People with a genetic mutation linked to Parkinson’s disease may have an increased risk of contracting the neurodegenerative disorder if they have been exposed to certain pesticides, according to a new study published in the journal Cell.

Conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., the research involved using human stem cells, derived from a patient with Parkinson’s disease, to analyze the relationship between Parkinson’s and pesticides.

Though previous epidemiological and animal studies have attempted to prove a connection between exposure to pesticides and a higher susceptibility to Parkinson’s, this was the first study that successfully used human cells to examine the link.

To conduct their analysis, researchers gathered skin cells from a Parkinson’s patient who possessed a genetic mutation linked to the disease, in the gene encoding a protein called alpha-synuclein. The researchers then transformed these skin cells into human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and “corrected” the Parkinson’s mutation in half of the cells, in order to provide a basis for comparison.

Researchers then transformed all of these hiPSCs into a specific type of nerve cell damaged in Parkinson’s disease: A9 dopamine-containing neurons. These nerve cells are the first to be affected by Parkinson’s disease and are linked to motor sequencing, or the ability to start and stop movements – a common problem in Parkinson’s patients.

“Many think of Parkinson’s disease as tremor, shaking, rigidity and stiffness. But it’s also very important to know that it is the sequencing of movements – beginning and stopping a movement – where patients really get into trouble… and these particular cells really control that,” lead study author Dr. Stuart Lipton, professor and director of Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute's Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience, Aging, and Stem Cell Research, told FoxNews.com.

Researchers then exposed the nerve cells to a combination of pesticides, including paraquat, maneb, and rotenone, which are commonly used in agricultural settings in the United States. Notably, the levels of exposure tested by the researchers were well below EPA-recommended levels.

“We did a dose response of pesticides, and that particular dose had been implicated in the human epidemiological studies as being strongly associated with Parkinson’s,” Lipton said. “And what we found is we could give very low doses of that combination (of pesticides), and the cells with the genetic mutation would die – and the cells without that would not.”

Overall, the researchers determined that exposure to pesticides seems to increase the likelihood that people with a genetic risk for the disease will actually go on to contract the illness.

“If you’re susceptible to Parkinson’s disease, you will be more susceptible to getting it earlier if you are exposed to pesticides,” Lipton said.

Approximately 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease every year, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently named the illness as the 14th leading cause of death in the United States. Lipton and his colleagues hope their research will help pave the way for more studies into new treatment or prevention methods for Parkinson’s disease in the future.

“You should be able to screen people and tell them if they have a repertoire of genes. Then they might want to avoid exposures to pesticide,” Lipton said. “Another option is to take these susceptible cells and then…screen for drugs known and not-yet known that can protect these cells. And we already have several compounds of interest.”

Furthermore, Lipton and his colleagues believe their research will shed light on how certain genetic and environmental factors interact to make people more vulnerable to a wide array of neurodegenerative diseases.  Lipton said this could help pinpoint the “cause” of these diseases in certain individuals.

“This raises an important question for all neurodegenerative diseases of how much is it the genes, how much is it the environment and how much is both and the interaction between them?” Lipton said. “I think that’s important for every neurodegenerative disease.  You have a set of genes that makes you susceptible, but then there’s a second hit, something in the environment, which predisposes you to the disease.

This content was originally posted  by "Amanda Woerner" on "foxnews"

 The world is losing the battle against diabetes as the number of people estimated to be living with the disease soars to a new record of 382 million this year, according to a new report from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Approximately 24 million people have diabetes in the United States, making it the nation with the third highest rates of the disease - behind China and India.

Furthermore, an estimated 192,000 people die from diabetes in the U.S. every year, one of the highest rates of deaths due to diabetes of any country in the world, according to the IDF.

The vast majority of people have type 2 diabetes - the kind linked to obesity and lack of exercise - and the epidemic is spreading as more people in the developing world adopt Western, urban lifestyles.

The latest estimate from the International Diabetes Federation is equivalent to a global prevalence rate of 8.4 percent of the adult population and compares to 371 million cases in 2012.

By 2035, the organization predicts the number of cases will have soared by 55 percent to 592 million.

"The battle to protect people from diabetes and its disabling, life-threatening complications is being lost," the federation said in the sixth edition of its Diabetes Atlas, noting that deaths from the disease were now running at 5.1 million a year or one every six seconds.

People with diabetes have inadequate blood sugar control, which can lead to a range of dangerous complications, including damage to the eyes, kidneys and heart. If left untreated, it can result in premature death.

"Year after year, the figures seem to be getting worse," said David Whiting, an epidemiologist and public health specialist at the federation. "All around the world we are seeing increasing numbers of people developing diabetes."

He said that a strategy involving all parts of society was needed to improve diets and promote healthier lifestyles.

The federation calculates diabetes already accounts for annual healthcare spending of $548 billion and this is likely to rise to $627 billion by 2035.

Worryingly, an estimated 175 million of diabetes cases are as yet undiagnosed, so a huge number of people are progressing towards complications unawares. Most of them live in low- and middle-income countries with far less access to medical care than in the United States and Europe.

The country with the most diabetics overall is China, where the case load is expected to rise to 142.7 million in 2035 from 98.4 million at present.

But the highest prevalence rates are to be found in the Western Pacific, where more than a third of adults in Tokelau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are already living with the disease.

Pharmaceutical companies have developed a range of medicines over the years to counter diabetes but many patients still struggle to control their condition adequately, leading to a continuing hunt for improved treatments.

Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly are all major suppliers of insulin and other diabetes therapies.

Sources: This content was originally posted  by "Reuters" on "foxnews"