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New research claims that exposure to outdoor light at night may increase the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, especially in people under the age of 65.

The researchers who conducted the study, funded by a National Institutes of Health grant and published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscienceon Friday, said they have found correlations between areas of the US with excessive exposure to artificial light at night and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease.

In the US, at least 19 states have legislation in place aimed at reducing light pollution, but the authors of the study say that despite this, the “levels of light at night remain high in many parts of the country”.


While “streetlights, roadway lighting, and illuminated signs can deter crime, make roads safer, and enhance landscaping”, undisrupted light, however, “comes with ecological, behavioral, and health consequences”, the authors said.

For this study, the researchers evaluated Alzheimer’s disease prevalence by looking at the average nighttime light intensity by state and county in the US from 2012 to 2018, using satellite-acquired light pollution data and Medicare data reports of Alzheimer’s prevalence. They also incorporated medical data about variables known or believed to be risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease into their analysis, they said.

While conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and others were associated more strongly with Alzheimer’s disease prevalence than nighttime light intensity, the authors said that nighttime light was more strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease prevalence than “alcohol abuse, chronic kidney disease, depression, heart failure, and obesity”.

For people under 65, nighttime light exposure was more strongly associated with Alzheimer’s prevalence than any other disease factor examined in the study.

“This could suggest that younger people may be particularly sensitive to the effects of light exposure at night,” the researchers said.…..

Light pollution at night may increase risk of Alzheimer’s, study finds

Research says outdoor light exposure in evening increases prevalence of the disease, especially in people under age 65
www.theguardian.com
 
Microbes that cause disease in humans can travel thousands of miles on high-level winds, scientists have revealed for the first time.

The winds studied carried a surprising diversity of bacteria and fungi, including known pathogens and, some with genes for resistance to multiple antibiotics. Some of the microbes were shown to be alive – in other words, they had survived the long journey and were able to replicate.

The researchers said this intercontinental transport route was unlikely to cause disease in people directly, because the concentration of microbes was low. However, they said it was a cause of concern that microbes could be seeded into new environments and that antibiotic-resistance genes could travel in this way.


The study showed the microbes hitched a 1,200-mile (2,000km) ride on dust particles blown from farm fields in north-eastern China to Japan. Similar patterns of winds exist around the world. More than 300 types of bacteria and about 260 types of fungi were found in the samples collected over Tokyo. Other microbes not yet known to science are thought to be present.……

Pathogenic microbes blown vast distances by winds, scientists discover

Living microbes that cause disease in humans and host antibiotic-resistance genes carried 1,200 miles
www.theguardian.com
 
"You may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store," wrote Douglas Adams in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "but that's just peanuts to space."

Space is big. We live on one tiny planet orbiting a star that's tucked away in the far reaches of a galaxy — just one galaxy of around 2 trillion in the known universe. Space is really really big.

Planet Earth is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way (called the Orion Arm) which lies about two-thirds of the way out from the center of the galaxy.

We know how big the Earth is — 12,756 kilometers (7,926 miles) across. And we know how big our sun is too — about 1,391,000 kilometers (864,400 miles) across.

But how big is the Milky Way? Until now, the true size of galaxies has remained a mystery.

A new study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, has found that galaxies are far bigger than originally thought, perhaps several times bigger.

The spiraled structure of the galaxy we know is only the smaller core of the galaxy. For the Milky Way, this is about 100,000 light-years across.

The starlight from stars nestled in the spiral arms extend to around 7,800 light-years into deep space, which was thought to be where a galaxy ended and deep space began.

The study has revealed that large "halos" of gas extend from the visible spirals of star light far out into deep space.

These gas halos only became visible to astronomers with new imaging techniques. The methods enabled astronomers to detect galaxy gas halos over 100,000 light years into deep space, vastly increasing our estimations of how big galaxies are.

In fact, the halos of gas from galaxies extend so far into deep space that galaxies actually interact with each other.

The findings suggest that our Milky Way is likely interacting with our closest neighbor, Andromeda — around 2.5 million light years away, according to Nikole Nielsen, lead author of the paper, and a researcher with Swinburne University, Australia............


 

An ancient Neanderthal community was isolated for over 50,000 years

An ancient Neanderthal community was isolated for over 50,000 years A fossilised Neanderthal, found in France and nicknamed 'Thorin' after Tolkien's dwarf character, is from an ancient and previously undescribed genetic line that separated from other Neanderthals around 100,000 years a
www.scimex.org
 
The age when girls hit puberty has been falling at an alarming rate for decades, and scientists have struggled to explain why. New research suggests a compound found in a wide variety of products — from cosmetics to air fresheners to detergents and soaps — may send a signal to an area of the brain that triggers the start of puberty.

It’s the first time researchers have looked at the possible impact of environmental chemicals on the brain to explain the rise in early puberty, said Dr. Natalie Shaw, a pediatric endocrinologist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Durham, North Carolina.

Starting puberty significantly early — younger than age 8 in girls, 9 in boys — may have health effects lasting into adulthood, including higher risks of breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease. It can also lead to shortened stature in both girls and boys. In May, a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that 15.5% of girls experienced early periods — younger than age 11 — and that 1.4% started menstruating younger than age 9.

Previously, scientists have suggested possible causes including obesity, diet, socioeconomic status and potential exposure to substances such as phthalates that can disrupt sex hormones.

Shaw, a co-senior author of the new study, acknowledged a link between early puberty and excess weight in young girls. “I do think it plays a role, but in my practice, it’s not just those who are overweight or obese who are having early puberty,” she said.

While the timing of puberty may depend at least partly on genetics, a rapid change points “100% to environmental factors,” Shaw said. That’s what led the researchers to search for a compound that children might commonly be exposed to.

If Shaw and her team have found a compound that might affect when the brain sends the signal to begin puberty, they will also have discovered the mechanism at the root of the change in timing, which population studies haven’t been able to do.

Combing through 10,000 compounds in a library of licensed pharmaceuticals, environmental chemicals and dietary supplements, the researchers found several that might influence the timing of puberty. But children were most likely to be exposed to only one of them: musk ambrette, according to the report, published in Endocrinology.

Musk ambrette, a synthetic form of the fragrance, could latch onto a puberty-related receptor in the hypothalamus, which would lead to the release of GnRH, a hormone involved in the maturation of sexual organs and the production of estrogen, testosterone and progesterone.

Musk ambrette is widely used in inexpensive or counterfeit fragrances and other scented personal care products, Shaw said. But it has also turned up in surveys of wastewater and in the bodies of freshwater fish, the researchers noted.……

Early puberty may be linked to a common chemical used in personal care products

Researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences identified a compound that affects an area of the brain that triggers hormone production.
www.nbcnews.com
 

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