Parkinson’s Disease Linked To Common Chemical
.png "569px-Paralysis_agitans_(1907,_after_St._Leger)")
The petro-chemical industry likes to portray itself as the progenitor of our rapidly-advancing technological society, but it will come as little surprise to some that there is a price to be paid, principally to the health of our planet and our selves. Neil Bowdler reports on a new study showing a six-times greater likelihood of developing Parkinson’s disease after exposure to trichloroethylene (once used as a general anesthetic), for BBC News:
An international study has linked an industrial solvent to Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers found a six-fold increase in the risk of developing Parkinson’s in individuals exposed in the workplace to trichloroethylene (TCE).
Although many uses for TCE have been banned around the world, the chemical is still used as a degreasing agent.
The research was based on analysis of 99 pairs of twins selected from US data records.
Parkinson’s can result in limb tremors, slowed movement and speech impairment, but the exact cause of the disease…
Penis Cancer Linked To Sex With Animals
Photo: Waugsberg (CC)
A warning for zoophiles from MSNBC:
For many people, bestiality is a bad joke, but for some it could be a matter of life or death, according to a new study finding that men who had sex with animals in their lifetimes were twice as likely to develop cancer of the penis as others.
The study of 492 men from rural Brazil found that 35 percent of study participants, who ranged from 18 to 80 years old and included both penile cancer patients and healthy men, reported having sex with animals (SWA) in their lifetimes. A team of urologists from centers around Brazil co-authored the paper, which looked at risk factors for penile cancer in men who had visited 16 urology and oncology centers in 12 Brazilian cities. In addition to SWA, three other risk factors for penile cancer were found: smoking, the presence of premalignant lesions on the penis and…
Spanish Blood Test Can Tell When You’ll Die. Maybe.
Three-dimensional molecular structure of a telomere (G-quadruplex). Credit: Giac83 (CC)
But do you really want to know? Giles Tremlett reports on the small Spanish biological research company at the center of claims that its blood test can predict the age you will die, for the Guardian:
As a taxi takes me across Madrid to the laboratories of Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre, I am fretting about the future. I am one of the first people in the world to provide a blood sample for a new test, which has been variously described as a predictor of how long I will live, a waste of time or a handy indicator of how well (or badly) my body is ageing. Today I get the results.
Some newspapers, to the dismay of the scientists involved, have gleefully announced that the test – which measures the telomeres (the protective caps on the ends of my chromosomes) –…
New Way To Fight Malaria: Take Pill That Kills Mosquitos After First Bite
Malaria is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes. Many communities in Africa and Asia best treatment is in prevention, using insect repellents and nets to sleep in and. This inexpensive deworming pill kills the mosquito once it bites a human who has consumed the medicine, reducing the number of mosquitoes able to pass disease amongst inhabitants. Via The New York Times:
Scientists have proposed an intriguing new way to fight malaria: turning people into human time bombs for mosquitoes.
A cheap deworming pill used in Africa for 25 years against river blindness was recently shown to have a power that scientists had long suspected but never before demonstrated in the field: When mosquitoes bite people who have recently swallowed the drug — called ivermectin or Mectizan — they die.
Other scientists caution that while the mosquito-poisoning trick is pretty nifty, it is not very practical: For it to work effectively, nearly everyone in a…
Indian Parents Push For Surgical Procedure To Turn Children From Girls To Boys
Photo: Planemad (CC)
Oh the social questions this raises! How does this benefit/hurt the future generation? Should parents have the right to change a child’s sex? What psychological damage could occur? What if an adult learns that they had the procedure when they were young and want it reversed? The next twenty years may see a rise in the search for therapists. Hindustan Times reports:
Girls are being ‘converted’ into boys in Indore – by the hundreds every year – at ages where they cannot give their consent for this life-changing operation.
This shocking, unprecedented trend, catering to the fetish for a son, is unfolding at conservative Indore’s well-known clinics and hospitals on children who are 1-5 years old. The process being used to ‘produce’ a male child from a female is known as genitoplasty. Each surgery costs Rs 1.5 lakh.
Moreover, these children are pumped with hormonal treatment as part of the sex change…
