New findings on prions suggest BSE risk may be higher than thought

The Canadian Press ^ | 1-20-2005

[riri]

It is interesting that Mad Cow Disease hasn't shown up in dogs that eat "beef by-products" more often than humans do

I have questioned this myself.

Ugh, if anyone has it, it's going to be me. I lived in Germany during 1999-2001, and I ate at least once a week at McDonalds.

[secretagent]

If sick cows were reliably not entering the human food chain, then there would be no reason to worry because of our new findings."

Sicks cows do reliably enter the food chain, I read. Only massive doses of antibiotics keep them standing.

Even that doesn't help them for long, but they get slaughtered just in time so they can walk to their death.

Or so I've read.

[neverdem]

What credence do you give to the hypothetical role of organophosphates as an alternative to prions as the cause of Mad Cow?

Never heard of that hypothesis before, but I'm quite doubtful. Depending on the organophosphate and the amount of the exposure/ingestion, vertebrates can recover. How would the spongiform encephalopathy on autopsy be explained?

Clinical aspects of percutaneous poisoning by the chemical warfare agent VX: effects of application site and decontamination.

If you're not familiar with PubMed, check "Related Articles" on the link.

[M. Espinola]

Boxerbovine is an offshoot erratic strain which has been isolated from spreading to the entire nation for at least four years. :)

[M. Espinola]

Very well taken point.

[M. Espinola]

Scrapie can also occur in goats What would the effects be in relation to goats milk or cheese, if any?

[M. Espinola]

I went to the supermarket, returned home and read this thing & posted it. I am still making the meat sauce though :)

[Carry_Okie]

Never heard of that hypothesis before, but I'm quite doubtful. Depending on the organophosphate and the amount of the exposure/ingestion, vertebrates can recover. How would the spongiform encephalopathy on autopsy be explained?

It is poured, full strength, right down the back of the cow to treat for the warble fly. Some suggest an interaction with manganese.

http://www.ithyroid.com/mn_and_mad_cow_disease.htm

Sorry, this was the best source for which I had time. Some of the proponents of this theory are reasonably credible. Interestingly, the Swiss owners of the organophosphate patents (Zeneca, IIRC) have supposedly sold off the patents to a shell corporation with minimal assets.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link. I'm not satisfied with any of the explanations about prions. Your link was the first that I saw about "normal" prions. If prions are just misfolded proteins, what's their amino acid sequence and why do they induce misfolding in other proteins? Are the original proteins structural in nature or enzymes?

They need to do a lot more basic science in neurodegenerative disorders. Mice with knocked out genes have become the main model it seems. The author in this article seems to be the guy in the following abstract:

Prions: pathogenesis and reverse genetics.

[Carry_Okie]

Thanks for the link. I'm not satisfied with any of the explanations about prions.

Nor should you be. It just doesn't pass the sniff test that something so ubiquitous as these folded proteins should suddenly cause a new degenerative disease with such marked and significant symptoms never before documented in human history. Further, that it would be transmissible in the manner suggested doesn't strike me as quite right either.

OTOH, that organophosphate pesticides, some of which are known neurotoxins, might have delayed, second order combinatorial effects with background trace minerals is indeed possible and would certainly escape normal screening during product qualification.

[IGBT]

..does cooking remove/kill this thing??

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[riri]

No, nothing kills the prions, that I know of.

Here is the million dollar question---is everyone suseptible to this? If not, just how much of the population is?

[riri]

Very interesting.


Why, maybe, such a long incubation period?

[M. Espinola]

That is a good question. I do not know.

[Carry_Okie]

Why, maybe, such a long incubation period?

I'm just speculating, but it would take time to accumulate the manganese.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Thursday, January 20, 2005 commentary:
USDA insider reveals the truth: mad cow disease is epidemic, USDA labs fraudulently cover up test results
This is one of the most important stories on mad cow disease to come out yet. If what this article says is true, it means the USDA is engaged in a massive coverup of mad cow disease. They accomplish this by using a bogus laboratory that routinely determines all cow brain samples to be "negative" for mad cow disease, even when they are positive. This lab, called the National Veterinary Services Laborities, is extremely secretive and has refused to release test results to veterinarians. The situation is so bad that veterinarians call the USDA's mad cow surveillance program, "a laughing matter."..........snipped

http://www.newstarget.com/000914.html

[neverdem]

I was perusing JAMA and noticed a reference to this article. Ferritin is the main protein involved in the storage of iron physiologically. Let me know if you don't care for medical abstracts, so I don't bother you with them.

Protease-Resistant Human Prion Protein and Ferritin Are Cotransported across Caco-2 Epithelial Cells: Implications for Species Barrier in Prion Uptake from the Intestine

[Carry_Okie]

Although I got the gist of that abstract, it was well over the edge of my full comprehension. It would seem that the findings indicate an implication, but not necessarily a full mechanism.

Insofar as flagging me on such goes, what interests me are the regulatory implications of such findings or how they affect producers and markets. Flag away; I can always bail if it doesn't interest me.