For The San Diego Union-Tribune Alzheimer’s drug disappointment People with Down syndrome have the highest prevalence for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Roughly 30 percent are diagnosed with the neurological condition by their 50s. They have a more than 90 percent chance of developing dementia from AD in their lifetimes. Landmark FDA approval of anti-amyloid drugs like lecanemab and donanemab, however, may not offer them any hope. A small study using post-mortem brain tissue of persons with AD found that the drug extensively bound to brain blood vessels, raising significant safety concerns about using it in living patients. The findings underscore the need for clinical trials but persons with Down syndrome have historically been excluded from this kind of AD research. Of the more than 18,000 people who participated in clinical trials for drugs like lecanemab and donanemab, none had Down syndrome. Get me that. Stat! The average adjusted cost of an inpatient stay at a community hospital in 2019, according to latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was $14,101. A little more than 5 percent of Americans ages 1 to 64 experience a hospital stay each year. The most frequent diagnoses are septicemia, heart failure, osteoarthritis, pneumonia and Type 2 diabetes. (Adobe Stock) Mania of the week Choreomania — an obsession with dancing, not to be confused with balletomania, which is a particular passion for ballet Counts 2 — Percentage decrease in births in U.S. in 2022-2023 3 — Percentage decrease in general fertility rate in U.S. during same time period Source: CDC National Vital Statistics System (Stanislaw Mikulski / Adobe Stock) Body of knowledge Teeth, although considered part of the skeletal system, are not counted as bones. They play a crucial role in digestion and communication but have distinct characteristics that set them apart from the rest of the skeletal structure. Doc talk Muscae volitantes — “eye floaters” are those little, transparent threads that you see floating across your eyeball. Generally, they are bits of drifting protein in your eye. (Adobe Stock) Never say diet The Major League Eating speed-eating record for rice balls is 20 pounds in 30 minutes, held by Takeru Kobayashi, who was subsequently rolled away. (Adobe Stock) Food for thought Titanium dioxide is used as a color enhancer in sunscreens, paper, plastics and cosmetics because it makes things whiter. It’s used for the same reason in candies, toothpaste, artificial creamers and soups, listed as an “artificial color.” Best medicine First guy: “I asked my grandfather why he doesn’t have life insurance.” Second guy: “What did he say?” First guy: “That he wanted me to be truly sad when he’s gone.” Observation “My favorite machine at the gym is the television.” — Anonymous (Adobe Stock) Medical history This week in 1958, Dr. Åke Senning implanted the first internal heart pacemaker. Earlier in the year, inventor Rune Elmqvist had debuted the device, designed to be implanted in a subcutaneous pouch in a patient suffering from cardiac disease. It used only two transistors and was the size of a hockey puck. The apparatus sent pulses to the cardiac muscle to establish normal and regular contractions. Senning carried out the first pacemaker installation at the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm. Although the prototype worked for only three hours, the recipient would receive 26 more iterations over the next 40 years and live to the age of 86. He would die from melanoma skin cancer. Perishable publications Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like “nonlinear dynamics.” Sometimes they don’t, and yet they’re still hard to figure out. Here’s an actual title of actual published research study: “Pair of lice lost or parasites regained.” The 2007 paper, published in BMC Biology, looked at the evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice. That is, the tiny, sucking pests who have co-habited with humans and other primates for millions of years. (Adobe Stock) Last words “Let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit. Be brave, be determined, overcome the odds. It can be done.” — English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018). The lines by Hawking, who could only speak through a speech-generating device due to a degenerative neurological condition, were recorded and beamed after his death into the nearest black hole, a focus of his seminal research. LaFee is vice president of communications for the Sanford Burnham Prebys research institute.