Her grandma's struggle with dementia led to this Singaporean scientist developing a test to detect early stages

As a child, Dr Shao Huilin witnessed her grandmother’s long struggle with dementia. Today, the university professor, scientist and biotech start-up founder of Sunbird Bio spearheads the development of groundbreaking tests for earlier detection of the disease, as well as more personalised treatment.

any of our lives have been touched by dementia, whether directly via the diagnosis of a loved one or indirectly through the experience of someone we know of. Scientist Dr Shao Huilin first encountered the neurodegenerative disease as a child.

“My grandma had dementia and passed away from it when I was five or six years old though she was never diagnosed with a specific kind of dementia,” she recalled. “I remember my parents brought her over to stay with us so that they could look after her and help with her daily functionalities such as feeding and bathing her.”

Though the scientist, who is in her thirties, admitted that she was too young to remember specific details, this memory remained etched in her mind.

"Early detection fine. Early cure even better."

There is a lot of new research and evidence that many of the neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimers, dementia, and others) stem from brain cells losing the ability to "burn glucose" and are basically starving (brain glucose dynamics differ from the rest of the cells of the body). This metabolic failure DOES NOT hinder the ability of brain cells to burn ketones. Switching from a diet with lots of carbs to one with almost no carbs, but "ketogenic" (high fat, moderate protein, very very low carbs) and the use of exogenous ketone supplements have resulted in some stunning recoveries from AD.

I got onto the intermittent fasting/ketogenic diet to reverse my Type 2 "pre-diabetes" (which it is doing), but references to Alzheimers keep popping up. My next-door neighbor (really nice guy) has just been diagnosed with "mild cognitive impairment" (basically pre-Alzheimers), which has triggered me to shift my keto research more to Alzheimers than diabetes.

Some have said Alzheimer’s is a form of diabetes — and even call it Type 3 diabetes.

What they seem to have in common is the destruction of the blood flow particularly to the extremities — of the head, hands and feet — which in its terminal stages, results in the amputation of the feet and hands — but they would never think to behead anyone to cure it. Instead, the body just separates from the body in this characteristic manner.

When I first encountered large groups of people verging on this condition, I was particularly struck by their lack of movement — particularly at the head, hands and feet — which either seemed to be atrophied, or inflamed (swollen) with that characteristic look of bloated tissue characteristic of diabetics and the obese.

There seems to be this obvious lack of circulation because of this lack of movement — effected by muscle contractions. That is the chief benefit of exercise — in that it causes skeletal muscular contractions that push fluids back towards the heart — because the venous flow is not affected by the action of the heart, but has to be generated by skeletal muscle contractions — as in a normal healthy functioning human being.

The cessation of all such movements because technology obviates that need — causes this buildup of inflammation and toxins in the tissues that cannot be effected in any other way. That is the design and evolution of the human being — to move those critical parts (organs) of the body, and not to, virtually ensures its destruction. That was what was obvious to me — and in everybody designated to have those problems and tendencies.

And it doesn’t matter how hard they get their hearts pumping, or their biceps peaked, and their six-packs intact, because that is not the critical failure of that body. It is that the circulation from those critical faculties, are not maintained and enhanced as a top priority — even while diverting those precious and limited resources to the biceps, abdominals, and worst of all, the misguided notion that the heart has to work even harder than it is — as the only muscle still functioning in such people — and that is the problem.

I’ve noticed some trends in Dementia. I see the signs in people who live alone. Some of it could be related to “brain exercise”. One of the first things to go is analytical skills. They don’t know the date or time but worse yet, don’t even know how to find out. I think that is worse than just forgetting things.
Would using their analytical skills help postpone some deterioration?

My 90 year old aunt forgets her son’s name but she sure remembers who she is feuding with, even if they are dead. We had to block CNN because she became so irate with “that old Donald Duck”(Trump).

You sound like an independent researcher who does their homework.

About 100 years ago, there was a doctor touting an exercise he called “The Giant Swing,” which was simply standing and rotating the head 360 degrees — and letting the rest of the body follow through. It was a small booklet of about 20 chapters in which he claimed that The Giant Swing was the cure for various and sundry ailments. He didn’t do much theorizing but simply advised that was the cure.

Unlike a lot of lifelong exercisers, I did not spend all my time around jocks, but came into contact with many seniors, disabled, and even terminal people — to whom even in their seemingly hopeless conditions, I felt there was something they could do to improve their condition and health — especially when the medical professionals had abandoned all hope for them.

Thus they were avid learners — realizing they had everything to gain and very little to lose — by trying anything that made sense to them. But when one is given no hope otherwise, that is a very powerful motivator — if they recognize that urgency and are determined to do whatever necessary and possible.

The notable failings of the human body, are foot strength (balance), grip strength, and increasingly, cognitive function — caused by a sedentary lifestyle that no longer requires head, hand and foot movement — which is what the human body is uniquely designed to do. And so those areas atrophy — and is particularly disturbing at the neck — and most people think there is nothing they can do about it!

But the movement performers — such as dancers, especially, cultivate that distinctive development of neck muscles as a requirement for spatial awareness. And that is what turning the head allows one to do — remain aware of what is going on — in a way that just looking at a television screen all day does not. A full range movement requires the muscle to move from fullest contraction to fullest relaxation, which is like the action of the heart in pumping blood out to the extremities. But to complete that circuit, the muscles at the extremity have to pump the blood back towards the heart — with their own movements. When those are nonexistent as they even are in prolonged running, walking and treadmilling, the resulting development is to enlarge the heart which weakens it, while the rest of the musculature atrophies.

That is what we know of the effect of exercise. Those muscles specifically worked, continue to function well, and can be optimized — while those muscles not specifically exercised, atrophy. The effect of pumping the fluids out of the tissues is that it creates the space for the new life and health giving fluids (nutrients) to enter — just as Dr Jason Fung, the expositor of Intermittent Fasting points out. You first have to get rid of the old, before you can build the new — and better. That is the greatest deterrent to deterioration — by actually producing health.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.