Communicating scientific evidence: drugs for Alzheimer's disease as a case study.

This paper reviews the scientific evidence on new anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies for treating Alzheimer's disease as a case study for improving scientific evidence communication. We introduce five guidelines condensed from the biomedical evidence literature but adapted to the short format of science communication in e.g.

Mutational analysis of an antimalarial drug target, ATP4.

Among new antimalarials discovered over the past decade are multiple chemical scaffolds that target P-type ATPase (ATP4). This essential protein is a Na pump responsible for the maintenance of Na homeostasis. ATP4 belongs to the type two-dimensional (2D) subfamily of P-type ATPases, for which no structures have been determined.

Strengthening autonomy in mental health care through a relational approach.

Respect for autonomy is foundational to all types of clinical care, and receiving mental health care places people in a vulnerable situation that has a direct impact on their ability to live as they choose, making concerns about autonomy central. The classical understanding of personal autonomy, which still influences medical guidelines, is based on an individualistic framework and is inadequate for ethical mental health care. The goal of this Comment is to articulate why the relational autonomy model, developed in feminist bioethics, is a necessary approach for the mental health field.

Anti-amyloid treatments in Alzheimer's disease: elegance, evidence and ethics.

The so-called "amyloid cascade hypothesis" provides an elegant explanation of Alzheimer's disease (AD), has motivated the amyloid-lowering therapeutic strategy, and led to the elaboration of a rich experimental and conceptual toolkit for the field to progress. But it might be incorrect. The scientific evidence base supporting the efficacy and safety of current anti-amyloid antibody treatments in AD is weak.

Reducing confusion surrounding expert conceptions of Alzheimer's and dementia: A practical analysis.

Biological, clinicobiological and clinical conceptions of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are being promoted simultaneously to different practical ends. The co-existence of contemporary conceptions and the 'scary label' associated with older diagnostic criteria create the possibility of misunderstanding and harm. In this comment, we argue in favour of socio-ethical interventions targeted to health workers and the general public so as to lower the uncertainties introduced by contemporary diagnostic criteria and to articulate how they relate to established criteria.

Mental health and support for rigorous tobacco control strategies in South Australia.

Introduction: Tobacco endgame strategy includes policies to end the tobacco epidemic. As tobacco smoking prevalence is higher among people with mental health conditions (MHC), understanding the impact of rigorous tobacco control strategies for this group is critical. This study examined support for five tobacco control strategies among people with MHCs: increasing tobacco product tax, reducing tobacco retail locations, ending tobacco sales in alcohol-licensed venues, limiting retailers to one tobacco point of sale and reduced nicotine in smoked tobacco.

Survival time in Alzheimer's disease: An overlooked measure of safety and efficacy of disease-modifying therapies.

It is of vital importance to patients and physicians, as well as administrators and drug regulators, that the treatment for a disease has been shown to be safe and clinically meaningful in long-term use. Recent literature has highlighted 3 major categories of arguments for and against modification of the underlying disease process in Alzheimer's disease (AD): pathophysiology, biomarkers and data from clinical trials. We argue that the Alzheimer's arena is over-reliant on theories of disease modification based solely on brain positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and blood biomarkers of tau and Aβ peptides.

EXploring Patterns of Use and Effects of Adult Day Programs to Improve Trajectories of Continuing Care (EXPEDITE): Protocol for a Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Adult day programs provide critical supports to older adults and their family or friend caregivers. High-quality care in the community for as long as possible and minimizing facility-based continuing care are key priorities of older adults, their caregivers, and health care systems. While most older adults in need of care live in the community, about 10% of newly admitted care home residents have relatively low care needs that could be met in the community with the right supports.

A philosophy of science approach to the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease.

Disputes about the scientific validity of the amyloid-β hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease have been held since the early 1990s, with little constructive progress made between opposing sides despite recent therapeutic progress. Here, I argue that philosophy of science can improve the chance of constructive debate by giving researchers technical language to describe and assess scientific progress. To do so, I interpret the amyloid hypothesis using a modified version of the research programme concept from philosopher of science Imre Lakatos.

Erythema multiforme-like papules after COVID vaccine administration.

A unique dermatopathology incident arose after administration of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 (Moderna) vaccine. Specifically, a transient purpuric interface dermatitis occurred 5 days post-second vaccine with the presentation of erythematous papules with erythema multiforme-type findings. A patient developed purpuric interface dermatitis with micro-vesiculation post-vaccination which ultimately resolved without sequelae.

The iceberg of dementia risk: empirical and conceptual arguments in favor of structural interventions for brain health.

While pharmacological interventions for dementia struggle to demonstrate improved outcomes for patients and at-risk populations, non-pharmacological lifestyle interventions have been proposed as a tool to achieve dementia risk reduction. In this review, it is argued that lifestyle modification alone is a surface-level intervention from the point of view of fair and far-reaching dementia prevention. Below the tip of this "iceberg of dementia risk," there are living conditions and social structures that represent deeper contributions to risk in the population.

The undeclared use of third-party service providers in academic publishing is unethical: an epistemic reflection and scoping review.

There is a substantial body of scientific literature on the use of third-party services (TPS) by academics to assist as "publication consultants" in scholarly publishing. TPS provide a wide range of scholarly services to research teams that lack the equipment, skills, motivation, or time to produce a paper without external assistance. While services such as language editing, statistical support, or graphic design are common and often legitimate, some TPS also provide illegitimate services and send unsolicited e-mails (spam) to academics offering these services.

Clarifying middle authorship contributions to reduce abuses in science publishing and assessment of top-ranked SJR biochemistry and pharmacology journals' authorship criteria.

So-called "middle authors," being neither the first, last, nor corresponding author of an academic paper, have made increasing relative contributions to academic scholarship over recent decades. No work has specifically and explicitly addressed the roles, rights, and responsibilities of middle authors, an authorship position which we believe is particularly vulnerable to abuse via growing phenomena such as paper mills. Responsible middle authorship requires transparent declarations of intellectual and other scientific contributions that journals can and should require of co-authors and established guidelines and criteria to achieve this already exist (ICMJE/CRediT).