Statin use linked to lower risks of all‐dementia, AD, and VaD. No longer a question

“If the entire population maintained LDL concentrations akin to those of a neonate (30-40 mg/dL) or to those of adults of most other animal species, atherosclerosis might well be an orphan disease” @skathire @society_eas @nationallipid

Tell yourself something false enough times and your brain starts filing it as true. Psychologists have measured this for almost fifty years, and it works even on facts you already know are wrong. They call it the illusory truth effect. The first experiment ran in 1977 at Villanova and Temple. Students got 60 trivia statements, some true, some false, and rated how true each one felt. Two weeks later they did it again. Then again two weeks after that. Every statement that got repeated felt more believable each round, whether or not it was true. For a long time people assumed knowing better would protect you. If you know the Pacific is bigger than the Atlantic, hearing "the Atlantic is the largest ocean" a few times shouldn't move you. A 2015 study from Vanderbilt and Duke found the opposite. People rated repeated falsehoods as truer even while they held the right answer in their heads. The researchers called it knowledge neglect. When a claim feels familiar and easy to follow, the brain trusts that easy feeling instead of checking what it knows. Repeat "vitamin C prevents colds" enough and it can quietly slip into your beliefs, no matter how much biology you took. There's a physical layer under all this. Every time a thought fires, the neurons carrying it strengthen their link, a rule from 1949 usually shortened to "neurons that fire together, wire together." Repeat a thought and you are not just recalling it. You are building the wiring that makes it the default next time. Worry and self-criticism lay down track the same way gratitude does. The brain does not grade the content. It reinforces whatever runs often. The "your brain can't tell real from fake" version of this goes too far. Your brain does run a reality check. A 2025 study at UCL, published in the journal Neuron, found a spot behind your temples, low in the brain, that measures how strong a signal is and uses that to label an experience as real or imagined. The catch is that the check runs on signal strength, so a vivid enough mental image can flip the "real" switch on its own. Which is why picturing exercise can build real muscle. In a 2004 Cleveland Clinic study, people who only imagined doing finger contractions, no movement at all, gained about 35% more finger strength. The group that physically trained gained 53%. The part of the brain that plans movement ran the rehearsal and changed as if the workout had happened. The takeaway is quieter than the headline. A thought gets treated as true when it feels familiar and you have run it enough times, not because anyone checked it against reality. The loop you run most is the loop you wire in.

Confirmed again, for a fourth time: the greatest anti-dementia treatment ever discovered is the Shingles vaccine.

A single dose of a new cancer drug made a brain tumor almost disappear – in just five days. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital reported “dramatic and rapid” tumor regression in the first patients treated with a next-generation form of CAR T-cell therapy for glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive brain cancers known. The therapy, called CARv3-TEAM-E, was developed to overcome a major hurdle in treating solid tumors: their ability to hide from the immune system. The personalized treatment reprograms a patient’s immune cells to attack the tumor, and in one extraordinary case, nearly eliminated the cancer within just five days. This novel therapy is designed to target multiple features of the tumor at once, a strategy that may help overcome the common challenge of treatment resistance in solid tumors like glioblastoma. Although the tumors eventually returned, the early outcomes were described as unprecedented. One patient saw a 60% reduction in tumor size that lasted for half a year—an impressive result in a cancer known for its aggressiveness. The trial’s success marks a major step forward for immunotherapy in brain cancer and raises new hopes for long-term control or even a cure. Researchers are now working to refine the treatment and extend its effects, with the ultimate goal of turning a once-terminal diagnosis into a survivable condition.

After this crisis passes, there are going to be people who say that the coronavirus was never a big deal and that we overreacted. If that seems surprising, think how many Americans don't believe in evolution. Prediction: they will be mostly the same people.

This review describes the possible underlying mechanisms that may explain the athlete calcification paradox (i.e., increased coronary artery calcification in older men who have been exposed to high volumes of endurance exercise over their lifetime) at the molecular and cellular levels.

The expected plaque progression was stated as 7mm³ in the 2024 protocol paper. Your statistician has publicly stated that the observed plaque progression was 18.8mm³, which is 167% higher than the published estimate. How do you reconcile these with the claim in your post?

Do statins cause dementia? This one has been conclusively answered. Which seems surprising to some. 🧵👇 /1

One of the saddest lessons of history is that we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.

October 15, 1988 Kirk Gibson's Walk-Off Home Run 1988 World Series Game 1 One of baseball history's most memorable moments as called by two of broadcasting's most iconic voices Jack Buck for CBS Radio and Vin Scully for NBC

Max Homa holing out for eagle and just not reacting at all is pretty sick

👉Safety and Efficacy of Moderate-intensity statin plus ezetimibe versus high-intensity statin monotherapy in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis ☝️Compared Moderated Intensity Statins (MIS) +Ezetimibe (EZT) with High Intensity Statins (HIS) in ASCVD. All the lastest meta-analysis included Low/Moderated Intensity Statins + Ezetimibe versus High Intensity Statins ☝️MIS+EZT achieved greater LDL reduction than HIS. ☝️There were no signifficant difference in incidence of MACE between the groups. ☝️More patients achieved LDL goal (<70) with MIS+EZT. ☝️MIS+EZT showed similar safety profile to HIS. ☝️Meta-analysis suggests MIS+EZT may be a more effective treatment. Open Access 🔓 lipidjournal.com/article/S19…

No firewall (evil laugh) archive.ph/2024.07.16-181048…

Here’s an old frozen rope throw from Mookie Betts for no reason

In this clip, vaccine specialist Dr. Paul Offit says RFK Jr. is directly responsible for the deaths of 83 people in Samoa, most of whom were young children, due to his role in depressing vaccination rates on the island. @DecodingFoxNews

Feedback is key! Understanding how to use the ground properly requires feedback. Using the @theforcepedal will help you optimize ground force application! This drill is part of our new Ground Force Level 1 protocol that is being released with the new SuperSpeed Golf App! Once you work through our protocol, Full Swings with the Force Pedals is the perfect way to tie everything together. Force Pedals, here superspeedgolf.com/products/… Check out the full video, youtu.be/N_MV9zr9fEI?si=h0NH…

One of the best catches in baseball history. I’ll never forget it. Neither will Andy Van Slyke. #Braves