A big holler-y grateful shout-out to **Amanda Gassett**, Research Scientist at University of Washington, for presenting clearly and constructively on dodging immortal time bias in studies of air pollution's health effects. #EnviroBrain #CONFAB @busph.bsky.social

@ccolvin94.bsky.social presents meticulously thought-thru & generated results on life course earnings trajectories & cognitive decline, by birth cohort. The #MELODEM2025 equivalent of a walk-off HR will launch us into deep thoughts, conversations, and collaborations over the coming weeks and months.

More enlightening lightning (talks) at #MELODEM2025: Justina Avila-Rieger dares to wade thru the thicket that is reproductive status (and aging) in relation to dementia risk. Idea: exploit DNA methylation, which can reflect changes in the endocrine system and hormonal status. @melodem.bsky.social

Fluoride. Great for oral health and stunning teeth. Does it exposure to it in childhood related to cogn later in life? @ #MELODEM2025, Rob Warren (U MN) points out the extraordinarily high exposures in studies of kids' IQs: not relevant to what's in our public water supply. @melodem.bsky.social

Now up @ #MELODEM2025, @astokespop.bsky.social teases out the contribution of secular trends in midlife cardiometabolic health in relation to trends in dementia incidence and prevalence in the US. @melodem.bsky.social

Our next lightning bolt @ #MELODEM2025 is from Katrina Kezios, presenting research on incident traumatic experiences in relation to cog change in older adults. Upshot: these exp were assoc'd w cog decline, esp among those w worse financial well-being. @melodem.bsky.social

Iris Strangmann issues the first bolt of a lightning talk in today's #MELODEM2025. Does being multilingual offer cognitive benefits in older age? She is using data from LASI-DAD to answer this q, evaluating assns within strata of urbanicity and SES.

Carrying the #MELODEM2025 baton now is Melinda Power (GW). Among ppl who have #dementia, a large % have not been diagnosed. What predicts who gets diagnosed in a timely fashion? @melodem.bsky.social

A key ingredient to the appeal and success of #MELODEM2025 (as with other #MELODEM mtgs) comes from the generous blocks of time dedicated to discussion. And a key ingredient of that discussion is excellent moderating.

Now at #MELODEM2025 Is reducing/removing amyloid from the brain a reasonable surrogate for slowing/stopping cognitive decline in dementia? @sfackley.bsky.social uses data from the A4 RCT (of solanezumab) to answer this q, ... @melodem.bsky.social

Why care about error in the measure of AD-related blood biomarkers? @ #MELODEM2025, Eleanor Hayes-Larson examines situations when a biomarker is the "exposure" and when it is the "outcome," using ADNI-informed simulations. @melodem.bsky.social

Closing out a day jammed w thoughtful talks @ #MELODEM2025 on methods challenges in #dementia research is Jingxuan Wang, presenting on the #AllOfUs research study and the extent to which it represents the US population. With implications for #research on #dementia. @melodem.bsky.social

The @manlyepic.bsky.social draws on #inclusionscience to show how to carry out meaningful #dementia #biomarker research in populations that carry that highest #dementia risk, e.g., Black and Latinx populations in the US. #MELODEM2025 @melodem.bsky.social

At bat @ #MELODEM2025 is @ryanmandrews.bsky.social who reported on his journey through understanding the potential for selection bias in a brain MRI study in which the participant pool resulted from a complex 2-stage sampling process: (1) stratified RS; (2) volunteering.

@palolili23.bsky.social argues (4 #MELODEM2025) that causal estimands have 4 elements + a 5th: intercurrent events. Ie, events that prevent us from observing the exposure or outcome, e.g., death. @melodem.bsky.social

In LASI-DAD, more formal education is assoc'd w more cognitive decline. Emma Nichols broke down 3 candidate non-causal explanations: practice effects, differential mortality, & regression to the mean. #MELODEM2025 @melodem.bsky.social

Personal bias: I'm psyched for Walter Kremers's #MELODEM2025 talk on the adverse cognitive effects of total joint arthroplasty. Some TJA exposes recipients to neurotoxic metals. Tricky issues: identifying exchangeable populations. @melodem.bsky.social

Terry Therneau (Mayo) reminds us @ #MELODEM2025 that studying cog progression faces these challenges: individual-specific follow-up is often shorter than the range of all ages in a study, informative attrition, dif quirkiness of biomarkers & cog performance, missing data ... @melodem.bsky.social

Audrey Murchland uses a clever randomizing feature in the design of cognitive aging research in #NHS2 to show that test practice effects exist both in terms of frequency of testing and interval between tests. #MELODEM2025 @melodem.bsky.social

Magali Blanco (UW) provides real talk @ #MELODEM2025 on the challenges of studying how #airpollution mixtures affect #dementia-related #neuropathology, when that #neuropathology is measured in (highly selective) #autopsy samples. @melodem.bsky.social

Persisting in the face of HHS's discriminatory termination of his NIH grant, Mateo Farina presents @ #MELODEM2025 on what's known (& not known) on #cognitiveaging among #LGBTQ / #SGM individuals. Intro to #QSNAPS, a cohort, set in 4 states in the South. #PRIDEinADResearch @melodem.bsky.social

Kudos to Paul Crane, @alvinthomas.bsky.social, @ruijiachen.bsky.social, @tejenson.bsky.social, Mateo Farina, & Magali Blanco for magnificently thundering toward the challenge of delivering to-the-point lightning talks @ #MELODEM2025. @melodem.bsky.social

Now @ #MELODEM2025, @tejenson.bsky.social walks us thru how errors in automated address histories can propagate errors in measures of spatiotemporal exposures over the #lifecourse. --> consequences for validly estimating effects of the exposome on #dementia. @melodem.bsky.social

What are the consequences of being conceptually and operationally vague about "social isolation" in research on its effects on #dementia risk? At #MELODEM2025, @ruijiachen.bsky.social proposes #multiverseanalyses to probe estimated effects using a range of plausible defns. @melodem.bsky.social

At #MELODEM2025, Paul Crane (UW) channeled the spirits of Statler, Waldorf (& long-standing traditions in editing for relentlessly clear communication) in beseeching #dementia researchers to know "higher" from "increase," and "change" from "difference." @melodem.bsky.social

DC today

Great evening to #StandUpForScience in Rochester, NY @standupforscience.bsky.social @knowledgeactionroc.bsky.social @indivisibleroc.bsky.social

#StandUpForScience, Boston

Tomorrow's #MELODEM working group session, at 11am US ET, features Neal Jawadekar presenting: "#Statin Use and #Dementia: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects and Optimal Treatment Rules." Want to be on our distribution list, complete w zoom deets? Mosey on over to ... sites.bu.edu/melodem/

TODAY at 11A US ET, #MELODEM brings you @relajoie.bsky.social and Ganna Blazhenets presenting: "Harmonization of #amyloid-PET quantification for #ADRD research: putting #Centiloids to the test" More deets on MELODEM & how to hop on the distribution list: sites.bu.edu/melodem/

This week, #MELODEM features Dr. Sebastian Walsh presenting: "The value of a population-level lens in #dementia research: examples from prevention and treatment" Th Feb 6 @ 11a US ET. Join our distribution list for zoom specs. sites.bu.edu/melodem/cont...

Telling yourself you should call your Rep and Senators re: {{{the calamity}}}? Here's a helpful tool to get you going. Issues. Scripts. Phone #s customized to your ppl. I'm unvarnished at this sort of deed, but just done did it. 5calls.org

It's surely illegal to purge this CDC data. But why hold up research while awaiting the lawsuit. Archive your favorite data and, if you can, toss some $ toward groups that are effective (and fast) at suing the govt.

This account is for sharing info with US scientists, both extramural and intramural to NIH, about attacks on science in the US. Education is power, and we can help advocate for science and medicine together. 💪🧪 We are a team of NIH people. Please ask us questions you might have.

Vigilance is still justified. And specific topics may remain in peril. But for now ...

THANK YOU so much those who shared how the new changes are impacting you. It is helping us understand the scope of the changes and separate rumors from fact. Please keep tips coming. Nothing you share will be used without your permission. (Or use my Signal usha.22.) www.statnews.com/2025/01/25/t...

TODAY is the LAST DAY to apply to attend #MELODEM's live and in-person meeting in June.

Let @usha.bsky.social if you are being affected by new fed orders + NIH pause. Usha's reporting is solid & writing fabulously digestible. I assign a report of hers for a course for its clear depiction of an issue relevant to applying specific #epidemiology #methods to resrch on #healthdisparities.

4 days left to apply to attend the annual in-person meeting of #MELODEM.

In 70 minutes ...

#MELODEM, your favorite place to hash out #methodologic challenges in #dementia research, kicks off 2025 w a session ft Dr. Miguel Arce & Dr. Emily Briceño-Abreu conversing abt "Cross-national harmonization of the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP)." Th Jan 16, 11a US ET via zoom.

**Jan 27, 2025** <-- the last day to apply for the In-Person Meeting of #MELODEM, a sumptuous convening to collaboratively scratch heads (one's own, just so we're clear) and generate solutions to #methodologic challenges in longitudinal #dementia research. sites.bu.edu/melodem/cale...

#MELODEM is accepting applications--by 1/27/25--to participate in this year's Annual In-Person Meeting! The meeting features: Jun 23-25: presentations w extensive discussion Jun 25-27: hands-on data workshop, involving a subset of participants See deets & apply: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

In the U.S., having to play insurance administrator while being a patient or a caregiver is not a rare event.

And now this. My father had polio when he was a child in the 1930s. He thankfully survived. Many did not. This is, well, evil. Let's not mince words. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/h...

On this day in 1981, a landmark paper in NEJM described four patients with evidence of immunodeficiency associated with PJP pneumonia, disseminated CMV, and Kaposi sarcoma. The disease would come to be known as HIV/AIDS. Revisit the paper: nej.md/41iekKD #MedSky #IDSky

Proud congratulations to @ryanmandrews.bsky.social on the publication of "Association of tailpipe-related and non-tailpipe-related #airpollution exposure w #cognitivedecline in the Chicago Health & Aging Project." ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/...

In 110 minutes ... Dr. Audrey Murchland presents "Intimate Partner Violence and #Dementia Risk: Challenges and Opportunities for Longitudinal Studies of Aging" #MELODEM Thanks, NIH-NIA

TOMORROW's episode of #MELODEM features... Dr. Audrey Murchland presenting: "Intimate Partner Violence and #Dementia Risk: Challenges and Opportunities for Longitudinal Studies of Aging." 11a US ET Not on the zoom link email list? Mosey on over to our web lounge for deets sites.bu.edu/melodem/