Researchers have made an important discovery about the causes of schizophrenia, a disease related to dementia or fragmented mentality. Researchers have identified two genes associated with the disease as well as a third gene that carries the risk of schizophrenia and autism. Scientists involved in this research believes, this discovery can go a long way in finding a cure for these kind of diseases. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine found that these harmful genes are almost the same in every ethnic or racial group. The findings of this research were published in Nature Genetics . According to an estimate, about one percent of people worldwide suffering from schizophrenia. The scientists identified two risky genes, SRRM2 and AKAP11, based on a comparative analysis of gene sequencing from individuals with schizophrenia and healthy individuals. It compared a dataset of 35,828 patients with schizophrenia to 107,877 healthy or control groups and included a variety of
Microplastic particles are poisoning not only groundwater but also soil and crops. Plastic sheets are widely used in the fields which are dissolving the fine particles of plastic in the soil.
It is also affecting the crops. This is where the particles are reaching the depths of human blood and lungs. In March of this year, researchers measured plastic particles in human blood. Subsequently, these particles were also identified in the lungs.
Toxic Link, a non-governmental organization working on plastic pollution, has shared this information on the basis of testing samples taken from agricultural lands at different places.
According to the study conducted by Toxic Link, 30 samples were taken from different agricultural farms. Microplastic particles were found in all these samples. In addition, the presence of heavy metals was also found in the soil samples.
Plastic sheets are being used for the last 20 years from where the samples were taken. Plastic sheets are generally used to retain moisture in the fields. But, after harvesting these plastic sheets are left as such.
Thus, these sheets gradually break down and take the form of microplastics. These start to dissolve in the soil and start polluting. They also come in crops. When we use these crops as food, they also enter our body through the process of biomagnification.
According to the study, the plastic used in mulching is relatively very thin. Removing or recycling these thin layers is a laborious and challenging task. Scientists identified microplastic particles in the blood of 80 percent of the people involved in one study.
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