A cloud over our lives: Air pollution linked to learning problems and depression

This is an old chestnut that has become involved with Greenie beliefs. And there are few people in public life as dishonest as Greenies. Read here of what happens if your findings don't suit the Greenie agenda. In the circumstances all findings such as the one below must be treated with grave suspicion

Air pollution has long been blamed for a host of heart and lung related illnesses. Now scientists believe long-term exposure to smog can also make people lose their memory and become more depressed - as it physically alters the brain.

It could have huge implications for city dwellers across the world, it has been claimed.

'The results suggest prolonged exposure to polluted air can have visible, negative effects on the brain, which can lead to a variety of health problems,' said Ohio State University's Laura Fonken. 'This could have important and troubling implications for people who live and work in polluted urban areas around the world.'

The study, which appears in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, is the first to show the negative impact of air pollution on the brain, rather than just the heart and lungs.

Researchers from Ohio State University's Department of Neuroscience collaborated with the university's Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. The team included Qinghua Sun, associate professor of environmental health sciences, and Sanjay Rajagopalan, professor of cardiovascular medicine.

Previously the Davis research group had used mice to find that fine air particulate matter causes widespread inflammation in the body, and can be linked to high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. In the new study mice were exposed to either filtered or polluted air for six hours a day, five days a week for 10 months - nearly half their lifespan.

The polluted air contained fine particulate matter, the kind of pollution created by cars, factories and natural dust. The fine particulates were tiny, the average width of a human hair, and can reach deep areas of the lungs and other organs.

The mice were exposed to the equivalent matter that people who live in polluted urban areas could expect. After 10 months of exposure the researchers then performed a variety of behavioral tests on the animals.

In a learning and memory test, mice were placed in the middle of a brightly lit arena and given two minutes to find an escape hole leading to a dark box where they would feel more comfortable.
The mice who breathed polluted air took longer to learn where the escape hole was located. They were also less likely to remember where the escape hole was when tested later.

The mice who breathed polluted air took longer to learn where the escape hole was located. They were also less likely to remember where the escape hole was when tested later. In another experiment mice exposed to the polluted air showed more depressive-like behaviours, with higher levels of anxiety.

The researchers tested the hippocampal area of the mice brains to find out how air pollution leads to changes in learning, memory and mood. Results showed clear physical differences in the hippocampi of the mice who were exposed to polluted air compared to those who were not.

The researchers looked specifically at branches that grow off of nerve cells (or neurons) called dendrites, which have small projections growing off them called spines, which transmit signals from one neuron to another. Mice exposed to polluted air had fewer spines in parts of the hippocampus, shorter dendrites and overall reduced cell complexity.

In other studies researchers found chronic exposure to polluted air leads to widespread inflammation in the body, which is linked to a variety of health problems in humans, including depression.

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As women AND men inject Human Growth Hormone, we reveal the toxic truth about the new elixir of youth

Having recently passed his 40th birthday, Graham Marks was beginning to notice how the years were taking their toll. Despite being a dedicated gym-goer, he had started to put on weight and found his energy levels flagging. But the final straw came when he tore a ligament in his leg. Doctors told him it would take him three months of wearing a brace before he would recover.

Unhappy about such a long lay-off, Graham, who runs a successful electronics business in the South of England, turned to the other men in his gym for advice on how to speed up the healing process. Almost unanimously, they suggested he did what they did — start injecting himself with a substance called human growth hormone (HGH).

Naturally made in the pituitary gland, the hormone stimulates growth. In the past, it was harvested from corpses before being injected into below-average-height children. Now synthesised in laboratories, it is being used in ways never originally intended.

‘I found some for sale on the internet, bought it and started taking it,’ he says. ‘And my leg recovered in just six weeks.’

That was 18 months ago and Graham hasn’t looked back. He was so impressed by the effect it had on his body that he injects himself with £10 worth of the drug every single day. In that time, he has lost two-and-a-half-stone in weight and put on a noticeable amount of muscle. But, he says, there is more.

‘In my opinion, HGH is a miracle drug. When used in moderation, it will slow down ageing in the body. And it helps to heal everything quicker. Last year, when the bad flu went around, I had friends who were ill with it for up to two weeks. I caught it and recovered in a few days.’

On top of that, he noticed an increase in his sexual libido and improvement in the condition of his skin. A friend who is also using it reported that his thinning hair had started to re-grow.

They are extraordinary claims and ones that are echoed not only in the world of muscle-bound fitness-fanatics but also among those who simply want to halt the body’s ageing process in its tracks.

Earlier this summer, singer Robbie Williams admitted he had consulted doctors in LA about taking HGH simply so he could look and feel younger. ‘It’s what all the old fellas are on in LA — it makes them look 40 instead of 60,’ said Williams, who is 37. ‘It’s improving their health, their memory, their hair and skin.’ (In the end, the singer opted for a course of testosterone injections instead.)

Women, too, are flocking to try out what has been dubbed ‘cosmetic surgery in a syringe’. The youthful-looking trio of Demi Moore, Jennifer Aniston and Madonna are all rumoured to have had HGH jabs.

Dr Lionel Bissoon is one of America’s leading anti-ageing gurus. The rich and famous queue up at his New York clinic to be treated with the drug. ‘For many, this is the fountain of youth and it’s very, very popular,’ he says. ‘My patients say they look good, feel strong and even sleep better. Very few people are disappointed.’

Of course, the ministrations of Dr Bissoon do not come cheap: regular treatment can cost up to £1,200 a month. And therein lies the rub. The vast majority of those using HGH both here and in America cannot afford such costs. Instead, they purchase it over the internet from foreign-based websites and then inject themselves.

In so doing, they blindly trust that what they are sent actually does contain some HGH — rather than being counterfeit or contaminated with unknown substances that could harm or even kill them.

But that isn’t the only risk. HGH is not licensed as an anti-ageing drug. While some studies have suggested it can help the body heal itself and improve athletic performance, other experts believe its anti-ageing abilities have been wildly exaggerated. Worse still, there are growing concerns about the dangers that HGH may pose to health.

Studies show that high levels can lead to swelling of the soft tissues in the body; abnormal growth of the hands, feet and face; high blood pressure; blood clots; diabetes; increased sweating; and excessive hair growth.

Organs — including the heart, liver and kidneys — may also undergo excessive growth, leading to potentially life-threatening problems such as cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. Cancer risks are also thought to increase.....

One person who has first-hand experience of its effects is Dr Cecilia Tregear, a Harley Street medic who specialises in hormone treatments. ‘I took HGH several years ago,’ she admits. ‘I tried it when I turned 50 to find out if all the fuss was justified. What I noticed were initial, apparently positive effects on my energy levels and my libido rather than physical changes. ‘It certainly didn’t make me look any younger. But even the positive effects were temporary. I lost some fat, but not my wrinkles. My feeling is that the benefits have been exaggerated.’

Her view is backed up by a review of all the research into HGH conducted by scientists at Stanford University in California in 2007. It concluded that using the growth hormone resulted in small changes in body composition and an increased likelihood of conditions such as diabetes. ‘On the basis of this evidence,’ said the review, ‘growth hormone cannot be recommended as an anti-ageing therapy.’

But words such as that are unlikely to carry much truck with the likes of Graham Marks who believe that, in HGH, they have found the secret to eternal youth. ‘I know that I’m never going to be young again, but this stuff keeps me younger longer,’ he says. ‘I honestly feel it has taken at least a decade off my body age.’

But could it actually end up taking years off his life? It is something that he and the others taking part in this dangerous experiment will only discover when it is too late.

More here