Judy George
Judy George covers neurology and neuroscience news for MedPage Today. She writes about brain aging, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, MS, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism, headache, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, concussion, Concussion., CTE, CTE., sleep, Sleep., pain, Pain.
64%
The Daily's Verdict
This author has a mixed reputation for journalistic standards. It is advisable to fact-check, scrutinize for bias, and check for conflicts of interest before relying on the author's reporting.
Bias
50%
Examples:
- A higher lifestyle score was associated with better cognitive performance proximate to death after adjusting for beta-amyloid load, phosphorylated tau tangle pathology, or global Alzheimer's disease pathology.
- The article contains examples of religious bias and ideological bias.
Conflicts of Interest
50%
Examples:
- The article contains examples of religious bias and ideological bias.
- The author claims that smartphone measures were more sensitive to early stages of familial FTD than criterion-standard neuropsychological tests such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MCA). However, this statement is also misleading because it implies that these tests are better at detecting FTD in its early stages when they have not been shown to be more sensitive or accurate than other methods.
Contradictions
85%
Examples:
- Cognitive function was better for older adults with healthy lifestyles even if they had Alzheimer's or other dementia-related pathologies.
- The study is one of the first to harness brain pathology to investigate how modifiable risk factors are associated with dementia and may help researchers better understand how these factors impact cognitive aging.
Deceptions
85%
Examples:
- The author claims that smartphone cognitive testing has strong associations with disease severity and brain volume. While this may be true, it does not necessarily mean that these tests can accurately diagnose FTD.
- The author claims that smartphone tests accurately and reliably detected frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), also known as frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, this statement is misleading because it implies that these tests can diagnose FTD when they are only able to detect its presence. For example, the article states that smartphone measures were associated with disease severity and brain volume.
- The title of the article suggests that healthy lifestyles can preserve cognition even if someone has Alzheimer's or other dementia-related pathologies. This is a false claim as there is no evidence to support this in the study.
Recent Articles
Smartphone App Detects Early Signs of Frontotemporal Dementia in High-Risk Individuals with Accuracy
Broke On: Wednesday, 03 April 2024A smartphone app developed by collaborating with Datacubed Health can accurately detect early signs of frontotemporal dementia in individuals at high genetic risk for developing it, even those who have not shown any obvious symptoms yet. The app records people's speech while they engage with several cognitive tests including executive functioning assessments and is found to be as sensitive as medical evaluations performed in clinics. 
Mediterranean Diet Linked to Better Cognitive Performance in Old Age, Even with Dementia-Related Pathologies
Broke On: Wednesday, 07 February 2024A new study published in JAMA Neurology found that sticking to the Mediterranean diet was associated with better cognitive performance proximate to death and independently associated with cognition after adjusting for markers for dementia in the brain after death. The healthy lifestyle score, which included factors such as a nutritious diet, regular exercise, minimum alcohol consumption and other healthy habits, provided cognitive benefits even for people who had begun to accumulate dementia-related pathologies in their brains.