Astral Codex Ten

Alzheimers

5 min read

Alzheimers

Article

Alzheimers is a recurring concept in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 4 times across 4 issues between June 01, 2021 and August 13, 2024. The archive places it in contexts such as “beta amyloid plaques that might (or might not) be involved in Alzheimers”; “researching cures for … Alzheimers”; “from genetic determinants of obesity to the way Alzheimers lowers IQ”. It most often appears alongside FDA, 2C-B, 48: Bean.

Metadata

  • Category: Concepts
  • Mention count: 4
  • Issue count: 4
  • First seen: June 01, 2021
  • Last seen: August 13, 2024

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

What Do Treatments For Accelerated Aging Tell Us About Normal Aging?
June 01, 2021 · Original source
I don't really get what's going on here. I know that often, as age-related damage degrades DNA, a lot of weird malformed proteins pop up and accumulate - for example, the beta amyloid plaques that might (or might not) be involved in Alzheimers. Maybe progerin is one of these proteins and causes some of the problems commonly associated with aging? But what percent of the problems? If it and 99 other defective proteins each cause 1%, not really a big deal. If it's 50%, bigger deal - but nothing is ever that easy.
Inline links: beta amyloid plaques
Book Review: Lifespan
December 02, 2021 · Original source
But his second argument is: we put a lot of time and money into researching cures for cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimers’, et cetera. Progress in these areas is bought dearly: all the low-hanging fruit has been picked, and what’s remaining is a grab bag of different complicated things - lung cancer is different from colon cancer is different from bone cancer.
The easiest way to cure cancer, Sinclair says, is to cure aging. Cancer risk per year in your 20s is only 1% what it is in your 80s. Keep everyone’s cells as healthy as they are in a 20-year-old, and you’ll cut cancer 99%, which is so close to a cure it hardly seems worth haggling over the remainder. As a bonus, you’ll get similar reductions in heart disease, stroke, Alzheimers, et cetera.
Links For December 2022
December 28, 2022 · Original source
12: City Journal (quoted in Marginal Revolution) on the trend to bar scientists from accessing government datasets if their studies might get politically incorrect conclusions (obviously this isn’t how the policy’s proponents would describe it, they would probably say something about promoting equity and safety). Originally this was just about a few topics around race and IQ, but now it’s expanded to everything from genetic determinants of obesity to the way Alzheimers lowers IQ.
Inline links: quoted in Marginal Revolution, the trend to bar scientists from accessing government datasets if their studies might get politically incorrect conclusions, genetic determinants of obesity, the way Alzheimers lowers IQ
Why Does Ozempic Cure All Diseases?
August 13, 2024 · Original source
Fine, the title is an exaggeration. But only a small one. GLP-1 receptor agonist medications like Ozempic are already FDA-approved to treat diabetes and obesity. But an increasing body of research finds they’re also effective against stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, alcoholism, and drug addiction.
Inline links: stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, alcoholism, drug addiction
If you want to learn more about GLP-1 receptor agonists and addiction, including the application to public policy, I highly recommend the Recursive Adaptation blog. Alzheimers And Parkinson’s Okay, now God is just trolling us.
Inline links: Recursive Adaptation
Diabetes is a well-known risk factor for Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, and other dementias. The exact mechanism isn’t clear, but the extra sugar that diabetics have in their blood tends toward uncontrolled reactions with various other chemicals, creating slightly toxic glycosylated species that damage the cells. So the simplest mechanism by which GLP-1 drugs could prevent dementia is by lowering the concentration of these toxic metabolites.