New research is shedding light on the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease

Scientists have understood for a while that symptoms of Parkinson’s disease develop when dopamine-producing brain cells start to die. Dopamine is a chemical messenger that helps regulate movement, and as its levels decrease, Parkinson’s emerges. What researchers haven’t understood is why those cells begin to break down in the first place—but a huge new study is shedding some light.

Researchers combed through the records of more than 1.6 million patients, some of which went back 52 years. You might think of Parkinson’s disease as affecting the muscles, but researchers suspect that the gut shows the earliest signs. In this massive study, scientists put their focus on the appendix, which is attached to the large intestine. The results in the journal Science Translational Medicine suggest that the organ plays a big role in development of the disease. Learn about 10 stomach pains you should never ignore.

People whose appendix had been removed early in life had a 19 per cent lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to the findings. In rural areas, where Parkinson’s is more common, the effect was even stronger: People with appendectomies were 25 per cent less likely to get a diagnosis. (Surprisingly, you can live without these organs too.)

Appendix removal can’t fully prevent or stop the disease, but those who did develop Parkinson’s disease after losing their appendix pushed back diagnosis by more than three years. Removing the appendix after symptoms appeared didn’t seem to offer any protection, though. What’s more, the researchers found marks of Lewy bodies, which are abnormal clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein, in appendixes. Lewy bodies in the brain are a hallmark of Parkinson’s, but interestingly, even healthy people had the proteins in their appendixes. Check out more scientific explanations behind quirky body reactions.

“Parkinson’s is relatively rare—less than 1 per cent of the population—so there has to be some other mechanism or confluence of events that allows the appendix to affect Parkinson’s risk,” senior study author Viviane Labrie, PhD, said in a news release. “That’s what we plan to look at next: Which factor or factors tip the scale in favour of Parkinson’s?”

These are the six signs of appendicitis you need to watch out for.

Source: EurekAlert!

When you’re shopping for a new car, you can’t trust all the ads you see on TV or online. Each automaker is going to tout its biggest benefits and go hard at its competitors’ flaws. So who can you really trust when deciding on your next car? Fellow drivers who already own the car you’re considering.

That’s how Consumer Reports gathered the data for its 2018 Annual Auto Survey. Using responses on over 500,000 vehicles, it ranked the most and least reliable cars of the year. Coming in dead last: the Ram 3500.

The rankings for least reliable car were determined by studying 17 trouble areas ranging from squeaky brakes to major out-of-warranty repairs. The Ram 3500 earned its place as the least reliable due to buyers’ issues with its steering and suspension, fuel and emissions system, engine cooling, and annoying noises and leaks. Look out for these 14 signs your car is about to die.

Ram Trucks wasn’t the only American car manufacturer to make the list. In fact, six of the 10 least reliable vehicles are American made, four of which were manufactured by General Motors. Buyers reported trouble with transmission, in-car electronics, climate system, fuel and emissions system, and even the engine in the General Motors vehicles. Honda was the only other manufacturer to appear more than once on the list; it accounted for two.

Here is the full list of the 10 least reliable cars of 2018, counting down to the worst:

10. Honda Odyssey
9. Volkswagen Atlas
8. Buick Enclave
7. Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD
6. Kia Cadenza
5. Chevrolet Traverse
4. Honda Clarity
3. Cadillac ATS
2. Tesla Model X
1. Ram 3500

So if you’re in the market for a new vehicle, you’d be wise to avoid these makes and models. And for those who already own any car on this list, never fear. Here are tips on how to get top dollar for your used car.

Can This Font Improve Memory?

With so much information available in books and online, it’s easy to learn a few new facts each day. But how much of that do you actually remember? If your answer is “not much,” listen up. Scientists at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, recently designed a new typeface—and it was invented specifically with us read-it-and-forget-it folks in mind. Very appropriately, it’s called Sans Forgetica. (This is one of the best things you can do to ward off memory loss.)

The idea behind Sans Forgetica is simple: The typeface is a tiny bit difficult to read, which means your brain has to work twice as hard to understand what it says. Because of that deeper focus, you’ll have stronger recall of whatever it is you’re reading. That’s not just a hypothesis, either. The typeface was created by a team of researchers and academics from RMIT University’s School of Design and its Behavioural Business Lab. The group worked with renowned typographer Stephen Banham to test and refine their product.

“The font uses principles of cognitive psychology to create an effect known as desirable difficulty,” the researchers note, “in which minor obstructions to learning processes cause the brain to engage in deeper cognitive processing. The result is improved memory retention.” (Don’t miss these 10 health benefits of reading.)

To get the typeface now (and hopefully never forget another fun internet fact again), go to sansforgetica.rmit to download it for free. You can also add the typeface as a Chrome browser extension, which means you can do all of your online reading in this magical font.

Next, check out these six everyday habits of people with impressive memory.

Tall people are more likely to develop this disease

There are a lot of benefits to being tall beyond being able to reach the top shelf without a step ladder. More cash anyone? That’s right: tall men earn more money, reports LiveScience. On the other hand, there is also a huge drawback: according to a new study out of the University of California Riverside, tall people may be more likely to develop cancer. (Here are 13 signs of cancer men are likely to ignore.)

Leonard Nunney, PhD, a researcher at UC Riverside, reviewed four large population studies that tracked height and cancer incidence. Nunny identified more than 10,000 total cases of cancer, and when he looked at the odds given a person’s height, he found that cancer risk rose by 10 per cent for every four inches above average height a person is—average being 5’4″ for women and 5’9″ for men.

“If you were comparing a five-foot guy to a basketball player who’s over seven feet tall, then that basketball player has around twice the risk of cancer across the board,” he told Australia’s ABC. (Doctors are most likely to miss these 11 diseases.)

In the study, which was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Nunney explained that one possible reason tall people have an increased risk of cancer may be due to the simple fact that they have more cells in their bodies; the more cell division you have happening, the greater the chances that cells will mutate and lead to tumour growth.

Nunney found that the correlation between height and cancer risk was consistent with 18 out of the 23 types of cancer he tracked. He also discovered that melanoma skin cancer risk carried an unexpectedly strong relationship with height. And taller women had an increased risk of thyroid cancer, as well.

Next, here are 15 skin cancer myths you need to stop believing right now.