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On September 5, 2006, sciencedaily.com posted a report on its site that contained the following:
For decades, scientists have known that chronic exposure to high concentrations of the metal manganese can cause movement abnormalities resembling symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, but apparently without the same neuron damage characteristic of Parkinson’s patients... animals exposed to manganese do not release dopamine when stimulated, suggestive of a dysfunctional dopamine system even though the neurons do not show the damage present with Parkinson’s disease.
Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060828211611.htm
About ten years ago, Mark Purdey was working on a hypothesis for "Mad Cow disease" that excluded the possibility that this "disease" was caused by infectious prions in the cows' food (for example, see Med-Hypotheses. 1996 May; 46(5): 445-54). This recent sciencedaily report is interesting not only because it appears to suppport Purdey's claim that too much maganese and too little copper can cause "Mad Cow" like symptoms, but also because there is the statement:
"For decades, scientists have known that chronic exposure to high concentrations of the metal manganese can cause movement abnormalities resembling symptoms of Parkinson’s disease..."
If this is so, why hasn't a "Mad Cow disease expert" investigated this possibility. Why is it that a farmer (Purdey) had to be the one to invest his own money to demonstrate that there was strong evidence for the manganese overload notion? This is yet another example of the disorganized and nonsensical character of much of the biomedical establishment that exists in "advanced" nations these days. |
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Also supportive of Purdey's notions are the following recent findings:
QUOTE: Over the past decade, Salomon's research has expanded to other diseases such as macular degenerative diseases that result in blindness and involve "brain lipids" that contain an omega-3 fatty acid that is abundant in fish oil. Brain lipids are very rare in the body, but are found in nerve cells and in the photoreceptor rod cells of the eye. Salomon and Clinic researchers suspected that the energy from light on the receptors might promote oxidation and damage. UNQUOTE.
Purdey argued that this is how the oxidative stress occurred that led to Mad Cow disease, if the animals ate a manganese-rich, copper-poor diet.
Source of quoted passage: http://www.case.edu/pubaff/univcomm/2002/june/cholesterol.htm
Note that when I copy and paste that web site I cited, it comes up as page not found. It added a "p" at the end, but when I deleted the p and hit enter, the page appeared. Anyone know what might cause this? |
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A similar mechanism to those described above has been found for fish deaths due to algae:
QUOTE: ...Pfiesteria [the algae species in question] has been implicated for years in a series of otherwise unexplained episodes of mass fish death throughout its range from roughly Delaware to Alabama, particularly in the Neuse River in North Carolina and the Chesapeake Bay. The single-cell organism can experience explosive growth resulting in algae blooms in coastal waters. While it has been suspected not only in fish kills but in incidents of human memory loss and other environmental and health-related effects, no one has ever conclusively identified the actual mechanism...
Moeller's team established that the Pfiesteria cell can produce a copper-containing exotoxin--a toxin produced external to the cell itself--possibly as a mechanism to protect itself from copper in the environment. When exposed to sunlight or other environmental factors that can destabilize it, the toxin rapidly breaks down into short-lived free radicals, highly reactive chemical species believed to be the actual lethal agents. To observe the entire chain of events requires just the right combination of copper ions, temperature, light and Pfiesteria, explaining the difficulty researchers have had in reproducing the effect according to Moeller.
Although exotoxins like that produced by Pfiesteria are not common, the researchers observe, a number of other microalgae species are known to produce them, and under the right conditions in metal-rich waters they also might produce lethal variants... UNQUOTE.
SOURCE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070119164427.htm |
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Here is a good report on research into the pathogenic mechanism for "Mad Cow disease." It's important to keep in mind that misfolded proteins are likely to be the effect, and not the cause, of the underlying mechanism which begins with some sort of unusual stressor (or a common stressor that is applied in unusually large amounts). However, these proteins can be a necessary part of the disease "pathway," the disease being the collection of symptoms that eventually develop. As the researcer discovers, certain environmental conditions seem to be necessary to generate the "disease." Moreover, he points out that what he has found is a lab construct ("artifact" is also used sometimes), and may not actually occur in diseased organisms QUOTE: Proteins are the cell's workhorses, and they need to fold into complex and precise shapes to do their jobs. Prions are proteins that start out normally, but then at some point misfold--rather like an origami swan that comes out looking and acting instead like a vulture. But prions have another characteristic that enables them to wreak havoc. They recruit other, properly folded proteins into misforming along with them, a process Lindquist calls a "conformational cascade." In many organisms, this conformational cascade creates long fibers called amyloids. (The brains of animals that have died from prion infections are literally packed with amyloid clumps.)... ...Tessier accessed a synthetic yeast prion, one that another research group had assembled from pieces of both the baker's yeast and the pathogenic fungi prion. Earlier studies had shown that this synthetic prion could cross the species barrier but did not identify the mechanism. Tessier found that this synthetic prion contained two recognition elements, one for baker's yeast and one for pathogenic fungi. When the prion was placed with peptide fragments from baker's yeast, the baker's yeast recognition element was activated, and likewise for the pathogenic fungi. Even more striking, Tessier could activate different recognition elements by manipulating environmental conditions, such as temperature. For example, when he conducted the experiment at 4 degrees Celsius, the baker's yeast recognition element switched on. At 37 degrees Celsius, the pathogenic fungi element was activated. In other words, temperature alone could dictate which yeast species the prion could infect. Additionally, the prion's behavior could be altered by subtle alterations in the recognition element's amino acid sequence. While this prion is a laboratory construct not found in nature, these findings provide researchers with a new way to approach old questions, such as why some prion diseases can jump from one species to another but others can't. Tessier and Lindquist say it is likely that natural prions contain more than one recognition element, and recognition elements can slide into a neighboring region. Many external factors can determine which recognition element is activated, in turn influencing the downstream behavior of the prion. "These findings are remarkable for two reasons," says Lindquist, who is also an investigator for Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "For one thing, this is the first time that these peptide arrays have been used to study protein folding. We've taken this platform to a whole new level. Also, we've seen just one small part of this prion inducing proteins to fold. This is an entirely new concept..." UNQUOTE. Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161210.htm |
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An excellent example of a scientist considering "Mad Cow" type diseases can be found in the following interview:
http://www.open2.net/truthwillout/CJD/article/cjd_brown.htm
Some passages that are especially good:
QUOTE: ...I don't believe that vCJD is caused by BSE. There is good evidence that these diseases are very similar, but it is based on research involving infecting mice with extracts carrying the BSE agent or the vCJD agent and then looking at pathology in the mice. And this evidence suggests that the diseases are very similar, but doesn't actually prove one caused the other... Any evidence is based on a lot of circumstantial statements...
Unfortunately it's a very difficult thing to prove that BSE caused vCJD because you basically have to infect humans. Even if you could do that it wouldn't necessarily prove it, it would simply prove that you can infect humans with BSE. We would have to see once we had eradicated BSE that vCJD disappeared, and that's going to take 40 or 50 years, even if we eradicated BSE now... UNQUOTE.
Source: http://www.open2.net/truthwillout/CJD/article/cjd_brown.htm
This scientist, David Brown, has a view of this kind of "disease" that is consistent with the evidence when viewed as a whole:
QUOTE: Prion diseases include the notorious Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and the human diseases vCJD, sporadic CJD and Fatal Familial Insomnia. However, despite the concern about these disease the prion protein is a harmless neuronal protein expressed in all vertebrates. Our group is concerned with the normal function of this protein. The prion protein is a copper binding protein which appears to be involved in cellular resistance to oxidative stress. Only when the protein is converted to an abnormal isoform is it capable of inducing neuronal death... UNQUOTE.
Source: http://www.bath.ac.uk/bio-sci/brown.htm |
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A new report shows how medical propaganda leads to nothing but empty talk and more "studies" into minutiae that will not likely lead to a "cure:"
QUOTE: "...For decades we believed PrP was a unique nerve protein that folded into an abnormal shape and caused prion disease: end of story. This view is no longer accurate," [Professor David Westaway, director of the Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases at the University of Alberta] adds...
"Many facets of a prion disease like BSE are puzzling," Westaway said. "The puzzles include the cause of death of brain cells, the function of normal prion proteins, and the rules governing emergence and spread of prions from animal to animal. We believe the Shadoo protein can give us a fresh purchase on these important questions..." UNQUOTE.
This is a good example of what I consider to be the medical "shell games" being played these days, though I don't think someone like Westway is doing it consciously. Rather, he accepts what he is told by his "superiors" (or reads in a textbook) as the "end of the story," and may not even be aware of alternative explanations that are actually consistent with all of the evidence.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070816121102.htm
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SOURCE: http://whale.to/m/canola.html
Blindness, Mad Cow Disease and Canola Oil
by John Thomas
Perceptions March 1996.
Millions of people have suffered the loss of their vision from glaucoma, a disease involving atmphy (deterioration) of the optic nerve. For years, "experts" have been telling us that glaucoma results from fluid-pressure buildup in the eye that causes the optic nerve to deteriorate. This theory was based on an incorrect medical model: They were wrong!
Now, the experts have admitted that this is not true and have given birth to a new theory. According to it, glaucoma is instead caused by a deficiency of oxygen and blood flow. Finally they are on the right trail. In the end, they will discover that glaucoma is the result of insufficient blood flow due to agglutination (clumping together) of the red blood cells and waste buildup in the cells and intercellular fluids.
These blood-corpuscle clusters cannot squeeze through the extremely tiny capillaries in the posterior of the eye, so cannot deliver oxygen to the mitochonciria.�?This is what the problem has been all along, and if people continue to eat soy(2) and canola oils, a lot more of them are going to experience vision irregularities—like retinitis and macula lutea degeneration.
Death of the (3) mitochondria in the cells in the posterior of the eye is due to oxygen starvation, sodium toxicity and waste accumulation. When the mitochondria die, the cells die and the posterior eye tissues atrophy. In this respect, glaucoma has much in common with hair loss, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and hearing problems.
There are several things a person can do to reverse these debilitating conditions. Biologically friendly water(4) is basic to all rejuvenation, as is fresh, viable food. Detoxification of the tissues and body fluids is accomplished with yucca
Rape Seed Oil or "Canola?
Canola is a coined word. It appeared out of nowhere and is not listed in any but the most recent reference sources.
The flip side of the canola coin reads: "rape"! You must admit that canola sounds better than rape. The name canola disguised the introduction of rape oil to America.
Canola oil comes from the rape seed, which is part of the mustard family of plants. Rape is the most toxic of all food-oil plants. Like soy, rape is a weed. Insects will not eat it; it is deadly poisonous! The oil from the rape seed is a hundred times more toxic than soy oil!
Canola is a semi-drying oil that is used as a lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base and as an illuminant for the slick color pages you see in magazines. It is an industrial oil and does not belong in the body!
Canola oil has some very interesting characteristics and effects on living systems. For example, it forms latex-like substances that agglutinate the red blood corpuscles, as does soy, but much more pronounced. Loss of vision is a known, characteristic side effect of rape oil which antagonizes the central and peripheral nervous systems—again like soy oil, again worse. The deterioration takes years, however.
Rape (canola) oil causes emphysema, respiratory distress, anemia, constipation, irritability and blindness in animals—and humans.
Rape oil was widely used in animal feeds in England and Europe between 1986 and 1991 when it was thrown out. You may remember reading about the cows, pigs and sheep that went blind, lost their minds, attacked people and had to be shot.
A woman called me from Chicago to tell me that she had been in England when the "Mad Cow Disease" was at its peak. She said that she had seen a television news report that told people not to panic if they had been using rape oil in their diet and were over 65 years of age. The "experts" added that the effects of rape oil ingestion takes at least 10 years to manifest, and in all likelihood, most of these people would be dead by then anyway. Comforting!
In the reports I read, the "experts" blamed the erratic behavior on a viral disease called scrapie. However, when rape oil was removed from animal feed, "scrapie" disappeared. No longer a European livestock problem; now it is ours. U.S. farmers grow rape seed, and manufacturers use its oil (canola) in thousands of processed foods, with the blessings of government watchdog agencies, of course.
Officially, canola oil is known as "LEAR" oil—low erucicacid7 rape. Industry experts love to tell how canola was developed in Canada and that it is safe to use. They admit it was developed from the rape seed, but that through genetic engineering, i.e. irradiation, it is no longer rape seed, but "canola" instead. ["Canadian oil," get it?].
They love to talk about canola’s qualities—its unsaturated structure (Omega 3, 6 and 12), its wonderful digestibility and its fatty acid makeup. They turn us against naturally saturated oils and fats, while they come to the rescue with canola oil. They even tell us how Asia has warmly embraced canola due to its distinctive flavor. Isn’t it wonderful how internationalist brokers "help" third-world peoples? Reminds me of the introduction of the microwave oven.
An earthy expression from the Old West sums up the flimflam accompanying rape oil’s rebirth and promotion worldwide: "horseshit and gun smoke!" Its new name provided the perfect cover for commercial interests wanting to make billions in the United States. The euphemism is still very much in use, but is no longer needed. Look at the ingredients lists on peanut butter labels. The peanut oil has been removed and replaced with rape oil.
Chemical Warfare
Rape oil is also the source of the infamous chemical-warfare agent, mustard gas, which was banned after blistering the lungs and skin of hundreds of thousands of solders and civilians during WWI. Recent French reports indicate that it was again used during the Gulf War.
Between 1950 and 1953, white mustard (rape) seed was irradiated in Sweden to increase seed production and oil content. Irradiation is the process the experts want to use to make our food "safe" to eat. Genetically engineered fruits and vegetables—which will soon have innocent things like hepatitis-B spliced into their DNA—are another example of man’s misuse of technology and abuse of public trust by powerful interests and "head-in-the-sand" watchdog agencies.�?BR>
Canola oil contains large amounts of "isothiocyanates"�?cyanide-containing compounds. Cyanide inhibits mitochondrial production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the energy molecule that fuels the mitochondria. ATP energy powers the body and keeps us healthy and young!
Canola Oil & Metabolism
Many substances can bind metabolic enzymes and block their activity in the body. In biochemistry, these substances are ‘lied inhibitors.
Toxic substances in canola and soy oils encourage the formation of molecules with covalent bonds which are normally irreversible: They cannot be broken by the body once they formed.
For example, consider the pesticide malathion. It binds to the active site of the enzyme acetykbolinesterase and stops this enzyme from doing its job, which is to divide acetykboline into choline and acetate.
Nerve Function & Organophosphates
Acetylcholine is critical to nerve-impulse transmission. When acetyicholinesterase is inhibited, as by pesticide residues, nerve fibers do not function normally, and muscles do not respond.
For example, think of a garage door opener; If its signal is not received, the door does not open. With one’s body, the hand or leg is ordered to move, but does not respond. Recently there has been a tremendous increase in disorders like systemic lupus, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, "myelinoma,"(10) pulmonary hypertension and neuropathy. Soy and canola oils are players in the outbreak of these disease conditions. So are the organophosphates, insecticides such as malathion used in food production in the name of efficiency.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors cause paralysis of the striated (skeletal) muscles and spasms of the respiratory system. That is why malathion is the pesticide of choice by the experts; it kills insects by paralysis—just like rotenone from soy beans does! It inhibits the insect’s enzymes and those of humans, too!
Agents Orange and Blue that were used in Vietnam to defoliate jungle cover are also organophosphorous compounds. The Vietnam vets and the Vietnamese people know about them firsthand. Government experts who okayed their use and chemical companies that manufactured them have finally owned up to their toxic effects on people and the environment. Nevertheless, present-day experts in academia and government continue to bamboozle the public with stories of "safe" science and cheap food through the use of poisons.
Canola oil is also high in glycosides that cause serious problems by blocking enzyme function and depriving us of our life force—chi, qi, prana, call it what you like.
Glycosides interfere with the biochemistry of humans and animals. Their presence in rattlesnake venom inhibits muscle enzymes and causes instant immobilization of the victim.
Canola Oil. HIV and AIDS
Soy and canola oil glycosides also depress the immune system. They cause the white-blood-cell defense system—the ‘T,�?cells—to go into a stupor and fall asleep on the job. These oils alter the bioelectric "terrain" and promote disease.
Alcohols and glycosides in canola and soy oils shut down our protective grid—the immune system. Fluoride, immunizations, antibiotics and bio-junk food play a similar role in immune system collapse.
An alcohol is a chemistry term for the "reactive" chemical group on an organic molecule. These "R" groups are what make organic compounds work—for good and bad! Canola alcohols and glycosides are very reactive. They are as toxic as fermented alcohols, but their effects manifest differently. The damage takes years to show up. In a future article, I will discuss the sweet proteins in soy.
When the medical experts check your blood for the presence of the HIV virus, they are looking at your white blood cell "count." If the numbers are normal, they will tell you that you do not have HIV. What they don’t see is that the T cells are in a toxic stupor. This opportunistic condition causes life forms in the blood and lymph to metamorphose, manifest as hepatitis, pneumonia and HIV, bypass the body’s immune-system defenses (the T cells) and get a foothold. As Claude Barnard said, "The terrain is everything!"
Once inside the cells, HIV takes over the RNA and DNA. It uses the mitochondria to produce energy for its own use.
Quietly it multiplies, then one day—BANG!—you wake up dying of AIDS.
AIDS & Green Monkeys
In his earth-shaking book, AIDS: The End of Civilization, Dr. William Campball Douglass asked, "Do you really think some green monkey all of a sudden bit some guy in the ass and presto, AIDS all over the world?"
Dr. Douglass was examining the hype that the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta have been peddling to the public about the AIDS virus, HIV Douglass�?book tells the "whole" story of the development of HIV at the Ft. Detrick (Maryland) military installation. His story is well documented and confirms the theme of the futuristic movie Outbreak.
Lorenzo’s Oil
Another film, Lorenzo’s Oil, offers a good example of how far off course medical science has strayed and how muddied is the scientific mind. Early on in the movie, the experts say the problem with the dying child is not in the "math," i.e., pH. They are wrong.
Had the experts determined the pH of the saliva, urine and blood they would have instantly known what they were up against: That dying boy had a chronically low total-body pH—so low that his fluids were dissolving the myelin sheathing protecting his nerve fibers. This caused his nervous system to disintegrate. Does this description sound like the dozens of degenerative nerve-related disorders plaguing people today?
The boy was given Lorenzo’s oil to boost energy output and act as a detoxifier of metabolic poisons. The oil shocked his body into a less acid condition. Lorenzo’s oil is olive oil! When given in large quantities, olive oil shocks the body and causes it to adjust its pH. It will also safely purge the body of gall- and liver stones, thus removing the need for gallbladder surgery. (Yucca extract and PACs must precede the "flush.")
Shortly after Lorenzo’s Oil was released, my brother saw an "expert" on a TV talk show claim that Lorenzo’s oil was rape oil. This was a lie. Give rape oil to a sick person, and you will seal his or her doom. Here is another good example of "disinformation" in the public domain. These falsehoods should cause every thinking person to question the molding of public opinion by the powerful commercial interests behind the scenes.
Blood & Oils
By now it should be obvious that congested blood and lymph flow negatively affect every part of the body. Moreover, using processed foods containing canola oil, soy oil and chemical additives confuses the body and weakens the immune system.
It should come as no surprise that anyone wanting to enjoy peak health and longevity must take personal control of and responsibility for his or her health and life. There is no other way! "Health care industry" is an oxymoron; it protects its own health and economic interests. Learn to protect your health and economic interests by learning bow to take care of yourself. Then act on that knowledge.
This excerpt from John Thomas�?new book, Young Again: How to Reverse The Aging Process, published by Promotion Publishing, San Diego, has been edited especially for Perceptions.
Notes
1. Bacteria inhabiting the cells of all animals. They produce and burn the energy-carrying molecule adenosine triphosphate(ATP).
2. Soy oil contains phytohemaglutinin (PHG). a toxic biochemical that causes blood to clot and combines with impurities to form plaque, obstructing capillaries. PHG numbs immune-system T cells. alters hormonal activity and slows vital-organ function. Its effects are cumulative.
3. An area in the eye near the center of the retina in which visual perception is most acute.
4. Water resonant at 7.8 hertz, or earth frequency; pure, highly charged and magnetic in its strong right-spin molecular charge.
5. A revitalizing tea made from a fungus-like organism.
Proanthocyanidins. plant-derived antioxidants, free-radical scavengers.
7. solid fatty acid, a Piomologue of oleic acid, derived from oils of mustard seeds and rape seeds.
8.See "The Devil’s Bargain Gene-Altered Food," Perceptions Nov/Dec 1995, p. 38.
9. Any organic compound containing phosphorus, specifically one used as an insecticide. e.g. malathion, the "harmless" pesticide spray used to kill the Med fly and blanket every living thing in California a few years ago and again in 1994 and 1995. and in Texas in April 1995.
10. A catch-all term used by doctors for the deterioration of the myelin sheathing around the nerves; "-oma" means "tumor," but the condition could as easily be "myelinosis." It is also often called walking legs syndrome" and causes its sufferers intense burning sensations they must walk off. |
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Too many misleading or inaccurate statements in this article for me to tackle now, though there are some things worthy of consideration. I do think that high dietary consumption of these kinds of oils makes people more susceptible to all kinds of "diseases," especially with AA in one's cells. This is a simple hypothesis to test. In contrast, the author is making all kinds of assumptions when making his claims. Often, when this is done, there are typical problems, such as confusing physiological with therapeutic levels of various substances. It's a good example of "being right" (in general) but for the wrong reasons (or for statements that are scientifically imprecise).
Let's take this example "By now it should be obvious that congested blood and lymph flow negatively affect every part of the body. Moreover, using processed foods containing canola oil, soy oil and chemical additives confuses the body and weakens the immune system..."
Where is the evidence for this, and what, exactly, do they mean by it?
By contrast, I would point out that lipid peroxidation can lead to damaged biomolecules, which the body might then attack as "foreign." If there is too much of this, macrophages can become dysfunctional, accumulating in places like lymph nodes, "leaking" dangerous substances and causing damage to the body. This is also the process of "atherosclerosis" in arteries, leading to "heart disease."
The author also seems unaware of certain things, such as how dangerous erucic acid can be (the body can't metabolize it well at all), and instead talks about the pH of the body of the boy with ALD. What is that all about? Is he "making this up as he goes along?" It seems to me that this is a distinct possibility. He claims that "Lorenzo's Oil" is olive oil, when in fact olive oil does not contain erucic acid (perhaps the tiniest of trace amounts), which in the film is clearly what was given to the boy (that is, an oil very rich in erucic acid).
Then there is: "In the end, they will discover that glaucoma is the result of insufficient blood flow due to agglutination (clumping together) of the red blood cells and waste buildup in the cells and intercellular fluids..."
What evidence is there for this notion? By contrast, I point to experimental findings and try to make the evidence comprehensible in a larger framework. Often, the scientists conducting the experiments have already made the points I do, but in a more technical way (like with Spiteller's work and PUFAs). And it's also common for two scientists to have good ideas, but if they are put together, so to speak, there are even more interesting insights inherent in the findings. |
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This recent abstract provides evidence for a connection between "Mad Cow" type diseases and AA metabolites:
Int Rev Neurobiol. 2007;82:265-75.
"Cyclooxygenase-2, prostaglandin E2, and microglial activation in
prion diseases."
Cyclooxygenase (COX) catalyzes the first committed step in the
synthesis of prostaglandins (PGs) and is the main target of
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The enzyme exists as
constitutive (COX-1) and inducible (COX-2) isoforms, being the latter
a major player in inflammation. In the brain, COX-2 expression has
been associated with inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes of
several human neurological diseases. Prion diseases, or transmissible
spongiform encephalopathies, are a heterogeneous group of fatal
neurodegenerative disorders, characterized by deposition of the
protease-resistant prion protein, astrocytosis, and spongiform
degeneration. In addition, an extensive microglial activation supports
the occurrence of local chronic inflammatory response. In experimental
prion diseases, COX-2 immunoreactivity was found specifically
localized to microglial cells and increased with the progression of
disease, along with the number of activated microglia. The induction
of COX-2 was paralleled by a substantial raise in the brain homogenate
PGE(2) levels. In these models, only few scattered COX-1-positive
microglia-like cells were detected, suggesting that COX-2 is the major
form in prion diseases. In line with the animal models, elevated
levels of PGE(2) were found in the cerebrospinal fluid of subjects
affected by sporadic, genetic, or variant CJD. In sporadic CJD
patients, the most numerous group of patients examined, higher CSF
levels of PGE(2) were associated with shorter survival. Although the
mechanisms leading to microglial COX-2 expression as well as its
potential implication in prion disease pathogenesis remain to be
established, PGE(2) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid might represent
an important index to predict survival and disease severity. |
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Mutagenesis 2004 19(6):453-456; doi:10.1093/mutage/geh056.
"Association between copper deficiency and DNA damage in cattle."
Abstract: Cattle hypocuprosis is the second most widespread mineral deficiency affecting grazing cattle. The consequences of hypocuprosis include a failure of copper metalloenzymes, many of which form part of the antioxidant defence system. This work focuses on the association between copper (Cu) plasma concentration and DNA damage in Aberdeen Angus cattle. Two-hundred and ninety-nine heparinized blood samples from 2-year-old Aberdeen Angus cows were obtained from different farms located in the Salado River basin, Argentina. Plasma copper level analysis was carried out in whole samples, while cytogenetic analysis and single cell gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay) were carried out in 82 and 217 samples, respectively. Cytogenetic analysis showed a significant increase in the frequency of abnormal metaphases in moderate/severe hypocupremic groups (groups B and C) in relation to the normocupremic group (group A) (4.5 and 1.5 abnormal metaphases/100 cells, respectively, P < 0.01). The Spearman correlation test showed a negative association between cupremic values and the yield of chromosomal aberrations (r = �?.708, P < 0.0001). In the comet assay greater migration was observed in cells from the hypocupremic group, from a median of 54 in the severe hypocupremic group to 31 in the normocupremic group (P < 0.01). Accordingly, the Spearman correlation test showed a significant positive relationship between copper levels and cells without DNA migration and a significant negative relationship between copper levels and cells with a tiny tail (P < 0.0001 in both cases). The results obtained show that hypocupremia in cattle is associated with an increase in the frequency of chromosomal aberrations as well as in DNA migration as assessed by the comet assay. Whereas the comet assay could differentiate copper plasma level groups, chromosomal aberrations only detected differences between normal and hypocupremic animals. The increase of DNA damage found in hypocupremic animals could be explained by higher oxidative stress suffered by these animals. |
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