Simon Wheeler

We are looking to hire a postdoc to take this and other TDP-43 assay development forward! Please re-post!

Digital seed amplification assay for TDP-43 aggregate quantification in CSF INTRODUCTION Dementia is commonly caused by underlying pathologies driven by misfolded protein aggregates. Although dementia subtypes have distinct mechanisms, overlapping symptoms make diagnosis with...

Working with David Walt’s lab, here is a new tool we hope to develop into a diagnostic test for TDP-43 pathology, something we desperately need in cognitive neurology. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

People registered as having dementia in England, by 5-year age group.
You can really see the numbers kicking in >75 years and how having so many more people living >85 years is causing a massive increase in dementia cases.
Also check out the M:F divergence from 80+ years. Quite striking.

Human nature

I'd agree with this generally. Even if PRS were predictive, for most clinicians it would be extremely difficult information to communicate in a constructive and health-promoting way. I can't see primary care handling this at all well - no offence to GPs out there. It's not what they're trained for.

Living on an estate, having 9 kids, owning firearms, having a pack of dogs, not working.

And while evolutionary biology provides most clarity (reproductive strategies) it's clearly inappropriate to determine human legal status or rights. I find it useful though as a foundation that can be built upon, as otherwise we're constantly chasing our tail trying to nail down what sex really is.

One thing I've definitely picked up on though when reading up on this in various disciplines is that perspective and context are critical. Evolutionary biology, anthropology, philosophy, medical sociology have very different perspectives.

I think the reason why the reproductive strategy/gamete approach is attractive is because it feels fundamental, rather than a clustering of various traits around a concept that's undefinable except through the presence of these clusters. The latter feels circular.

Great analysis. I'm still struggling with ApoE3 being a risk factor though. I know E2 has a substantially lower risk, but I still think that it makes more sense to use E3/E3 as a reference group and compare with higher and lower risk groups. From a science comms perspective it make much more sense.

Imagine if you didn’t produce melatonin so in order to ever get any sleep you had to turn into a vampire sucking the blood of people feeling a little bit snoozy.

But there's also been a lots of work on tech-based assessment - either looking at specific domains that are impaired in early AD (e.g. Sea Hero Quest) or deep learning multi-modal assessment incorporating clinical, neurocognitive and imaging data.
Pure clinical vs biological is a false dichotomy.

Sorry, but people were asking for DAGs.

This -> Tony Blair Institute -> Labour growth plan

YouTube video by Eleanor Morton Literally every company now

Literally every company now

youtube.com/shorts/hL9pl...

a group of men are standing in a living room and one of them is saying " calm down " ALT: a group of men are standing in a living room and one of them is saying " calm down "

Or possibly...

I find VaD the most difficult to understand - particularly the unpredictable progression patterns, the variation in symptoms by location and severity, and of course stroke medicine in general! It's so complex and different to neurodegenerative dementia. Very challenging to explain in any detail.

Anecdotally, I'm told that this is a common reason why patients with VaD are often bumped up to a diagnosis of mixed dementia, because otherwise they wouldn't have access to AChEIs and these help patients retain a sense of agency and hope where otherwise they would feel helpless and abandoned.

Which is fine where the cause is a major event or pure pathology, but what about when the brain is a jumble of age-related pathologies, many of which you can't detect with routine equipment, and when there hasn't been a CVA? Does VaD become a more likely diagnosis just because you can see it on MRI?

What this study illustrates really well is that there's no reliable gold standard reference method for diagnosing vascular dementia. The study didn't measure precision, it measured consistency.
So basically, you've got it if a doctor tells you that you've got it - and ideally they should all agree.

My condolences, Karel. I hope it all went as well as it could and should have.
A good innings, as they say, and that's all most of us can hope for.

I hate to say it but Reform won the third highest share of the vote:14%. Twice as many as all Greens combined.

I hate to say it but Reform won the third highest share of the vote:14%. Twice as many as all Greens combined.

The BMJ article is much more interesting than the one in The Times, which doesn't really hone in on the problem. The food the kids are getting through these schemes are actually fine (i.e. compliant with guidelines) and they save the taxpayer huge amounts of money.