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Breakthrough Ultrasound Treatment To Reverse Dementia Moves To Human Trials

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Atlas: An extraordinarily promising new technique using ultrasound to clear the toxic protein clumps thought to cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease is moving to the first phase of human trials next year. The innovative treatment has proven successful across several animal tests and presents an exciting, drug-free way to potentially battle dementia. The ultrasound treatment was first developed back in 2015 at the University of Queensland. The initial research was working to find a way to use ultrasound to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier with the goal of helping dementia-battling antibodies better reach their target in the brain. However, early experiments with mice surprisingly revealed the targeted ultrasound waves worked to clear toxic amyloid protein plaques from the brain without any additional therapeutic drugs. The new announcement regarding the upcoming move to human trials is underpinned by a large funding injection from the Australian government helping accelerate the treatment's development. The first stage is a phase 1 safety trial, kicking off later in 2019, to explore the safety profile of the treatment in human subjects suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

167 comments

  1. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Because you won't ever suffer from dementia or Alzheimers.

  2. Can we deploy them in the Capitol Building? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if such ultrasound machines placed inside Congress might help some of the demented souls in there. Quite a few Parliaments 'round the world might give it a shot, too.

    Demented, dementia, whatever.

    1. Re:Can we deploy them in the Capitol Building? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where in the body is the human "Soul"?

    2. Re:Can we deploy them in the Capitol Building? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know you're a troll, but "soul" is often used colloquially in English as a synonym for "person". "Poor souls" are people in poor condition. "Demented souls" are demented people. And to GP: demented is the state of suffering from dementia, so you are correct.

    3. Re:Can we deploy them in the Capitol Building? by swillden · · Score: 1

      I wonder if such ultrasound machines placed inside Congress might help some of the demented souls in there. Quite a few Parliaments 'round the world might give it a shot, too.

      Demented, dementia, whatever.

      I'd contribute to a kickstarter to install one in the Oval Office, that's for sure.

      --
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    4. Re: Can we deploy them in the Capitol Building? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the bottom of the feet... duh!

    5. Re:Can we deploy them in the Capitol Building? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where in the body is the human "Soul"?

      Well, he's talking about Congress, so I assume "soul" was a typo of some sort anyway.

  3. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Source or it's just bs

  4. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    citation please

  5. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Common sense.

  6. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    White Baby boomers produced an average positive net of $1,205,000 tax revenue over the course of their lives. The average black person generates a net loss of $702k.

    I'm not going to assume that is true, but if it is true, the better question is what do we do about it? Are there environmental factors we can address? Is there a lead problem? Pollution? Are the schools a problem? Do we need to basically make a bunch of schools boarding schools so the environment is better controlled? Are people being trained for the jobs that exist?

    Either way, i'd much rather we spent money on this kind of thing that a stupid wall. Cleaning up lead pipes would also be way more important than this wall bullshit. Do it efficiently based on need. Reduce needless lead poisoning and people should be more productive.

  7. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by KiloByte · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'd rather blame it on pesky smelly Millenials instead. They're the cause of anything that's bad.

    Just yesterday, I had a talk with a co-worker. We agreed on that wholeheartly, we just had a difference in opinions about the threshold: I say Millenials start at year 1979, he claims it's 1985+. But yeah, the Earth would be better without that generation.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  8. Wrong end of the "gun" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Alzheimer's is likely the result of the brain trapping infectious agents: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/health/alzheimers-disease-infection.html. It makes little sense to treat the symptom of an infection rather than its cause.

    1. Re:Wrong end of the "gun" by NEDHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yup. Remember that next time you take a pill for a fever or headache

    2. Re:Wrong end of the "gun" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is common practice to treat the symptoms of an infection/toxin/etc rather than cure it - when you know, a cure doesn't exist. Think of viruses, antibiotic resistant bacteria, etc.

    3. Re:Wrong end of the "gun" by MadKeithV · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you'd even read the article you linked, you would see that the amyloid plaque "cages" are left behind after the infectious agent has been killed, so yes, treating the plaques would actually make great sense - the human body fights off the infection and a non-invasive simple treatment removes the detritus. Of course, the testing will have to reveal how the brain reacts to this, but it could be a great way of staving off dementia.

    4. Re:Wrong end of the "gun" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please watch "The Magic Pill", you will understand that we aways treat the symptoms and not the causes.
      To treat the main causes of dementia: low-carb diet and consume coconut oil.
      Also a good read: "The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline", from Dale Bredesen.

    5. Re:Wrong end of the "gun" by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 2

      Alzheimer's is likely the result of the brain trapping infectious agents: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/0.... It makes little sense to treat the symptom of an infection rather than its cause.

      I wouldn't call it likely. It's a recent observation. No path of causation has been shown.

      It looks like the smart money is on the Alzheimers == Type 3 diabetes hypothesis. There's lots of solid causation pathways there.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    6. Re:Wrong end of the "gun" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      UlUlUltrtrtrsososounununddd isisis pepeperferferfectctctlylyly sasasafffeee, usususee ititit mymymyseseselflflf.

  9. Stealth Treatment Options by NEDHead · · Score: 0

    Maybe we can hide one in Donny's hair

    1. Re:Stealth Treatment Options by gtall · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's what we want, a Donny without addled brains.

  10. This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Earlier this year Congress passed a bill to let terminal patients try experimental treatments.

    If you've been following today's news, you know that we currently have a patient suffering from end-stage terminal dementia in the white house. Fortunately he already signed the right-to-try bill personally, so dementia treatments can begin immediately and with the lord's help, it will save the country from fatal insanity.

  11. ten years can be an eternity by AndyKron · · Score: 2

    Too bad my mom is 82 and treatment is about ten years away.

    1. Re:ten years can be an eternity by mentil · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You could buy an ultrasound device on ebay ($100-$1500), and apply it to her head. May need to mod it to increase its output, though. Of course since it hasn't had Stage 1 trials, safety is unknown.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    2. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I feel for you. The best that can be said is that she may be among the last to suffer from this horrible condition...

    3. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is cargo cult mentality. It will likely work as well as grass huts with coconut and vine radios did for calling in supplies to be airdropped from the gods into pacific island villages.

      In reality, this procedure is likely to require special equipment used in a very specific way, most likely in conjunction with some other equipment and medicines.

    4. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My best wishes to you and your mom.

      Ten years - I wish it didn't take so darn long!

    5. Re:ten years can be an eternity by execthis · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Wait for them to show up on eBay for $10.99.

      It will happen.

      This whole thing breathes new life into the question "What's the frequency, Kenneth?".

    6. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 4, Informative

      They used a very highly focused ultrasound and more importantly injected the mice with a microbubble liquid. Without the microbubbles you would have to induce cavitation to get a mechanical effect on the plaque ... and that's a lot more destructive than the mild force of a bubble expanding/contracting.

    7. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      AndyKron confided:

      Too bad my mom is 82 and treatment is about ten years away.

      I commiserate with you. My mom was 82, and suffering from increasingly-severe dementia, when she developed aspiration-mediated pneumonia, and died of exhaustion (which is what kills pneumonia patients), 21 excruciating days later.

      I have to confess that, as horrible an ordeal as that was for her, and as devastated as I was at her loss, I can't help but think that it was still a better outcome for her than actually dying of Alzheimer's itself. I've known end-stage Alzheimer's patients - mostly via their principle caregivers - and I wouldn't wish that fate on my worst enemy ...

      (Posting as AC only so as not to undo prior upmods in this thread.)

      --

      Check out my novel ...

    8. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for sharing this information. I would be interested to know your source.

    9. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just look at his username. He's clearly one of the mice from the experiment.

    10. Re:ten years can be an eternity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure that by reading the paper, one can figure this out...

      I don't doubt the effectiveness on mice. What I doubt is if that same effect will transfer to humans (with larger, thicker skulls, where the waves might not get deep enough), and if it'll work but have other serious health consequenses (dementia returns in a few days, but way worse, or perhaps getting deadly inflammation or thousands of tumours).

  12. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by AndyKron · · Score: 0

    Where's you source?

  13. Editorial on the article by torrija · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article seems to be behind a paywall. There's an editorial on the article describing the main points at: http://atm.amegroups.com/artic...

    From that editorial: "Shimamura et al. demonstrated that a microbubble-enhanced ultrasound method successfully delivered therapeutic genes into the CNS with no evidence of brain damage". So it is not only ultrasounds that are required for this procedure to work, but some microbubble injection needed. I could not find any reference on the gas used for this microbubbles, nor their size nor how they generate them. Still sounds like a very promising treatment.

    --
    I hate signatures
    1. Re:Editorial on the article by Sooner+Boomer · · Score: 1

      From that editorial: "Shimamura et al. demonstrated that a microbubble-enhanced ultrasound method successfully delivered therapeutic genes into the CNS with no evidence of brain damage". So it is not only ultrasounds that are required for this procedure to work, but some microbubble injection needed. I could not find any reference on the gas used for this microbubbles, nor their size nor how they generate them. Still sounds like a very promising treatment.

      Could the microbubbles be caused by ultrasonic cavitation? Don't know how much power they're applying, nor how focused (didn't RTFA).

      --
      Chaos maximizes locally around me.
    2. Re:Editorial on the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wikipedia has an article on microbubbles.

    3. Re:Editorial on the article by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      The microbubbles are created by the ultrasonic sound ... sigh. I thought everyone knew that.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re:Editorial on the article by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      The ones they use were "microbubbles comprising a phospholipid shell and octafluoropropane gas core".

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

    5. Re:Editorial on the article by footNipple · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'll see your microbubbles and raise you tinybubbles

    6. Re:Editorial on the article by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Freon. Can't use it because it will deplete the ozone layer in your brain.

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  14. Odd Choice of Target by PseudoAnon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Clinical medication/drug trials have repeatedly shown that removing amyloid clusters doesn't reverse dementia and usually doesn't even slow its progression. I won't get my hopes up, but it'd be wonderful if things go better this time. The target seems strange, but it sounds like there might be a little more to this approach.

    1. Re:Odd Choice of Target by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Clinical medication/drug trials have repeatedly shown that removing amyloid clusters doesn't reverse dementia and usually doesn't even slow its progression.

      Do you have a citation for this? I am not aware of any drugs that significantly reduce beta amyloids, so how can we say that removing them doesn't work ... when we aren't removing them?

      I won't get my hopes up, but it'd be wonderful if things go better this time.

      Indeed. Dementia costs the American economy $200B annually. Worldwide, it costs more than $1T. When you consider the enormous benefits of a cure, it is obvious that dementia research is vastly underfunded, as is mental health research in general. Schizophrenia costs America another $100B annually, and autism costs $125B, and far more worldwide.

    2. Re:Odd Choice of Target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Several studies have shown amyloid plaques are reduced by CBD. Just because you can't figure out Google doesn't mean much beyond that.

    3. Re: Odd Choice of Target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ahh you're one of those. Time to move on to the next comment...

    4. Re:Odd Choice of Target by PseudoAnon · · Score: 5, Informative

      Sure. Here's a link from a quick Google search:
      https://consumer.healthday.com...
      There were other drugs with the same target in at least a few other companies' research pipelines at the time, but they all ended up also fizzling out without results. This particular link is suggesting that it might slow progression, but I was under the impression that that wasn't correct either for most people with the condition. Most pharmaceutical companies have moved on to looking at tau.

    5. Re:Odd Choice of Target by labradort · · Score: 4, Interesting

      He's right. Researchers over 10 years ago believed they had a chemical that would chelate with these proteins. Same idea. The experiment worked, and the symptoms were not touched. They found the proteins are tags that tell them there is presence of the disease, the protein is not the cause.

      Strange there are repeatedly massively funded research projects targeting the same solution that is known to not work. One wonders what is the real goal of the researchers? Possibly just job security.

      If you read the linked article carefully, it says the method works on mice brain models, not actual mice. What do you know, the theory backs the theory. Using the same model oriented methods, the moon model is made of cheese.

    6. Re: Odd Choice of Target by MarkH · · Score: 1

      I thought $200billion for Dementia per year in USA cannot be that high! But that is only $500 per capita and makes sense when each patient probably needs about $50,000 per year in care and drugs ( never mind unpaid family / friend support ).

      Totally agree underfunded. Good luck this trial.

    7. Re:Odd Choice of Target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      he same model oriented methods, the moon model is made of cheese.

      Thats not fair. Models as used in drug therapies are necessary to both save expense on R&D and also to save the lives of countless animals from undue suffering during the 'what happens when X chemical interacts with Y structure?' phase.

      This press release is just that, and is someone asking for more funding. And a model of the moon is not going to tell us its swiss cheese, but without more information we might assume the entire moon is exactly the same as the surface.

      And that's 50% right with models of physiology since we know a lot more than just the surface (but not everything), but 50% is better than 0%, and in this case its closer to 75% because you don't get false negatives, just false positives. Super simplified and a "pull numbers" guestimate target, but simplified enough to understand I hope.

    8. Re:Odd Choice of Target by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 3, Interesting

      AFAICS those medicines could only dissolve the plaques in theory, in practice they didn't (except with topical application, which isn't really an option for humans). The mechanical action of ultrasound might break up the plaques sufficiently so those medicines would actually work.

    9. Re: Odd Choice of Target by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Comes up as a significant number of the first page results for "removal of amyloid plaques" - not that that necessarily means anything, but it's a significant hint.

      Do you not believe in plant-based medicines? A vast percentage of common synthetic medications are based on compounds first isolated in medicinal plants or fungi, and there's a rapidly growing body of evidence that hemp offers a cornucopia of therapeutic compounds.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    10. Re:Odd Choice of Target by PseudoAnon · · Score: 1

      It's looking to me like researchers have been able to dissolve plaques in the brain as well but that patients didn't benefit. I agree that the mechanical stimulation from ultrasound could be a potential game changer, but I'll still keep my hopes low. Here's some information about a drug called Verubecestat. The second link unfortunately requires an account to be able to read it.

      "The Phase 1 trial, reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine, recruited just 32 patients and was chiefly concerned with dosage and safety. However the trial showed that amyloid was reduced nearly entirely in some cases, and the effect increased with higher doses."
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sc...

      "In their article, Michael Egan, MD, of Merck Research Laboratories, and colleagues note that despite a 'near-maximal' reduction in amyloid-beta (A) in cerebrospinal fluid and a 'modest' reduction in brain amyloid load after 78 weeks of treatment with verubecestat, the drug was not effective in slowing the clinical progression of mild to moderate AD.
      'This suggests that once dementia is present, disease progression may be independent of A production or, alternatively, that the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease may not be correct,' they offer."
      https://www.medscape.com/viewa...

    11. Re:Odd Choice of Target by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      Was a while since I checked, it's ironic that Aducanumab failed to dissolve old plaques but is actually producing more promising cognitive effects.

    12. Re:Odd Choice of Target by qubezz · · Score: 1

      Your reading is ill-informed. A "Mouse Model" is a fancy name for a laboratory animal. It is a model because a mouse is also a mammal with a brain, a pancreas, 10 toes..., but there are still dissimilarities in morphology and chemical pathways that may produce results that do not translate to humans.

      Mice are a better "model" of human metabolism and chemical pathways that a flatworm or fruit fly would be. The same large-scale laboratory experiments done on even better "models", such large primates, may be viewed as inhumane.

  15. MOD UP by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Very useful summary with added detail and good article link. Thanks!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  16. Citation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm your fucking citation. There you go.

  17. Ultrasound penetration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ultrasound can go 3-4 cm before the signal isn't coherent enough to reflect. This might be fine in mice, but they will have to stick the transducers into brains to work in people.

    1. Re:Ultrasound penetration by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Informative

      Alzheimer's affects the cortex, which is on the surface of the brain.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    2. Re:Ultrasound penetration by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      The properties of ultrasound vary greatly with frequency.

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    3. Re:Ultrasound penetration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The skull is a huge attenuator for your typical imaging acoustic signals. I guess since we aren't imaging here they could maybe be lower frequency and we could still focus enough to hi-fu regions of the brain. There are some logistics to deal with regarding making sure we've covered all our target volume also.

  18. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's standard GNAA troll material.... why are you paying attention to it.

  19. I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by t0qer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's put aside the effects of the disease first, and it's impact on the patients body. I want to talk about just how fucked this thing is for the rest of slashdotters, and what the worst part about the disease is. It's greed.

    Let me rewind to 2 years ago. It was Christmas at my Grandma's. Grandma's really special to me, as a kid she fostered me when my druggy parents could not. She made me the man I am today, took me off the streets. Taught me things that would last a lifetime, like saying, "Please, Thank you sir, and no ma'am".

    She had also amassed quite a fortune, to the tune of what I'd later learn was $20 million dollars or so. Her sons never worked. They grew up thinking they were royalty of our town. Back to Christmas though.

    My father whispered to me, "This is the last Christmas we'll be having here, your uncle is going to put her in a home!" I thought he was joking. 20 years earlier, my uncle had talked her letting him be a trustee of a new trust. The trust gave him powers that in the event she lost mental faculty, he could "Do what is necessary for her care" A pretty broad statement.

    He had been shopping her to various doctors around town looking for one that would give her a diminished capacity declaration. Most of them refused, but the last few he met were more than happy to do it, and recommend she be placed in a secured memory facility. Basically a prison for folks with Alzheimer's. Some of these doctors did this without ever having met my grandmother.

    A letter was sent out to the family, that he was going to do this to her from the lawyer that drew up the trust.

    Thankfully the court was on her side. She wanted to stay home, and had always been told by my grandfather that's where she'll stay. It took 2 years of fighting, since he had access to her money. Ironic he used her own money against her to hire lawyer after lawyer. There was a compromise made, but it was in her favor for the most part. Uncle would not have conservator over her medical or financials. He would still be a trustee of the trusts, but under a yearly audit from the courts. He would pay all of her bills (including caretakers) and for repairs to her house.

    It was during that fight though that pained me the most. Him and his brothers would go over there and lie to her, tell her things to confuse her. While I was at work, they'd go over there and tell her I was the bad guy. Her story changed when she talked to the court investigator, but the investigator knew what was going on, as well as my team.

    Watching family lie and manipulate the affected is the most fucked part in Alzheimer's. It reduces what's called a persons susceptibility to undue influence. I'm not going to diminish the fact that my grandma's mental state deteriorated, but the stress of court, doctors, her sons trying to manipulate her (and scaring her at one point to draw a pistol on my uncle) accelerated her condition and left her in a state I can only describe as post traumatic.

    I hope this cure works. I pray it works. Been hopeful before.

    1. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by GerryGilmore · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I was in a different situation. Mom developed Alzheimers and I became "the responsible adult". Long story short, had I not been making six-figures and had a spare house for her and her live-in caretaker to live and cover all the expenses, her life would have been a thousand times more hellish than it was already. Our society is failing these folks, not least by not universally allowing voluntary euthanasia for those who choose not to subject themselves to the indignities that result from - essentially - losing your mind.

    2. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Bandraginus · · Score: 2

      Thanks for sharing your story.

    3. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's way more going on there than just a debilitating brain condition, but yeah, fixing the brain problem will make a lot of these kinds of shenanigans a thing of the past.

    4. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by blindvic · · Score: 1

      Money IS the root of all evil. And the more you have, the worse it is.

      Love for money, not money.

    5. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, they go together.

    6. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by jpaine619 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nope, they go together.

      Another rousing game of "Spot the Liberal" who refuses to distinguish between things and behaviors.

      A pile of cash, sitting on a table in the middle of the room will not cause everyone who walks by to be evil. Nobody who qualifies as a good person is going to steal it.

      When it is stolen it will be by an evil person or a weak willed person with some evil in their heart.

    7. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by johnsie · · Score: 2

      Many moons ago I worked for a short while at a bank call centre. Many of the calls were family members trying to sneakily access old people's accounts. Of course that cannot be done without power of attorney, so I always referred them to their bank branch where the matter could be dealt with in person. I wouldn't even confirm if the account existed or not. They got so angry, but it was not my problem if they weren't prepared to go through the correct legal channels.

    8. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by johnsie · · Score: 2

      Oh and I also had an old lady on the line who had lost her husband a few years ago. She was really friendly but very confused and worried that she might not be able to pay her monthly bills. It was a sad, conversation but also very enlightening listening to the lady's stories for about 30 minutes. And in the end I was able to tell her that she had an account that she didn't know about with lots of money in it. Her husband had created a joint account and been saving it it.

    9. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was in a different situation. Mom developed Alzheimers and I became "the responsible adult". Long story short, had I not been making six-figures and had a spare house for her and her live-in caretaker to live and cover all the expenses, her life would have been a thousand times more hellish than it was already. Our society is failing these folks, not least by not universally allowing voluntary euthanasia for those who choose not to subject themselves to the indignities that result from - essentially - losing your mind.

      I'm sorry, but this way is better for Jesus.

    10. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by shinzawai · · Score: 0

      I hope you told your father and Uncle that Alzheimers is hereditary you will treat them a lot worse when it is their turn........... or just pay bikies to kneecap them.

    11. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The bigger the pile, the more likely it will turn a good person to a bad one.

    12. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Miser · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm going to undo all my moderation to post this.

      100% agree with you. I have known relatives that have had to spend down all their assets to stay in a "memory care" unit when they could no longer be legitimately safe at home. To me, it's total bullshit. If this happens to me, give me something laced with something else and let me go to sleep permanently. Also, a underground safe to hide cash, as well as a dead mans switch for folks to find it when I'm gone.

      It's horrible to see everything you've worked for just flushed down the toilet for you to "just exist". Horrible way to live.

      Here's hoping there's a cure. Or even a "stop" - i.e. if you start experiencing symptoms, get this treatment and it stops the disease in its tracks. Reversal would be a holy grail but I'm not holding my breath.

    13. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "When it is stolen it will be by an evil person or a weak willed person with some evil in their heart."

      That is everyone.

    14. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by s122604 · · Score: 1

      This is going to a morbid place, but when I was actively suicidal (depression), I amassed a "kit", it included sodium azide, the reagents to create H2S (and no I won't say what those are), and a gun.

      I am feeling much better now, (for the most part, I do have swings)
      But I did not get rid of my "kit", my wife doesn't even know about it. It give me peace knowing I have the ability to bail out if it is necessary, but I do worry about doing it unecessarily.

    15. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      next time, do not undo your mods. Simply post as AC and then add your name at the bottom of the post. After that point, you can google your name on this page to go back to it.

    16. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

      My story is a little different; my dad put my mom in a nursing home after he could no longer care for her due to his own advanced age (eventually he joined her in the nursing home). He really tried though. I had a tiny one floor, one bathroom, hobble (still do) with no room, nor money to accommodate them, and while my siblings fared much better, they didn't either. I did visit every week, for 10 years, seeing her turn into a living zombie, unable to speak or acknowledge us for the last eight. That was horrible. I'd so much rather be dead.
      Family didn't fight over money though.
      Mostly we saw us getting screwed by the lawyers who were handling affairs. They took $100 grand out of the estate in just one year alone for selling the house and liquefying some assets. I finally stepped in as Guardian of the Property at a point where the law firms were going to switch over, and had to get bonded and approved by the court. I think we would have lost everything to them if I hadn't done that. Ugly times.

      --

      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
    17. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Radical+Moderate · · Score: 1

      Yeah, my mom has advanced dementia, neither of us are rich but thanks to her and dad's pensions (remember those), social security, and insurance she can afford 24-hour care. Otherwise we'd be screwed. Even still, watching her slowly slide into oblivion has been hell.

      --
      Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
    18. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Miser confessed:

      I'm going to undo all my moderation to post this.

      WTF? All you have to do is to post as an AC in order to keep your previous mods in effect, and still be able to weigh in on this topic.

      Or do you have some philosophical objection to posting as an AC?

      I have known relatives that have had to spend down all their assets to stay in a "memory care" unit when they could no longer be legitimately safe at home. It's horrible to see everything you've worked for just flushed down the toilet for you to "just exist".

      I agree. The whole range of neurological diseases that reach their terminal stage via dementia is horrible enough, without their victims being forced to lose their possessions and estates simply in order to afford residental care.

      Nor do I have any ethical or philosophical objection to patients who have terminal conditions being granted the right ro choose to commit medically-assisted suicide, rather than spend their final weeks or months in steadily-increasing, intractable pain. However, I have a serious problem with allowing Alzheimer's patients the same right, because their ability to make an informed decision becomes increasingly problematic as their dementia deepens. Even in the case of "moderate" dementia (that term is pretty broad, and very definitely includes patients who experience what's called "sundowner syndrome," where they're reasonably coherent during the day, but turn increasingly paranoid, fearful, and irrational after sunset), patients display markedly-impaired judgement. That makes it hard to honestly view any decision they might make as entirely voluntary.

      The complete lack of anything like a clear, bright line between "impaired, but still capable of making informed choices" and "too impaired to be able to make critical choices" is, for me, the central roadblock to making medically-assisted suicide available to Alzheimer's sufferers. I think chances are good that they're mentally capable of making that decision if they've been recently diagnosed, but the flip side of that is that an initial dianosis of Alzheimer's is inveitably going to trigger major depression in the vast majority of patients who receive it. By definition, a person experiencing major depression (not simply 'the blues," but someone displaying a sufficient number of the symptoms listed in the APA Diagnostic Manual to meet the medical definition of MDD) is incapable of making objective choices about suicide. In fact, persistent thoughts of suicide, along with overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness are among the symptoms of the disorder.

      The thing is, though, even after an initial Alzheimer's diagnosis, patients usually experience a period of time - sometimes as long as several years - in which their quality of life can be reasonably good. Mild Alzheimer's typically is more an annoyance than a disability, and there's no real reason for them to forego the opportunity to enjoy that period, despite the horrifying prospect of the later stages of the disease looming on the horizon. To me, at least, it'd be hard to justify killing yourself when you're still perfectly capable of enjoying the company of friends, family members, and beloved pets, traveling with a companion, listening to - or even playing - your favorite music, and, in general, getting as much pleasure from other leisure-time activities as you ever did.

      My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple of years before she had to resort to residential care (only because there was no one available to babysit her on workdays). She wasn't fully-independent during that period, but she wasn't in any real sense incapacitated, either. She competently fixed her own meals, browsed the web, carried on coherent conversations, cared for my sister's family dog during the day, and so on. Her short-term memory was certainly impaired during that time, b

    19. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too long, didn't read.

      I expect that if you cut out all the words you spent babbling about yourself and your family, you could have made your point with two sentences.

    20. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      "When it is stolen it will be by an evil person or a weak willed person with some evil in their heart."

      That is everyone.

      It is demonstrably not so. An anecdote to be sure, but I had a friend find a wallet with $3K in cash in it.. He tracked down the owner and returned it. The news is full of cases like this. A simple google search turned up hundreds of stories such as:

      A 62-year-old homeless woman from Calgary, Canada found a purse stuffed with over $10,000 in cash, and even though she was living at the local YWCA shelter at the time, she chose to turn it in. “It never crossed my mind to keep the money,” she said. “It’s not mine to keep.”

      Your argument is false.

    21. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >I hope this cure work

      This is not a cure, this is a treatment for some symptoms. Alzheimers appears to be either Herpes virus run amok, or Diabetes type 3. Ultrasound will not stop the cause.

    22. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is most Republicans. The Liberals typically share it. Republicans - me me me. Liberals - us us us.

    23. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It won't work. The plaques aren't the cause of the disease. Some people with the plaques never develop dementia. That isn't as widely studied since people's brains aren't dissected as a matter of course except those with known problems with visible signs. If you want to help, donate your body to science, especially if you aren't sick.

      As far as your story, the solution would have been to donate the vast majority, if not all, of the money away. Greedy, morally bankrupt people will exploit anything. That isn't alzheimer's fault. If it wasn't alzheimer's then it would have been something else.

    24. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are far better ways to kill yourself, get rid of the kit before your kids find it and accidentally kill themselves. The easiest way is dehydration. Simply stop drinking anything, it's only annoying for the first day since you'll be a little hungry. You won't be thirsty because you can trick your body into thinking you're hydrated by keeping your mouth moist. The hunger only lasts one day. The second day you're just a little more tried. The third day you're painlessly passing out if you do too much and eventually one of those times you won't wake back up. There isn't any mess to clean up either and your family can have an open casket if they want. I've done it. The extended death also gives you a chance to back out. If you want to see your will power to live, remind yourself that you're choosing to be alive each time you eat/drink something. If you want to see your will power to die, remind yourself not to swallow every time you moisten your mouth during the three days. I can't come up with a better way to die that gives you time to convince yourself you're doing the right/wrong thing and is also painless and isn't messy.

      Or if that takes too long, keep some numbing cream around. Coat your arms then slash your veins. Cleanup will be much better than a splattered brain. In terms of risk, do you really want to risk a head shot not killing you but instead leaving you a massive cripple? I wouldn't. Some people do live after getting shot in the head. Pills/drugs risk you puking them up and/or them slowly and painfully destroying your organs, that's not a good way to die. Gas works, but you risk accidentally killing other people too or it leaking and being killed when you didn't want to do it.

    25. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "It is demonstrably not so. An anecdote to be sure, but I had a friend find a wallet with $3K in cash in it.. He tracked down the owner and returned it. The news is full of cases like this. A simple google search turned up hundreds of stories such as:"

      That doesn't mean he isn't "an evil person or a weak willed person with some evil in his heart." That just means he didn't steal a wallet.

      "Your argument is false."

      Nothing in your examples proved that people are not all weak willed with some evil in their heart. All your examples involve money, greed is certainly one of the most common failings but it is hardly the only one.

      The Christ myth itself is ultimately about this. Christ supposedly lived a life without sin until the final moment on the cross when he doubted god and asked "Father, why dost thou forsake me now?"

      Most people I've encountered who have this obsession with "taking money" and use extreme words like "evil" have a very misguided philosophy. Somehow it would be evil for your homeless woman to keep abandoned money in the street but it is perfectly fine to exploit the weakness of others to take a profit at their expense. Taking from a position of strength, whether it be leverage of any sort or intellect or lack of desperation, is stealing just the same as a threatening someone with your fist or a gun and taking their wallet.

    26. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Somehow it would be evil for your homeless woman to keep abandoned money in the street

      It's not abandoned and you know it. Go play your fucking word games with someone more gullible.

    27. Re:I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKED by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      That is most Republicans. The Liberals typically share it. Republicans - me me me. Liberals - us us us.

      Wrong asshat.. Conservatives give a LOT more to charity that liberals. Don't facts suck?

      http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/...

      Well, I'll give you this one: Liberals are more generous with other people's money. Conservatives are more generous with their own money.

      In an even starker finding, the study shows that the religious and conservative states are the most generous givers. Seventeen of the most generous states, in relative terms, voted for Romney in 2012, while 15 of the 17 least generous ones picked Obama for re-election.

      This may expose a correlation between conservative voters believing that redistribution is something that should be done out of their own pocket, not by the government.

  20. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    >the better question is what do we do about it?

    Motivate black kids to have career paths beyond "athlete" and "rapper".

    If you're black and motivated to try in tech you are set for life. Schools will throw free rides at you, companies will fight to hire you. The key is getting them interested at a young age.

  21. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing to do; it's the wrong measurement.

  22. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by phantomfive · · Score: 1, Troll

    It's all been downhill since Cro decided to stick out his Magnon. Things were good before then, back when we ate a real paleo diet.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  23. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    My grandfather is a WWII vet. He could have benefited from this. It's your own fault you can't get a job.

  24. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    US Census.

  25. Re: Killing nazis is the only citation that matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bruh, you can't say that in the office.

  26. Went through this with my grandmother too. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Turned out she'd been letting my aunt railroad her for 40+ years. She ended up dumping all the estate things she hadn't had the balls to do herself on my mom as well, who ended up letting my Aunt get away with almost everything. The only major thing she got was a particular piece of furniture that family had brought out to her from her hometown that my aunt lost a coin toss over. Long story short she'd done her taxes for years BEFORE her faculties had gone and had cooked the books to look like she'd paid loans on multiple properties, while also pressuring my grandmother into selling assets which she later got the money for.

    The things some family will do really make you doubt that the familial bonds are worth anything, except for those ones who prove themselves as friends for life, which doesn't take the bond of family to begin with.

  27. Re:Thank you mentally defective nazi cowards by jpaine619 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Uh, pretty sure it was the Nazis that marked people for horrible deaths... What does that say about you?

  28. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by jpaine619 · · Score: 0

    I say Millenials start at year 1979, he claims it's 1985+. But yeah, the Earth would be better without that generation.

    You're wrong. It's no earlier than 1980, but what year of the 80's is not agreed upon.

    Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the generational demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  29. Re:Thank you mentally defective nazi cowards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    coming out in the open, where we can track you

    Right. No problem. It's AC 1138 posting from that random proxy again. We'll find him this time for sure!

  30. Unless the plaques are a symptom by OneOfMany07 · · Score: 1

    I've heard the plaques are a defensive mechanism by the brain. Sort of, the brain coating itself in a protective layer when being damaged by environmental toxins or too much sugar exposure. In that case removing the plaques will hurt rather than help.

    Guess we'll see...

    1. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      We're not designed to get that old, I wouldn't put much faith into naturalism. Especially if it's from keto-nutters. Skip the red meat, eat more blueberries.

    2. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      Actually the plaques have been pretty solidly linked to Herpes simplex one. In other words, the cold sore version. Normally the blood brain barrier keeps it out of the brain but as we age it begins to creep in or at least that is the hypothesis.

      The virus has been shown to create the plaques, a correlation indicating someone with the Alzheimers gene and simplex one is 14 times more likely to get alzheimers. And finally there was recently a large scale study using anti-virals that target simplex one which showed they drastically reduced the probability of developing it.

      If this treatment works we'll be able to reverse some of the effects AND prevent it. This jumps the cold sore virus to public enemy #1 since most of us infected by infancy.

    3. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      Riiight because of all the healthy vegans you see walking around. There is no place on earth a healthy human being can live off of the local plant life. It is a thing only made possible by specially preparing food in just the right ways and with ingredients transported around.

      Do eat more blueberries, as for red meat specifically, there is nothing wrong with that as long as you combine it with actual heavy exercise. Not cardio, heavy exercise, think 20 reps max insteasing weight instead of repetitions and learn proper technique, it isn't a race. Coincidently, this is also the only thing shown to rejuvenate cartilage in the joints. Obviously, heavy labor works too.

      Keto people don't have it right either, you need a metabolic reset, so go high carb low fat on the weekends and do the opposite during the week (or similar intervals with the protein/fat heavy cycle covering your most active periods.

    4. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      Red meat time and time again comes out as increasing risks for a wide array of ailments, in normal weight people as well. There are no cohort studies for people on high intensity training specifically I'm aware of, but I'd say you're exceedingly optimistic for thinking it will somehow protect you from the negative effects.

      You don't have to be a vegan to cut back on red meat.

    5. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      So, as a rule of thumb, if you read X protects you from toxins and [common substance you don't need protection from, e.g. sugar], it is almost certainly woo.

    6. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Shaitan · · Score: 2

      "Red meat time and time again comes out as increasing risks for a wide array of ailments, in normal weight people as well."

      Correlation does not equal causation. The most recent study combining the available data from studies across the globe across two hundred years actually found high vegetable fat content rather than animal fats as the biggest contributor to heart problems.

      Red meat is higher in cholesterol, heavy exercise (heavy weight, not high intensity) triggers hormonal reactions that cause your body to actually utilize cholesterol in natural hormone production. That natural hormone production also increases lean mass. Not only does your cardiovascular fitness increase but you expend more calories in every activity you perform, for that matter you burn more calories even when resting.

      Additionally, heavy lifting puts short bursts of high pressure on your blood vessels, this strengthens and widens them both keeping their walls flexible, elastic, and smooth which prevents the plaque build-up that leads to vascular problems like heart attacks and expands your blood and therefore total blood oxygen content which helps prevent things like congestive heart failure. It isn't magic, the body is just responding to the stresses you put on it and you are physically pushing (gently because hydraulics distribute the pressure across the entire vascular system) on the blood vessels in bursts and at the same time putting a requirement for heavy amounts of oxygen across major muscle groups.

      I do draw a big distinction through between multiple group full body exercise with free weights and body building however. Heavy full body exercises with free weights are difficult to perform correctly and require learning proper technique. An improper movement loaded with a heavy weight can obviously injure you quickly. Body building and isolation techniques result in large muscle mass that is cosmetic and not in proportion to the way the body has evolved, accessory muscles are weakened, and frankly the culture that surrounds it pushes unsafe diet and chemicals. Lifting for strength without those things will result in a lean and fit body but not a hulk.

      All things in moderation however, there was a famous power lifter who ate nothing but McDonalds and did have a heart attack. Heavy lifting counteracts some of the risks of high overall cholesterol, that doesn't mean your cholesterol shouldn't have an appropriate ratio of ldl and hdl. Also, I'm not saying it isn't easier to avoid red meat, that is probably the answer to most since it is unlikely everyone is going to begin a heavy freeweight 5x5 three times a week. But if they did, combined with moderate red meat intake and calorie intake, they'd all have superior heart health, live longer, be less obese, and have healthy natural sex drives.

    7. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      "Red meat is higher in cholesterol"

      ~10% higher than chicken, ~80% lower than eggs. If you're that desperate for cholesterol eat an extra egg. More cholesterol, none of the heme iron.

    8. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by wonkavader · · Score: 1

      There are a lot of hypotheses. Some of them sound really good. It's possible more than one is right.

      A famous psychologist (known for her brain hemisphere experiments) once said "Yes, that theory, sounds right. I can come up with 100 theories that sound right sitting on the toilet. How do you PROVE it?"

      The fact that we cannot open up demented people and LOOK, that we can't open people every 10 years and watch the progression, etc. means were' stuck with animal models. I suspect we'll stumble on a cure for Alzheimer's long before we explain why it happens.

    9. Re:Unless the plaques are a symptom by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "And finally there was recently a large scale study using anti-virals that target simplex one which showed they drastically reduced the probability of developing it."

      The same way we prove anything else, by testing it. As indicated here in a large scale, long term study in Taiwan, on humans.

      "HSV-1 infections may be treated with a number of antiviral compounds such as valacyclovir. A study was done in Taiwan to assess whether administration of such antiviral compounds can effect the development of senile dementia (SD) of which AD is the main cause. This study was conducted by mining the National Health Insurance Research Database, in which nearly all of the country’s population is enrolled. The incidence of senile dementia was studied from 2000-2010 in 8,362 subjects aged 50 years or over who were diagnosed with HSV-1 or HSV-2 infections, and in 25,086 age- and gender-matched individuals with no HSV infection. The risk of developing SD in the HSV infected group was 2.56-fold greater than in uninfected controls. This effect was mainly observed in HSV-1 infected individuals.

      Some of the HSV-infected patients (N = 7, 215) were treated with one of a number of antivirals, including acyclovir and valacyclovir. These individuals had nearly a 10 fold decrease in the incidence of SD compared with those who were untreated (N = 1,147). Over the next 10 years, 419 (5.80%) developed dementia in the antiviral treated group, while 325 (28.33%) of the untreated group developed dementia."

      The actual study:

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29488144

  31. Other studies have managed this too by umafuckit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you read the literature (or just Google) you'll see that others have also managed to eliminate the plaques in various ways. However it remains unclear whether removal of the plaques leads to cognitive improvements. In some cases the animal models show improvement and in other cases not. The situation is even more unclear in people. There's a quick overview here. My own hunch is that a combination of early detection and then a treatment of some sort will be the way forward. Probably cognitive impairement will be hard to fix.

    1. Re:Other studies have managed this too by apol · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Personally I see more hope in the personalized, drugless approaches, such as Dr. Bredesen's MEND protocol. For me large part of medical scientists are too obsessed about finding drugs and don't pay enough attention to alternatives.

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

      https://chriskresser.com/new-h...

      https://www.aging-us.com/artic...

    2. Re:Other studies have managed this too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup - like brushing your teeth - removing brain plague doesn't necessarily do anything useful, but the scans will look better...

    3. Re:Other studies have managed this too by labradort · · Score: 1

      Too bad those funding this research don't do their diligence and find these people are just milking the system for more useless results.

    4. Re:Other studies have managed this too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ew.

  32. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whooooosh

  33. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is aimed at the GP: You want entitlement, you can work my 60+ hour weeks for less than my parents made. Fuck off, we bust our asses to fix YOUR bullshit.

    We'll fix the fuckups of our parents' generation, but it's going to cost us our entire goddamn lives to do it. So fuck you.

  34. Turmeric/Curcumin by greylion3 · · Score: 2

    I find it odd that this hasn't been mentioned in the comments already.

    Turmeric has the very useful effect of dissolving brain plaque.
    No need for expensive treatment.

    --
    Privacy begins with ..
    1. Re:Turmeric/Curcumin by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Curcumin helps several things in the body, and might help Alzheimer's, but by itself it's not enough.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  35. Re:This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bi by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 0

    Letting people have authority over their own body ... when it doesn't just involve cutting off your dick. Trump really is evil personified.

  36. Re:The average nazi requires several hours of tort by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gee that sounds very much like what real Nazis said about the Jews. So what does that make you?

  37. Re:This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Letting people have authority over their own body ... when it doesn't just involve cutting off your dick. Trump really is evil personified.

    Cut your dick of if you wish, just not on my dime. If you need drugs for the rest of your life to remain in your "prefered gender", then you fucking pay for them.

  38. Re:Killing nazis is the only citation that matters by MiniMike · · Score: 0

    One limitation of Presidential pardon powers is that they can't pardon state crimes, only federal crimes. If Trump was tried and found guilty in a state court Pence could not pardon him.

    Not saying anything on the chances of this actually happening...

  39. Re:This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nobody was talking about dicks, but that was the first place you went. Nobody was talking about trump being evil for signing a stupid bill, but that was the second place you went. You've got some weird psychosexual group narcissistic personality disorder with delusions of paranoia going on. Sounds like you need a pretty heavy dose of ultrasound too. When you go to bed tonight, make sure to put your tinfoil hat on, it will amplify the ultrasound that the sjw team will be beaming in through the wall.

  40. Re:This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So when you get a heart attack from eating too much and wanking your rage boner during the hours and hours of fox news nazi porn, you'll be fine paying for everything yourself too? Good, because that shit will bankrupt you into an early grave and the world will be a better place without ya.

  41. Royal Rife by Skinkie · · Score: 1

    I wonder how this relates to the Radionics work of Royal Rife.

    --
    Support Eachother, Copy Dutch Property!
  42. That finally explains it! by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Those noises in my head are just trying to knock the plaque loose!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  43. But, but, but.. by s122604 · · Score: 1, Funny

    How is this possible, I was assured that medical advancement were only possible if we put corporations in control of medicine.

  44. BTW, herpes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Statistically, most people reading this have herpes. Herpes creates these plaques in the brain. Statistically most people reading this can benefit from this.
    That's pretty big IMHO.

  45. heart disease? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Wait ... does this work in general? Could you clear arteries with ultrasound instead of say quadruple bypass surgery?

    1. Re:heart disease? by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      There are numerous things - supplements and medicines - that reduce and even remove arterial plaques over time. These approaches should start early, because the more blockage that already exists the harder it is to remove it. Bypass surgery is very invasive and there's a lot of healing that has to take place after the operation. If it's possible to avoid bypass surgery by using chemicals or a stent, that should be done.

      If ultrasound works to clear arterial plaques, it would have to be used very carefully. If the ultrasound breaks off a chunk of plaque, it might then lodge in the brain or heart, causing a stroke or heart attack.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  46. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 1

    The longer they're able to keep screwing up EVERYTHING, the worse off earth will be.

    Flamebait trolling aside, if you help seniors with dementia you're actually saving the system money.

    Also, will you have the same opinion in 50 years when *you're* starting to forget who the people around you are?

  47. Shake It Baby ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When we were kids there was a hazard of getting a real shaking to correct our behavior. Now we see science wanting to shake our brains with ultra-sound in order to correct our thinking.

  48. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    White Baby boomers produced ...

    While toiling for the state that will eventually betray them, the average russian/nk/iranian/chinese /. troller generates 27.9 mega-dibits per fortnight of transient null subtext.

  49. Re:Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's all been downhill since Cro decided to stick out his Magnon. Things were good before then, back when we ate a real paleo diet.

    It's been downhill since humans started walking upright.

  50. Poor Terry Prachett by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

    This looks like the most promising treatment yet, and he missed this by just a few scant years, after donated heavily to Alzheimer's research before dying (or rather, deciding to die before becoming a mental vegetable).

    --

    Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
  51. Ropers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We should all start a movement of sending Soap-on-a-Rope to Trump for Christmas.

    CAPTCHA: ropers

    I shit you not!!

  52. Consider the economic loss by lamer01 · · Score: 1

    Some of these patients go from being economic producers to economic consumers. Granted, the care of these people employs an army of people that may otherwise not have jobs. Let's how it plays out.

    1. Re:Consider the economic loss by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Granted, the care of these people employs an army of people that may otherwise not have jobs.

      This is a variant of the Broken Window Fallacy.

      The purpose of a job is to create goods and services, not "keeping people busy". Zero-sum jobs are not good for the economy, and the labor intensive nature of dementia care is a very negative thing with no silver lining.

  53. It will not be stolen if it is not needed by lamer01 · · Score: 1

    A person who has enough material goods probably has no need to steal. So, context is important. People who think they are 'good' may steal if their kid needs to eat and there's no money for food.

    1. Re:It will not be stolen if it is not needed by jpaine619 · · Score: 1
      "May" is not "Will"

      A 62-year-old homeless woman from Calgary, Canada found a purse stuffed with over $10,000 in cash, and even though she was living at the local YWCA shelter at the time, she chose to turn it in. “It never crossed my mind to keep the money,” she said. “It’s not mine to keep.”

      http://listverse.com/2013/09/0...

      Some may, some may not. Not everyone is a thief, regardless of circumstances. Context generally has very little to do with a person's character at the other end of the spectrum. While I don't dispute that someone may steal to eat, having material goods seems to have very little effect in preventing crooks from being crooks. If that was the case, rich people wouldn't embezzle or commit fraud to become even richer.

  54. Re:Killing nazis is the only citation that matters by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

    Agreed. However I am unaware of any state charges at present. Are you?

    Such charges would also have to be leveled after he leaves office, I believe, as there is no precedent for charging a sitting President (any sitting Federal Official that I am aware of) in a state court while in office.

  55. Re:This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bi by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    A society cannot consume more than it produces. Stealing from others to pay for anything, including health expenses, is immoral, inefficient, and impractical. Payment of health expenses through government programs is theft.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  56. Re: I really hope this works, Alzheimer's is FUCKE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's funny because Obama used 'I' the most whereas the pussy grabbing Trump used 'we'.

  57. Re:This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your post is just a jumble of non-sequiturs. I'm sure it makes sense inside your fox-addled mind. But to the rest of us out here in the land of sane, its clear that you are in dire need of mental healthcare that you can not afford on your own and as a consequence are dragging down society by the persistence of your mental malfunction.

  58. Re: Can we please stop helping the Boomers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That "stupid" wall is a force multiplier, it will save far more money for the country than its initial and upkeep costs. It is stupid to want to block it for that and many other reasons.

  59. Re:THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES NAZI FAGGOT KEN DOLL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just out of interest, do you intend to still be posting this same post in a) 1 year b) 5 years c) until you die? Please select the closest option.

  60. Re:This is Why Congress Passed the Right-to-Try Bi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stealing from others to pay for anything, including health expenses, is immoral, inefficient, and impractical.

    A healthy workforce is a productive workforce. Countries that allow individuals to become permanently unproductive due to temporary illness will be less efficient and will ultimately be crushed by countries that keep their workforce healthy. By that measure you are a traitor to your country and should be eliminated.

  61. Re:Killing nazis is the only citation that matters by torkus · · Score: 1

    That presumes a state court has jurisdiction over the office of the president of the united states ... which is very unlikely to be proven out should one actually try it.

    And if that did somehow come to pass, I expect the (many) lawyers would argue the crime should be a federal matter anyway, push it into federal court, and then it becomes pardonable.

    But in a practical sense (and that's to say self-preservation for politicians) no state court is going to start charging presidents (or senators etc.) in their court rooms. Why? Because then any lowly court could, in theory, take any trumped (lol) up charge and hold any politician as a criminal for the duration of the trial. Basically ... you could have a pissed off DA and judge from the other party pulling senators and house reps into jail in their states.

    Never. Going. To. Happen. It's mutually assured destruction among people broadly insulated from any such worries.

    --
    You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.