Hit is undern this seventeenth day of October in the year of our Lord, two thousand and nineteen. (It’s about nine o’clock in the morning on 10-17-19) Readest thou at thine own risk.
Once upon a time there was an enormous and majestic palace called the Capitis Os Castle. This marvel of engineering was surrounded by a wide and deep and quite mighty moat, home of alligators on one side and freshwater dolphins on the other side (note: not the nice dolphins you see on TV.) This was not an ordinary castle, it was the King’s masterpiece, crafted from the finest marble and stone found anywhere. Capitis Os Castle was divided into seemingly innumerable rooms and corridors, all of which were somehow connected into a unique maze that only the residents and staff could understand. This layout complexity was beautiful and made this abode function in perfection for those running the castle; but those who visited it would be powerless to understand and navigate through it without a guide. This castle stood tall and mighty as the headquarters for all that went on in the Shire. All was well…until it wasn’t.
In the fall one year, the upper elite in intelligentsia (those with smart pants) observed and announced by decree that the dreaded Beta Amyloidus horde had appeared at the horizon, apparently setting their sights on the head of the Shire like many thundering hordes before. These rogues were different than the rest. There were actually members of the King’s enormous staff that were also of the ranks of the Beta Amyloidus, so the horde’s entry may even be secured from within. The horde set up camp and waited…as did the intelligentsia who were sure they were up to no good.
Many moons later, things, indeed, started going wrong in the castle. The intricate scheme of pathways that used to all seemingly interconnect now didn’t. The Beta Amyloidus among staff figured out where these path problems were and, as they were trained to do by the King Himself, went to the scene and marked the walls with a huge, purple X, then stood there, waiting for further instructions. Something happened when these seemingly loyal staffers showed up: things got worse. They were standing in the way of the flow of traffic through the halls and the rest of the employees turned and went elsewhere when they saw the clusters of problem observers. Disarray ensued and confusion abound. What was normally a beautiful, if complex, flow of traffic crashed everywhere into chaos.
Upper-level administrators, as they are wont to do, started finger-pointing. They observed that the Beta Amyloidus horde was on the horizon, drinking and frolicking around as hordes are wont to do and their bias burned within them. They mumbled to each other “Isn’t it interesting that everywhere there is a Beta Amyloidus staff member in the halls, there is a problem too?!? And they are marking the walls…the pretty walls!!!”, forgetting that the King Himself requested that they do just that.
As the anxiety increased over the next few days, these administrators decided to the needed to “just do something to fix this mess!” and had the Beta Amyloidus arrested and removed from the castle. They scrubbed off the purple Xs and left no evidence that there had ever been an issue there. Then they waited, and waited, and waited for the problem to clear up. And, much to their surprise, things only got worse. Furious, they demanded that Sir Rants A Lot, the military chief, send all of his soldiers to drive out the Beta Amyloidus from the edge of town because, somehow, they had to be at blame. It would be a huge challenge because the Beta Amyloidus were battle-tested, but it had to be done to restore traffic… and order.. in the castle. Sold on the conspiracy, Sir Rants A Lot sent every last member to fight.
Within moments of the troop evacuation of the castle and the drawbridge shutting, several small, disloyal (and previously unnoticed) cliques of staff members from other parts of the Shire jumped at the opportunity and quickly overthrew the castle, locking out the military and taking control of the riches of the land. Why did this happen? Because everyone’s attention was on the Beta Amyloidus.
The moral to my little allegory below:
First:
Watch this interesting video from the Director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Research Center (one of the most current and experienced figures in the research) and then read the little articles below:
Video (This is excellent!!! One thing I learned is that diagnosis techniques are much better now. I will no longer write that you have to diagnose in an autopsy to know 100% for sure. Lots of good stuff that isn’t medical jargon.)
Article 2…a counter argument
As we fast forward dozens of centuries (?) from our mythical Shire to today, we change focus our attention to the study of Alzheimer’s/Dementia. Our brain is hard-wired by our King and Creator to utilize Beta Amyloid protein. These proteins are found throughout and have many functions, many of which are likely unknown. They do things while whole and many different things when broken in healthy folks and in those with the disease.
What if the 100+ medicines that failed in clinical trial were based on the wrong assumption that Beta-Amyloid was the cause and not just a marker that the person has something else harming their brain. It seems as though there is a chance the bias toward Beta-Amyloid causing dementia is so strong that it is accepted as finished science and could be leading countless researchers (and research $) down the wrong path. Why is science so quick in 2019 to hard-code their facts and assumptions and to fight those who disagree? That seems counter-scientific to me. I don’t think there is even a hint of nefarious characters in these circles…it is not that at all. I guess I just wonder if too many babies are being thrown out with the Beta-Amyloid bathwater…
Our bias against Creation and toward evolution has led us to believe that the appendix, tonsils, and other body parts are vestigial…couldn’t this just be another mistake that we are so stuck in our ways/dogmas that we cannot look beyondthem? However, alas, I am just a lowly computer scientist with a mom dying of this disease while we chase our collective scientific tails and focus on substances that may not be to blame. This is my non-medical take… and, as my TV hero Adrian Monk would always say, “Unless I’m wrong, which, you know, I’m not…”, some days it seems like it’s a jungle out there in the research community. I just hope we can get on the same page on research so one sweet day we can finally #EndALZ.
Sorry, fellow Cornbread Table sitter…I am just sick of failed tests. 🙁 Sorry to the many, many awesome researchers who do yeoman’s work trying to find a cure. Keep it up and beat this thing!! 🙂
#EndALZ
Here is just a little for you to use for self-study: Link Link Link Link Link Google the subject “Failed Alzheimer’s Trial”. There is plenty more where these came from….
Update: Mom had another good day yesterday. She was in bed at dinnertime when I arrived and we hung out for 30 minutes there, then went for grub. Her only issue (besides the elephant in the room) is bed sores again. We are working on steps to fix them again… Here is a piece I did on sore prevention. 🙂