The germs living inside a person’s digestive system may affect symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, researchers reported Thursday.
Tests done on mice showed their symptoms worsened when they were dosed with microbes taken from human Parkinson’s patients but not when they got samples from healthy patients. And other tests on mice that develop Parkinson’s-like symptoms showed they only developed symptoms if they had gut germs to begin with.
The study doesn’t show that gut microbes cause Parkinson’s, but they may suggest a way to treat the incurable condition, which affects up to a million Americans and 10 million people worldwide.
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Artist’s concept depicting microbes in the gut instigating changes in the brain that can lead to Parkinson’s disease. People with Parkinson’s harbor distinct gut bacteria that influence the disease’s severity. Caltech
At age 14, Connor Ball had seen more of the world than many people could hope to see in a lifetime.
As a perk of his parents’ airline jobs, he got to travel with his family far from their home in Brentwood, New Hampshire, to Europe, South America and Africa.
He loved history and the outdoors, but like millions of teenage boys, he loved baseball more.
And despite his years of globetrotting, his favorite place of all was relatively ordinary: Boston’s Fenway Park, just over an hour’s drive away.
“The boy loved the Red Sox,” his mother, TaraBall, told NBC News. “If you saw him walking down the street, he’d always have a Red Sox hat or jacket.”
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Connor Ball was 14 years old when he took his own life in 2011. Courtesy of Ball family
The “magic mushroom” drug psilocybin can help cancer patients relax and feel less distressed about their disease, two teams of doctors reported Thursday.
The drug eased anxiety and depression in 80 percent of the patients who took it in the studies, and many described their one-time sessions as ranking among the most meaningful experiences of their lives.
While the drug is clearly not for everyone, it’s worth testing under carefully controlled conditions in more patients, the researchers concluded.
“We found that a single dose of psilocybin immediately reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients that had advanced cancer and life-threatening forms of cancer,” Dr. Stephen Ross, director of addiction psychiatry at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, told NBC News.
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Hallucinogenic mushrooms are cultivated at a farm in the Netherlands in 2007. Peter Dejong / AP file
A former Army Special Forces officer is accusing retired Marine General James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be defense secretary, of “leaving my men to die” after they were hit by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2001.
Mattis has not commented publicly on the incident, which was chronicled in a 2011 New York Times bestselling book, “The Only Thing Worth Dying For,” by Eric Blehm. The book portrays Mattis as stubbornly unwilling to help the Green Berets.
His actions, which were not formally investigated at the time, are now likely to get far more scrutiny during the retired general’s Senate confirmation process.
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James M. Mattis (2R), U.S. Marine General, aboard the USS Peleliu in 2001. JIM HOLLANDER / EPA
More than 2,300 American scientists, including 22 Nobel Prize winners, issued an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump and Congress Wednesday, urging them to respect science.
They are especially worried about government interference in their work and about policies that could reject scientific fact — notably climate science.
“From disease outbreaks to climate change to national security to technology innovation, people benefit when our nation’s policies are informed by science unfettered by inappropriate political or corporate influence,” the researchers, who come from dozens of fields in all 50 states, wrote.
“Congress and the Trump administration should ensure our nation’s bedrock public health and environmental laws — such as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act — retain a strong scientific foundation, and that agencies are able to freely collect and draw upon scientific data to effectively carry out statutory responsibilities established by these laws. They should also safeguard the independence of those outside the government who provide scientific advice.”
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The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard stands on launch Pad-0A during sunrise at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Bill Ingalls/NASA / NASA via Getty Images
The photos of three year-old Buddy and his dog, Reagan never show a clear view of Buddy’s face for his protection, yet the two have more 100,000 instagram followers.
Amazon’s stranglehold on the U.S. economy is growing ever tighter, with devastating effects for the job market, says a report released Tuesday afternoon.
The group’s wide-ranging analysis details how Amazon, which recently saw annual revenue top a stunning $100 billion, has reshaped the way Americans shop and radically altered the job market.
After years of undercutting other retailers by selling products at a loss, funneling its customers into its super-convenient Prime service and ― essentially ― perfecting the art of online retail, Amazon is now synonymous with online shopping itself.
Taking into account goods sold through third-party retailers on its site, nearly $1 of every $2 spent online currently flows through Amazon, the report found. That’s had devastating consequences for retailers who simply can’t compete ― both online and out in the real world (remember Borders?).
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Ralph Freso/Reuters
Amazon’s massive warehouses have essentially displaced brick-and-mortar retailers around the country.
Alabama and Tennessee were assessing the damage Wednesday from severe storms overnight that killed five people and injured dozens across the two states.
Search and rescue teams were combing McMinn County, Tennessee, after a tornado touched down there and injured up to 23 people, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.
More than 30 commercial and residential structures were damaged, McMinn County Mayor John Gentry said Wednesday afternoon.
He urged the public to stay away from areas affected by the storm and said a Red Cross shelter had been set up at a local Methodist church.
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Damage at Ider Daycare in Flatrock, Alabama. Jake Berent / WAFF
Three people have died in wildfires around Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, authorities said Tuesday, and firefighters were bracing for another round of lightning and high winds overnight.
The three people died in what Gov. Bill Haslam called “the largest fire in the last hundred years in the state of Tennessee.” Dozens of homes were destroyed, and thousands of residents had to flee in resort towns.
Fourteen people were transported to hospitals, Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon announcing the deaths. Three people were in critical condition with severe burns at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, the hospital officials said.
As a candidate, Trump’s often unsubstantiated attacks on political opponents, foreign governments, election officials, law enforcement, a federal judge, news outlets and Muslims shattered political norms and sowed division. As president, his decisions will carry the full weight of White House policy, raising concerns about where he gets his information and whether he might act on false or flawed reports.
Trump’s baseless claim that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote with “millions” of illegal voters, for example, appears to have been popularized by Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has also claimed the 9/11 attacks were carried out by the government and that the Sandy Hook shootings were faked.
Every president makes difficult decisions on sensitive issues based on incomplete intelligence and competing advisers, making the ability to discern what news is credible critical to the job. This is especially important when it comes to national security, where presidents have broad latitude to order military action and direct negotiations with foreign leaders.
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Trump Pushes Baseless Claim That ‘Millions’ Voted Illegally in Election
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
James' World 2 