Scientists Find Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix (gizmodo.com) 135
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Scientists have found further evidence that the gut, or more specifically the appendix, might play a role in the development of Parkinson's disease. The international team of scientists reviewed two datasets, including a large registry from Sweden, and found that removal of the appendix was associated with a decreased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. They also found that the human appendix contains clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein in a form associated with the disease. There's more work to be done, and the authors are not advocating that people preemptively remove their appendixes, but they hope that the research could provide a pathway towards treatment.
The study found that of the 1,144,745 Swedes who did not have appendectomies, 1,608 had Parkinson's, but of the 551,003 who had, only 644 had Parkinson's. This is amounts to a 16.9% decrease in the odds of acquiring the disease -- but in absolutes, that's the difference between an 0.14 percent chance of acquiring the disease for those who hadn't gotten their appendix removed versus an 0.11 percent chance for those who had. The effect was also stronger in those living in rural areas, according to the study published today in Science Translational Medicine. The researchers also found that for those who had appendectomies at least 30 years before developing Parkinson's, the procedure was associated with a 3.6-year delay in disease onset. The appendix samples contained alpha-synuclein proteins and shortened and mis-folded alpha-synucleins like the ones found in people with Parkinson's disease. Professor Viviane Labrie from the Cancer of Neurodegenerative Science at the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan suggests that the alpha-synucleins "can travel up the nerve that connects the G.I. tract to the brain." She added: "If it were to enter the brain, it can seed and spread from there and have neurotoxic effects that could eventually lead to Parkinson's disease."
The study found that of the 1,144,745 Swedes who did not have appendectomies, 1,608 had Parkinson's, but of the 551,003 who had, only 644 had Parkinson's. This is amounts to a 16.9% decrease in the odds of acquiring the disease -- but in absolutes, that's the difference between an 0.14 percent chance of acquiring the disease for those who hadn't gotten their appendix removed versus an 0.11 percent chance for those who had. The effect was also stronger in those living in rural areas, according to the study published today in Science Translational Medicine. The researchers also found that for those who had appendectomies at least 30 years before developing Parkinson's, the procedure was associated with a 3.6-year delay in disease onset. The appendix samples contained alpha-synuclein proteins and shortened and mis-folded alpha-synucleins like the ones found in people with Parkinson's disease. Professor Viviane Labrie from the Cancer of Neurodegenerative Science at the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan suggests that the alpha-synucleins "can travel up the nerve that connects the G.I. tract to the brain." She added: "If it were to enter the brain, it can seed and spread from there and have neurotoxic effects that could eventually lead to Parkinson's disease."
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So the purpose of the appendix is to increase your risk of Parkinson's Disease? I'm not convinced.
Re: So much for Intelligent Design (Score:1, Interesting)
It may not be intelligent but it is common enough that there is an official term for it. Manufactured obsolescence.
"a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete after a certain period of time."
Re: So much for Intelligent Design (Score:1)
Or we are.
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Or perhaps: The Creator designed perfectly, but allowed it to be broken by the effects of not following His plan. That is, after all, exactly what the Bible teaches. (WHY the Creator allowed imperfection to enter a perfect system is a different discussion.)
Anything is possible (Score:2, Informative)
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when you work backwards from your conclusion.
Seems to me both of them are guilty of that.
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What is not a different discussion is that your "Creator", if existent, bears full, unlimited responsibility for the result. With unlimited power comes unlimited responsibility. And do not give me this "works in mysterious ways" crap. There really is only a choice between "fuckup" and "asshole" here.
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So malevolent and dishonest? I like it.
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Indeed. Thanks for the reference. As so often, the classical references are far better what you can do by yourself.
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For anyone who's interested in this topic, the book "The Problem of Pain" by CS Lewis is one Christian's attempt to address precisely this issue: how can God be good if His world is full of pain?
I'm not saying Lewis resolves the question, just that there are educated Christians out there who are aware of the issue and try to deal with it.
Unfortunately, the "Christian" "thinkers" who, for example, try to explain why murder is ok if you spend enough on military equipment seem to get a lot more attention.
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Car manufacturers are not omnipotent. Stop lying.
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An analogy is not an analogy when it grossly misrepresents what is going on. Then it is just a lie. But I can see you just want to promote your messed up view of the world.
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Nonsense. There are many things that a car manufacturer could do to control your actions. A car manufacturer could require that everyone who drives the car pass a breathalyzer test. A car could analyze driving patterns, detect erratic driving, and begin slowing the car until such time as it can safely stop, then shut down. And so on.
The difference is that a car manufacturer cannot force you to buy their
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Indeed. And as soon as a car is in "full nanny" mode (and we will see that, too many humans are just unsafe drivers and that will give us self-driving cars as the only choice eventually), all responsibility for accidents is with the manufacturer.
With power and control comes responsibility. A mythical "supreme being" is not exempt from that.
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One could say that the system was never perfect.... when he was apparently finished, he only said that it was "very good". On the scale of things, that basically meant that God graded his own work at about a B.
Alzheimers, ulcers and appendix, oh my (Score:5, Interesting)
So adter decades and decades of work people figured out Ulcers were bacterial not a defect in proteins coating the stomach walls.. Very recently it came to light that Alzheimers may be a viral or bacterial infection and the amyloid plaques actually are a defense mechanism. WHich explains why all the anti-amaloid drugs failed.
Amaloids come from a kind of protein misfolding.
Now they are attributing parkinsons to misfolded protein.
This study is interesting because we now suspect the appendix's purpose is to be a place where gut bacteria can go dormant and wait to re-seed the gut to maintain diversity. In the age of antibiotics and the rise of c. Difficile the appendix reseed may have become more important. THose infections are now treated with fecal transplants.
So appexicies harbor "good" bacteria. Perhaps the misfolded proteins their are their to keep them alive and dormant or to knock down the infection by bad bacteria (appendicitis). Perhaps it is the bacteria migrating to the brain that is brining along the misfolded proteins.
Just saying this sounds like "here we go again" when it comes to blaming the proteins for a bacterial problem. But maybe they are right. THe thing is, and the clue to the other two cases,was asking why didn't those bad proteins get evolved away. The appendix is not only in other species but it has been independently evolved in multiple species. It's there for some damn good reason and so are the proteins screted there.
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I'm slowly working my way through Aron Ra's youtube series the Systemic Classification of Life. He's an acquired taste, as he's a bit brash and very not professor-like, but being able to see subsets of the evolutionary tree of life in detail is really amazing. I always knew that we had a deep fossil record which explains evolution, but I had no idea it was that deep.
What's impressive about the series is that it's showing the path from early animals to humans, and showing where different species branched off
Re:Alzheimers, ulcers and appendix, oh my (Score:5, Informative)
"This study is interesting because we now suspect the appendix's purpose is to be a place where gut bacteria can go dormant and wait to re-seed the gut to maintain diversity."
It's been that way for at least 10-20 years, to my knowledge. I'm in no way a medical person, but that's always been the assumption whenever I've asked someone.
The problem here (and the entire problem of the appendix's bad reputation) appears to be that keeping a bunch of bacteria around isn't always the best thing either and things can go wrong. Evolutionarily speaking, sure, they are minor blips that'll be rode out over time. But when an appendix gets infected and bursts, you're gonna spew the nastiest possible bacteria store all over your sterile insides (not just your gut).
And keeping that stuff around give some things / byproducts a chance to creep up to the brain and contribute to Parkinson's by the looks of it.
It's interesting that all this stuff is hinted to be bacterial in origin... maybe people will start to revise their entire "anti-bacterial handwash every two seconds" policies.
Honestly, I've never known people quite so weak in constitution as those people who spend their lives bleaching their environment, sterilising their hands and spraying every surface (large cause of asthma, cleaning chemicals!). And it's not "correlative", it's "causative"... those people aren't bleaching everything BECAUSE they get ill easily, they don't start getting ill a lot until they start doing that as adults and then it affects even unrelated people who live with them too.
You're a being made up mostly of other living things. Those living things are always in combat with the same living things. Your white blood cells etc. are fighting with your own body (e.g. dead cells, cancerous cells, etc.) all day long every day. Your gut is literally attacking and consuming the food you eat and stopping it attacking your body (you only need to leave some food out in a sealed box for a few days to realise what's already in the food). And your appendix is basically bacteria central to call in reserves when your gut starts losing the battle (i.e. you're ill).
Re: Alzheimers, ulcers and appendix, oh my (Score:2)
It's been that way for at least 10-20 years, to my knowledge.
I recall it being newer than that.
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Literally: first hit on Google, 2007:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r... [sciencedaily.com]
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The proposal was made in 2007:
https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jt... [doi.org]
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So adter decades and decades of work people figured out Ulcers were bacterial not a defect in proteins coating the stomach walls..
Just a minor correction so no reader is misinformed: So after decades and decades of work, people figured out ulcers can be caused by a certain bacterium.
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So adter decades and decades of work people figured out Ulcers were bacterial not a defect in proteins coating the stomach walls..
Just a minor correction so no reader is misinformed: So after decades and decades of work, people figured out ulcers can be caused by a certain bacterium.
And by "can be" you really mean is in more than 90% of cases [state.il.us].
Just so no reader is misinformed.
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Not a new theory (Score:3)
Very recently it came to light that Alzheimers may be a viral or bacterial infection and the amyloid plaques actually are a defense mechanism.
That possibility is NOT a recent revelation. We have no evidence of a specific pathogen but that's been on the list of possible causes for a long time. More than a few types of cancer are caused by viruses and many other diseases we don't normally associate with viruses or bacteria. My wife is a pathologist and she's spoken about this very topic to me 20 years ago. It wouldn't at all be shocking if some or even all Alzheimer's turned out to be caused by a pathogen. We just don't have strong evidence cu
Since you asked (Score:2)
Here's an interesting popular press article from this year talking about the slow turn on this theory. Sure people have had that on the list of possibilities but no proof. Now the pendulum is swinging that direction, but only recently.
https://www.statnews.com/2018/... [statnews.com]
It really is turning THIS YEAR, because it's only in the last year that the most advanced and well studied Anti-alzheimer's drugs targeting plaque forming pathways failed. Thus old speculations are being reconsidered and there's a body of pro
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Evolution doesn't really care about Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. The protein's involved in both are misfolded versions that have important uses in their normally folded state. Having those proteins around at a small risk of late life dementia is most likely very beneficial.
There's evidence that the misfolded version of the protein involved in Parkinson's can crawl up nerves, including crossing synapses. That would make it conceivable that it could make its way up from the gut to the brain. There's also spec
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Yes but it does care about bacterial infections hence the defense mechanisms that might have long term negative attributes.
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Yes, evolution probably regards some misfolded proteins that have a chance of causing you to be demented forty years after you've passed on your genes to be worthwhile collateral damage for a robust inflammatory response that keeps you from dying of cholera as a child or young adult.
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It has been decades, but I did study medical stuff (pharmacy degree).
The brain is protected by the so called 'blood brain barrier' [wikipedia.org], which prevents many things going through. These range from bacteria, to even many medications.
Meningitis is caused by a bacteria, but they don't cross that barrier. Instead, they infect the membranes surrounding the brain. But in doing so, they make the BBB is more permeable, so toxins may pass through.
Antibiotics to treat brain infections are also different, since normal ones
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See, this is why we need more CPU and GPU cycles donated to projects like Folding@home that advance scientific knowledge, and not being flushed down the toilet of crypto mining.
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All I got from it was proof we've poisoned our environment collaterally in ways we had previously not even considered, and thus natural protections are no longer sufficient.
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Still possible. It would obviously have to be a malicious, detail-obsessed and sadistic superbeing. Of course, the quality of the result rather strongly indicates that the biological part of human existence is the result of a typical evolutionary optimization process. These universally deliver mediocre or worse results. Their main advantage is that the can be run unsupervised once the conditions have been set. Although it looks now very much like the human race does not have effective ways to restrict its o
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Mmm. Except for the "detail obsessed part" that description fits pretty well with most theology. Particularly if you regard Jesus as deific propaganda.
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I'm pretty sure this underlines the fact that humans were not designed by some intelligent superbeing in the sky.
I'm honestly not sure how you draw that conclusion at all. Many religious people believe that there is a purpose behind these sorts of things. That they are opportunities to learn and grow. Children certainly do not grow as individuals when they have every problem in life solved for them.
Re: So much for Intelligent Design (Score:2)
I'm honestly not sure how you draw that conclusion at all.
Don't feel bad; neither does he.
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That they are opportunities to learn and grow. Children certainly do not grow as individuals when they have every problem in life solved for them.
Ah yes, those infants with bone cancer surely are learning a lot about life before they die at the ripe age of 2. (But obviously they never grow.)
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That they are opportunities to learn and grow. Children certainly do not grow as individuals when they have every problem in life solved for them.
Ah yes, those infants with bone cancer surely are learning a lot about life before they die at the ripe age of 2. (But obviously they never grow.)
Often times religious people believe that those are learning opportunities for the parent and not the child. Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of a god. Anyone who knows science knows that is not within the realm of science to begin with. So whether or not you believe in god, this research cannot possibly show that god doesn't exist. End of story.
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I'm pretty sure this underlines the fact that humans were not designed by some intelligent superbeing in the sky.
What an odd conclusion.
Starting with the fact that we've had fallible bodies throughout history, and it didn't lead most people that conclusion. It's not like we just discovered that bodies are fallible or in some ways non-optimal.
Usually you folks just think that you've discovered war or natural disasters, as though the ancients had never heard of such things and that's why they had such crazy theories. Now you think you've discovered aging or disease?
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So, the perfect being, the embodiment of Love, who created the universe made us "defective by design"? Is that your assertion?
Nothin from nothing leaves (Score:3)
Nothing!
The numbers are so miniscule it is not even worth discussing. It's equivalent to my buying two lottery tickets instead of one.
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The numbers are very interesting from a scientific point of view and may well eventually lead to better treatments. They are irrelevant only for direct risk management.
Correlation != Causation (Score:2)
The numbers are very interesting from a scientific point of view
Really? One of the first rules of scientific data analysis is that correlation does not imply causation. So far there is literally nothing to see here scientifically. It only becomes interesting if they actually manage to find that the appendix has a role in causing Parkinsons. Given the tiny effect on the actual rate of the disease it is unlikely to have any sort of major role since you are only ~16% less likely to get it without your appendix. Indeed the very weak correlation suggests that either there a
Re: Nothin from nothing leaves (Score:2)
remove it (Score:2)
So do I need to get my appendix removed?
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So do I need to get my appendix removed?
Let's take a look at the summary.
"There's more work to be done, and the authors are not advocating that people preemptively remove their appendixes"
To me that means "yes".
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Why so much butchering? (Score:1)
554k have had appendix removed in this study which included 1/5th the population of Sweden. That's a lot. Removing an organ should always be a last resort, and should be much more rare. All this proves is that modern medicine is much more "wandering around in the dark" than they would have you believe.
Keep your appendix, keep your tonsils, and keep your foreskin...unless removing it is *the only way* to prevent imminent death.
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"Modern medicine" has only existed since the late 80s when the idea that a randomized clinical trial, including blinding and (gasp) involving statisticians, was a good idea. Modern medicine has a big backlog of medieval superstition to get around to.
There was a recent study that suggested even in the case of acute appendicitis, antibiotics were just as effective as removal.
Correlation is not causation... (Score:4, Insightful)
The one thing that we can deduce from this study is that 100% of the people that had appendectomies don't have an appendix anymore.
--
Together we can change the world, just one random act of kindness at a time. -- Ron Hall
Re:Correlation is not causation... (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think so. That would need individual verification. Surgeries get botched.
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>Correlation is not causation...
+1
I am so tired of these "studies" being posted and people jumping to causation conclusions. Whatever causes Parkinson's MIGHT also be something that increases the chances of appendicitis. That doesn't mean that removal of the appendix affects the chances of getting Parkinson's.
Such studies are very interesting, but prove nothing. They just help point the need for further research.
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Yep. Wish there were an "edit" button.
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This is true. Oddly however, science is not done in a vacuum. There's also evidence that the protein involved in Parkinson's can crawl along nerves, including from the gut to the brain. Several lines of evidence suggest a possible causal relationship. Of course, none of it is conclusive, and gut involvement in Parkinson's is still an emerging idea. As the *summary* says, don't get your appendix removed yet.
"People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals." If you're tired of hearing people jump to conclusions p
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All through the work day, we're forced to occupy the cognitive zone where we're least dumb, panicky, and dangerous (if not in the first job, in the second, or third, or fourth).
Then you come home, and you're tired, because that part of the brain was not meant to operate for eight solid hours. It was just meant to be wide enough awake to avoid lions while making a two hou
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>"I am so tired of these "opinions" being posted where you scream "Correlation is not causation""
Good thing what you think doesn't matter because you are an anonymous coward.
However ... (Score:3)
It is grounds for further investigation.
Furthermore the researchers do not claim it is.
Strawman cliches are not +1 insightful.
Correlation does not imply causation (Score:1)
I could be that people who have some genetic profile are more likely to get Parkinsson and problem with their appendix. Or it could be that people who eat a certain food or exercise in a certain way are more (or less) likely to get Parkinsson and problem with their appendix.
Re:Also discovered recently... (Score:4, Insightful)
There appears to be a strong positive correlation between people who vote for Trump and people who have their heads up their ass.
Just sayin'.
Have also noticed over the last decade or so that there's a strong correlation between parties adopting smug, condescending, holier-than-though opinions of the superiority of themselves and their party ... and losing nearly a thousand legislative seats, most of the governorships, both houses of congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, and the good will of millions of two-time Obama voters who turned their backs on their former default party exactly, specifically because of people like you. Ever noticed that?
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Can't wait to rip your shitgibbon out of office
Let me guess. You couldn't wait to watch him lose to Hillary Clinton, either, right? You probably also couldn't wait to see a last minute fictional smear job prevent him from seating his second staunchly originalist SCOTUS nominee, right? To say nothing of how all of those new circuit and appellate judges were going to be slavish liberal activists, yeah? And you were probably just drooling at the prospect of the economy tanking and minorities furious with him for continuing the sort of job erosion they exp
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It is well documented historical fact that the Ku Klux Klan is the military branch of the Democratic Party.
So Parkinson's causes appendectomies! (Score:2)
Brought to you by the "In medicine the exact reverse causal hypothesis always also sounds entirely reasonable too" department.
Incidentally, every time somebody discovers yet another brain-gut-axis link, I feel
Low correlation (Score:2)
This seems like a very low correlation for the cause to be the appendix. More than likely the appendix is merely capturing and concentrating these proteins, perhaps well before the symptoms of Parkinsons have manifested. That hardly means the appendix is the source of the proteins.
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So what you are saying is, there may be a Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix
Yeah, just like the bladder is the source of diabetes because uncontrolled diabetes manifests with glucose in the urine.
But where to put the information? (Score:5, Funny)
It's a complex picture, could .... (Score:3)
Those prone to appendicitis be less susceptible to Parkinsons for the same reason they suffer appendicitis in the first place. There are know genetic factors in the predisposition to both diseases.
Could there be some other environmental cause? Pesticides and herbicides exposure is a known risk factor in Parkinsons.
Appendectomy is know to slow peoples recovery after bouts of food poisoning, because their gut flora recovers more slowly. The Appendix is known to be a reservoir of these.
I like to see how this compared with non-surgical intervention for appendicitis, which was reported recently as as gaining favour for that latter reason.
Oh great! I still have mine! (Score:2)
Go Science! (Score:2)