[ExI] Jaw-dropping CWRU Alzheimer's breakthrough?

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Davis
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 10:25 AM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] Jaw-dropping CWRU Alzheimer's breakthrough?

2012/2/26 spike <spike66 at att.net>:

>> The stoner crowd is willing take appalling risks to poke junk into their
veins and sniff or eat god knows what, manufactured by who knows...

>...You could dial down this rather rough-edged characterization of "the
stoner crowd".  Overdose, disease, and despair destroy lives across the
straight<->spectrum...

Acknowledged.  Do let me restate in more diplomatic terms.  I am criticizing
the double standard.  The stoners take whatever risky thing, society is all
heh heh, girls just wanna have fuh-hunnnn.  But let me do likewise, and
suddenly I am some big evil peg-leg hook-hand eye-patch and green parrot on
my shoulder pirate trolling the high seas, aaarrrrrr ye scurvy dogs!  

My disdain is not for the stoners, who may soon coming galloping to our
collective aid, but rather the whole notion of labeling amateur pharmacists
as pirates.  I ain't buying it.  We are closer to the noble and ballsy
Columbus than Black Beard, aaarrrr.


>...Alcohol and tobacco take their toll, but straight and sober folks can
and do also crater in the face of unsympathetic circumstance.  If you had
ever gone to an Alcoholics anonymous or narcotics anonymous meeting -- which
I take it Mr. Straight Arrow Jones has not...

Thanks, never been to one of those but I have an interesting side comment.
Twenty years ago I had a colleague who was for a while a fellow traveler
with a certain church whose name is not mentioned, but whose name contains
the same root word as Science and has an ology in there somewhere.  He was a
straight arrow engineering type, but found he just never did fit in with
this crowd, because a bunch of them were recovering stoners.  He had never
touched the stuff, even back in the 70s.  He noticed all too many of the
regular meetings tended to break out into a spontaneous NarcAnon session,
and he often felt like the only one there who had nothing to contribute.  So
he eventually just went away.  No one noticed him gone.


>...  Just like you with your current -- if more severe -- Alzheimer's
challenge...

Not my, Jeff, our.  The patient is myself in this case, but rather a family
member.  I had one grandfather who died of Alzheimer's, but neither of my
parents are showing any signs in their 70s fortunately, nor are any of my
uncles, all in their 70s, one in his 80s.  So I might skate on that one, but
this particular family member will not.  That being said, Alzheimer's is one
of the scariest things a cryonics patient can face.


>...Everybody goes "wobbly" under severe stress.  An Alzheimer's problem
will do that.  But in this special bexarotene vs Alzheimer's case, the
problem is amplified...

We have a sympathetic doctor who is urging the family to not jump the gun.
Results are coming in, and we are but one family of hundreds she is
treating, many clamoring for a shot at bexarotene.


>... You have great loyalty and confidence in the "straight" system, and
have (I guess) rarely strayed from the approved path.  So going "outlaw" is
scary to you...

Hell yes!  I am holding security clearances.  I may need to either ask
permission to do this or hand back my tickets, in which case I have no job.
If that is what it takes, I may do it, but I think we can work with the
system.  Perhaps I can convince them that I am not trying to get stoned, nor
do I wish to rob a few bucks from some enormous pharmaceutical corporation's
bottom line, but rather just trying to save a family member's life and
perhaps contribute to a problem plenty of us may face.

>...I still don't know why Landreth kept the CWRU research results secret
until forced to publish, but I accept as a default presumption that, at
least consciously, he thought he was the right thing...

I don't either Jeff.  Apparently there has been a bunch of additional
testing that we still don't know about, but the rumors are flying.  Let us
take two thirds of the advice of that LDS guy whose name escapes me: tune
in, turn on, but do not drop out.  News will be forthcoming, even if
extracted with a crowbar.





>> ... so my strategy is to take a tenth of that dose, in a form I know is
completely dissolved, in about 10 grams of alcohol.  Then I watch and test
myself for any signs of hypothyroidism or any increase in memory...

>...Sure, good plan...

However, this may not work: I am not an Alzheimer's patient myself and
haven't noticed any particular unusual memory loss, other than failing to
recall Dr. Leary's name temporarily in the above paragraph.  I was never a
fan of his, so my taking half a minute to recall his name isn't indicative
of anything.  So, question please Jeff and others: if we don't have memory
loss symptoms, how can we determine if this stuff is effective?  If we know
someone who does have it, how can we feel confident we have informed consent
of the patient to try it on them?  What if we discover that bexarotene helps
normal non-AD patients?  Would not the clamor for the medications overwhelm
the supply, depriving the unsuspecting cancer patients? Oy vey.


>> ...I cannot be faulted for taking the stuff myself, right?

>...As long as it doesn't make you high.  ;-}  Jeff Davis

{8^D  HEY!  That’s IT!  Jeff!  We mix the stuff with cocaine, then all moral
ambiguity is swept away with recreational drug use, all is well, for I have
long advocated that all drugs should be legal (even if I do not advise their
use) and no more ethical dilemmas.  Oh wait, goodbye security clearance,
goodbye job.  {8-[

How about mixing it with some legal drug?  Oh wait, already suggested that,
alcohol, never mind.  

That’s IT!  We use it as a flavoring for vodka!  Call it a Targretin
Wallbanger or an Amyloid Sundowner or something.  Good thinking Jeff.

spike