medicalcondition:parkinson's disease

  • Higher dementia risk linked to living near heavy traffic, research shows - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-05/scientists-link-dementia-risk-to-living-near-heavy-traffic/8164054

    People who live near busy roads laden with heavy traffic face a higher risk of developing dementia than those living further away, according to researchers in Canada.

    A study published in The Lancet medical journal found that people who lived within 50 metres of high-traffic roads had a 7 per cent higher chance of developing dementia compared to those who lived more than 300 metres away from busy roadways.

    Air pollutants can get into the blood stream and lead to inflammation, which is linked with cardiovascular disease and possibly other conditions such as diabetes,” said Ray Copes, an environmental and occupational health expert at Public Health Ontario.

    Researchers at Public Health Ontario conducted the study with colleagues from Canada’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

    This study suggests air pollutants that can get into the brain via the blood stream can lead to neurological problems,” Mr Copes said.

    • Résumé sur The Lancet

      Living near major roads and the incidence of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis: a population-based cohort study - The Lancet
      http://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)32399-6/fulltext

      Summary
      Background
      Emerging evidence suggests that living near major roads might adversely affect cognition. However, little is known about its relationship with the incidence of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. We aimed to investigate the association between residential proximity to major roadways and the incidence of these three neurological diseases in Ontario, Canada.

      Methods
      In this population-based cohort study, we assembled two population-based cohorts including all adults aged 20–50 years (about 4·4 million; multiple sclerosis cohort) and all adults aged 55–85 years (about 2·2 million; dementia or Parkinson’s disease cohort) who resided in Ontario, Canada on April 1, 2001. Eligible patients were free of these neurological diseases, Ontario residents for 5 years or longer, and Canadian-born. We ascertained the individual’s proximity to major roadways based on their residential postal-code address in 1996, 5 years before cohort inception. Incident diagnoses of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis were ascertained from provincial health administrative databases with validated algorithms. We assessed the associations between traffic proximity and incident dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for individual and contextual factors such as diabetes, brain injury, and neighbourhood income. We did various sensitivity analyses, such as adjusting for access to neurologists and exposure to selected air pollutants, and restricting to never movers and urban dwellers.

      Findings
      Between 2001, and 2012, we identified 243 611 incident cases of dementia, 31 577 cases of Parkinson’s disease, and 9247 cases of multiple sclerosis. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of incident dementia was 1·07 for people living less than 50 m from a major traffic road (95% CI 1·06–1·08), 1·04 (1·02–1·05) for 50–100 m, 1·02 (1·01–1·03) for 101–200 m, and 1·00 (0·99–1·01) for 201–300 m versus further than 300 m (p for trend=0·0349). The associations were robust to sensitivity analyses and seemed stronger among urban residents, especially those who lived in major cities (HR 1·12, 95% CI 1·10–1·14 for people living <50 m from a major traffic road), and who never moved (1·12, 1·10–1·14 for people living <50 m from a major traffic road). No association was found with Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.

      Interpretation
      In this large population-based cohort, living close to heavy traffic was associated with a higher incidence of dementia, but not with Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.

      Funding
      Health Canada (MOA-4500314182).

  • Hundreds of U.S. Clinics Sell Unapproved Stem Cell ’Therapies’ | Health, Medicine and Fitness | mtstandard.com
    http://mtstandard.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/hundreds-of-u-s-clinics-sell-unapproved-stem-cell-therapies/article_731d2458-4479-54fd-9e60-2442d0b2c089.html

    Hundreds of clinics across the United States are marketing unapproved stem cell treatments for conditions ranging from aging skin to spinal cord injuries, a new study finds.

    In an online search, researchers found at least 570 clinics offering unapproved stem cell “therapies.” They tend to be concentrated in a handful of states — including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New York and Texas — but are scattered across many other states, too.

    Most often, the clinics market stem cell procedures for orthopedic conditions, such as arthritis and injured ligaments and tendons. This does have science behind it, but is still experimental, medical experts said.

    In other cases with little or no supporting evidence, clinics hawked stem cell “facelifts” and therapies for serious conditions such as chronic lung disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

    If these pricey stem cell treatments are unproven and unapproved by federal regulators, how can these clinics exist?

    I ask myself that question all the time,” said Leigh Turner, a bioethicist who worked on the study.

    Turner, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics, said attention used to focus on “stem cell tourism” — where people travel to countries such as China, India and Mexico to get unproven treatments.

    I think there’s a misperception that everything here [in the U.S.] is regulated,” Turner said. “But these clinics are operating here, and on a relatively large scale.

    • Cet article est bien complaisant avec la #FDA.

      Le papier suivant est moins timoré,
      DTC Stem Cell Marketing Common in US in #'Cowboy #Culture
      http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/865595

      The analysis raises questions about the adequacy of oversight provided by the US Food and Drug Administration and other federal and state agencies tasked with promoting patient safety and accurate advertising, write Leigh Turner, PhD, and Paul Knoepfler, PhD. “Such practices also prompt ethical concerns about the safety and efficacy of marketed interventions, accuracy in advertising, the quality of informed consent, and the exposure of vulnerable individuals to unjustifiable risks.”

      #Etats-Unis

  • How #Pesticides May Boost Parkinson’s Risk
    http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/820257

    Researchers have identified a mechanism by which exposure to pesticides might increase the risk for Parkinson’s disease (PD).

    Their new study shows that pesticides that inhibit aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity can raise PD risk by up to 6-fold and that having a particular genetic predisposition also raises that risk.

    “What’s new about this report is that we have identified several pesticides currently being used that were previously unknown to inhibit ALDH activity, and we also identified variations in the ALDH gene, which helps determine sensitivity to these pesticides,” said lead author Jeff M. Bronstein, MD, PhD, professor, neurology, and director, Movement Disorders, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles.

    The authors stress the importance of protection for those who must be exposed to pesticides but also argue for removing toxic pesticides from the market. They also suggest possible therapeutic approaches to modulate ALDH enzyme activity that might reduce PD occurrence.

    The study was published in the February 4 issue of Neurology.

    (...)

    Medscape Medical News also invited Emanuele Cereda, MD, PhD, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy, who has extensively studied pesticide exposure in PD, to comment on this study. Dr. Cereda said it can be considered a “milestone” in explaining the relationship between pesticide exposure and the risk for PD.

    “There is now convincing evidence on a detrimental gene–environment interaction leading to PD neurodegeneration,” he said.

    #maladie_de_parkinson #santé

  • Vote (serré) attendu aujourd’hui à la Chambre des représentants de l’Illinois pour autoriser l’utilisation médicale de la #marijuana

    Doctors ask for medical marijuana legalization - SFGate
    http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Doctors-ask-for-medical-marijuana-legalization-4438625.php

    CHICAGO (AP) — Nearly 250 Illinois physicians put their names behind a proposal Tuesday that would legalize marijuana for patients with serious illnesses, hoping to give a boost to the legislation one day before an anticipated vote on the House floor.
    Three of those doctors spoke at a press conference in Chicago, saying the drug can be a safer and more effective treatment than narcotics for patients with diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease and HIV.
    (…)
    The Illinois House is expected to vote Wednesday on a bill that would create a medical marijuana pilot program. It would allow physicians who have an existing relationship with a patient to prescribe marijuana for certain conditions.

    Patients would be limited to buying 2.5 ounces [70 g] at a time from dispensaries licensed and regulated by the state. They would be prohibited from growing their own marijuana, and both patients and caregivers would have to undergo a background check.

    The vote in the House is expected to be close. If it passes the legislation still must go to the Senate.