” for collective withdrawal when the Biennale opened to the public on May 9, the signatories say they were still listed as eligible candidates when the Biennale distributed the digital ballots to visitors on May 14.
“We view this lack of responsiveness as not only highly disrespectful of the undersigned participants in the Biennale, but also of the audience,” today's statement reads. The statement said the signatories will “begin next steps towards legal action” starting today.
However, in a statement shared with Hyperallergic, the Biennale Foundation disputed the claim that it had not responded to the artists’ request, alleging that it had acknowledged receipt of the letter via email on May 28. In the provided email response, the Foundation stated that it had kept the withdrawn artists on the ballot to “guarantee all visitors their freedom of expression” when voting, but that “these votes will not be considered for the awards, nor will they be published.”
Hyperallergic has reached out to the signatories for comment.
The Belgian Pavilion was among several that closed on May 8 as part of a cultural workers’ strike for Palestine. (photo Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)
In their most recent letter today, the artists specified that they were not against the public voting on the awards as a concept, but that “to create Visitors’ Lions Awards at this stage is a deflection from the jury's resignation and in direct contradiction to the process we all agreed to when we accepted the invitation to exhibit our work.”
Selected by the 61st Biennale's late curator Koyo Kouoh, the former women-led awards jury had announced their decision to omit “countries whose leaders are currently charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC)” from consideration on April 23, effectively disqualifying Israel and Russia from the Golden Lions. The move was a shift forward for the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) organizers, who have continuously pushed for the expulsion of Israel and Russia from the Biennale, and for the initial group of In Minor Keys artists, pavilion presenters, and cultural workers for the Biennale who are calling for Israel's exclusion.
Though the Biennale Foundation said that the jury's decision represented “a natural expression of the freedom and autonomy which La Biennale guarantees,” it was later revealed that Israeli pavilion artist Belu-Simion Fainaru had filed a legal warning against the Biennale. After the Biennale's legal department warned that the individual members could be personally liable for damages to Fainaru in the event of a dispute, the jury resigned en masse on April 30.
“Our withdrawal is a refusal to participate in a process in which the jury was left exposed to significant personal legal liability, when it was the responsibility of La Biennale to guarantee the independence and integrity of the jury’s deliberations,” the signatories stated in their May 20 letter to the Foundation.
Protestors hold Palestinian flags aloft during the May 8 march. (photo Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)
The artists’ withdrawal from the Visitor Lions awards is part of ongoing protests against the inclusion of Russia and Israel in this year's Biennale. On May 8, the Biennale's final preview day, 27 of the 100 national pavilions were partially or fully shuttered and various In Minor Keys artists altered their displays in the central exhibition for a historic 24-hour cultural labor strike.
Alongside the closures, the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) staged a massive protest that marched toward the temporary Israeli pavilion in the Arsenale Complex, which had been preemptively barricaded off by Italian riot police.
The full list of signatories as of June 3 is below.
In Minor Keys Artists
Pio Abad
Fabric Aragno
arms ache avid aeon
Sammy Baloji
Éric Baudelaire
Sabian Baumann
Nancy Brooks Brody Estate
BuBu de la madeleine
Carolina Caycedo
Annalee Davis
Bonnie Devine
Nolan Oswald Dennis
rana elnemr
Joy Episalla
Rachel Fallon
Sofía Gallisá Muriente
Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige
Sohrab Hura
Mohammed Joha
fierce pussy
Alfredo Jaar
Michael Joo
Nina Katchadourian
Guadalupe Maravilla
Natalia Lassalle Morillo
Florence Lazar
Zoe Leonard
Alice Maher
lugar a dudas (Ericka Florez, Sahara Rosero, Marcela Muñoz,María del Mar Nuñez, Sally Mizrachi)
Avi Mograbi & Avital Barak
Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Otobong Nkanga
Hagar Ophir
Uriel Orlow
Thania Petersen
Alan Phelan
Walid Raad
Mohammed Z. Rahman
Tabita Rezaire
Guadalupe Rosales
Yo-E Ryou
Rose Salane
Carrie Schneider
Hala Schoukair
Berni Searle
Yoshiko Shimada
Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser
Cauleen Smith
Vera Tamari
Jo-ey Tang
Carrie Yamaoka
Raed Yassin
Laurie Anderson
Leonard Pongo
Theo Eshetu
Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka
Philip Aguirre
María Magdalena Campos-Pons
Kamaal Malak
Denniston Hill
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Buhlebezwe Siwani
Eustáquio Neves
Artists from National Pavilions
Belgium Miet Warlop, Artist & Caroline Dumalin, Curator & Team
Luxembourg Aline Bouvy & Stilbé Schroeder
France Yto Barrada
Slovenia Nonument Group (Neja Tomšič, Martin Bricelj Baraga, Nika Grabar, Miloš Kosec) Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, curator
Latvia MAREUNROL’S, Bruno Birmanis & Team
Lithuania Egle Budvytyte, Artist and Louise O’Kelly, Curator & Team
Switzerland Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, Yul Tomatala, Nina Wakeford
Spain Artist: Oriol Vilanova Curator: Carles Guerra & team
The Netherlands Dries Verhoeven, Artist & Rieke Vos, Curator
Poland Bogna Burska & Daniel Kotowski, artists Ewa Chomicka & Jolanta Woszczenko, curators
Portugal Alexandre Estrela, Artist, Ana Baliza, Curator
Ecuador Tawna Collective (Sani Montahuano, Mukutsawa Montahuano, Lucia Ferre, Enoc Merino, Boloh Miranda & Tatiana Lopez)
Ireland Isabel Nolan, Artist; Georgina Jackson, Curator; Cian O’Brien, Producer
Kosovo Brilant Milazimi
Finland Juha Huuskonen, Commissioner Jenna Sutela, Artist Curator and Team
Czech and Slovak Pavilion Artists: Jakub Jansa, Selmeci Kocka Jusko Curator: Peter Sit
Cyprus Marina Xenofontos
Albania Genti Korini
United Arab Emirates Farah Al Qasimi
Türkiye Artist: Nilbar Güreş Curator: Başak Doğa Temür
Grenada Group Show Commissioner, Susan Mains
Iceland Artist: Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir Commissioner, Cecilie Gaihede, Icelandic Art Center
Moldova Artist: Pavel Brăila Curator: Adelina Luft
Estonia Artist: Merike Estna Curator: Natalia Sielewicz & team
Ukraine Artist: Zhanna Kadyrova Curators: Ksenia Malykh, Leonid Marushchak & curators of public programme: Katia Khimei, Ivanna Kozachenko
Croatia Artist: Dubravka Lošić Curator: Branko Franceschi Commissioner: Ministry of Culture and Media
Italy Chiara Camoni & studio team
Austria Florentina Holzinger, Artist & Team
San Marino Mark Francis
Nordic Countries Benjamin Orlow, Klara Kristalova, Tori Wrånes (artists) Anna Mustonen (curator) & Team
Denmark Maja Malou Lyse, DIS, Chus Martínez, Commons Accounts
Britain Lubaina Himid
Chile Norton Maza
Bulgaria Martina Yordanova (curator) and artists Veneta Androva, Gery Georgieva, Maria Nalbantova, Rayna Teneva and the whole team
Philippines Artist: Jon Cuyson Curator: Mara Gladstone
Romania Artists: Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán Curators: Corina Oprea, Diana Marincu & Team
Mexico RojoNegro (Noé Martínez y María Sosa)
Malta Artists: Raphael Vella, Charlie Cauchi, Adrian Abela Curator: Margerita Pulè
Aotearoa New Zealand Fiona Pardington & Team