New study shows Alzheimer's disease can be reversed to achieve full neurological recovery--not just prevented or slowed--i

[NNadir]

27. In almost every case, these "breakthrough" posts raise false hopes. This is true for almost every University news...

...release, notably in medicine, but widely found with respect to energy "breakthroughs."

Alzheimer's is a very tragic disease, and regrettably, its history is littered with scientific announcements of "breakthroughs" that have not panned out.

In at least one case - and I'm not implying this is the case here - a "breakthrough" was found to consist entirely of scientific fraud.

It is very difficult to ascertain what behaviors in a mouse display "full recovery."

I covered this case elsewhere here; books have been written on it.

Some remarks on purported fraud concerned with αβ oligomer hypothesis in Alzheimer's research.

There has been some criticism of the tone of Charles Piller's article in Science, as well as his book expanding on the article, Doctored Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's

Criticism by an Alzheimer's researcher of Piller's book and claims can be found here: Fraud, arrogance, and tragedy: the case of Doctored

Alzheimer's is a terrible and generally intractable disease; as a scientist, I certainly applaud research. I am too old though, and have lived too long, to jump up and down with joy every time a "breakthrough" is announced. I have worked for much of my life in support of drug development and am aware of pitfalls - huge pitfalls - that occur along the way to medical treatments. This is not to say that some them don't work; obviously they do, but the road is long, painful, and littered with failure.