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The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#51

Post by autokad »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #18

Does this line of inquiry mesh at all with the idea that "Gum disease–causing bacteria could spur Alzheimer’s" Or are they competing hypotheses? reported here in January: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18987015

well, Alzheimer's has been highly correlated with diabetes (which diabetes is correlated with gum disease), so its hard to tell. If I were to guess, given if there is a correlation with gum disease and Alzheimer's, I would bet my money that what ever causes gum disease also causes at least some Alzheimer's - not that being treated for gum disease causes it.

Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#52

Post by autokad »

> "In the original Alzheimer’s transmissibility study, scientists examined the brains of eight patients treated with prion-contaminated human growth hormone as children who decades later died from prion disease (out of over 30,000 people so treated, more than 200 died this way). "

does anyone have any clarification on this? to me that is very alarming. that's about .67% which sounds small, but its int he ball bark of catching HIV after having unprotected intercourse (depending on a lot of factors)

Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#54

Post by chiefalchemist »

autokad wrote: post #51
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #18

Does this line of inquiry mesh at all with the idea that "Gum disease–causing bacteria could spur Alzheimer’s" Or are they competing hypotheses? reported here in January: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18987015

well, Alzheimer's has been highly correlated with diabetes (which diabetes is correlated with gum disease), so its hard to tell. If I were to guess, given if there is a correlation with gum disease and Alzheimer's, I would bet my money that what ever causes gum disease also causes at least some Alzheimer's - not that being treated for gum disease causes it.

Diabetes 1 or 2?

If #2 then I'd venture to say that in many / most cases that correlates with abuse of sweets (read: sugar) which would all effect the teeth (and perhaps in turn the gums).

It's unlikely that simple. That said , I'd venture to say aggregate increase in sugar consumption correlates to increases in Alzheimer's. Yes, as do plenty of other mod cons.

Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#55

Post by CommieBobDole »

rbobby wrote: post #30
bitexploder wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are all one time use though, right?

Apparently lots of diabetics reuse lancets (thread on another HN story a day or two ago). But I can't imagine anyone sharing used lancets (or needles... except for desperate addicts).

Would be interesting to see the rate of Alzheimer's among addicts and former addicts. But I imagine the sets "IV drug users who share needles" and "people who live to be old enough to be at risk for dementia" don't really intersect in any meaningful way.

Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#56

Post by armitron »

itissid wrote: post #40
bitexploder wrote: post #2

Just a clarifying point from the article: Transmissible != Communicable. Still, it makes me wonder what sort of other spooky “life forms” we can host.

1. If certain Prion disease(like say CJD) was Communicable with a high R0[1] by say contact, fecal matter, saliva we would see a lot of people dying, since CJD has a mortality rate of 90% within 1 year[2]. 2. The level of A-beta protein(i.e. not technically prion just yet) again the deposits in 7 of the 8 patients was so severe that if this were communicable easily with a high R0, it would also be seen in the general…

1. CJD is only one specific instance of Prion disease. Others (e.g. vCJD) have incubation periods of - multiple decades -. From the article: "In the original Alzheimer’s transmissibility study, scientists examined the brains of eight patients treated with prion-contaminated human growth hormone as children who decades later died from prion disease"

Alzheimers is growing at epidemic proportions, globally [1].

Alzheimers in the US is growing at alarming rates [2].

[1] https://www.alzheimers.net/alzheimers-is-on-the-rise-in-thes...

[2] https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures

Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#58

Post by uncleberg »

nkingsy wrote: post #23
mongol wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other reasons do you have?

Dreading needing reading glasses. Night vision subjectively feels worse. Random yellow spots in changing light conditions that I don’t remember having before.

Forgive me; isn't Lasik all via laser though?

Isn't this more like - you share binoculars with someone and your eye fluids mix (if you both push them too close)?

Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#59

Post by supermw »

joejerryronnie wrote: post #48
coldcode wrote: post #9

The more we study the human body, the more questions we get. I wonder if some future Dr. McCoy centuries from now will we us as we do medicine of two centuries ago. We can go to other planets and invent new tech every day, but the body still holds a ton of mysteries.

Almost certainly. Medical professionals of the future will look at today’s cutting edge med tech the way we view blood-letting and balancing out the body’s humours.

Not so certainly. Climate change could ravage the world hard and natural resources could dwindle to almost nothing, putting the race in a crude survivalist mindset where there is no time to improve modern medicine or even learn it. Generations of the future may just as likely be looking back at our tech today in awe.

Re: The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows

#60

Post by nradov »

barbarr wrote: post #32
sandebert wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source?

https://thejns.org/abstract/journals/j-neurosurg/113/3/artic...

Is it possible that neurosurgeons don't actually have a higher rate of Alzheimer's Disease, but just get correctly diagnosed more often than the general population? I suspect a lot of poor people with limited access to health care die of that disease but it never gets labeled or recorded. But neurosurgeons can recognize their own symptoms and generally have access to the best possible care.

The only way to be sure would be to perform detailed autopsies on a large random sample of the population.

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