We May Finally Know What Causes Alzheimer's -- and How To Stop It (newscientist.com)

We may finally have found the long-elusive cause of Alzheimer's disease: Porphyromonas gingivalis, the key bacteria in chronic gum disease. New Scientist: That's bad, as gum disease affects around a third of all people. But the good news is that a drug that blocks the main toxins of P. gingivalis is entering major clinical trials this year, and research published Wednesday shows it might stop and even reverse Alzheimer's. There could even be a vaccine. Alzheimer's is one of the biggest mysteries in medicine. As populations have aged, dementia has skyrocketed to become the fifth biggest cause of death worldwide. Alzheimer's constitutes some 70 per cent of these cases and yet, we don't know what causes it.

Comments

People, Just Floss

[moehoward]

Just floss people. And don't FORGET to floss. The more you floss, the less you will forget to floss. See how that works?

Re:People, Just Floss

[Oswald McWeany]

Just floss people. And don't FORGET to floss. The more you floss, the less you will forget to floss. See how that works?

I'm really not much of a dancer though.

Re:People, Just Floss

[bugs2squash]

mental floss ?

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

Just who do you think you are, an ophthalmologist?

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

That is what I came here to say. Floss your teeth.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the culprit was metal, aluminum specifically from pots, un-coated aluminum cans, etc.,
that found its way into the brain. This would be great if it's really true...

CAP === 'console'

Re:People, Just Floss

[Uteck]

Maybe this will prompt changes to include dental coverage in with medical and not some half covered separate insurance with limited payout.
Diet is so important to your health, but getting damaged teeth fixed is expensive and mostly out of pocket. So you end up eating pre-processed crap that is bad for your health.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

An easier way is to just have all your teeth removed.

Or if you don't want to go that far, have all the spaces between your teeth filled in.

Re:People, Just Floss

[aliquis]

I don't see enough movement!

Re:People, Just Floss

[ShanghaiBill]

That is what I came here to say. Floss your teeth.

No. Bad advice. Get a Waterpik. Waterpiks are more effective than string flossing at reducing plaque.

Waterpiks are also faster and easier to use, and people are more likely to use them consistently.

Add a jigger of fluoride mouthwash to the water, for even better results.

Re:People, Just Floss

[ShanghaiBill]

I thought the culprit was metal, aluminum specifically from pots, un-coated aluminum cans, etc.,
that found its way into the brain.

No. This was debunked long ago.

Myths about Alzheimers

Re:People, Just Floss

[dargaud]

"Floss had never been researched by the committees that review science". In other words it's never been studied, and it's mostly bullshit, unlike other dental cares like brushing or adding fluorine to water.

Re:People, Just Floss

[ledow]

And yet - there are almost no studies I can find where the statistics for Alzheimer's are directly correlative to dental health - literally it's death rate is low in low-health countries only because they die of other things first, but the incidence when that's factored out is the same.

Even between developed countries with insane dental habits versus those more lax (e.g. Europe etc. it's not neccessarily normal to floss every single day, especially if there's not something stuck), Alzheimer's prevalence is the same.

It's just not as simple as this summary seems to imply, and you can tell that by literally just comparing like-for-like countries that differ only in general dental habits (or even, say, against recorded instances of dental caries etc).

Any kind of correlation like that it going to jump out at any Alzheimer's researcher like a sore thumb - they work with these people all the time and record every detail they can to try to track down even the most minor of correlations, even informally.

P.S. Even the Wiki article on flossing says: "Several reviews, however, have failed to find any clear benefit over toothbrushing alone". It's literally only the US that flosses with any kind of gusto as a normal part of life.

"In response to an Associated Press investigation, the US government stopped recommending flossing in their 2015 U.S. dietary guidelines, having deliberately changed their focus to food and nutrition, and stated that effects of flossing had never been researched as required."

Re:People, Just Floss

[lgw]

Maybe this will prompt changes to include dental coverage in with medical and not some half covered separate insurance with limited payout.

I think the difference in insurance companies is just the result of the difference in practitioners. Back when the whole idea was new, companies going around to convince doctors to accept insurance happened to be different from companies focusing on dentists.

I don't think there's any evil conspiracy here, and I'm convinced the limited payout limits the number of crowns your dentist will one day insist you need each year. Funny thing how judgement calls work when profit is at hand.

You don't generally realize how odd the whole situation is until you need dental surgery, and get deep into the confusion of what's covered by dental vs medical insurance.

Re:People, Just Floss

[drinkypoo]

That's bad, as gum disease affects around a third of all people. But the good news is that a drug that blocks the main toxins of P. gingivalis is entering major clinical trials this year,

Just floss people. And don't FORGET to floss. The more you floss, the less you will forget to floss. See how that works?

No, you missed the important part of the story. It's very important that you solve this problem with a drug which is entering major clinical trials this year! Otherwise, how will the poor starving yacht builders get work?

Re:People, Just Floss

[grep -v '.*' *]

eating pre-processed crap that is bad for your health.

But I *LIKE* pre-processed crap. I consider it my pay-it-forward duty: With all of the preservatives, aspartame, Red Die #2, and all, I'm saving the mortician time and effort.

If FRUITCAKE or BACON can look good after 100 years, so can I -- alive or dead.

Re: People, Just Floss

[Narcocide]

As far as I know there was a vague correlation with higher-than-normal aluminum content in the brain but no evidence for a more causal link was ever found. You can safely wear deodorant now, you stinky piece of shit.

Re:People, Just Floss

[aardvarkjoe]

Diet is so important to your health, but getting damaged teeth fixed is expensive and mostly out of pocket. So you end up eating pre-processed crap that is bad for your health.

Wait ... expensive dental care is the reason why people eat "pre-processed crap"?

I think you're missing a link or two in the chain of your logic there.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

What does a doctor that specialized in the eye have to do with oral health?

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

Diet is so important to your health, but getting damaged teeth fixed is expensive and mostly out of pocket. So you end up eating pre-processed crap that is bad for your health.

As a starting point, even just covering children could help a lot. Early check-ups and prevention can save a lot of money down the road.

Re:People, Just Floss

[LostMyAccount]

I always assumed that crappy dental coverage was a byproduct of the fact that a lot of dental problems are preventable if you take care of your teeth.

I actually think they should provide better coverage for major dental work like crowns and root canals, but worse coverage for fillings.

Some of the problem may be shady dentists, too. I've run into dentists that are really big on pushing work that is pretty marginal in terms of necessity, and it seems like there's a lot of effort to push expensive products in the dental office (electric toothbrushes at retail+ prices, specialty toothpastes, etc).

Re:People, Just Floss

[omfglearntoplay]

So like nobody I know in the US flosses regularly. Well, my dentist and his hygienist claim to. Some people are prone to gum disease, some are not. I almost never floss... never had a gum problem in my many decades of life. Hoping I'm staying in the 2/3 of the world who don't get gum disease. If you get it though, fuck me, go to the dentist, floss... rinse with garlic, eat cat litter, whatever the hell fixes it... because not only is alzheimer's a terrible way to get knocked down, you don't want gum disease breath to be how you get identified by your friends and family.

Re:People, Just Floss

[viperidaenz]

Do you not have free dental care for children?
https://www.health.govt.nz/you...

Re:People, Just Floss

[pnutjam]

Thanks, I remember when I was a kid my Mom through away all our aluminum pots and switched to Steel. Nevermind we all use antiperspirant, which is basically aluminum.

Re: People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

It was found in the plaques in the brain using transmission electron microscopy. They had forgot the stain they used to highlight the plaques had aluminium in it.

Re:People, Just Floss

[PhoenixFlare]

You don't generally realize how odd the whole situation is until you need dental surgery, and get deep into the confusion of what's covered by dental vs medical insurance.

So true. My wife is having surgery next month to remove a very belated wisdom tooth, and finding an oral surgeon that could bill it to our medical insurance was ridiculous. Ended up having to go with somewhere an hour away, even though there's a surgeon 10 minutes from our house.

Re:People, Just Floss

[penandpaper]

Jigger? Could I get that converted into Football fields please?

Re:People, Just Floss

[ShanghaiBill]

Jigger? Could I get that converted into Football fields please?

I have always used the term informally to mean more than a spoonful but less than a cup. But according to Google, "jigger" actually has a precise definition of 1.5 fluid ounces, or 44.36 ml. It is mostly used when mixing alcoholic drinks, and the device for measuring out precisely one jigger is also called a "jigger".

A "football field" is an area, not a volume, so no conversion is possible. But the Rose Bowl has a volume of 20,000,000 cubic feet, which is 12,766,753,247 jiggers.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

That is also my conclusion after using waterpick.

I have no idea why my dentist insists on ancient tech. Or why should I be doing both if one is arguably less effective.

Re:People, Just Floss

[penandpaper]

Well played sir.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

we all use antiperspirant

Speak for yourself.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

Aluminum and Alzheimers both start with 'AL'. Pretty obviously related.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Xylantiel]

Yes, and just because gum disease CAN cause Alzheimer's (in mice) doesn't mean it is the main cause in humans. (I don't think this study is even that strong.) There is a good chance that Alzheimer's is like cancer -- there may be several different causes that all manifest in the same kind of failure in the brain.

On flossing... I have always thought that, unless you actually have gum disease, the main benefit is so that the dental hygienist has less to do when they clean the plaque off of your teeth. I would not be surprised that adding flossing to use of fluoride toothpaste and regular professional cleanings is has no marginal benefit except in special cases.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Megane]

Or as some prefer to say, "12.8 gigajiggers".

Re:People, Just Floss

[Megane]

Note that "deodorant" and "antiperspirant" are two different things. Only the latter has aluminum in it. If you are not prone to excessive sweating, you should just use deodorant.

Re:People, Just Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont have a horse in this race, but I dislike it when people dont and wont think and put the opinions of tiny foundations before what the medical industry is actually saying.

From 2017 via https://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com/the-alzheimers-aluminum-connection
"In 1982, I was a psychology major attending Georgia State University. One of my favorite professors told us, “If you don’t want to get Alzheimer’s, avoid aluminum. When the brains of Alzheimer’s victims were studied post mortem, the one thing they all had in common was aluminum in their brain tissue. Don’t drink from aluminum cans. Stop buying canned food. And stop cooking in aluminum pans.”"

From 2018 via https://universityhealthnews.com/daily/memory/aluminum-linked-to-alzheimers-disease/
"Aluminum is a neurotoxin, that is, a poison to the brain and nervous system. Some experts have long speculated that this metal plays a role in Alzheimer’s disease, and evidence is steadily mounting that it indeed does."

Good to see it was debunked by a charity with a cool sounding domain name. A foundation no less. With $50,000 spent on research but twice as much spent on 'awareness', whatever that means! Check out their financial reports yourself. When were those 'facts' last revised and updated to match the current state of the art science? 2006 is the latest date I could find on that page. Can you please confirm?

Its a well known fact that aluminium can bypass the blood/brain barrier because of its size. That the doctors are finding concentrations of aluminium in the brain at the rate of the increase of this disease should frighten anyone. Saying it is not so with a few ancient citations is an old conman's trick to forever elicit donations, yet never trying to spend any of it to find a cure. We've had cancer since before 1940 and after 80 years and billions and billions of dollars spent the best we can do is hit cancer with Chemo which, in nearly all cases, masticates the tumor while buying minimal time.

80 years.

Billions and billions.

All for nothing.

Can you then let us all know, where you learned how to think and did it come with a certificate? You might want to ask for your money back.

Re:People, Just Floss

[pnutjam]

Yeah, I was. "We" referred to my brothers and I.

I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Given the state of the world some days I was kind of looking forward to alzheimers/dementia.

Re:I dunno...

[jellomizer]

I thought the president is already suffering from dementia.
I am not trying to troll.
But we have the nations oldest president, who seems to be getting much of its advice not from experts but from TV Political Pundents, who seems angry and bitter all the time, seems to be fearing everyone around him and with a lot of attitudes regression a lot like a child.

There is a good chance we are dealing with early onset Dementia with the president.

Re: I dunno...

[Ol Olsoc]

Was this funded by the government?

Maybe Coward could read the story and find out?

Re: I dunno...

[jfdavis668]

I doubt this study was conducted in the last month.

Re: I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it was funded by my dental hygienist. I assume so anyway given how much crap she gives me for not flossing.

Re:I dunno...

[Oswald McWeany]

I thought the president is already suffering from dementia.
I am not trying to troll.
But we have the nations oldest president, who seems to be getting much of its advice not from experts but from TV Political Pundents, who seems angry and bitter all the time, seems to be fearing everyone around him and with a lot of attitudes regression a lot like a child.

There is a good chance we are dealing with early onset Dementia with the president.

I don't think it's dementia. Paranoia certainly. Mild schizophrenia, he seems partially disconnected from reality, and narcissistic disorders are very likely. He's probably on the autism spectrum as shown by his rigid thinking and lack of empathy. I don't think he is suffering from dementia though.

Re:I dunno...

[dasunt]

I don't think it's dementia. Paranoia certainly. Mild schizophrenia, he seems partially disconnected from reality, and narcissistic disorders are very likely. He's probably on the autism spectrum as shown by his rigid thinking and lack of empathy. I don't think he is suffering from dementia though.

While I'm not dismissing multiple explanations for Trump's behavior, please check out the times that Trump fails to properly carry out basic tasks.

He's unable to properly load a pickup truck, for example. And he has failed to figure out how to handle an umbrella while entering an airplane.

Re:I dunno...

[GLMDesigns]

Really? You're serious.

I guess the fact that:

- the EU acquiesed by lowering tariffs was the work of someone with dementia?
- Renegotiating NAFTA.
- Pulling us out of the ridiculous Paris Climate Treaty (you know that China and India and others were not affected by the restrictions, and that there was income transfer from the US (read the taxpayers, presumably you) to other countries.
- China is now offering to buy a trillion dollars of US merchandise in order for the US to remove the tariffs (these tariffs matched China's tariffs on our goods)

AND that there is great news coming from the Korean Peninsula. Besides meetings the:
- loudspeakers (industrial sized cross-border propaganda systems) were torn down.
- Mines have and are being dug up
- bodies have been exhumed from mass graves and returned to SK and the USA - and yes DNA tests confirms the remains
- Discussions and work has been started on linking the peninsula via railroads and highways.

But you think he's demented. Really?

Aren't you ashamed of the US media post the Kavanaugh debacle, after the Covington Catholic High School craziness, after lie, after lie regarding Trump and his supporters.

And, in case it matters, I'm not a Republican. I'm not a conservative. And, I didn't vote for Trump.

Re:I dunno...

[tomhath]

I'm also not a big fan, but he is getting a lot accomplished that people with TDS don't want to acknowledge.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Paranoia is a symptom (early indicator) of dementia.

It causes the patient to isolate themselves and not to seek treatment.

Re:I dunno...

[bobbied]

I thought the president is already suffering from dementia. I am not trying to troll.

Of course you are trolling. Trump's mental status is not a question here, he's just fine in that regard. I fear some mistake Trump's lack of political sharpness as a mental problem, but it's really not.

Trump's problem is he's unskilled in political speak, which starts with controlling what comes out of your mouth and the substituting the proper focus group tested catch phrases instead. He just says what comes to mind, which is often something which is ill advised. He's learning to not do this, but his first instincts about what to say are not tempered in the political correctness of the day.

Also, Trump isn't taking guff off of anybody, politically, personally or otherwise. When he's attacked, he responds. Again, this is lack of political experience and caring for political correctness and is often seen as petty and vindictive. This is unusual behavior for political figures, but it's understandable.

None of the above reflect on his mental status, but are personality traits. So you are trolling. Trump's mental status is just fine.

Re:I dunno...

[bobbied]

Political leaders are usually narcissists as are CEO's and executive officers of large successful companies. It kind of runs with the territory.

But the question really is if that's a problem for a president to be one? I don't think so.

I was raised by a narcissist, so I'm quite familiar with their personality traits. Where I don't envy the folks who work for them, they tend to burn folks up with their demands, they can be very effective managers and good leaders at times.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not in order but:

Pulling out the Paris ckinaye treaty was not a smart move. Not only for our planet but geopolitically it contradicted over a decade of US policy demonstrating uncertainty in US commitments.

Renegotiating NAFTA likewise did the same and there were no major gains. The primary issues that displace US and foreign workers are still factors.

China has previously promised other more meaningful changes to it's policies and indeed has already opened more of it's market due to past negotiations. However, it has often not carried them out to the extent they were agreed upon. We can only wait to see what if any agreements will be made and whether they will actually be realized.

Finally, just about everything you have described about North Korea seems more strongly related to the work of the leftist South Korean president than the US. The South Korean president who seems more friendly to China, seems to be more willing to make concessions to the North than any other administration was before. If anything, it seems they have been able to make gains despite Trump not because of Trump. If anything the Hardline rhetoric and threats of nuclear destruction by the US president might have only helped to give the South Korean president leverage over Hawks in the South Korean government. However, even with these gains the North has shown a steady commitment to hiding and maintaining some of it's Nuclear arsenal and Trump's rhetoric only legitimized their argument for using it as a deterrence.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a good chance we are dealing with early onset Dementia with the president.

You could say the same about his "base".

Re: I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Come for the science about Alzheimerâ(TM)s, stay for the triggered libtards.

Re:I dunno...

[dargaud]

Right now, he's acting like a child in the terrible twos that doesn't get the toy he wants and holds his breath 'til he gets what he wants.

It's more like he's holding other people's breath 'til he gets what he wants...

Re: I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't piss off your hygienist. You are sitting there helpless while they put sharp objects in your mouth.

Re:I dunno...

[CanadianMacFan]

He grew up rich and has been rich all of his life. He ha had people to do things for him every day of his life and so he hasn't developed real world skills such as folding an umbrella or diplomacy. He's gone through life just having to say what he wants and it gets done. Probably for the first time in his life there are other people that are telling the spoiled rich kid "No" and he doesn't know how to deal with it.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

He's probably on the autism spectrum as shown by his rigid thinking and lack of empathy.

Actually his behavior is closer to that of a sociopath.

Re:I dunno...

[necro81]

I fear some mistake Trump's lack of political sharpness as a mental problem, but it's really not....[C]ontrolling what comes out of your mouth and the substituting the proper focus group tested catch phrases instead. He just says what comes to mind....Also, Trump isn't taking guff off of anybody, politically, personally or otherwise. When he's attacked, he responds.

I disagree. There is a difference for someone spouting unpopular opinions, not taking any guff off of anybody, etc., and the uninformed, incoherent drivel that comes from Trump's mouth. He seems to lack the ability to speak in complete sentences, goes off on rambling tangents, and refuses to accept contrary information.

There are plenty of articulate trolls out there - people who can speak and debate eloquently about contrary positions, and insult the hell out of their opponents to boot. Trump, well, he's just like angry Uncle Joe that no one wants at Thanksgiving. It may not be a (clinical, diagnose-able) mental state problem, but it definitely is a mental fitness problem, and not an attribute I want in a President.

Re:I dunno...

[lgw]

There is a good chance we are dealing with early onset Dementia with the president.

Ahh, the "everyone is smart but Trump" brigade comes out. Funny how demented Trump just keeps winning, and embarrassing his opponents. Admittedly, the bar for outsmarting your opponents is really very low in politics.

Re: I dunno...

[dasunt]

Remember that time you were upset Republicans pointed out how sickly and unstable Hillary was, because she kept falling over or shaking uncontrollably?

Stop assuming that someone who criticizes Trump is a die hard Hillary supporter.

Re:I dunno...

[ichimunki]

If someone is in their 70's, that's not "early onset" dementia, which is typically reserved for people under 65. What I think you mean is "early stages of dementia".

Re:I dunno...

[cyberchondriac]

In that case he fits right in with Washington, because Pelosi is acting like a 2 year too.

Re:I dunno...

[bobbied]

Well, we have a disagreement for which there are no objective criteria to resolve as you are arguing from a subjective stance now.

It's obvious that he doesn't have any serious mental issues which can be debated on objective criteria, all we have are subjective "I don't like his tone" or "I don't like his personality" statements from you.

So if you think he sounds like an angry Uncle Joe, so be it, that's your opinion. He doesn't sound like that guy to me. He sounds like a guy who is too quick to speak at times but speaks his mind regularly, but that's no big deal for me. I don't always agree with what he says, but I don't see how it's a problem that he chooses to say that stuff. In fact, it's kind of refreshing that he's not afraid of speaking his mind, instead of falling back on political speak all the time.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

So you're saying he's not a slave to opinion polls? Good grief ... that's terrible. I'm sure Pelosi (for the wall, against the wall, for illegal immigration, against illegal immigration) is a much better politician; she's gotten rich off being a politician. However, that doesn't make her a better leader. Remember, her only job is to get reelected, and she's been gathering power a lot longer than Trump has.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

how the fuck old does he need to be for it to not be considered "early onset"? He's the oldest President we've ever had, and is old enough that if he dropped dead of simple old age tomorrow, nobody would think it was even a little bit weird.

Re:I dunno...

[HiThere]

On Korea...
It might be a "good cop/bad cop" kind of negotiation. The problem is I don't think the "bad cop" is acting.

Re:I dunno...

[HiThere]

The problem with calling it senile dementia is that it's not a recent development. It's not like Reagan, who was personable and vile, but lost his marbles during his term in office. Trump doesn't ever seem to have had any marbles to lose. He's been undependable and unreliable (as well as bigoted) as far back as is recorded. I suspect his grade school teachers would say he's improved "a little bit".

Re:I dunno...

[Narcocide]

I'm sure he's on drugs.

Re:I dunno...

[rwyoder]

I thought the president is already suffering from dementia.
I am not trying to troll.
But we have the nations oldest president, who seems to be getting much of its advice not from experts but from TV Political Pundents, who seems angry and bitter all the time, seems to be fearing everyone around him and with a lot of attitudes regression a lot like a child.

There is a good chance we are dealing with early onset Dementia with the president.

Just watch the British documentary (a 4-part series) "Trump: An American Dream". It is available on Netflix.
There are lots of interview clips over the years, and it is obvious that his speaking ability degraded between 2000 and 2010.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not even remotely, by what childish basis do you measure this by? The Left and mainstream media are far closer to sociopathy, with their 24/7 obsessive hate, fixation on identity politics, and socialist/communist tendencies. Look how they just brutally attacked an innocent 16 year old kid who was actually being bullied and wanted no part of the media circus; they still haven't addressed the slurs the Black Israelites were slinging a them though, or that fact that drummer man was lying through his teeth about the incident and has lied about his service as well. Nope, many are doubling down on their hate, though a few have had the decency to apologize and retract their original ignorant statements.
Keep projecting; one day this will all rebound on you, in the dystopia you create.

Re:I dunno...

[Opportunist]

That's why I wonder whether some histrionic traits come into play too. Normally they're way better at hiding that their egocentric assholes.

Re:I dunno...

[swillden]

I thought the president is already suffering from dementia.

This is interesting: https://www.statnews.com/2017/...

Re:I dunno...

[necro81]

but I don't see how it's a problem that he chooses to say that stuff.

Even when the things he says are obviously, demonstrably, and repeatedly incorrect? Don't you expect more from your leaders? I sure as hell do.

Re:I dunno...

[jellomizer]

Well about 60% of the population will blindly side with someone who is a party member (30% will always support republicans no matter what and will change their views to match them) and 30% will be the same for democrats. For these people Politics is a religion to them, and spurred by divisive media from the 24/7 breaking news channels, they have become very vocal, and become far more entrenched in such a camp. Now to them the other side just isn't wrong, but they EVIL. This group usually suffers mostly lack of education, and isolated living (in terms of political diversity). This group on the republican side is the Lion share of the Trump Base, they may be healthy, tolerant, overall intelligent and good people, just as long as you don't get them started about politics.

30% (15% on both directions) who will lean in a direction, however can spot to a a different degree, of things their preferred side is doing wrong, and what the other side is doing right. A smaller part of this will also fall under the Trump Base, these people are actually the "Deplorable" and could be suffering brain damage. These people normally should be able to see right from wrong however for some reason they think a lot of trumps actions are "Right". Now this is talking about the core base, not all of Trump voters, in the 2016 election. Because most experience has taught us was there is normally a difference on what someone says when getting into office, compared to what happens after they get in the chair and see what is really needed. So a good portion of this group who voted for trump but are not in the base, now sees that his leadership isn't as good as they expected.

There is about 10% of the population who doesn't care or have a stance.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Johnson
Nixon
Reagan
Bush I & II

If Trump is suffering from dementia isn't the first.

Re:I dunno...

[im_thatoneguy]

Except you'll be reliving the late 2010s over and over and over.... Trump will your president forever.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the president is already suffering from dementia.
I am not trying to troll.

Of course you are trolling. Trump's mental status is not a question here, he's just fine in that regard. ...etc... Trump's mental status is just fine.

Bullshit.

Anyone who can't see his NPD is digging their head in a hole.

Granted, NPD is not dementia, but it is a mental disorder. As our first mentally challenged President, DJT, is struggling, but he is still winning, Bigly.

We're all winning so much, we can't stand it anymore.

Re: I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

As a high-functioning autistic, I'd like to dismiss a common misconception here. Autism doesn't cause a lack of empathy, it causes a lack of emotional understanding. If we don't understand what emotion someone else is feeling, we can't empathise. But when we do understand, we tend to empathise more strongly than an average person.

And before anyone points out this is getting off-topic, that's one of my strongest autistic traits and it makes my brain itch to not explain.

Re:I dunno...

[bobbied]

but I don't see how it's a problem that he chooses to say that stuff.

Even when the things he says are obviously, demonstrably, and repeatedly incorrect? Don't you expect more from your leaders? I sure as hell do.

About nothing that really matters, while his statements are picked apart, made into sound bites and bandied about as if they are proof of things which are totally out of context.

I never said Trump isn't hard to listen to, but I do say that it takes a lot of critical thinking to understand what he means. You have to actually listen to him IN CONTEXT and stop trying to listen to the pundits who are spouting sound bites. Yea, he's said some stuff that wasn't true, he speaks off the cuff and sometimes is less informed than he realizes or getting information from bad sources, who among us isn't guilty of that? But he is not pathological or trying to deceive in these cases, he's just misinformed, much like the media darling AOC who is woefully misinformed and runs off her mouth all the time.

Then, there is the whole pundit sound bite cherry picking that goes on in the news. That is TOTALY unfair to Trump. I've listened to pressers where Trump was speaking and heard him say things which where ostensibly true if taken in context, but because he was less than artful in his choice of words, the media took the quote, supplied their own context and made it sound like it was a lie. The sound bite would make it around the world before the retraction got its shoes on and that's the default setting for some in the media.

Am I wrong? Are the media not ready to pronounce the demise of Trump at a moment's notice? Do they not drop "bombshell" after "bombshell" report that turns out to be ostensibly false all the while ignoring good things that Trump does and says? Google "Buzzfeed and Cohen" and see how ready the media is to attack Trump, or consider the story of the young men who got castigated for being racist protestors in DC by nearly everybody, when their only crime was standing in a public place wearing a MAGA hat?

Step back a bit. Trump isn't a bad guy who's self serving and lying about it. He's legitimately trying to do the right thing, as he sees it. You may not like what he does, but because you disagree with his actions and guiding principals doesn't mean he's some awful guy. Of course, it's easier to just pronounce judgment on another than it is to actually try to understand their position and negotiate with them.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah... no... Trump is really losing it. Yeah, he says politically incorrect things, blah blah blah. He also cannot complete a full sentence before babbling off onto three or four completely unrelated ideas. Half the stuff he says literally makes no sense. You try to hop onto Trump's train of thought and 5 minutes down the track you realize he forgot to get on and is wandering aimlessly around the station looking for brown people to yell at.

Re:I dunno...

[Swave An deBwoner]

She's acting like a statesman (stateswoman, actually).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/24/there-is-only-one-way-break-trumps-pathology-pelosi-has-found-it/

Re:I dunno...

[Swave An deBwoner]

I disagree. Even rich kids learn to use an umbrella and to deal respectfully and honorably with others.

That DJT didn't learn that is an important distinction.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi is displaying clear signs of dementia.

Re:I dunno...

[Anonymous Coward]

wow, just, wow..

Re:I dunno...

[cyberchondriac]

She wasn't willing to negotiate one iota, and this is just an opinion piece you've cited. Might as well be the Huff Post editorial board. Oh wait, they'e gone!

Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Anonymous Coward]

"Poor oral health is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. What’s not clear is whether gum disease causes the disorder or is merely a result"

EDITORS, EDIT !

Re:Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Anonymous Coward]

Naturally, or there would a a whole lot of animals getting Alzheimer's since they can't brush or floss.

Re: Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Anonymous Coward]

But they donâ(TM)t eat sugary snacks

Re:Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you read the *entire* article, or did you just stop when you got triggered?

"Some brain samples from people without Alzheimer’s also had P. gingivalis and protein accumulations, but at lower levels. We already know that amyloid and tau can accumulate in the brain for 10 to 20 years before Alzheimer’s symptoms begin. This, says Lynch, shows P. gingivalis is a cause of Alzheimer’s, not a result."

Re: Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Anonymous Coward]

So, flossing somehow fixes effects of sugar in snacks?

Re:Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Narcocide]

How would you know if there were though? Maybe this explains why they're always forgetting to floss.

Re:Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[doconnor]

We only have teeth and gum problems because cereals became a staple of our diet only about 20,000 years ago. Not enough time to adapt to the new diet. Animals who eat their natural diets generally don't have the problems we do with our teeth.

Re:Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Anonymous Coward]

I have gum disease and only eat grits and eggs for breakfast.

Re:Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[gweihir]

Actually, the article specifically discusses indications why the gum disease is likely the cause and not just an effect.

Re:Headline is a LIE, article makes that clear

[Anonymous Coward]

Grits ARE a cereal, dumbass.

Control group.

[Anonymous Coward]

So a control group was set up between those had a lifetime of practicing good dental hygiene and those that didn't and saw who had higher incidents of Alzheimer's?

Re:Control group.

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh oh, you forgot how to spell "incidence". Better start flossing!

Re:Control group.

[HiThere]

No. This is a first result. If it's found interesting enough (sounds like it should be) *THEN* controlled studies will be done. I don't know that a blind study could be ethically done, however, as even if it doesn't cause Alzheimer's gum disease is a disease, and likely to make you lose your teeth.

OTOH, maybe they'll just do studies where they neutralize the toxin, and if that prevents or cures Alzheimer's that that will probably suffice.

Just... no.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is quite a dumb study that's almost certainly wrong.

Nonsense

[TechyImmigrant]

Alzheimer's is an glucose metabolism disorder of the brain that rides along with all the other symptoms of Western metabolic syndrome.

Just like all the other things 'associated' with Alzheimer's, fixing this bacteria will not halt Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is increasing because metabolic syndrome is increasing.

Re:Nonsense

[Anonymous Coward]

Aaaaaand we have the perfect slashcomment. Experts say X, someone stops in here, says it's false, provides no links, no proof, just an unflinching assertion.

Re:Nonsense

[MightyYar]

Alzheimer's is distinct from vascular dementia. From this study:

Metabolic syndrome was present in 15.8% of the study participants. The presence of metabolic syndrome increased the risk of incident vascular dementia but not Alzheimer's disease over 4 years, independent of sociodemographic characteristics and the apolipoprotein (apo) E4 allele.

Re:Nonsense

[TechyImmigrant]

Nahh. I was channeling the experts. Google Type 3 Diabetes.

Re:Nonsense

[Anonymous Coward]

Listen, it's called s.c.e.i.n.c.e. Think of it as global warming for the brain.

CAP === 'surrey'

Re:Nonsense

[bill_mcgonigle]

(+5, Confident) is the way things go here lately.

Re:Nonsense

[lgw]

Thanks. It's posts like this that keep Slashdot interesting, rather then just armchair experts making shit up.

Re:Nonsense

[Anonymous Coward]

"The categorization is not embraced by the medical community, though a limited number of published reviews have forwarded putative mechanisms linking Alzheimer's and insulin resistance."

Re:Nonsense

[TechyImmigrant]

>The categorization is not embraced by the medical community

Well not embraced by the slow ones at least. There's a bucketload of research and the T3D hypothesis is looking pretty strong.

This is exciting news

[nehumanuscrede]

until you factor in the inevitable greed variable from the Pharmaceutical Cartel.
You know as well as I what they're going to do.

They'll buy it up, crank the price to the point of sheer lunacy and charge folks something like $100,000+ for the treatment.

Even if we have cures for all the diseases that ever existed, until someone regulates the GD Pharmaceutical industry, it will only be an option for the super-rich.
( I'm not about to hand over my entire life's savings to be ' cured ' only to live in financial misery the rest of my life. I'd rather die and give that money to my family. )

Re:This is exciting news

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll buy it up, crank the price to the point of sheer lunacy and charge folks something like $100,000+ for the treatment.

"They'll buy it up, crank the price to the point of sheer lunacy and charge folks something like $100,000+ for the treatment."

Only in the US, the rest of the world pays about 12.50$

Re: This is exciting news

[Anonymous Coward]

Bacteria causes all kinds of terrible things if left free to roam the halls.
You can get gum infections when you mix every ingredient you can find into a casserole. Flossing is highly advisable if served such a dish. It is also likely if you have the good sense to refuse to eat such a thing that you will be accused of having dementia

Re:This is exciting news

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, once AOC jacks the income tax to 70% you won't have any life savings to hand over.
Why bother coming up with something to help you that costs a lot when they can just take it at gun point?

Re:This is exciting news

[SlaveToTheGrind]

They'll buy it up, crank the price to the point of sheer lunacy and charge folks something like $100,000+ for the treatment.

Think through what you would do if you owned the rights to it and wanted to maximize profits. Assume cost of production/distribution is fairly low, which is typically the case, and cost of development was ~$1B.

Choice 1: Price it sky high, say $100k. Sell a few thousand units (let's be really generous and say 100k) to people who (a) have the money and (b) are developing Alzheimer's or are worried they will. Revenue = ~$8-9B.

Choice 2: Make it affordable, say $100. Sell it to everyone as a prophylactic. Heck, get governments behind you as for vaccines. Revenue = ~$500B.

That doesn't seem like even remotely a close call.

Re: This is exciting news

[reanjr]

Another person who doesn't understand tax schedules or the difference between deductions and credits.

Re:This is exciting news

[bobbied]

until you factor in the inevitable greed variable from the Pharmaceutical Cartel. You know as well as I what they're going to do.

They'll buy it up, crank the price to the point of sheer lunacy and charge folks something like $100,000+ for the treatment.

My God! They will be charging more for dental floss! What's next?

Re: This is exciting news

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure I do.
Democrats are nearly universally multi-millionaires in DC. The ones that aren't just haven't done the corrupt things to get millions yet.
When you make your money illegally, you don't declare it on taxes and keep it:
Tim Geitner
Tom Daschle
John Kerry
Clintons, multiple times
Charles Rangle
etc.

History has shown that the aristocrats want to keep their money/power and make sure the little people don't get up to where they are. Income taxes are the best method of keeping the currently poor from becoming rich.
Many poor have figured out the stock market, so expect capitol gains taxes to increase greatly under DNC proposals as well.
Because money from corruption isn't taxed, so they don't care about tax rates and just don't pay taxes even when the law states they should.

Re:This is exciting news

[Dan1701]

No, I don't think that this will occur. What is more likely is that several major governments will buy the research instead and simply give away the treatment.

The reason I say this is that a person with Alzheimer's Disease costs money to look after. Even if the state isn't paying, then the person is still going to be a drag on the State since people who are looking after the dementia sufferer are not doing other things which would be producing tax revenue. Whichever way you slice it, demented people are a drain on the resources of a State.

However, if a government subsidises a partial cure or prevention system for Alzheimer's Disease, then several things happen. Firstly, fewer people get dementia before they die of old age, so the costs of caring for the elderly are reduced. Secondly, the government acquires an air of beneficence, which is politically good for them. Thirdly, research like this also ties into other research into other diseases.

By way of illustration of point three, there has over the last fifty years or so been a great reduction in heart and vascular disease. Part of this can be attributed to reduction of smoking (and switching from smoking tobacco to vapes), but by no means all the reduction. Some of the reduction is down to removing various toxins from the environment, such as coal smoke and lead in petrol (gasoline). However, what if living conditions have reduced the incidence of a background infection which was also contributing to the problem? Shouldn't we be on the look-out for things like this?

Re:This is exciting news

[Shotgun]

But, the rest of the world can only do that because the $100,000 treatments in the US funded the development of this new treatment.

Re: This is exciting news

[Shotgun]

Another clueless NPC who doesn't know how power really works.

They run the marginal tax rate up to ridiculous levels. Billionare calls up his friendly Congress critters and says, "Heh. Remember how much fun we had at my estate that you flew on my private jet to? Shouldn't my 2,000 acre estate be considered a "farm"? And shouldn't the government support "family farms" with tax deductions? Thank you."

Billionare somehow gets money back in April, instead of paying 9 of the 10 million he made that year in income taxes. This is the way socialism works. Has always worked. Will always work. The connected get breaks. You can't wish away human nature.

Re:This is exciting news

[fropenn]

In the US, pharmaceutical research is primarily market driven (although some government funding is available for less-lucrative areas, such as vaccines). As a result, pharmaceutical companies want returns on their substantial investment in research and drug development which are extremely expensive activities (and often result in nothing), and therefore charge the maximum amount possible to recover these costs.

There are pros and cons of this approach.

Pros:
-Increases the total amount of money invested in drug research.
-If you own stock in a company that hits the next big drug, you can become extremely wealthy.
-The risk is borne by private companies.

Cons:
-Companies focus on high-return areas, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Rare diseases, vaccines, and other less-profitable areas (such as diseases primarily experienced by the poor or uninsured) are ignored.
-If you own stock in a company that does not hit it big, you can lose your shirt.
-Since companies want a massive return on their investment, the cost of newly-developed drugs is tremendously high.

Trying to keep the pros while decreasing the cons is not easy and depends on who is elected to govern.

Re:This is exciting news

[Waffle Iron]

There are 5 million people in the US with Alzheimer's. Using your logic, that means without half of a trillion dollars in revenue, such a drug would never be developed. That's just plain BS.

The real reason the prices would be high is that the drug companies use the same strategy that TV repair shops use to maximize revenue: No matter what the problem is or how trivial it is to fix, the price for a fix is always about half of the cost of a new TV.

Likewise, an Alzheimer's drug will likely be priced at about half of the cost of a lifetime of long-term care for an untreated patient, regardless of how much the drug cost to develop or manufacture.

Re: This is exciting news

[Anonymous Coward]

I think youâ(TM)re confusing socialism with crony capitalism.

Re:This is exciting news

[Miser]

Yep. ... and I'll purchase it if needed from one of those online pharmacies for pennies on the dollar.

Re:This is exciting news

[epine]

Choice 2: Make it affordable, say $100. Sell it to everyone as a prophylactic. Heck, get governments behind you as for vaccines. Revenue = ~$500B.

$100/year over what, your entire adult life, but just in wealthy America? Or were you thinking you're going to push out USD $100/person one-time inoculation to 90% of Asia and most of Africa, too?

How do you make the antidote weak enough to require annual booster shots, and fragile enough to scare people into never skipping a dose, without also making it altogether ineffective, or at least a crap shoot?

There goes another $10 billion into your research pipeline's greedy maw.

Re:This is exciting news

[Anonymous Coward]

Choice 1: is $8-9B a year indefinitely. Then lobby for extended coverage and get $20B a year indefinitely.

Choice 2: is $20B once.

Re:This is exciting news

[ReeceTarbert]

until you factor in the inevitable greed variable from the Pharmaceutical Cartel.

No surprise here, especially considering that this one is really a study by Cortexyme, Inc that is developing treatments for Alzheimer's and other degenerative disorders.

The list of authors and affiliations should be enough to give anyone pause: of the 13 authors the corresponding one (i.e., the one who got the study published) is Stephen S. Dominy from Cortexyme, Hatice Hasturk is affiliated with The Forsyth Institute "reinventing oral and overall health through pioneering biomedical research and transformational healthcare practices", and most of the others come from departments of oral immunology, dental medicine, periodontology, etc.

This alone should be enough to make anyone very suspicious but, in the event it isn't, the introduction clearly states:

"Infectious agents have been found in the brain and postulated to be involved with AD, but robust evidence of causation has not been established
[...]
P. gingivalis lipopolysaccharide has been detected in human AD brains, promoting the hypothesis that P. gingivalis infection of the brain plays a role in AD pathogenesis.
[...]
We developed and tested potent, selective, brain-penetrant, small-molecule gingipain inhibitors in vivo. Our results indicate that small-molecule inhibition of gingipains has the potential to be disease modifying in AD."

So, according to the author(s) there is "no robust evidence" that P. gingivalis is really the cause of AD, but Cortexyme will be happy to sell you something that may (or may not) work. In other words, the article is just another press release in disguise.

RT.

Re: This is exciting news

[Shotgun]

You can put whatever face you want to on it. Label it whatever you want. In the end you get something with shades of two things:

A) A government that oversees and protects a marketplace where informed participants make voluntary exchanges.

B) A government that controls a marketplace and choose the participants and exhanges they make.

No government/market has ever been completely A or B, and like riding a horse or wielding a sword, the secret is to hold on neither too tightly or too loosely.

News

[Anonymous Coward]

This is big news. Best thing I've heard today.

I already know

[110010001000]

I already know the cause...well I did but I forgot about it. What are we talking about again?

Re:I already know

[Oswald McWeany]

I already know the cause...well I did but I forgot about it. What are we talking about again?

You were saying how much you loved Elon Musk, Tesla, space colonization, AI, self driving cars, and anything else high tech.

Re:I already know

[Anonymous Coward]

We are talking about space and how we'll 3D print new brains in space.

Re:I already know

[Anonymous Coward]

I often wonder what the morons that mod you up are like in real life. Probably spend a lot of their time scrubbing a carrot. Like you.

Re:I already know

[Areyoukiddingme]

I often wonder what the morons that mod you up are like in real life. Probably spend a lot of their time scrubbing a carrot. Like you.

Is that a euphemism? 'cause it sounded like a euphemism. I think it's a euphemism.

Is the bacteria the cause or symptom?

[mykepredko]

I remember twenty/thirty plus years ago when researchers found aluminum ions in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers and there was the suggestion that cooking without aluminum pots and pans would prevent Alzheimer's. It seems that the aluminum ions were a symptom of Alzheimer's and not a cause - but on the plus side it gave steel cookware a good boost.

If it's true that this bacteria causes Alzheimer's, then it's good news as it should be fairly easy to eradicate.

Re:Is the bacteria the cause or symptom?

[Oswald McWeany]

I remember twenty/thirty plus years ago when researchers found aluminum ions in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers and there was the suggestion that cooking without aluminum pots and pans would prevent Alzheimer's. It seems that the aluminum ions were a symptom of Alzheimer's and not a cause - but on the plus side it gave steel cookware a good boost.

If it's true that this bacteria causes Alzheimer's, then it's good news as it should be fairly easy to eradicate.

Yeah... my father was convinced that Antiperspirant (aluminium based) was the cause of Alzheimer's and tried to convince everyone to stop wearing it. Thankfully for my nose,I don't think anyone took his advice.

Re:Is the bacteria the cause or symptom?

[Anonymous Coward]

That study was heavily flawed (as you note). Just to clarify a bit, it was performed on post-mortem brain samples. The aluminum found in Alzheimer's brains came from the solution they had been preserved in. (The Alzheimer's brains had been previously identified, set aside and preserved, while the non-Alzheimer's brains were sampled, uh, fresh.)

Cue mass panic over soda cans, cooking ware, etc.

Re:Is the bacteria the cause or symptom?

[Anonymous Coward]

Same with the beta-amyloid plaques found in the brain of Alzheimer's sufferers. I worked on a monoclonal antibody treatment about 10 years ago that targeted these clots. The antibodies broke them up good but did not alleviate the condition or prevent the plaques from returning. They were symptomatic rather than causative.

Fact is, this is just another hypothesis among many. Other areas of interest are increased infection of herpes simplex (mouth sores) in the areas of the brain that are going bad. Antiviral trials are encouraging. Fungal infection has also been suggested since the disease is slow progressing like a fungal infection. Gum disease is just another hypothesis in a long line of em.

Re:Is the bacteria the cause or symptom?

[HiThere]

OTOH, getting rid of gingivitis is itself desirable. So there's minimal downside.

Re:Is the bacteria the cause or symptom?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

That study was heavily flawed (as you note). Just to clarify a bit, it was performed on post-mortem brain samples. The aluminum found in Alzheimer's brains came from the solution they had been preserved in. (The Alzheimer's brains had been previously identified, set aside and preserved, while the non-Alzheimer's brains were sampled, uh, fresh.)

Cue mass panic over soda cans, cooking ware, etc.

But it was an easy flaw to believe in, as aluminum in the blood DOES cause dementia, as was discovered when the early dialysis machines were made with aluminum containers for the water bath.
This led to "dialysis dementia syndrome", which limited the time a person with kidney failure could be kept alive on dialysis.

Once this was figured out (early 1980s) the containers were changed, the dialysate treated to remove aluminum (and the use of aluminum-containing antacids as phosphate-binding agents reduced or discontinued.) Then people could be kept alive and reasonably healthy for long enough on dialysis to make it possible to wait for a transplatable kidney donation.

Re:Is the bacteria the cause or symptom?

[PsiPsiStar]

I heard that the alzheimers brains were preserved in a solution containing aluminum. The healthy brains were not. But this is a bit different. They claim that their model has been used to reverse some of the symptoms of Alzheimers. That's a stronger claim. It's still a small study. There will be at least a few cases that don't fit the model. But it seems well designed and worth taking note of.

Hmmm, This article says this causes dementia

[Anonymous Coward]

See this article which says the NFL protein causes dementia and one can test for it in the blood.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/01/22/alzheimers-could-predicted-up-16-years-ahead-symptoms-study/2651012002/

So can one assume that gum disease activates the NFL protein to cause alzy????

Perhaps like H Pylori Ulcers

[PKI Champion]

This finding could be similar in scope to when they found that H Pylori was the cause of most stomach ulcers. Time to go brush and floss!

Do we or don't we?

[Anonymous Coward]

We may finally have found the long-elusive cause of Alzheimer's disease: Porphyromonas gingivalis, ... and yet, we don't know what causes it.

Be amazed, it's Science!

Best news in a long time

[aristofeles]

My grandma had it. My mother has it know, and it's getting worst.
While I do believe it's too late for her, and even if it's available I will never have anything near the amount of money this may require, there is hope for me and my 2 brothers in 20 years (statiscally, one of us should have it).

Re:Best news in a long time

[laosland]

I'm in the same boat as you. When my grandmother lived with my parents the last couple years of her life, it was really apparent how bad Alzheimer's really is. I really don't want to go through it, the last stage is a heart breaker.
I'm really hoping that this research is correct.

Re:Best news in a long time

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting AC because I'm moderating.

I hope this is a significant finding too. My dad is in the later stages of it. He can't talk very well and he's showing signs that he is forgetting how to swallow food - apparently this is common with the disease. And there's the toll on the caretakers. It nearly killed my mom before we moved him into a memory care nursing home.

If true...

[tomhath]

"If borne out in clinical testing, COR388 could represent a wholly new approach to addressing a disease estimated to affect more than 5.4 million people in the United States." - Business Wire article

I really hope this turns out to be a breakthrough. But as the debunked Buzzfeed story showed us, something prefixed with "if true" isn't necessarily true.

Re:If true...

[Anonymous Coward]

But as the debunked Buzzfeed story showed us, something prefixed with "if true" isn't necessarily true.

The Mueller investigation refuted the story by Buzzfeed.
That isn't the same as debunked.

By Neruos

[Anonymous Coward]

Very very cool!

Mouth to instrument to autoclave to instrument...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mouth to instrument to autoclave to instrument to brain...

This is like...

[EvilSS]

This is about the fifth thing in the past year I've seen that has been called out as the cause of Alzheimer. I really wish the media would stop jumping on these initial papers before they have been fully validated and reproduced.

Re:This is like...

[dagarath]

The new study, published today in Science Advances, was sponsored by the biotech startup Cortexyme Inc. of South San Francisco, California

These publications are often accompanied by press releases to generate the news media frenzy. Readers with a suspicious nature might assume it's done intentionally to boost valuation...

Re:This is like...

[DigiShaman]

Because it caused over a quarter TRILLION dollars in the US alone, for the year 2017. That's not a shit-load, that's a "fuck-load" of money! Money that would reduce everyone's taxes, provide better services, or a combination of both.

Nationalized dental care? If cost effective, I'm open to the suggestion as public policy so long as it's in everyone's interests.

Re:This is like...

[Jfetjunky]

Agreed. I have no medical background, but I can't help but feeling that bacteria from gum disease seems way too easy for a disease that has otherwise been seemingly very complex to analyze.

Re:This is like...

[EvilSS]

Did you respond to the wrong comment?

Re:This is like...

[brantondaveperson]

Stomach ulcers, also once believed to be very complex to analyze, turned out to have a similar type of cause.

Brain Sand

[NicknameUnavailable]

Brain sand has been known for over a decade to be the primary cause of Alzheimers, which itself is most commonly caused by exposure to Fluoride. Makes sense someone would gum disease would be exposed to shitloads of Fluoride (every dentist's first move when encountering a patient with issues of any kind: squirt some Fluoride on the tooth, prescribe special high-Fluoride rinse, recommend some Fluoride-ladden toothpaste, etc.)

Re: Brain Sand

[Miamicanes]

Another possible explanation: fluoride prevents tooth decay that, in the past, would have left someone mostly toothless by middle age. If you have no teeth, gingivitis probably isn't a major problem. If you have all of your teeth, but minimal dental care (beyond fluoridation during childhood), gingivitis is likely to be a major problem later in life. Fluoride didn't cause the gingivitis, it just fixed enough BIGGER problems for gingivitis itself to become a big problem.

Asking the price reduces it by about 70%

[raymorris]

If you're that bothered about the cost of medical care (which I can understand), a very simple way to reduce the cost is to call and *ask*.

My doctor said I needed an MRI and handed me the phone number of an MRI place. I called them and asked the price. It took them about five minutes to figure out it would cost $1,500. I then did a Google search for "Dallas MRI". The very first place listed in the Google search results did it for $450.

A year later my wife needed an MRI. She went to the pace that charges $450, not the place her doctor handed her a card for ($1500 again).

Would you buy a car or even a phone without checking the price? Of course not, but people go buy medical stuff and then wait for a bill, not even asking what their price is.

Re: Asking the price reduces it by about 70%

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not where the problem is, the elective MRI. The problem is the lack of market forces in triage. I am shot or having a heart attack or bleeding out from something else and hospital or if busted my head I have no way to select which hospital I want to use which ambulance service I want to take me to the hospital which doctor I want to see which MRI they will use on me what price the gauze or the $50 Tylenol vs the hundred-dollar naproxen.

there can be no market Force when there is no choice and when there is a gun held to your head in the ER there will always be price inflation.

if the police could hold a gun to your head and demand $10,000 before they investigated your wife's murder, or your daughter's rape or if the fire department could demand $100,000 before they would put out the fire of your house, we would be in the exact same situation with those filled as we are with the criminals in the medical cartels.

sniff test

[r2kordmaa]

They were able to find some cases with Alzheimer, but no bacterial infection, perhaps they should look harder? 94% match in a sample size of 54 is hardly a case closed kind of thing. Good work nevertheless, but one should be a bit more careful before declaring groundbreaking success.

Sackler Disease is the disease

[Anonymous Coward]

Hype it, push it, make billion$. Oxycontin was the same. Now you die when you don't buy it.

Oxygen causes Alzheimers

[jdharm]

In a landmark study I'm totally sure exists somewhere, it was discovered that 100% of Alzheimers were life-long heavy users of the gas "oxygen". With this indisputable evidence in hand researchers say it looks like the end of Alzheimers is in sight. Preventative measures are easy to describe and implementation can happen in the next 5-10 years. Options range from complex operations like shifting to a methane based metabolism or switching to photosynthesis to as simple as preventing air intake to block the absorption of oxygen.

Re:Oxygen causes Alzheimers

[WillAffleckUW]

I hear they also used bathrooms. Obviously we need to not let people use bathrooms, as it may cause AD.

Sugar causes plaque

[ArhcAngel]

There's a reason they call Alzheimer's Diabetes 3.

Re:Sugar causes plaque

[jeff4747]

Nope. Vascular dementia is different from Alzheimers.

Re:Sugar causes plaque

[ArhcAngel]

Nope to sugar causing plaque or nope to Alzheiner's being called diabetes 3? I can assure you both statements are correct. and as far as vascular dementia and Alzheimer's goes...both can be mitigated with a low carb (sugar) ketogenic diet.

Re:Sugar causes plaque

[jeff4747]

I can assure you both statements are correct.

I can assure you the paper I linked says you are not correct.

It was an interesting lead in 2008, which is why they did the study that culminated in the 2009 paper I linked.

Re:Sugar causes plaque

[ArhcAngel]

Not correct about what? You keep dodging the question. Alzheimer's is most definitely also referred to as diabetes 3 and the link between sugar and plaque has been well established for over a hundred years. And the paper you linked does not even mention plaque. I'm not even sure what you are trying to argue against. I never said Alzheimer's and vascular dementia are the same condition.

Re:Sugar causes plaque

[jeff4747]

Not correct about what? You keep dodging the question

No, I keep pointing you to the paper.

Alzheimer's is most definitely also referred to as diabetes 3

This was proposed....and then debunked when the link between metabolic disorder and Alzheimer was disproven. Like in the paper I keep pointing you to.

and the link between sugar and plaque has been well established for over a hundred years

Are you seriously unable to understand the difference between plaque on teeth and plaques in the brain? 'Cause those are two wildly-different things, made up of wildly-different substances at wildly-different locations, with wildly-different causes.

A plaque is just the name for a build-up of material. Any material. Just because it's called "plaque" does not make it the same thing, nor does it have the same cause. Just like "sign" can refer to a street sign, a part of sign language, the act of applying your signature to a document, or a supernatural signal. Same name, wildly different stuff.

And the paper you linked does not even mention plaque

Oh, you are confusing plaque on teeth with plaques in the brain....../facepalm

Re:Dementia is possible - just unproven

[ShanghaiBill]

It's entirely plausible that he is suffering from some amount of dementia

Unlikely. Dementia is defined as a loss of cognitive functioning. But there is little evidence that Trump is getting worse. He has always been this way, even when he was in his 20s. You can't "lose" something you never had.

Six months ago, herpes virus was a possible cause.

[DaveH_CO]

https://www.sciencenews.org/ar... I guess I'm glad to see that they're looking for infections as to the cause...

Re:Dementia is possible - just unproven

[vux984]

I saw an article that noted that Trump's use of language had deteriorated substantially compared to when he was younger.

https://www.statnews.com/2017/...

About a 1/12 chance

[sjbe]

Unlikely. Dementia is defined as a loss of cognitive functioning.

I'm well aware of that. And it's quite possible he has experienced some loss of cognitive functioning. I'm not saying he's deep in the grip of Alzheimers or anything like that. 8.8 percent of adults over 65 have some amount dementia so it would hardly be shocking if he's in the early stages. He does and and has done so many "crazy" things that it's pretty hard to judge with any hope of accuracy because we don't have the data even though he's been a public figure for a long time.

But there is little evidence that Trump is getting worse.

You don't know the man even close to well enough to judge that. Nobody reading this comment does including myself. Your guess is as good as mine but my only point is that you cannot simply dismiss it out of hand because you don't have the information to do that. Odds are that he doesn't have it but the odds that he does are too large to dismiss casually.

Flossing fights plaque

[Anonymous Coward]

Who knew it would also fight brain plaques

President is irrelevant

[ghoul]

One good thing the Trump Presidency has done is that it has shown people how powerless the Presidency really is. Trump hasnt been able to enact a single part of his Domestic agenda (The tax cuts were Ryan's agenda). The Bureaucracy and shadow state run the country not the elected govt.
People in the US like simplistic answers and have a Messiah complex so the office of the Presidency has been overhyped. Even Obama didnt really do anything which the Bureaucracy didn't want him to do.
At least Trump is making it clear that what is happening is not what he wants.

Re:President is irrelevant

[greythax]

Strangely, I was thinking the opposite. For a while I have been assuming that this will be the presidency that makes us rethink how much power a single man should be invested with. Levying tariffs against Canada for reasons of national defense? The threat of using the US army on american soil for a construction project? While the powers themselves might make sense in genuine emergencies, there doesn't seem to be any mechanism to prevent their misuse, and clearly the senate and congress have been unwilling to provide oversight.

Re:President is irrelevant

[Xylantiel]

Unfortunately in our system the term limit is the main limit on presidential power.

Re:President is irrelevant

[ghoul]

If you read my post carefully I mentioned Domestic Agenda. President does have a lot of power in dealing with matters outside the US or on its borders but internally not much. Name one Domestic program besides tax cuts he has been able to implement.

Re:President is irrelevant

[ghoul]

This is also why every President when he gets bored starts an international war, it gives him something to do.
Raegan- Granada, Contras
Bush - Kuwait
Clinton - Kosovo, Somalia
Bush Jr - iraq, Afghanistan
Obama - Syria, Libya
Trump - Venezuela?

What a coincidence

[Anonymous Coward]

What a coincidence, a drug is nearing the market just at that drug is found to cure Alzheimers. Translation: invest in that drug maker quick, before you miss out! I would urge a vast amount of caution involving the veracity of this claim, the medical device/drug field has become the newest place to fleece the masses and/or gullible investment groups.

Socialism = crony capitalism

[Anonymous Coward]

Socialism = crony capitalism

When the government decides which companies get to exist, and which ones get paid and which ones don't, that is pretty much the DEFINITION of socialism.

Re: Socialism = crony capitalism

[Anonymous Coward]

No its not.

The vast majority of medical care isn't emergency

[raymorris]

Probably 99% of the time, you can choose whether to go to doctor A, or doctor B down the street. How many times have you been to a doctor? How many of those times had you been shot, or lost a limb?

Unlike car dealers, most medical places don't post their prices on their web site, but you can call and ask. Unless you've been shot, which is 0% of my family's medical costs. I'm kinda old, I've bought medical care for myself or family probably hundreds of times. So far, not even once have we had a life threatening emergency where we had to rush to the nearest emergency room. A few times (less than 2% of medical) we've needed to choose one of three nearby emergency rooms).

Even if I need to see a doctor within the next couple hours, it takes 5-10 minutes to make a couple calls. You can even check into prices at your two nearest ERs TODAY, before you need them.

Re:Dementia is possible - just unproven

[Opportunist]

It could be that he tries to be more approachable for his constituents.

Remember that time when the problem was fake?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the difference here is that the claims against Hillary were bogus genuinely fake news whilst this one is evident fact.

YOU only hear it from pundits.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

But we have the nations oldest president, who seems to be getting much of its advice not from experts but from TV Political Pund[i]ts, ...

There are plenty of experts who give the same advice. Trump (and those who don't self-select against it when browsing) can get it from experts as well.

But the media won't cover it. So the only place YOU hear it are from "pundits" (who also get it from experts and) who get enough air time to be noticed - and then flamed by mainstreamers when the advice runs counter to what THEY're pushing at you.

So when Trump follows this advice, it's easy to think he's "getting ... advice not from experts but from TV Political Pund[i]ts". Especially when said mainstreamers push this image at you because they WANT you to believe it.

In other words, we have some therories

[WillAffleckUW]

But, given that, theories need to be proven, and clinical trials fail all the time.

I remember this one trial that cause brain cells to leak. Not a good side effect.

Re:The vast majority of medical care isn't emergen

[pr0fessor]

I can't there isn't another ER in distance in the event of a real emergency, and the one here is terrible and not just high priced but they are that also. If I have a non-life threatening emergency I would get my wife to drive me 17 miles to the next town before I would go to the local ER.

My wife slipped on the ice while shopping in the next town they where able to see her do x-rays and confirm she didn't brake her ankle before I got there only 20 minutes away but they also found that she had previously broken that ankle years before and that our local ER and doctor didn't see it. She went to specialist and he confirmed for her that yes the brake was on the old x-rays and that the ER and her doctor both missed it.

 

More nonsense to sell pills

[lamer01]

And, did you notice that they do not defeat the bacteria, just their toxins. So, we would need to be on their pills for the duration. BTW, my mother in law has alzheimers and she has perfect teeth. I know this is anecdotal but definitely proves there are other factors here.

Re: More nonsense to sell pills

[Anonymous Coward]

Then take antibiotics, jackass.

You should be clapping your hands that it was possibly identified as coming from a bacteria instead of something more exotic.

In reality, this is all theory, and you have no idea how common those bacteria are or how much exposure leads to what, because you did not read TFA or anything else on the subject. Jackass!

Why spelling matters

[ChrisMaple]

Normally they're way better at hiding that their egocentric assholes.

That is incomprehensible.

Re:Dementia is possible - just unproven

[ChrisMaple]

Shutdowns occur when the disagreements between the two parties are so severe that no acceptable compromise can be reached before the deadline for funding is reached. This means that each party could end the shutdown by surrendering; blaming this on one particular party does nothing but identify the bias of the writer.

My own opinion is that the shutdown is a good thing and Trump deserves the credit for the shutdown.

Re:Dementia is possible - just unproven

[Anonymous Coward]

The shutdown is a bad thing but Trump definitely deserves all the credit for it. He said he'd own it and he owns it.

(posting anon to avoid undoing mods)

It's the process

[Anonymous Coward]

Periodontal disease happens because there is a severe gum infection. Your body naturally creates plaque to combat the infection. The problem is the plaque destroys the bone surrounding the tooth (hence Perio - dontal, around tooth). With bone loss comes loose teeth. The same bacteria is found in the brain causing the same reaction. The body creates the amyloids to fight the infection but the protein ends up eating the brain. The similarities to brain scans of alzhiemer's brains and that of a person with sever bone loss is shocking.

We wasted years on trying to reduce the amyloids but never considered why they were being created so aggressively.

Lol. Flossing is probably the root cause

[Anonymous Coward]

Americans floss more than any nation. In fact, it is fair to say that we take better care of our teeth than just about any nation. As such, we are not losing teeth at an old age, which likely increases the number of bacteria ( unable to reach areas, and increased surface area ).

Windbourne ( modderating ).