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Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#61

Post by marmaduke »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #51

In my phd work I was heavily involved in hippocampal segmentation, and I can say with confidence that FSL FIRST is not a state-of-the-art segmentation method. It belongs to an earlier generation of segmentation methods with poorer reliability, which have contributed to a lot of contradictory results in my field of hippocampal development. I would not use it in my research. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273…

What software would you suggest for subcortical reconstruction then? What do you think of FreeSurfer v6's?

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#62

Post by drngdds »

mortenjorck wrote: post #3

Study finds correlation. Article mentions caveat that correlation is not causation. Headline explicitly states causation. This is certainly a very interesting correlation, and demands further study. Perhaps there is a causal link. But it's just (predictably) irresponsible journalism to head such a piece with a factually incorrect headline.

Yup. This is par-for-the-course for science journalism.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#63

Post by resu_nimda »

startupdiscuss wrote: post #4

But they define "moderate" as 2 drinks/day for a man. That is 14 drinks a week which puts you in the second highest decile for Americans! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think...

The study linked in the article says "Information was collected in face-to-face computer-assisted interviews conducted in the participants’ homes." [1]

It seems like this is a study where people might be likely to lie about their consumption, or even earnestly estimate it incorrectly. Is there any way to control for that? The distribution feels too extreme, like a significant number of people underestimated and overestimated at either end of the spectrum.

[1]https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/AA70/AA70.htm

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#64

Post by magicalist »

hamstercat wrote: post #5

I'd be interested to know what 3 times more mean. If your chance of brain damage is 0.5% normally and jumps to 1.5% with moderate drinking, that isn't too bad. If it jumps to 10% to 30% that's another story.

Yeah, I hate when they do leave that out.

If I'm reading Table 3 in the study correctly, when accounting for a bunch of possible variables (sex, age, exercise, etc), for every 10 units of alcohol consumed per week over 30 years you'd expect to see .19% decrease in hippocampal volume (0.08% to 0.30% decrease at 95% CI)

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#65

Post by grandalf »

mortenjorck wrote: post #3

Study finds correlation. Article mentions caveat that correlation is not causation. Headline explicitly states causation. This is certainly a very interesting correlation, and demands further study. Perhaps there is a causal link. But it's just (predictably) irresponsible journalism to head such a piece with a factually incorrect headline.

> Study finds correlation. Article mentions caveat that correlation is not causation. Headline explicitly states causation.

Welcome to the Washington Post. In cases like this it's fairly obvious but across the board there is such a low standard for journalism that I can't bring myself to pay the $1 to subscribe.

When Bezos bought it I had hoped we'd see a new era of high quality American journalism, but the opposite trend has occurred.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#68

Post by hellofunk »

I guess you need to decide what is important to you. For example, a few years ago, this was published [0]:

> One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink tend to die sooner than those who do

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2017200...

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#69

Post by chris_va »

mortenjorck wrote: post #3

Study finds correlation. Article mentions caveat that correlation is not causation. Headline explicitly states causation. This is certainly a very interesting correlation, and demands further study. Perhaps there is a causal link. But it's just (predictably) irresponsible journalism to head such a piece with a factually incorrect headline.

Interestingly, titles are generally written by a different person than the articles, and often a matter of contention with journalists.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#70

Post by devoply »

protonfish wrote: post #33
devoply wrote: post #17

Well why wouldn't it. Alcohol is not a health food. It crosses the blood brain barrier and is toxic to cells. So yeah put toxic stuff up there, there will be some consequence.

The mistake you are making is about dosage. All substances are toxic or harmless depending on the amount.

Alcohol even at low doses is toxic that's why your liver has enzymes to break it down. Many other things are not nearly as toxic and most things that don't belong in the brain don't cross the blood brain barrier. Those which do and don't belong usually cause some sort of problems.
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