#27: 👁 Eye Signals to Detect Alzheimer’s
Plus: The Dark Side of Early Psychedelic Research
💬 In this note:
👁 Early Signs of Alzheimer's May Be Detectable in the Eyes
🍄 The Dark Side of Early Psychedelic Research: Unethical Practices and Discrimination
📚 The Body Keeps the Score
👁 Early Signs of Alzheimer's May Be Detectable in the Eyes
According to an article published by CNN Health, researchers have found that a non-invasive eye test could potentially detect early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
The test involves examining the retina and analyzing the blood vessels within it.
The study found that individuals with Alzheimer's had greater variability in the width of their blood vessels compared to those without the disease.
This variability is associated with decreased cognitive function, making it a potential indicator of early Alzheimer's disease.
Currently, Alzheimer's is diagnosed through a combination of methods including:
Cognitive and memory tests
Neurological exams
Brain imaging (such as MRI or PET scans)
Blood tests to rule out other conditions
However, at the moment Alzheimer's diagnosis can only be definitively confirmed post-mortem through an examination of brain tissue.
Early detection of the disease could lead to earlier interventions and treatments, potentially delaying the onset or progression of symptoms.
Who else is working on early detection of Alzheimer’s?
1️⃣ C2N Diagnostics created the PrecivityAD blood test to help healthcare providers determine if a patient is likely to have amyloid plaques in the brain, a hallmark sign of Alzheimer’s Disease.
2️⃣ Novoic developed an AI-enabled software for detecting subtle cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s neuropathology based on how people speak.
🍄 The Dark Side of Early Psychedelic Research: Unethical Practices and Discrimination
The use of psychedelics in research has a long and storied history, dating back to the mid-20th century. However, early studies in this area were plagued by a number of troubling practices, particularly when it came to the treatment of vulnerable populations like people of colour and individuals with mental health conditions.
One of the most well-known examples of such abuses occurred during the CIA's MK-Ultra program, a secret research project conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency from the 1950s to the early 1970s. It involved experimentation on human subjects in order to develop techniques for mind control and interrogation.
Methods included drug administration, sensory deprivation and other forms of torture. In some of these experiments, subjects were given high doses of LSD and other drugs without their consent, and many experienced severe psychological trauma as a result.
Over 80 public and private research institutions were provided with MKUltra CIA funds (knowingly and unknowingly), to conduct human experimental research with LSD on civilians, prisoners and patients.
The program was ultimately uncovered and terminated, but the entire scope of its operations is still unknown. Richard Helms, the head of the CIA, destroyed much of the program's records, but some were left behind and came to light during numerous hearings before the US Senate.
During the same time of these experiments, the Declaration of Helsinki was adopted by the World Medical Association as a set of ethical guidelines to govern medical research using human subjects.
It was first presented in 1964 and has since undergone multiple revisions, with the most current one appearing in 2013. Respect for human dignity, informed consent, openness in research, and defense of weaker groups are among the guiding ideals. They act as a framework to guarantee that research is conducted ethically and that human rights are upheld.
In a recent article published in 2021, Dana Strauss (@DanaStrauss47 on twitter) and colleagues conducted a literature review of the first wave of psychedelic research (1950-1980). The researchers set out to assess to what extent vulnerable populations were unduly exploited. They assessed recruitment strategies, study methodologies and experiment safety.
They found that many studies used high-risk dosing schedules with neglect for set and setting. People of color and prisoners were exploited in early research, with a lack of attention paid to informed consent and differential treatment based on race. Concluding that many of the studies conducted during this first wave of research would not have passed an ethical review board today.
As we enter a new psychedelic renaissance, the article urges researchers to uphold current ethical standards, put great effort into creating a comfortable set and setting, and to develop culturally informed practices so that these mental health treatments can be broadly applied to a diverse society.
📚 Book of the Week
The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk
3 / 5 Stars
Often referred to as THE book when it comes to trauma. I decided to listen to it as an audiobook, which I do not recommend. It’s long, detailed and slow with many references which makes it a difficult audiobook.
I found the book interesting, but the author has recently been criticized for insensitivity in his writing towards female groups who have experienced trauma. So read with caution.
⚡️ Check This Out
A great visualization of how we think our solar system works vs. how it actually works.