Oman Daily Observer

Youth in polluted cities at increased risk of Alzheimer’s

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MUSCAT: The Sultanate expresses its support to the reasons that prompted the US, UK and France to take military procedures against Syrian military installati­ons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on its official Twitter handle.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump triumphant­ly declared “Mission Accomplish­ed!” on Saturday following a Us-led missile assault on Syria and warned another attack could follow if Damascus were to unleash more chemical weapons.

The combined Us-frenchbrit­ish operation, which saw more than 100 cruise missiles smash into three chemical weapons facilities early on Saturday, earned quick scorn from Russia, which pushed for a vote at the UN Security Council condemning the strikes.

Trump and his allies ordered the pre-dawn mission in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack a week ago on the rebel-held town of Douma that left more than 40 people dead. NEW YORK: Children and young adults living in polluted megacities are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s, a debilitati­ng brain disease characteri­sed by memory loss, a new study has warned.

“Alzheimer’s disease hallmarks start in childhood in polluted environmen­ts, and we must implement preventati­ve measures early,” said one of the researcher­s Lilian Calderon-garciduena­s from University of Montana in the US.

“It is useless to take reactive actions WASHINGTON: The UN Security Council has rejected a resolution proposed by Russia to condemn military strikes on Syria. The council rejected the resolution by a vote of 8-3 with four abstention­s. The vote took place during an emergency meeting of the council in New York.

Both the government of Syria’s Bashar al Assad and its ally Russia have denied all responsibi­lity for the April 7 attack, and Moscow slammed the “aggressive actions” of the Western coalition, but it has not yet responded militarily.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned her UN counterpar­ts that although the mission was designed as a one-off, that did not preclude further action against Assad.

“I spoke to the president this morning and he said: ‘If the Syrian government uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is decades later,” Calderon-garciduena­s said. The findings, published in the Journal of Environmen­tal Research, indicate that Alzheimer’s starts in early childhood, and the disease progressio­n relates to age, pollution exposure and status of Apolipopro­tein E (APOE 4).

The researcher­s studied 203 autopsies of Mexico City residents in the US ranging in age from 11 months to 40 years. The researcher­s tracked two abnormal proteins that indicate developmen­t of Alzheimer’s, and they detected the early stages of the disease in babies less than a year old.

The scientists found heightened levels of the two abnormal proteins — hyperphosp­horylated tau and beta amyloid — in the brains of young urbanites with lifetime exposures to fine-particulat­e-matter pollution (PM2.5). They also tracked APOE 4 as well as lifetime cumulative exposure to unhealthy levels of PM2.5 — particles which are at least 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

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 ??  ?? The US Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey fires a Tomahawk land attack missile on Saturday. — Reuters
The US Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey fires a Tomahawk land attack missile on Saturday. — Reuters

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