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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 15 2020, @09:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the tl;dr dept.

Cambridge study finds apathy, not depression, is an early sign of dementia :

A new study, led by neuroscientists from the University of Cambridge, has identified apathy as an important early sign of dementia. The research finds apathy is distinct from depression, and offers a more accurate longitudinal association with the onset of dementia.

[...] To study this particular distinction between apathy and depression, and their relationship with dementia, the researchers looked at two independent cohorts with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), totaling more than 450 subjects. SVD is a common age-related condition and it's the leading cause of vascular dementia, so following SVD patients for several years before dementia develops offers a good insight into the earliest pre-clinical signs of cognitive decline.

Affirming the hypothesis that apathy is an early sign of cognitive decline, the researchers reference recent MRI studies finding SVD damages specific white matter networks relating to motivation and healthy cognitive functions. This suggests as SVD progresses, an early stage of pre-dementia neurodegeneration can manifest in apathetic behavior.

"This implies that apathy is not a risk factor for dementia per se, but rather an early symptom of white matter network damage," the researchers write in the study. "Indeed, recent theoretical work proposed that certain symptoms of apathy are synonymous with defined cognitive deficits. If this is the case, then apathy may manifest early as a reduction in attention towards reward stimuli, then later, as an inability to learn or remember rewarding behaviours."

Journal Reference:
Jonathan Tay, Robin G Morris, Anil M Tuladhar, et al. Apathy, but not depression, predicts all-cause dementia in cerebral small vessel disease [open], Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2020-323092)

If you really don't care about this study, you might be in trouble...


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  • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday July 16 2020, @03:06PM (6 children)

    by RS3 (6367) on Thursday July 16 2020, @03:06PM (#1022425)

    Thanks for clearing that up but just so you know, _I_ never connected you with 'realdonaldtrump'. That takes a special talent that no-one would be proud of. Maybe more of a curse. :o

    Same here re: account and AC postings, although since I've lost my recent quest to clean up this site, I find I occasionally post AC to "vent" or post something that will likely get downmodded. I don't downmod because I don't agree with someone. Often differing viewpoints inspire me positively. I dream of building a site where people can post without repercussions. Don't have the time to do it, nor the time to think through the entire system, but for sure 1 person's downmod would not move a singular post below a reading threshold. I have lots more but no time to bore you with it. :)

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday July 16 2020, @03:24PM (5 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 16 2020, @03:24PM (#1022434) Journal

    I am not aware of, or uninformed about, any quest to clean up this site. Despite that, it is a big improvement over the green site. Despite what seems to be an influx of deliberately offensive ACs in the last year or so.

    My reason to not post as AC (except when it is an essential part of the joke), is that I own my opinions and views. Brilliant, Inciteful, Stupid, or whatever. I see many views posted as AC that people should rightfully be ashamed of even under a pseudonym. I'm not afraid of being down modded, despite the severe life altering consequences of being down modded.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday July 16 2020, @04:09PM (4 children)

      by RS3 (6367) on Thursday July 16 2020, @04:09PM (#1022460)

      And in my true character, I fully respect and admire your position, and I'd say you live up to it well.

      There were some fairly intense "meta" discussions in the past month or two (no time to look it up). Frankly, the admins here contradicted themselves. In a previous discussion, could have been a year ago or more, they clearly stated that mods were being abused- downmodding someone "troll" or "flamebait" when it's just a different view or opinion is mod abuse (IMHO itself troll).

      I don't like downmods, introspection / psychology aside- simply because they lower my post's rating and fewer people will see it. Why should I bother to write something if it's going to be removed from view? I'm not here to cause trouble- only to try to help, give inspiring or uplifting info or anecdotes or potentially helpful thoughts.

      Some people here are pretty contentious, surly, at best, but I don't downmod them- I respect them for many reasons. Sometimes it gets very tiring though.

      A little introspection: I'm more of the "free speech" crowd, and to me "freedom of speech" means no repercussions. The mod system is a form of censorship. I didn't say absolute 100% black or white, I wrote "a form of".

      I've had several people (a couple in particular) who challenge my posts, demanding "citation needed". This is directed at them and like-minded: For crying out loud, it's just a blog- not an authoritative source- people say and write stuff- chill out! Do your own research if you care, or move on. Life's too short.

      Maybe someday if I have time I'll start a journal discussion about the mod system.

      (PS: not sure if you've visited green site lately, but it's been very cleaned up. Much higher-brow discussions there (on average)).

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday July 16 2020, @05:20PM (3 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 16 2020, @05:20PM (#1022483) Journal

        Everyone should have free speech. Everyone else should not be required to listen.

        Suppose there were a feature where one could say "Ignore" this user. That user's posts simply don't appear, for you. Or maybe appear "grayed out" (dimmed).

        I also take the view that everyone should free speech, on their own platform. Again, everyone else is not required to listen. (or pay) If I had things to say that were so hateful and awful that SN would not tolerate it, I could set up a site on either Linode or Digital Ocean for as low as $5 / month. If some people's free speech is too over the top for the majority, maybe they should get their own soap box. This does not seem unreasonable. Nobody should have to pay for someone else's "free speech" if they don't want to.

        An oft' recurring theme is that conservative views are censored on the intarweb tubes. If that is so, then it seems to me that there are plenty of well heeled conservatives that could start alternate platforms. The thing that I would fully expect to happen there is that all liberal views would be censored. (by the people who claim to love free speech?) Thus no actual debates occur.

        Maybe liberal vs conservative views are not the real problem. But extreme over the top "speech" is the problem. An extreme fringe minority. (All $X people should be exterminated.)

        I don't think there are simple solutions. People are the problem. Not technology.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday July 16 2020, @05:42PM (2 children)

          by RS3 (6367) on Thursday July 16 2020, @05:42PM (#1022494)

          I've thought about all of those things for a very long time, and I don't see simple answers.

          I mean no disrespect, and I don't wish to debate you, but you extrapolated from what I posted, went far out in "left field", and "put words in my mouth". I grow very weary very quickly of people challenging me with things I never said. For example, I not only never suggested anyone should pay for anything, but the thought of someone paying for someone else's soap box is close to absurd. Dispelling what you wrote, just so I could get back to my points, is tiring.

          This site was established by people who had many ideas that were differing with slashdot's at the time. I fully commend them for starting this site. I was excited to find it, and overly optimistic that it would be a much higher-brow and much more civil atmosphere here. Boy was I naive. As an engineer, I'm more of an "agile" developer, and always have been. I think this site needs a better mechanism for change, at least consideration thereof. Like I already wrote, the very admins here have contradicted themselves re: mod point abuse. I have some ideas for improvement, and many here commented very insightfully in those mod system discussions (so I know I'm not alone).

          (Methinks were just rats in their maze. I hope they're being entertained. :)

          People are not the problem. People are people, being people, and the technology needs to accommodate. That's why we invented technology- to help people and enhance their lives. One of my biggest gripes in life is technology that doesn't accept the human's inputs, which is why I moved to Linux 25 years ago. I for one will never bow to technology.

          Here's a question for you: why is there a mod system at all? (I know the short obvious answer, but tell me the deep reason).

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday July 16 2020, @05:55PM (1 child)

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 16 2020, @05:55PM (#1022499) Journal

            I may be missing something, but I do not mean to put any words in your mouth. I'm more stating an opinion and thoughts than challenging anything you said. Sorry if it came across wrong. You've probably thought about this longer than I have.

            When I say "people are the problem", I mean something along the lines that the tech without people wouldn't have this problem. It seems inherent in human nature to have conflicts. Sometimes extreme views. I think history bears that out.

            Here's a question for you: why is there a mod system at all?

            I've never really thought about that. My first gut 2 second knee jerk would be to promote comments that one things most people would find interesting, for various reasons.

            I've never really thought about any deep reason. I would be interested to hear what you think, regardless of whether I would agree with it. (because obviously you've given it some thought -- just as I've given a lot of thought to why I use and love Java)

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
            • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday July 16 2020, @07:07PM

              by RS3 (6367) on Thursday July 16 2020, @07:07PM (#1022522)

              Thank you so much. You're truly one of the best here or anywhere, and I can't thank you enough for your contributions here. You enrich my life.

              You kind of went down a path of steps that resulted in talking about paying for soapbox, which you (properly IMHO) dispelled, and it was a complete offshoot of what I was writing about. People do that to me from time to time- series of "stream of consciousness" steps based on something I say/write, and then put those thoughts back on me- it's just a sore spot for me, so please keep that in mind- that I'm the slightly "triggered" one. :o

              Really the bigger question is: what do the owners / founders / admins of SN want the site to be? To some extent I look at this site in the light of what _I_ would want it to be, and it's almost there. I just don't agree with 1 person's downmod moving 1 post down 1 reading level. To understand the thought process, one must keep in mind the whole reason for a mod system, which is mainly to remove trash posts from view.

              But, then whose opinions are guiding what I read?

              So wisecrackers say "browse at -1". That's the kind of smartass answer that gets me irritated because my point is not about what level _I_ read at, but what levels everyone reads at, and what happens to perfectly good posts (mine included) that 1 or 2 "triggered' people downmod because they disagree with an otherwise perfectly good post.

              I generally read at level 0, but there's plenty of cruft at 0, and lots of great stuff.

              People argue that the mod system is self-righting, that enough people will upmod something that was unfairly downmodded. I hope those people don't program computers- they've forgotten logical thinking 101. How will anyone see said post to then think to upmod it?

              I've tried to help rescue some great posts, but 1) I run out of mod points, 2) 4 or more upmods toward 1 person and they all revert and I lose the points, and 3) someone else downmods the post again anyway.

              My point: it's not okay, in my mind, to move someone's post out of view just because you have a different opinion, but that's what we have.

              I just don't have time to go into it, but I've thought about an involuntary mod system, for example. IE, you would _have_ to vote on a post or the system won't let you read any more posts. Just a thought. The idea being- I want a true system-wide democratic vote on whether something needs to be downmodded.

              If I ever do run such a system, downmods would have to be approved by first ME, then as the system grows in membership, trusted admins / editors (like you). But even then it would be a vote system, and if I owned said system, I'd always final say, but most likely would go with the votes.

              To bolster my points, this system's admins take "spam" mod very seriously, and you'll lose a month of mod points if you improperly downmod with "spam". I just wish they'd do the same for "troll" and "flamebait".

              Bottom line- I think this site could be even better if cleaned up- it would encourage better discussions, freer expression, more vigorous and inspired brainstorming, and, well, I'd spend too much time here and I have a life that's calling! :)

              Thank you!!