Health | WPN World People News

Scientists have discovered that a gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease may play a beneficial role in cell survival by enabling neurons to clear away toxic proteins. A study funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows the presenilin 1 (PS1) gene is essential to the function of lysosomes, the cell component that digests and recycles unwanted proteins. However, mutations in the PS1 gene — a known risk factor for a rare, early onset form of Alzheimer’s disease — disrupt this crucial process.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have observed two previously unknown steps in the spread of the malaria parasite through the bloodstream. And in laboratory cultures, the researchers interfered with one of these steps, raising the possibility that new drug treatments could be developed to combat the disease.

Overweight girls who lose weight before they reach adulthood greatly reduced their risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Harvard University, who analyzed 16 years of data on nearly 110,000 women.

Through a grant awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the University of Maine’s Center on Aging has completed the first statewide mail-back pilot program for managing pharmaceutical waste from consumers. Studies show that pharmaceuticals are present in our nation’s waterbodies and that certain drugs may cause ecological harm. EPA is currently evaluating the potential risks associated with pharmaceuticals and personal care products on public health and aquatic life.

The World Health Statistics 2010 shows that globally about 40% of deaths in children under five years old occur in the first month of life.