health
news
Can air pollution cause brain damage to young people?
A study that examined the brains of young people up to the age of 40 who died found evidence of particles emitted mainly from cars.
How did these particles reach the brain and what is their future impact?
Nobody really knows that yet
Tags
Alzheimer's
Parkinson's
brain
Air Pollution
Walla!
health
Tuesday, October 20, 2020, 2:15 p.m.
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
Trump returns to the Oval Office even though he has not yet recovered: "The corona -...
Head of Public Health Services: Kindergartens will not open ...
Italy imposed restrictions on gatherings, restaurants and sports ...
Fibromyalgia Iris Geyer
From red to green: In the Bedouin communities, the focus was on weddings ...
Bennett v. Netanyahu: Loss of Public Trust in Government - Because ...
12 corona cases were discovered in Qingdao city in China, so every 9 ...
Netanyahu: Starting businesses and frameworks for preschoolers - but ...
The mythological teacher Rafi Hamawi who died from Corona read ...
A mysterious figure on a baby girl's monitor
Netanyahu in the Knesset: If the number of patients increases, we will tighten the closure ...
"Do not miss" system
Tiny air pollution particles have been discovered in a new study in the brainstem of young people and are likely closely linked to cell damage associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
If this discovery is confirmed by future studies, it will have a global impact because 90 percent of the global population lives in a polluted air environment.
Medical experts are wary of getting excited about the findings and they make it clear that while the particles are a likely cause of the damage, it is not yet clear if they are really going to cause brain damage.
"Different people will have different levels of vulnerability from exposure to such particles," Barbara Maher, an environmental scientist at the University of Lancaster in England, told the British Guardian.
"Our new findings suggest that these particles that pollute the air we are exposed to, what we inhale and swallow, are really significant in the development of neurological damage."
More on Walla!
NEWS
Air pollution can cause psychosis in teens
To the full article
Earlier this year, scientists warned that air pollution was causing a "quiet epidemic" around the world, of high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attacks and heart failure at a rate even more deadly than war, violence and many diseases.
Now, there is potential for an epidemic in neurological diseases as well.
Cumulative evidence from China, the UK and the United States suggests that air pollution levels are somehow linked to cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
While this does not mean that air pollution causes cognitive decline, a recent study conducted among Mexico City residents found that metal particles from air pollution can pass to the brain.
More on Walla!
NEWS
Thus air pollution affects babies already in the womb
Environmental killer: Air pollution kills 7 million people a year
The leading chefs in Israel will teach you to cook - at home
In the current study examining the brainstems of 186 young Mexico City residents who died between the ages of 11 months and 40 years, researchers found evidence not only of nerve cell tumors, plaques and tangles associated with neurological diseases, but also tiny particles rich in metals.
"The iron- and aluminum-rich particles found in the brainstem are remarkably similar to those formed as particles from combustion and air pollution (from engines and vehicle braking systems)," says Maher.
"It's scary".
Doctor examines MRI scan (Photo: shutterstock)
"The titanium-rich particles in the brain were different - they were shaped like a needle. Similar particles were observed in the nerve cells of the intestinal wall, suggesting that these particles reach the brain after being absorbed and passed from the intestine to the nerve cells connecting the brain stem with the digestive tract."
Even in the youngest of the subjects, only 11 months old, tumors of nerve cells, plaques and tangles formed when proteins fold into the brain were observed in the brainstem.
It is a common feature of certain forms of motor neurone disease (MND) and Parkinson's disease - the fastest growing neurological condition in the world - which is often associated with damage to nerve cells in the brain stem.
Given that metals rich in metals in the brain can cause inflammation and oxidative stress, leading to the death of neurons, some researchers believe that air pollution is a logical cause of cognitive decline.
"It's scary because even babies have neuropathology in the brain stem," Maher said.
"We can not prove causation so far, but is it possible to think that these particles, which contain the same types of metals, will sit inside critical cells in the brain and not harm them? This is the smoking gun - it seriously looks like those particles are firing the bullets that cause the degenerative damage observed."
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
