WEDNESDAY, May 17, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A chemical used to degrease industrial parts that was also used as a surgical anesthetic until the 1970s may increase the risk for Parkinson’s disease, researchers report.Their new study found that two years of heavy exposure to the liquid chemical TCE may boost Parkinson's risk by 70%.TCE, or trichloroethylene, lingers in the air, water and soil. It has been linked to certain cancers.For the study, researchers compared Parkinson’s diagnoses in about 160,000 U.S. Navy and Marine veterans.A little more than half came from Camp Lejeune, a Marine base in Jacksonville, N.C., where TCE used to degrease military equipment fouled the water.Between 1974 and 1985, service members spent at least three months at Camp Lejeune or Camp Pendleton in...

MONDAY, May 15, 2023 -- Researchers have discovered a genetic mutation that should actively protect people from Alzheimer’s, thanks to a man belonging to a Colombian family known to be susceptible to the degenerative brain disease.Based on his family's genetics, this unnamed patient should have started showing signs of Alzheimer’s in his 40s.“They start getting impaired at age 44. By 49, they have dementia, By 60, they are dead,” said co-researcher Dr. Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez, an associate scientist at Mass Eye and Ear, a research institute with Mass General Brigham in Boston.But this man showed no signs of cognitive decline by age 67, Arboleda-Velasquez said.“The patient was studied and went through a battery of cognitive tests. At 67, he was fine,” he said. “He should...

MONDAY, May 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- It’s important to understand your bone health to avoid damage as you age.Losses of bone mineral density and bone mass can cause weakening, potentially leading to a fracture, especially in the hip, spine and wrist.Osteoporosis is considered a silent disease because it often has no symptoms until someone breaks a bone in an unusual way, according to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.“Breaking a bone after falling while in a standing position could be a sign of osteoporosis,” endocrinologist Dr. Jessica Starr said in a hospital news release. “Any fracture should prompt a discussion of bone health with one’s doctor.”Chances of that happening go up with age. Before osteoporosis comes osteopenia, a less-serious loss of bone...