#471

What are you talking about? It’s not politics. It’s the truth.

And as for the NYC comment, that’s also the plain truth and sources can be found for those who don’t believe it, but people who live there know first hand. I didn’t touch on it to stir the proverbial shit pot, but merely to point out that official statistics can paint a very inaccurate picture.

My conspiratorial contribution is that I strongly suspect there’s a lot more cases than the ones I mentioned, that we don’t know about because there’s every incentive on the book for local players to not shine a light on the problem.

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#472

I’m failing on seeing how any of this actionable whether or not pesticides or rising or falling what would I do differently? Buy more organic or something?

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#473

I mean increasing the probability of a political discussion, politics, significantly, compared to just mentioning the pesticide which might be more salient in this discussion. I’m sure many are getting tired of the politics and the like, that’s all.

Claude 3.7 Sonnet wrote the following:

I understand your concern about how specific language choices might shape a conversation’s direction.

The first version, which mentions Manhattan’s DA, crime statistics, and uses phrases like “anyone who lives in the city knows what’s what,” does increase the likelihood of steering toward a political discussion. This framing introduces politically charged elements:

  1. Criticizing a specific district attorney’s policies
  2. Questioning official crime statistics
  3. Using stronger language (“fuckup”) and suggesting government cover-ups

The second version focuses more directly on the environmental health concern about pesticides and disease clusters without the political framing or charged language. It keeps the focus on the potential link between glyphosate use and health issues.

Both versions discuss potential government negligence, but the first version establishes a more politically charged pattern by starting with an unrelated example about crime statistics and law enforcement before addressing the pesticide issue. This creates a broader narrative about government trustworthiness that’s likely to invite political discussion.

The second version, while still potentially controversial, stays more focused on the specific environmental health concern rather than positioning it within a larger political framework.

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#474

Your brain might not be getting enough B12 — even if your levels are considered “normal.”

A new study suggests that older adults with lower B12, even within the accepted range, show signs of cognitive decline and brain damage. Researchers found that these individuals had slower thinking and reaction times, along with white matter lesions linked to dementia.

A recent study published in the Annals of Neurology uses a multimodal testing approach to identify associations between B12 levels currently accepted as normal and markers of neurological injury or impairment.

Vitamin B12 deficiency

Vitamin B12, which is otherwise known as cobalamin, is an essential dietary vitamin that can be acquired from the consumption of animal products, certain dry fruits, nutritional yeast, and fortified foods. Vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to blood cell abnormalities like megaloblastic anemia and dysfunction of the neurological system, including subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord (SACD).

Some symptoms associated with SACD include sensory ataxia, paresthesia, and weakness. Previous pathological analyses indicate that SACD arises due to degeneration of the myelin sheath, which ultimately leads to the destruction and vacuolization of the white matter (WM) of the spinal cord.

B12 deficiency is also associated with cognitive impairment, memory loss, dementia, and psychosis. However, vitamin B supplementation has been shown to reduce the rate of brain atrophy in older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Open Access Research Paper:

Vitamin B12 Levels Association with Functional and Structural Biomarkers of Central Nervous System Injury in Older Adults

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ana.27200

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#475

The study, which was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, analyzed data on nearly 90,000 adults living in the U.K. who wore activity trackers between February 2013 and December 2015. The participants were mostly in their 50s or older.

During the study period, 735 of the study participants were diagnosed with dementia, but researchers found subjects who did just 34.9 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week were able to lower their dementia risk by about 41 percent, which is pretty significant.

From there, every additional 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity resulted in a roughly 4 percent lower risk of developing dementia. For example, dementia risk was 60 percent lower in participants in the 35 to 69.9 minutes of physical activity per week category, 63 percent lower in the 70 to 139.9 minutes per week category, and 69 percent lower in the 140+ minutes per week category. Overall, participants logged an average of 126 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a week over the course of about 4.4 years.)

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#476

We discussed this paper in another thread and @cl-user correctly noticed the wtf charts:

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#477

I don’t know for North America. In the EU I would trust the data: the worst pesticides have been banned and organic farming is slowly growing.

Also, we have reduced direct exposure to pesticides as people have moved to cities over the past decades. Most people used to live next to farms and to drink water from the local well that was full of pesticides. We still have indirect exposure through food though.

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#478

Yes. I always used to think “organic” was a hoax to get suckers to pay extra for the same stuff but the more I read on it lately the more I’m tempted to pay the premium. Pesticide exposure also varies greatly by type of fruit / veggie and where it was grown. Someone on another thread a while back posted a chart with sources ranking common staples by exposure levels. And as @adssx mentioned, I think there is probably a significant continental divide with it less a concern in Europe.

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#479

Organic uses pesticides as well and I don’t think there’s been a signal in the epidemiological data except living on farms where the exposure is higher.

#480

There’s nuance here, at least as applies to the “Organic” label in the US, that I feel this statement glosses over. The types of pesticides approved for USDA Organic crops differ significantly from those approved for conventional crops.

In general, USDA Organic regulations allow the use of most natural substances and prohibit the use of most synthetic substances. The exceptions are enumerated in 7 CFR 205.600 et seq..

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#481

There’s always nuance :wink:

I don’t consider there to be a significant difference between natural and synthetic substances. They’re just substances with a biological effect and thus I think they should be evaluated on other criteria than natural or synthetic. For all we know the synthetic ones could be safer through iterative development over the decades.

I’d avoid walking in wheat fields though or live either on or near farms, regardless what they spray on the crops.

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#482

At the same, some places are much higher than others even if the trend has been good

Eg the US is higher today than the UK ever was and the UK in turn is higher than Sweden ever was on the metric in your link I started to look through, eg

IMG_0125
IMG_01251179×1121 101 KB

What can we do about this for us in the US?

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#483

I would check for data at the local level. If you live in NYC the pollution emitted by an oil field in Texas or a farm in Iowa doesn’t impact you. National averages are irrelevant. Even in one city being in a small street next to a park makes a huge difference vs being next to a highway.

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#484

My mistake. A double post about HSP.

#485

From Stanford University:

What if a critical piece of the puzzle of brain aging has been hiding in plain sight? While neuroscience has long focused on proteins and DNA, a team of Stanford researchers dared to shift their gaze to sugars – specifically the complex sugar chains that cover all our cells like chain mail.

Their investigation revealed how changes in this sugary armor on the brain’s frontline cells could be key to understanding cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer’s.

“This is like landing on a new planet,” says Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, professor of chemistry and Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, whose groundbreaking research on cell surface sugars and their biological roles laid the groundwork for this interdisciplinary study. “We’re stepping outside for the first time and trying to make sense of what’s out there.”

At the center of this discovery is Sophia Shi, a Stanford Bio-X Graduate Fellow, whose doctoral research bridges the labs of Bertozzi and neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray, professor of neurology and neurological sciences and the Director of the Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

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#486

Chat gpt on glycolyx and splicing

The glycocalyx and alternative splicing are linked through their roles in cell function and gene regulation. Here’s how they connect:

  1. Regulation of Glycocalyx Components:

The glycocalyx is a carbohydrate-rich layer on the cell surface, composed of glycoproteins, glycolipids, and proteoglycans.

Many of these components (e.g., syndecans, glypicans, selectins) are produced from genes that undergo alternative splicing, leading to different protein isoforms with varied functions.

  1. Alternative Splicing Modifies Glycocalyx Proteins:

Alternative splicing can generate different isoforms of glycoproteins and proteoglycans, affecting their structure, glycosylation sites, and interactions with other molecules.

For example, CD44, a key glycoprotein in the glycocalyx, has multiple splice variants that influence cell adhesion, migration, and signaling.

  1. Effects on Cell Signaling and Disease:

Changes in alternative splicing can alter glycocalyx composition, impacting cell communication, immune responses, and cancer progression.

In cancer, aberrant splicing of glycocalyx-related proteins (e.g., MUC1, CD44) can enhance tumor growth and metastasis.

  1. Response to Environmental Stimuli:

The glycocalyx responds to mechanical and biochemical cues (e.g., shear stress, inflammation).

These signals can regulate splicing factors, leading to alternative splicing of genes involved in glycocalyx maintenance and remodeling.

Summary:

Alternative splicing influences the glycocalyx by modifying the structure and function of its protein components, affecting cell signaling, adhesion, and disease processes. Conversely, changes in the glycocalyx can influence splicing regulation, creating a feedback loop between gene expression and cell surface dynamics.

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#487

The blood-brain barrier weakens during normal aging and in neurodegenerative disease, but the reasons are not fully understood. In the February 26 Nature, scientists led by Tony Wyss-Coray and Carolyn Bertozzi at Stanford University, California, venture a suggestion. In mice, they found that mucin-domain glycoproteins, components of the carbohydrate meshwork that lines the interior of brain blood vessels, wane with age. In young mice, thinning out these sugary, bottlebrush-shaped proteins made brain blood vessels leak. Conversely, promoting glycosylation of the proteins in old mice firmed up the blood-brain barrier. This even helped prevent memory slippage.

The findings may be relevant to neurodegeneration. The authors detected a scarcity of mucin-domain glycoproteins in blood vessels from postmortem Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s brains. This could contribute to leaky blood vessels in those disorders, they suggested. Wyss-Coray considers glycosylation to be understudied in general. “We believe there is a vast trove of molecular information to be discovered by unlocking the patterns of glycosylation on molecules and cells,” he wrote to Alzforum.

In future work, the authors will further explore how glycosylation in the glycocalyx changes with age and disease in different brain regions. They also want to identify the underlying proteins that serve as scaffolds for mucin-type O-glycosylation in the glycocalyx.

Commenters agreed the findings point toward new therapeutic strategies. “The ability to target the glycocalyx with viral vectors suggests that this work could be translated, either through viral vectors or drugs that target the enzymes that form the glycocalyx, to restore BBB function during aging or neurological disease,” Kipnis and Smyth wrote.

https://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/do-specialized-glycoproteins-prop-blood-brain-barrier

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#488

A new open access paper:

NREM sleep as a novel protective cognitive reserve factor in the face of Alzheimer’s disease pathology

Conclusions

These findings indicate that NREM SWA is a novel cognitive reserve factor providing resilience against the memory impairment otherwise caused by high AD pathology burden. Furthermore, this cognitive reserve function of NREM SWA remained significant when accounting both for covariates, and factors previously linked to resilience, suggesting that sleep might be an independent cognitive reserve resource. Beyond such mechanistic insights are potential therapeutic implications. Unlike many other cognitive reserve factors (e.g., years of education, prior job complexity), sleep is a modifiable factor. As such, it represents an intervention possibility that may aid the preservation of cognitive function in the face of AD pathology, both present moment and longitudinally.

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#489

Back in 2023, researchers pumped the brakes on one of my most cherished beliefs about exercise: the idea that aerobic fitness makes your brain healthier and more resistant to age-related cognitive decline. Exercise, the thinking goes, spurs the production of growth-promoting brain chemicals, or enhances blood flow to the brain, or simply promotes better sleeping habits and healthier social interactions. The idea has been around for decades and is a staple of health journalism. But a major review published in Nature Human Behaviour found that the actual scientific evidence was too weak to conclude that exercise makes you smarter.

So I’m pleased to report a couple of new studies that support the brain benefits of fitness. Both of them rely on VO2 max as a gold-standard objective measure of aerobic fitness, rather than trying to estimate fitness or exercise habits. One finds that higher VO2 max is associated with better cognitive function in older adults; the other finds that it preserves the size of a key brain region as you age. Lately VO2 max has been getting a lot of attention for its ability to predict longevity; the new data bolsters the case that its benefits are in your head too.

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#490

This key protein could be responsible for brain ageing

An amyloid protein targeted by Alzheimer’s disease therapies seems to be involved in normal mental decline.

A protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease progression has been linked to normal brain ageing, raising the prospect that researchers could target it to stave off age-related mental decline.

The amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) helps to form links between the brain’s neurons. It has been highly studied because its breakdown creates amyloid-β peptides, which are often present in plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Now, Dario Valenzano, an evolutionary biologist at the Leibniz Institute on Aging in Jena, Germany, and his colleagues have found that knocking out the appa gene, which makes APP, in turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) reduces signs of ageing.

“We found that there is probably an overlooked role of amyloid precursor protein in normal brain ageing,” says Valenzano. The work has not yet been peer reviewed and is posted on the bioRxiv preprint server1.

Full article: This key protein could be responsible for brain ageing

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