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Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

warwick.ac.uk

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Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#31

Post by zamfi »

ekianjo wrote: post #17
zamfi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Are you saying that the fact that some knowledge is wrong means that it doesn’t represent progress? Correlation isn’t “cure” — we don’t even know if it’s predictive — but that doesn’t mean it’s not progress.

progress is measured by: - identifying mechanism of action - identifying therapeutic levers - testing drugs and ahow that they can do something we are not even at the first step with these biomarkers. observational studies are super noisy

How can you identify a mechanism of action if you don't have any idea of what the possible agents are? Don't you first have to identify some of the molecules that may be involved, before you figure out which ones are causal and how that causality plays out?

That seems to be the point of this paper.

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#33

Post by stubish »

m3kw9 wrote: post #5

Now is there something that can be done early or is it 15 extra years of suffering

The article states there are medications that can slow or reverse the disease, if the disease is diagnosed early enough.

"An early diagnosis is critical for those with dementia. New drug technology can slow, or even reverse the progress of Alzheimer’s, but only if the disease is detected early enough. The drug lecanemab is one of two new treatments for the disease."

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#34

Post by johnnyanmac »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #29

I wonder what kinds of useful stuff dogs can smell already… but they can’t say anything!

The most common but always impressive story I hear is that some dogs can smell cancer developing months or even a year before an official diagnosis. It honestly makes me wonder if the true next step for medical tooling should focus on enhancing human smell instead of sight to expand our spectrum or magnify microbes.

as another random trivia, many animals can often feel or hear an earthquake minutes to days in advance, demonstrated by unusual behavior. This is even less consistent but a phenomenon observed for millenia (wheras we didn't even properly name understand cancer until a few centuries at best).

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#35

Post by saiya-jin »

hgomersall wrote: post #30
m3kw9 wrote: post #5

Now is there something that can be done early or is it 15 extra years of suffering

Probably diet and exercise. Would be interesting to see an interventional study based on this.

Sleep, maybe meditation, keep learning new challenging stuff (within given cognitive possibilities).

Brain is a 'muscle' so keep pushing at it, continuously, you can only help it.

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#36

Post by tripflag »

saiya-jin wrote: post #35
hgomersall wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably diet and exercise. Would be interesting to see an interventional study based on this.

Sleep, maybe meditation, keep learning new challenging stuff (within given cognitive possibilities). Brain is a 'muscle' so keep pushing at it, continuously, you can only help it.

Fwiw, at least one recent study indicates there is little benefit from exercising your brain: https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S136...

related news article (in Norwegian): https://www.nrk.no/trondelag/forskning-viser-at-hjernetrim-o...

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#37

Post by xattt »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #34
quickthrower2 wrote: post #29

I wonder what kinds of useful stuff dogs can smell already… but they can’t say anything!

The most common but always impressive story I hear is that some dogs can smell cancer developing months or even a year before an official diagnosis. It honestly makes me wonder if the true next step for medical tooling should focus on enhancing human smell instead of sight to expand our spectrum or magnify microbes. as another random trivia, many animals can often feel or hear an earthquake minutes to days in advance…

> enhancing human smell

Is this not a form of spectroscopy?

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#38

Post by rwmj »

bglazer wrote: post #10

One caveat is that this is necessarily a retrospective study. The authors looked at historical data from the UK Biobank, ran a regression, and found these genes. So, it’s not really clear if these genes are actually causing dementia, or if they’re just related to a common cause, or (most likely) tied together through some very complicated web of biological mechanisms. That said, they’re interesting genes. GFAP is exp…

If it's predictive, does it matter?

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#39

Post by tgv »

saiya-jin wrote: post #35
hgomersall wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably diet and exercise. Would be interesting to see an interventional study based on this.

Sleep, maybe meditation, keep learning new challenging stuff (within given cognitive possibilities). Brain is a 'muscle' so keep pushing at it, continuously, you can only help it.

That's like weight-lifting to prevent ALS. Dementia has multiple (suspected) causes, and they are unrelated to cognitive activity. There's no evidence you can prevent plaques or cardio-vascular damage by reading or puzzling, AFAIK.

Re: Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

#40

Post by xkgt »

> Of 1,463 proteins analysed, aided by with a type of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, 11 proteins were identified and combined as a protein panel, which the researchers have shown to be highly accurate at predicting future dementia.

I understand that press releases are intended for non-technical folks but I don't get the point of this description. Is it assumed that machine learning is less understood than artificial intelligence?

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