Free Republic

A new study shows that a ketogenic diet significantly delays the early stages of Alzheimer's-related memory loss in mice. This early memory loss is comparable to mild cognitive impairment in humans that precedes full-blown Alzheimer's disease. The ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat, and moderate-protein diet, which shifts the body's metabolism from using glucose as the main fuel source to burning fat and producing ketones for energy. Researchers previously found that mice lived 13% longer on ketogenic diets. The new study, which follows up on that research, found that the molecule beta-hydroxybutyrate, or BHB, plays a pivotal role in preventing...

President Joe Biden’s “poor memory” was a key factor in not charging him, Special Counsel Robert Hur told Congress Tuesday. Hur, who described Biden in his report as “an elderly man with a poor memory,” told the House Judiciary Committee that he could not charge the president with “willfully” retaining classified documents due to the president’s lack of mental cognition and the impact that would have on a jury. “I understood that my explanation about this case had to include rigorous, detailed, and thorough analysis. In other words, I needed to show my work,” Hur said. “I knew that for...

Members of the established media in recent weeks defended President Joe Biden’s “poor” memory by claiming the president’s health is “acute” and that any speculation to the contrary is “ageist” and a “right wing media” conspiracy theory. The media’s defense is the latest effort to support Biden, who is trailing in national 2024 polling to former President Donald Trump. The media apparently felt compelled to defend Biden before and after special counsel Robert Hur described the president as an “elderly man with a poor memory” in his report on Biden’s classified document scandal: Hur described Biden as not competent to...

The White House sent an angry letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland a day before the Special Counsel report on President Joe Biden's mishandling of classified information was released. White House Counsel Ed Siskel complained in a letter on February 7 that Special Counsel Robert Hur's report included 'multiple denigrating statements' about Biden's memory. Details of the White House letters between Justice Department officials were first published by Politico. 'A global and pejorative judgment on the President's powers of recollection in general is uncalled for and unfounded,' the letter read. The latest development in the special counsel saga as Congress...

President Biden lashed out at critics who questioned his cognitive ability Thursday, telling reporters at the White House that he can't remember a single time when his memory failed him. "Don't you think I would know if I were having memory problems?" the president asked. "I'm as sharp as a tack, Jack. I've got no cognitive issues whatsoever. My memory is as perfect as it was back in 2024 when I was president." "Also, don't you think I'd know if I were having memory problems? People with memory problems mix up names, dates, and places," he noted. "They wander around...

Special Counsel Robert Hur is reportedly in “final talks” to testify before the House Impeachment Inquiry about his report on President Joe Biden’s alleged theft of classified documents, which described the president as an “elderly man with a poor memory.” House Democrats do not want Hur to answer questions about Biden’s fitness for office. Hur described Biden as not competent to stand trial for allegedly stealing classified documents. Hur said Biden could not remember simple facts about his life, such as when he was vice president or when his son Beau died.

The special counsel who investigated President Joe Biden’s squirreling away of classified documents in Delaware after he stopped being vice president in 2017 found that Biden broke the law but probably wouldn’t be convicted by a jury, largely because he can’t remember enough about it. One of the reasons for not recommending criminal charges against Biden, the report says, is that “at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” The report, by Robert K. Hur, dated Monday, February 5...

The establishment media appeared to work overtime to defend President Joe Biden’s “deteriorated” memory against special counsel Robert Hur’s powerful analysis of Biden’s cognition. The defense is the media’s latest painstaking endeavor to provide cover for Biden, whom Hur detailed as not competent to stand trial for stealing classified documents. Biden is an “elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote in his report on Biden’s wrongdoing. Biden claimed in a press conference his memory is “fine.”

The New York Times editorial board slammed President Biden’s press conference that he gave in response to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s assessment of his "poor memory." The editorial – published Friday ­– declared that Biden’s assurances during the presser that his memory is "fine" "didn’t work," and that they raised "more questions" about his sharpness. The board then advised Biden that he needs to "do better" to convince the American people that he’s up to the job, especially as former President Trump has a "very real chance of retaking the White House." The piece began by noting polls showing how...

I recently lost my wife of 16 years to cardiac failure. Her loss has been devastating. We had a fight before we went to bed and our last words were not pleasant. When the alarm went off and I rolled over and saw her laying there eyes open and motionless, I knew I lost her. I'd give ANYTHING to tell her that I 'm sorry for the fight and to tell her that I love her one more time. I called 911 and everyone showed up, and I was treated like a criminal that potentially murdered her for 3 hours...

President Joe Biden said on New Year’s Eve his favorite memory of 2023 was the alleged improvement of the U.S. economy. Polling appears to show the economy did not improve under Biden’s leadership: WSJ: Only 23 percent of voters said Biden’s policies helped them. CNBC: A record high of 66 percent of Americans are “pessimistic” about the future of Biden’s economy. Lending Club: 62 percent of adults in December said they live paycheck to paycheck, up from 58 percent in March. “As you look back and reflect on 2023, what sort of memories, highlights, stand out for you?” New Year’s...

Comments made on 11/9/23

A team of cognitive health and aging research specialists affiliated with a large number of institutions in Japan has found that ingesting wasabi can help improve both long- and short-term memory retention in older adults. For their study, the group gave one group of older adult volunteers daily wasabi tablets and another group a daily placebo for three months. Wasabi is a kind of plant that grows in Japan and the Russian Far East—some liken to horseradish. The rhizome is commonly used as both an ingredient in food and as a condiment. Prior research has shown that its anti-inflammatory benefits...

Ongoing work by researchers into how aspartame affects the brain has linked the artificial sweetener with learning and memory deficits in mice. The offspring of male mice that consumed aspartame at levels equivalent to much lower doses than those deemed safe by the U.S. FDA demonstrated spatial learning and memory deficits over the course of a controlled 16-week exposure. The most recent research is an extension of a study which linked aspartame consumption to anxiety in mice, with effects extending up to two generations. "The thing we noticed here, unlike the anxiety (research), this went only one generation. It was...

In a randomized trial, researchers uncover evidence supporting a shorter treatment time for breast cancer patients. The study compared two separate dosing schedules of pencil-beam scanning proton therapy, the most advanced type of proton therapy known for its precision in targeting cancer cells while preserving healthy tissue to reduce the risk of side effects. Survival rates for breast cancer continue to improve due to advances, leading to increasing emphasis on reducing the long-term toxicity of cancer treatment, including radiotherapy. Prior to this study, all patients treated with proton postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) had received a conventional 25- to 30-day course delivered...

New research supports the idea that the brains of older adults who maintain physical fitness by engaging in regular strenuous exercise more closely resemble those of younger adults. The researchers used functional MRI to measure fluctuations in blood oxygen level-dependent signals as the 52 study participants performed tasks involving several varieties of cognitive control. The fMRI scans indicated that young adults primarily used the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—a classical working memory, cognitive control center of the brain that is activated more as tasks became more demanding. In general, the brain calls upon its resources like firefighters respond to a multi-alarm fire:...

There is a clear need for a new approach to the treatment of cognitive loss in older adults that takes little effort but is highly effective and affordable (Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessments, 2008). Environmental enrichment has long been studied in rats and mice, which can be enriched by placing them in a large cage with conspecifics, a running wheel, and regularly changing physical elements, rather than their restrictive box cage (Kempermann, 2019). The enrichment stimulates neuroplasticity that improves their human-like neurological symptoms in more than two dozen animal models of human neurological disorders (Nithianantharajah and Hannan, 2009; Hannan,...

Older adults who play digital puzzle games have the same memory abilities as people in their 20s, a study has shown. The study also found that adults aged 60 and over who play digital puzzle games had a greater ability to ignore irrelevant distractions, but older adults who played strategy games did not show the same improvements in memory or concentration. It is known that as humans age, their mental abilities tend to decrease, particularly the ability to remember a number of things at a single time—known as working memory. "It instead seems to be the strategy elements of the...

Findings from a new study suggest that taking a probiotic could help prevent the decline in memory and thinking that can accompany aging. This research may pave the way for new, non-invasive treatments that leverage the gut microbiome to mitigate cognitive decline in the aging population. The researchers found that when study participants with mild cognitive impairment received the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) for three months, their cognitive scores increased. This cognitive improvement was also associated with changes in their gut microbiome. The study involved 169 participants between 52 and 75 years old who were divided into two groups...

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part...