03
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 3, 2024) Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world after Alzheimer’s. Genetic factors account for only a fraction of PD cases, and for decades scientists have been aware of associations between pesticide exposures and PD. Yet, not everyone exposed to pesticides gets PD. Consequently, neither the genetic nor the environmental hypothesis is fully satisfactory; both may be involved. Thus, there has been great interest in identifying gene variants that affect the risks of PD associated with pesticide exposure. Now a team of University of California at Los Angeles researchers led by neurologist Brent Fogel, MD, PhD has traced a connection between certain gene variants and the occurrence and severity of PD in a cohort of central California PD patients who have had long-term exposure to pesticides. The genes are related to autophagy, the process by which cells organize, degrade, recycle or eject molecules to maintain healthy chemical balance. Autophagy is an essential process throughout the body, including regulation of mitochondria, which are also vital for healthy cellular function. The study supports other research suggesting that autophagy is disturbed in neurodegenerative diseases. As Beyond Pesticides discussed in its April 19 Daily News, PD […]
Posted in arsenic, cacodylic acid, California, Carbamates, Farmworkers, Lewy Body Disease (LBD), Nervous System Effects, organoarsenic, organophosphate, Parkinson's, Uncategorized | No Comments »
19
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 19, 2024) Parkinson’s disease (PD) and certain forms of dementia have been associated with exposure to pesticides, industrial chemicals, and air pollution for decades. But the mechanisms of disease progression have been unclear, and U.S. regulators have been reluctant to recognize the risks. Now neurologist E. Ray Dorsey, MD of the University of Rochester and researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Aarhus University in Denmark propose a new research paradigm based on tracking how toxicants cause neurodegeneration through inhalation and ingestion pathways. The paradigm, the authors believe, can be used to gain insight into how PD and a form of dementia known as Lewy body disease (LBD) are initiated as many as 50 years before the onset of symptoms. Dorsey and colleagues build on a recent theory that PD and LBD may be two versions of the same basic disease, both involving Lewy bodies in the nervous system. The group’s proposal was published in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease in April. If its recommended research agenda produces the anticipated empirical support, the new paradigm will demand integration of many interdisciplinary lines of evidence showing that environmental exposures to synthetic chemicals may be the primary cause […]
Posted in Lawns/Landscapes, Lewy Body Disease (LBD), Parkinson's, Uncategorized | No Comments »
