#14

I’m now fairly cautious about egg consumption. There seems to be a cancer link especially when you hit 3-5/ week.

I’m a big salmon eater and have it almost daily as my main protein source. My blood free fatty acid analysis showed a high EPA level.
My only concern about this was a 2016 association study that showed high levels of omega 3’s in the blood of high grade prostate cancer patients. Other studies have shown a protective effect. There was never a clarification whether they were eating fish or taking supplements, or perhaps neither. Again, this wasn’t an RCT but still a little concerning since it was never explained.

1 Like
#15

Exactly. The easiest person to fool is yourself, especially when it comes to intellectual and emotional states. I want something objective. I believe that keeping the brain intellectually active is helpful, but perhaps only for the specific skill being activated or learned.

1 Like
#16

Different parts of the brain are associated with different cognitive function.

The neuropsych test I did covered the spectrum. I don’t know what these cost retail and/or if you could get them covered without some medical reason, but doing these every so often, gives you complete picture.

But 100%, if we could have a simple, real time, virtual implemented test with GOOD clinical translation…another markers tracking tool.

3 Likes
Online Psychological Age Test - What do you think?
#17

Most of the apps / websites I see are focused on people who want to “train their brain” and improve function over time, in theory. I’m not looking for those - I just want to track some key metrics over time.

This group of apps identified below seem like something that might work, to test periodically, to check on cognitive function, that (I think) seem to have some scientific validation completed on them:

Alzheimer’s Disease Researchers at California based Leucadia Therapeutics released a panel of eight apps today to help people track memory and cognition. The new apps are ProCogny Memory Tracker, Infinite Mahjong, Iconic Sudoku, Word Recall, Connectors, Image Recall, Pattern Busters, and Speed Demon. The ProCogny Memory Tracker includes a non-clinical version of the proprietary Leucadia Memory Test. There are many digital trackers available to count steps and other measures of physical activity, but few apps track memory and cognitive function. The apps include games and puzzles that exercise different facets of memory such as word recall, reasoning, alternating tasks, matching, object recognition, pattern recognition, and spatiotemporal memory. The apps are available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play in 22 languages.

Download The Apps

ProCogny Memory Tracker, Infinite Mahjong, Iconic Sudoku, Word Recall, Connectors, Image Recall, Pattern Busters, and Speed Demon for mobile phones and tablets are available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play

Another App:

Savonix launches cognitive assessment app

San Francisco-based Savonix announced the global launch of their cognitive assessment app, Savonix Mobile. The app is accessible on any mobile device, and aims to eliminate the need for pen-and-paper exams to screen for cognitive function. The app was also created to serve as the vehicle for providers, patients and patients to easily incorporate the data into treatment planning and decision-making.

The company, which was founded in 2014, is made up of neuroscientists and gaming experts. The 30-minute brain training and testing app is based on existing clinical guidelines and procedures, but seeks to replace the costly, often time-consuming process that involves a clinician working with pen and paper to screen patients. The app is available internationally via healthcare licenses and third party partnerships.

“We are addressing a critical challenge in healthcare by solving how we assess mental health, specifically the cognitive and emotional function of patients on a large scale despite limited budgets and insufficient numbers of trained specialists,” said Savonix founder Dr. Mylea Charvat in a statement.

Charvat is a translational neuroscientist and entrepreneur with Ph.Ds from Stanford and Palo Alto University. She was inspired to move out of the clinical and academic setting in order to make cognitive screens easy and affordable.

“Traditional cognitive testing is a lengthy and inefficient process,” Dr. Dov Biran, CEO of Fitango Health said in a statement. “With Savonix we have found a simple and cost-effective way to gauge cognitive function as well as organize and store this data at the population level.”

Hmmm… seems like another Tech Startup casualty… no blog updates since October, 2021 … so they may no longer be a functioning company…

But - the app is still in the App Store, so I’m downloading it and going to be trying it out:

https://savonix.com/us/app-update/en/

… ok - downloaded, will report back on how all these apps work for my objective in terms of tracking.

Trying the apps from the first article above - they still seem to be alive and working.

2 Likes
#18

As a method to track of cognitive ability over time, something like these apps might prove useful. I hope they are not promoting them for practice and improving cognition, because improving on specific tests after practice might not reflect your brain health in general.

1 Like
#19

@rapadmin One of the posters @Arg mentioned she was in an AD clinical trial.

Here are the eligibility requirements:

People who do not have amyloid build-up found in their brain are not able to join the AHEAD Study, but can track their own memory performance by joining in the Alzheimer Prevention Trials (APT) Webstudy. The “webstudy” is entirely online and for people over the age of 50

https://www.aptwebstudy.org/ (if less than 50, just fib your age…however, if the software is giving you a percentile, it’s relative to your age, so FYI)

I signed up, and took the test. It’s measuring reaction speed and short term memory, both very sensitive to memory decline signal.

THIS COULD BE A VERY GOOD REAL TIME TRACKING TEST.

3 Likes
Anti-aging Benefits of Rapamycin, Personal Experiences (part 2)
#20

Great find! Thanks for adding this to the thread.

#21

Agreed, especially it’s design and metrics are done by THE very best people studying AD, so they know what to look for re early signs.

#22

I wonder if something like this new product from one of the Google spinouts would provide for better tracking of the aging cognitive phenotype (with, and without, rapamycin)? I also wonder if there is a sleep phenotype that maps to people’s age - and if we could measure whether our sleep profile is that of an older or younger person. I hope to see this figured out and applied clinically (or via devices) one day…

This Startup Wants to Get in Your Ears and Watch Your Brain

Born from Alphabet’s “moonshot” division, NextSense aims to sell earbuds that can collect heaps of neural data—and uncover the mysteries of gray matter.

After acting as the scanner-in-chief for the company that invented the eFit, Borodin is now the lead ear spelunker for NextSense, which was born at Google and spun out of Alphabet’s X division. The startup’s focus is brain health—improving sleep, helping patients with epilepsy, and eventually enriching the lives of people with a range of mental conditions. The idea is to use its earbuds to capture an electroencephalogram, a standard tool for assessing brain activity. Just as an ECG tracks the fibrillations of the heart, an EEG is used to diagnose anomalies in brain activity. While some smart watches—Apple, Samsung, Fitbit—offer versions of an ECG and aim to spy on your sleep, collecting neural data has mostly been a can’t-try-this-at-home activity. Until now.

… Levey told Berent that if he could eventually match the quality of a true EEG, he’d be on to something—a sort of Apple Watch for the brain.

In June 2020, Berent learned that X would stop funding the project. So he spun out an independent company. He worked out a deal where X got a stake in the new firm in exchange for the intellectual property. Five people made the jump from X to the startup, including its medical director. The team hired a new head of product who had worked on the Apple Watch. Now called NextSense and touting itself as a platform for brain-health monitoring, the company got $5.3 million in funding…

NextSense has struck up partnerships with universities and drug companies to explore the medical uses of its earbuds. A multinational pharmaceutical firm called Otsuka hopes to use NextSense’s earbuds to assess the efficacy of medication, not only for epilepsy but for depression and other mental health issues.

Full Article…

Presentations by Jonathan Berent, the President of NextSense:

and

1 Like
#23

It seems groups are developing brain aging biomarkers and measures, at least for use in research labs. I hope these become widely available in clinical applications at reasonable prices.

#24

Looks like they are still a ways off, tremendous variation. Does the variation in “brain age” in the 20yr old cohort (ie not much brain aging yet) seem anywhere real?

Like in the periphery and blood DNA, different regions of brain tissue have different aging signatures, it’s quite complicated, and conventional MRI captures “structural” stuff, and cannot tell you the state of neuronal decay in say the hippocampus (other than volume, which can already be easily done).

If these tools offer a better (sensitivity, specificity, cost) vs other tools at sniffing out earlier some prodromal phase neurological diseases (eg AD), then could be of significant value.

Screen Shot 2022-06-23 at 2.40.55 PM
Screen Shot 2022-06-23 at 2.40.55 PM1897×1032 119 KB

2 Likes
#25

It could be real.
I had a cousin, mathematical genius (1st class degree from Cambridge), but new nothing about health and wellness - burnt the candle from both ends. If he “bothered” with sleep it would only be for 2 - 3 hours. Boozed a fair bit as well. Dropped dead before his 25th birthday. Autopsy said he had the organs of a 70 year old - it could only be put down to lack of sleep which meant no chance for recuperation so I presume that meant massively accelerated ageing.
With the way kids these days spend most of their time at uni partying it doesn’t surprise me that the 20y.o. have big brain ageing. Hopefully they reverse it somewhat once they mature into sensible adults.

1 Like
#26

Another approach to measuring Brain Age… seems like many people are working on this from different angles:

FWVC7vzXkAER_FR
FWVC7vzXkAER_FR1024×768 106 KB

1 Like
#27

Another new option coming:

#28

Has anyone read any of Dr. Dale Bredsens books? I did listen to a condensed version on audio that was interesting due to its multidisciplinary approach - diet, sleep, exercise, supplements, hormone replacement and cognitive exercises from what I remember.

1 Like
#29

Yes I’ve followed him and read much of his stuff. He’s focused on AD prevention. It’s pretty much a default background whole system intervention for me, and then I’ve layered on additional things. My FMD is trained in his protocol.

2 Likes
#30

This is interesting on the topic of dementia, but I’d like to see something similar that focuses, or at least allows measurements, on the cognitive abilities age 30 to 60:

1 Like
#31

I’ve read his papers. Here’s my general impression.

Some are in open access predatory journals. Sometimes I can find a clear financial conflict that was not disclosed in his case series papers. Pretty big red flags from those two alone.

There wasn’t any data on any non-responders or inclusion/exclusion criteria, so I found it not very helpful in any sort of real assessment that can be reproducible.

Ultimately, I find it unconvincing that he has any sort of true secret sauce beyond what is already recommended. He recommends antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E. Doesn’t seem to make sense when you can get it easily via diet.

He also recommends resveratrol for SIRT1 which does not seem reproducible and was one of the high-profile failures of the NIH NIA ITP. Resveratrol I find at best, limited evidence for cardiac - not brain.

AFAIK, he doesn’t even mention the phospholipid form of DHA for APOE4 when he claims “the End of Alzheimer’s”.

2 Likes
#32

I don’t take tests like the one mentioned, because I am already doing the most studied interventions to stop it from happening in the first place.

I also do not dismiss Maveric78’s opinion on L-theanine improving his chess rating.

The markers I use for myself are my ability to solve crossword puzzles and sudoku.
The crossword puzzles are an indicator to me of how well I can access and remember data stored in my mind.
On the other hand, Sudoku indicates how well my mind is focusing.
Most people here are acutely aware of how well their minds are working.

#33

I don’t mean to be dismissive. I’m pointing out the scientific limitations - which scientists generally do in their research - or at least should be doing. And even then, there’s a reproducibility crisis in science, particularly for psychology/dementia/Alzheimer’s research. So we should be even more vigilant than the average scientist. Scientists are not immune to fallacious and magical thinking.

The main issue is the training effect that is paradigm specific for these types of indicators, not necessarily an indicator for what is being claimed. If one tried playing Xiangqi (Chinese chess) for example, would the allegedly improved chess skill as tested by Elo transfer over to improved Elo scores on Xiangqi? Probably not. If you have allegedly improved crossword and sudoku skills, would it transfer over to something you haven’t played before such as Scrabble and Catan (if you haven’t)? Probably not.

The next issue I have - can one say for sure it’s not a placebo effect? One could be more confident and perform better. The easiest way is to blind yourself and do it over and over until we can be certain, especially when it comes to a pill.

I found a lot of people who are into wine tasting and love expensive red wines, but in a blinded taste test - they ended up liking the cheapest one! I’m not saying we should dismiss “wine tasting” or criticize how people choose to spend their money, but rather the limitations of the claim “expensive red wines taste the best” should be highlighted. There isn’t enough of that going on. I’m not saying I wouldn’t consider the claim. In fact, I’ve considered your claim on Lithium more in-depth, after more reading.

2 Likes