From: gemini23x@gmail.com   
      
   Alzheimer's-linked nanoparticles, found in pollution, are showing up in   
   people's brains ➡ degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, mental   
   illness and reduced intelligence ➡ up your olfactory bulb and into your   
   frontal cortex   
      
      
   *****   
      
      
   SCIENCE    
      
   Alzheimer's-linked nanoparticles, found in pollution, are showing up in   
   people's brains    
      
   The Guardian    
   Damian Carrington, The Guardian    
   Sep 6, 2016, 10:59 AM ET    
      
      
   A pedestrian walks past a beam of sunlight cast through two buildings amid   
   heavy smog in Shenyang, Liaoning province December 26, 2014.  REUTERS/Stringer    
   Thomson Reuters    
   A pedestrian walks past a beam of sunlight cast through two buildings amid   
   heavy smog in Shenyang.    
   Toxic nanoparticles from air pollution have been discovered in human brains in   
   abundant quantities, a newly published study reveals.    
      
   The detection of the particles, in brain tissue from 37 people, raises   
   concerns because recent research has suggested links between these magnetite   
   particles and Alzheimer's disease, while air pollution has been shown to   
   significantly increase the risk    
   of the disease. However, the new work is still a long way from proving that   
   the air pollution particles cause or exacerbate Alzheimer's.    
      
   This is a discovery finding, and now what should start is a whole new   
   examination of this as a potentially very important environmental risk factor   
   for Alzheimer's disease, said Prof Barbara Maher, at Lancaster University, who   
   led the new research. Now    
   there is a reason to go on and do the epidemiology and the toxicity testing,   
   because these particles are so prolific and people are exposed to them.    
      
   Air pollution is a global health crisis that kills more people than malaria   
   and HIV/Aids combined and it has long been linked to lung and heart disease   
   and strokes. But research is uncovering new impacts on health, including   
   degenerative brain diseases    
   such as Alzheimer's, mental illness and reduced intelligence.    
      
   The new work, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of   
   Sciences, examined brain tissue from 37 people in Manchester, in the UK, and   
   Mexico, aged between three and 92.    
      
   It found abundant particles of magnetite, an iron oxide. You are talking about   
   millions of magnetite particles per gram of freeze-dried brain tissue - it is   
   extraordinary, said Maher.    
      
   Magnetite in the brain is not something you want to have because it is   
   particularly toxic there, she said, explaining that the substance can create   
   reactive oxygen species called free radicals. Oxidative cell damage is one of   
   the hallmark features of    
   Alzheimer's disease, and this is why the presence of magnetite is so   
   potentially significant, because it is so bioreactive.    
      
   Thomson Reuters    
   Patients with Alzheimer's and dementia are sit inside the Alzheimer foundation   
   in Mexico City.    
   Abnormal accumulation of brain metals is a key feature of Alzheimer's disease   
   and arecent studyshowed that magnetite was directly associated with the damage   
   seen in Alzheimer's brains. Magnetite particles are known to form biologically   
   in human brains,    
   but these are small and crystal-shaped, unlike the larger, spherical particles   
   that dominated the samples in the new study.    
      
   Many of the magnetite particles we have found in the brain are very   
   distinctive, said Maher. They are very rounded nanospheres, because they were   
   formed as molten droplets of material from combustion sources, such as car   
   exhausts, industrial processes    
   and power stations, anywhere you are burning fuel.    
      
   They are abundant, she said. For every one of [the crystal shaped particles]   
   we saw about 100 of the pollution particles. The thing about magnetite is it   
   is everywhere. An analysis of roadside air in Lancaster found 200m magnetite   
   particles per cubic    
   metre.    
      
   Furthermore, said Maher: We also observed other metal-bearing particles in the   
   brain, such as platinum, cobalt and nickel. Things like platinum are very   
   unlikely to come from a source within the brain. It is a bit of an indicator   
   of a [vehicle] catalytic    
   converter source.    
      
   Other scientists told the Guardian the new work provided strong evidence that   
   most of the magnetite in the brain samples come from air pollution but that   
   the link to Alzheimer's disease remained speculative.    
      
   This is a very intriguing finding and it raises a lot of important questions,   
   saidProf Jon Dobson, at the University of Florida and not part of the research   
   team. But he said further investigation was needed: One thing that puzzles me   
   is that the [   
   particle] concentrations are somewhat higher than those previously reported   
   for the human brain. Further studies [are needed] to determine whether this   
   due to regional variations within the brain, the fact that these samples are   
   from subjects who lived    
   in industrial areas, or whether it is possibly due to [lab] contamination. The   
   researchers said they had gone to great lengths to avoid contamination.    
      
   Air pollution was linked to asignificant increase in the risk of Alzheimer's   
   diseaseby a major study published in 2015, while other research showedbrain   
   damage related to Alzheimer's disease in childrenand young adults exposed to   
   air pollution. Air    
   pollution has also beenlinked to dementia in older menandwomen.    
      
   If there's at least a possibility that exposure to traffic pollution is having   
   even worse health impacts than were previously known, then take the steps you   
   can to reduce your dose as far as you can.    
   We have not demonstrated a causal link between these particles and Alzheimer's   
   disease but when you consider that magnetite has been found in higher   
   concentrations in Alzheimer's brains and you know that magnetite is pernicious   
   in its effect on the brain,   
    then having a direct [air pollution] source of magnetite right up your   
   olfactory bulb and into your frontal cortex is not a great idea, said Maher.    
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)