How an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure

Re:How an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure by scottlocklin on Monday December 30, 2019 @08:03AM (#21913068)

Gum disease is also linked to being old, just like Alzheimers disease, heart disease, baldness, wrinkly faces, diabetic disease and lots of other things. Sermon: people are really, really shit at linear regression.

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Re:How an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure by tempsy on Monday December 30, 2019 @08:36AM (#21913219)

The logic that chronic illness can’t be prevented and is either genetic or inevitable is so problematic.

Like everyone is going to get old and if I think getting old means I will inevitably get gum disease which could cause Alzheimer’s then why bother flossing or caring about preventative oral health?

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Re:How an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure by manwe150 on Monday December 30, 2019 @10:02AM (#21913724)

I think his point was that these symptoms could be correlation, not causation. So you need to work to prevent each of them as you age. (Eg that flossing is good for your oral health, even though it might have no influence on other factors associated with being old)

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Re:How an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure by scottlocklin on Tuesday December 31, 2019 @02:10PM (#21923621)

#1: you're going to die, and while you can stave it off by living a certain way, there's ultimately nothing you can do about it.

#2: gum disease is correlated with age. Alzheimers is also correlated with age. The connection between the two correlations is age. That means there is basically no evidence gum disease causes Alzheimers any more than heart disease or having wrinkles on your forehead causes gum disease.

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Re:How an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure by frogger23123 on Monday December 30, 2019 @02:14PM (#21915859)

I agree.

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