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Genes of brain-eating tribe members shine light on prion protection
upi ^ | June 14, 2015 at 4:05 PM | Brooks Hays |

Posted on 06/14/2015 7:43:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin

In the late 1950s, some 2 percent of the Fore tribe from Papa New Guinea died each year from a rare neural disease known as kuru. The mad cow-like disease was spread by the tribe's now-retired practice of eating the brains of their deceased relatives.

A new study, however, has identified a gene adaptation that protected a small subset of the Fore population from kuru and other similar diseases.

Kuru and other similar diseases are characterized by the proliferation of misshapen neural proteins called prions. These invaders stick together in infected brains, forming plaque-like polymers that slowly suffocate neural pathways and chew holes in the brain.

Scientists believe prion-like plaques play a similar role in the development other neural diseases like Alzheimer's. And it's possible, researchers say, that similar genetic mutations could guard against a wide variety of dementias.

The gene mutation that provides kuru survivors with immunity is called V127. Researchers at University College London replicated the mutation in mice and found that it also protected them against Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human version of mad cow disease).

(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: alzheimers; naturalselection; prion

1 posted on 06/14/2015 7:43:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

So maybe they can create a vaccine that will protect us if we have an emergency, and have to become cannibalistic on the third day of no food, as was claimed during Katrina.


2 posted on 06/14/2015 7:51:34 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

3 posted on 06/14/2015 7:56:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.s)
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To: BenLurkin

Cannibalism...because all cultures and religions are equal /s


4 posted on 06/14/2015 8:02:03 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN

I better change my eating habits.


5 posted on 06/14/2015 8:05:20 PM PDT by dp0622
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To: BenLurkin

“It is reported that black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive. Four days after the storm, thousands of blacks in New Orleans are dying like dogs. No-one has come to help them.

I am a sixty-four year old African-American. New Orleans marks the end of the America I strove for.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randall-robinson/new-orleans_b_6643.html


6 posted on 06/14/2015 8:09:01 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: BenLurkin
Is it true that "you are what you eat?"






7 posted on 06/14/2015 8:26:42 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: BenLurkin

Brain eaters? These “researchers” aren’t fooling me- the Kuru are zombies.


8 posted on 06/15/2015 1:00:03 AM PDT by Pelham (The refusal to deport is defacto amnesty)
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To: ansel12

He retracted that first sentence. Untrue.


9 posted on 06/15/2015 5:32:26 AM PDT by odawg
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To: BenLurkin

10 posted on 06/15/2015 5:42:15 AM PDT by newfreep ("Evil succeeds when good men do nothting" - Edmund Burke)
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To: odawg

You know that none of us ever believed that within three days of the flooding, that African Americans in New Orleans were forced to cannibalize each other, right?

Yes, he did retract his claim after the national media had already reported it.


11 posted on 06/15/2015 7:56:05 AM PDT by ansel12
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