This is a very good report about "HIV/AIDS," if you ignore the nonsensical idea that a "virus" is doing the damage (as it pointed out, it's an inflammatory problem). This report even demonstrates how hard it is for many "experts" to overcome their preconceived ideas, because the scientist in question appears to be "on a mission" to destroy the terrible "HIV" that he believes ended his friend's life. Good luck to anyone trying to convince this person that "HIV" is a laboratory construct. Also, notice how there is the usual assumption is that the Tat protein must come from "HIV," even though they don't know if one particle that meets the textbook descriptions of "HIV" is even present anywhere in the person's body. Lastly, there is something new (to me, at least), which is the claim that a tiny amount of "HIV" can do horrible things to a human body. This claim is less credible that the worst "B movie" science fiction, even if we grant them everything they claim about "HIV" !
QUOTE: ...Gelbard was a newly minted pediatric neurologist embarking on his career when a good friend of his �?a doctor with whom Gelbard had trained �?became ill and died of AIDS in less than two years. His friend's struggle, and the severity of his neurological symptoms, touched Gelbard. Gradually, with the support of mentors, Gelbard came to focus on the neurological effects of HIV. He now leads a group of researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health that is trying to identify or create the first treatment for the neurological effects of HIV, known collectively as neuroAIDS or HIV dementia.
Scientists have known that Tat, which helps HIV operate, replicate, and infect cells, is at the forefront of HIV's attack on the brain, bringing about severe inflammation. Immune cells within the brain go into overdrive, churning out substances that attract more immune cells, and white blood cells from the body flood in and join the fray, all clumping together to form destructive entities known as multinucleated giant cells.
"Suddenly the brain environment turns from nurturing to toxic, and the brain has to work much harder to send messages. Cells are on overdrive, spending a lot more energy to do the same things they used to do easily," said Gelbard, who is director of the Center for Neural Development and Disease at Rochester.
Other changes occur throughout the brain as well. Neurons that normally reach throughout the brain by forming networks of far-reaching, delicate extensions crucial for cell communication become damaged. Instead of sprouting healthy dendrites �?projections that resemble tiny trees �?neurons in the brain of an HIV patient have had parts of their dendrites abruptly torn off, in a process known as "synaptic pruning." The dendrites begin to look like a patch of severely damaged trees after a bad ice storm.
Such damage occurs in parts of the brain crucial for thinking, decision-making, and movement and memory. That accounts for symptoms like difficulties concentrating, forgetfulness, poor coordination, confusion, and gait disturbances. In later stages, neuroAIDS can cause outright dementia.
Gelbard's team discovered that Tat works through the ryanodine receptor to sicken neurons in two ways. Scientists have known that Tat makes vulnerable the mitochondria, organelles within neurons and other cells that are commonly considered the "power packs" or energy sources for cells. The team discovered that Tat destroys the ability of mitochondria to protect themselves from changes in levels of calcium.
The scientists discovered another effect of Tat as well. Tat has a dramatic effect on an organelle known as the endoplasmic reticulum, where proteins are actually assembled and folded. Gelbard's team discovered that it's Tat's effects on the ryanodine receptor that cause an "unfolded protein response" seen in the brains of HIV patients. Shape is everything for proteins, and they're nearly always useless or harmful when they are unfolded or misfolded. The problem in HIV patients is exacerbated because protein folding requires a great deal of energy �?energy that cells whose mitochondria are petering out aren't likely to have.
The team also showed, in mice, that a single exposure to Tat has long-lasting effects on the brain, causing problems with mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum weeks later. Perhaps most striking, Gelbard says, is the observation that the exact same types of damage were seen in brain tissue of patients with HIV and neurologic disease but not in tissue from patients with HIV who did not have the neurologic disease.
The findings are in line with past findings from the team, which has shown that the central problem in HIV dementia is not that brain cells simply die. Rather, they become sick and lose their ability to communicate with each other... UNQUOTE.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081114134921.htm |
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