Researchers measure extreme poverty as living with less than 1.90$ per day.

People are considered to live in extreme poverty at a consumption (or income) level below 1.90 international-$ per day. International $ are adjusted for price differences between countries and for price changes over time (inflation).

Therefore the series is poverty headcount (1.90$ per day) as far back as possible (1981) from the World Bank and all observations before 1980 are Bourguignon and Morrison (2002) 'share of the world population living in extreme poverty'.

Claim1: Drugs used by millions to treat Parkinson’s, depression, and bladder problems may raise the risk of dementia

dawn of the republic

From the dawn of the republic, American newspapers were supported by government subsidies

The advertising-supported model that has recently collapsed was a historical anomaly.

the dawn of the republic

advertising-supported model

government subsidies

Chiang C-H, Wu M-P, Ho C-H, et al. Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Are Associated with Increased Risk of Dementia among the Elderly: A Nationwide Study. Biomed Res Int 2015;2015:1. doi:10.1155/2015/187819.

Yoshiyama Y, Kojima A, Itoh K, et al. Does Anticholinergic Activity Affect Neuropathology? Implication of Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurodegener Dis 2015;15:140-8. doi:10.1159/000381484.

45Ehrt U, Broich K, Larsen JP, Ballard C, Aarsland D. Use of drugs with anticholinergic effect and impact on cognition in Parkinson’s disease: a cohort study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2010;81:160-5. doi:10.1136/jnnp.2009.186239.

A robust association between some classes of anticholinergic drugs and future dementia incidence was observed.

Limited human data support the conclusion that anticholinergic activity enhances AD-related neuropathology and neurodegeneration. However, experimental data from a tauopathy mouse model indicated anticholinergic activity might enhance neurodegeneration with enhanced neuroinflammation including microglial activation.

Clinically, anticholinergic activity causes a decline in cognitive function and increases the risk of dementia, thus possibly enhancing AD pathologies and neurodegeneration. Until now there has been insufficient human neuropathological data to support this conclusion.

5-10 percent of newspaper revenue

As recently as the late 1960s, the government was forgiving roughly three-fourths of print publications’ periodical mailing expenses, at a cost of about $400 million annually (or, adjusted for inflation, about $2 billion today). Much of that disappeared with the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 and in subsequent cutbacks. But the Post Office still discounts the postage cost of periodicals by about $270 million a year.

And the amount used to be much higher.

At first, the progress was steady: in 1950 75% of the world were still living in extreme poverty. But today, those living in extreme poverty are now less than 10%.

Though the 30% increased risk of developing dementia from long-term anticholinergic use is significant, it is still less than the risk associated with other modifiable risk factors for dementia such as smoking, social isolation and physical inactivity. These lifestyle factors are associated with a 40% to 60% increased risk of developing dementia, according to a 2017 study.

"Previous studies had really only said that anticholinergics were associated with dementia incidence," said George Savva, researcher of health sciences at the University of East Anglia and a lead author on the study, in a news briefing. "But we broke it down by class, which is where our study really has its novelty and power."

The new study, published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal, looked at the risk of new-onset dementia among nearly 350,000 older adults in the United Kingdom. The researchers found that people who used certain types of anticholinergics, such as those used to treat depression, Parkinson's and urinary incontinence, for a year or more had about a 30% increased risk of developing dementia down the road.

Anticholinergic drugs function by blocking the effects of acetylcholine, a chemical released by nerve cells to send signals to other nerves and muscles. They are prescribed to 20% to 50% of older adults in the United States to treat a variety of neurological, psychiatric, gastrointestinal, respiratory and muscular conditions, according to a 2009 study. In the UK, 34% to 48% of older adults take them, another study found.

The cognitive side effects of medications with anticholinergic activity have been documented among older adults in a variety of clinical settings. However, there has been no systematic confirmation that acute or chronic prescribing of such medications lead to transient or permanent adverse cognitive outcomes.

“We found that people who had been diagnosed with dementia were up to 30 per cent more likely to have been prescribed specific classes of anticholinergic medications,” said Dr George Savva from UEA’s School of Health Sciences and the lead author of the study published in the BMJ today.