Doctors warn incurable brain condition set to rise 112% and hit 25 million people
The cases of a debilitating and incurable brain condition are forecast to rise 112% and hit 25million by 2050. 25 million people across the world will be living with a debilitating brain condition by 2050, scientists have warned.
Cases of the progressive disease are set to surge by 112 per cent on numbers recorded in 2021, a study published to the BMJ predicts. An ageing population is set to drive the surge in cases of Parkinson's disease over the next 25 years, medics have said.
Chinese scientists predicted that there will be 25.2 million people worldwide with Parkinson's disease and their analysis showed that the number of cases per 100,000 people is expected to increase by 76 per cent from 2021.
READ MORE: Met Office warns rare weather phenomenon begins in eight parts of England today
READ MORE: Birmingham man murdered girlfriend then confessed 'I'm a king I can't live without my queen'
READ MORE Met Office issues stark Polar Vortex warning which could hit UK 'within fortnight'
They said: 'An urgent need exists for future research to focus on the development of novel drugs, gene engineering techniques, and cell replacement therapies that are aimed at modifying the course of the disease and improving patients' quality of life."
"Projecting the future number of people with Parkinson's disease is important for several reasons. Accurate projections enable appropriate allocation of healthcare resources and a better understanding of demand for specialists, drug treatments, rehabilitation, and long term care, preventing shortages that could lead to delayed diagnoses, inadequate treatment choices, and diminished health related quality of life for patients," they wrote in an editorial published to BMJ.
"Projections also inform targeted interventions, early diagnosis efforts, and public health prevention and management strategies," they added. "Understanding the growing prevalence of Parkinson's disease underscores the need for continued research into its causes, treatments, and potential cures, guiding funding towards the most promising areas.
"Projected increases in Parkinson's disease prevalence provide quantifiable data to support advocacy efforts, securing greater attention and resources for research, care, and support services including better funding.
"By understanding the future burden of Parkinson's disease, we can better prepare to meet the challenges ahead and improve outcomes for people affected by this debilitating disease."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What are rare earth elements and why are they important?
STORY: EDITORS NOTE: THIS SCRIPT AND VIDEO HAVE BEEN REFILED DUE TO A U.S.-CHINA TRADE DEAL BEING REACHED WITH A FRAMEWORK TO REMOVE CHINESE EXPORT RESTRICTIONS ON RARE EARTH MINERALS. THE STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 28, 2025. Rare earth minerals are used in almost every technology you can think of. They're present in cellphones, medical devices, wind turbines, weapons and much more. But what are they? And why are they important? And are they actually rare? :: What are rare earths and why are they important? :: Julie Michelle Klinger, Geographer 'So the term rare earth elements, it refers to 17 chemically similar elements within the Lanthanide series.' This is Professor Julie Michelle Klinger, a geographer and senior visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences. 'So, if you can picture the periodic table, it's that bar at the bottom. Elements 57 to 71 plus scandium and yttrium.' Reuters' special correspondent on commodities, Eric Onstad, has a bit of the history. :: Eric Onstad, Specialist Correspondent, Commodities, Reuters 'The elements were first discovered by a Swedish miner in 1787 near a village called Ytterby and that's reflected in the name of two rare earths, yttrium and ytterbium. Another rare earth, promethium, was named by the wife of one of the discoverers after the Greek god who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. China is by far the dominant producer. They account for 60% of mine production and 90% of processed rare earths. But interestingly, this wasn't always the case. In the 1980s, for instance, the United States was the biggest producer and Europe had one of the biggest processing plants in the world.' :: What are they used for? KLINGER: 'They are often described as the vitamins or the spice of industry because they have enabled our technologies to get smaller and faster and stronger and more resilient.' Elements like lanthanum and cerium, some of the most common rare earths, are used in TVs and lighting... While the application of erbium and yttrium can range from nuclear power to lasers. ONSTAD: 'There are two broad categories that have really got the spotlight. The first one is military uses, and that can be from night goggles, to precision missiles, to radar. And of course, that is a very sensitive issue for nations wanting to guard their access to those kinds of minerals. The second area is regarding the energy transition. And there are four specific rare earths that are used to make super-strong permanent magnets that are used in motors for electric vehicle and for wind turbines. So that is key for most nations' zero-carbon targets and cutting greenhouse gases.' :: What is the environmental impact of extraction? KLINGER: 'It's really because of the challenges, the heavy energy and resource and pollution risks that are associated with refining rare earth elements, that production has concentrated historically in so few places.' Processing rare earths often involves the use of solvents, which can produce toxic waste. More environmentally friendly technologies are being developed, but they are not yet widely used. ONSTAD: 'The other issue is that some rare earth deposits are radioactive. They include uranium and thorium. And so, some countries are not interested in having that be mined in their country.' :: Are they actually rare? But are they actually rare? Not really... ONSTAD: 'They are found all over the world. And in terms of the deposits, no, they are not actually rare. What's rare about them is sometimes they are found in very small quantities. And in addition to that, they're mixed with all kinds of other minerals. So, the difficulty is sometimes extracting each single rare earth from all the other minerals that are involved in the deposit. "


Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
The CDC says guns are the No. 1 killer of children. Here's what's really true
With Robert F. Kennedy's Make Children Healthy Again report under attack for questionable science, imaginary research and other 'formatting errors,' as the White House calls them, Democrats are worrying about a politicized public health system selling snake oil to the American public. You don't have to look far back in time for examples of the government public health system and the private sector experts who influence it and spearhead its research efforts selling snake oil. The coronavirus pandemic was rife with them. There was the time public health officials simply made up the claim that staying 6 feet apart would help stop the spread of COVID-19. And the time top officials and scientists conspired to falsely 'debunk' concerns that the coronavirus was released from a Chinese lab. And then there were times when public health advice was politicized, like when public health officials said gathering in groups was unsafe, except if it was to protest the death of George Floyd. They're not just about COVID, either. Remember the great kerfuffle over Flint, Michigan's lead problem? The people who were telling you that Black kids were poisoned forgot to tell you that there own data showed blood lead levels of lead in 'poisoned' kids were much lower than just a decade earlier when nobody was talking about poisoned kids. This weekend, you'll be treated to another misinformation campaign that comes with the imprimatur of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. It's time for the annual 'Gun Violence Awareness Week.' This weekend, buildings all over the country will light up orange in solidarity with those who have lost their lives in what has become a daily bloodbath we spend most of the year ignoring. Among the claims you'll be hearing is one I received from a local Kansas City backer of Moms Demand Action, a gun control group. 'Gun deaths are the number one cause of deaths of American children and adolescents,' her email said. Others say the facts are even more stark. California Gov. Gavin Newsom took out ads on social media saying, 'Guns are the number one killer of kids.' In a speech to mayors, Vice President Kamala Harris said, 'Gun violence is the leading cause of death of the children of America — leading cause of death — not car accidents, not some form of cancer — gun violence.' Facts trigger truth The facts tell a different story. Guns are not the number one killer of children at any age between 0 and 12. They never have been. Cars are the biggest killer. Who says? The CDC database called WONDER that tracks the cause of death in most U.S. deaths indexed by race, sex and age among other characteristics. For a number of kids' years of life, drowning or falls are a greater threat than guns. I asked the Kansas City activist who sent that claim to me why she was spreading such a lie. She didn't respond, but the national press person for Everytown for Gun Safety did reply, citing the CDC and the National Institute of Health as her sources. She sent links. And she's right. Here's what the CDC says: 'Taking into account all types of firearm injuries, including homicides, suicides, and unintentional injuries, firearm injuries were the leading cause of death among children and teens ages one to 19 in 2020 and 2021.' What they mean is if you lump all the dead children and teens in one pile and count how they died, for the whole gruesome pile, the No. 1 killer was guns. But that is only because guns kill so many teens — a large number of them 18- and 19-year-old adult teens. It has nothing to do with children's deaths. Elsewhere on its website, the CDC admits this difference, giving the cause of death for different groups of children as 'accidents.' Why would the CDC do something so misleading? Well, it goes back many decades in which reporting what the leading killer of children and teens was made perfect sense. The killer was the same for them all — accidents, mostly car accidents. So naturally, they reported the number all together. When guns overtook car accidents during the Biden administration, they just kept doing the same thing they had always done. Gun control groups loved it because that let them make the claim that children were dying left and right from guns. That scared concerned parents into backing their agenda and coughing up donations. The Biden administration CDC didn't seem to mind. But there's more to this story that is misleading. Remember guns are the No. 1 killer of teens, but are guns a threat to your kids? Probably not. Which teens? The CDC's WONDER(ful) database reveals that: Guns are not the number one killer of female are not the number one killer of white are not the number one killer of Hispanic are not the number one killer of Asian are not the number one killer of Native American only group for whom this claim is true is Black teens, which is statistically troubling in itself. It isn't like these facts are a shock. I found many of them in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But they do reveal the politicization of our public health experts. When I asked the author of the article, Dr. Elizabeth Wolf, about the gun control groups' claim and the fact that it wasn't actually true that children, female teens, white teens, Hispanic teens, Asian teens and Native American teens were so threatened by guns, she replied that the claim is perfectly accurate and then stopped responding to my emails. That's nuts. So if there is an annual bloodbath of gun violence in the United States, why does the slicing and dicing of dry statistics matter? If your goal is to raise campaign donations and build a national political movement to restrict gun rights, it doesn't matter. Scaring parents whose kids are not at much risk by fudging the issue works great. If your goal is to get Congress to fork over millions in research grants on the problem of gun violence, it works great to make Congress think the bullets are flying everywhere and that the blood is flowing on rural, suburban and urban congressional district streets alike. But if your goal is to actually solve the problem, well, then it really does matter just who is dying and why. Only when we face the answer to that question can we focus resources where the problem is and come up with ways to do something about it. It would be nice if the CDC made that a priority.


New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Doctors warn against ‘dangerous' viral Chinese sleep hack: ‘A physics experiment on your spinal cord'
It's not that kind of swingers party. How far would you go to get a good night's rest? Would you take supplements, journal or do a fire-burning ritual? How about swinging from your neck in a public park? That's precisely what some senior citizens in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang are doing — and it's going viral. 6 People in China are swinging from their necks in public parks to get better sleep. Future Publishing via Getty Images Footage shared on social media shows older adults looping U‑shaped belts attached to playground bars or trees around their chins and gently swaying back and forth like lemurs, seemingly without a care in the world. While it's certainly not a sight you wanna stumble across in the middle of the night, locals swear by this bizarre practice as a cure for sleep-related issues and spinal discomfort. The brains behind this operation is Sun Rongchun, 57, who developed the device to treat his cervical spondylosis — a common, age-related condition that can cause headaches, dizziness and insomnia, the Economic Times reported. Rongchun has trademarked the device and applied to have it patented — until then, he comes to the park every day to educate the public. 6 Footage shared on social media shows older adults looping U‑shaped belts attached to playground bars or trees around their chins and gently swaying back and forth like lemurs. REUTERS It seems his spinal exercises are really taking off. 'In the past, my cervical spine was in bad shape, so I was uncomfortable lying down every night, but after a few days, it worked pretty well,' one fan told local media. 'Now, my throat condition is better and the uncomfortable symptoms are completely gone. I've been doing this exercise for two years already.' 6 Sun Rongchun, 57, developed the device to treat his cervical spondylosis. Future Publishing via Getty Images It's unclear exactly how this device works on the spine — and experts say this is one trick you definitely should not be trying at home. 'People are desperate for better sleep, but no trend is worth risking paralysis or stroke,' said certified sleep science coach Rosie Osmun of 'Hanging any part of your body, let alone your neck, is biomechanically dangerous. There are safe, research-backed alternatives that actually work.' 6 'In the past, my cervical spine was in bad shape, so I was uncomfortable lying down every night, but after a few days, it worked pretty well,' one participant said. Future Publishing via Getty Images Done wrong, this trend can result in nerve damage, spinal injury or even death from restricted blood flow to the brain. There's already been at least one reported incident in which a man died after mistakenly looping the belt around his neck instead of his chin. 6 'Hanging any part of your body, let alone your neck, is biomechanically dangerous,' one expert said. REUTERS Human error aside, in a public park, you've also got the elements to contend with. 'Medical traction uses precise grams of force; park-belt swinging is essentially an uncontrolled physics experiment on your spinal cord,' said physical therapist Dr. Jennifer Miller, who is affiliated with Amerisleep. According to Osmun, the only reason these sleeping hacks gain traction is because 'they're dramatic, visually striking and falsely promise quick fixes for chronic problems.' 6 There's already been at least one reported incident in which a man died after mistakenly looping the belt around his neck instead of his chin. REUTERS If you're looking for a soothing, rocking sensation to make you feel like a baby before bed — get a hammock. Otherwise, you might be in for the forever sleep. 'Sleep is essential for life, but so is safety,' Osmun said. 'The solution isn't in belts, but in balance: real strategies grounded in science, not spectacle.'