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Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#61

Post by dingby »

tshannon wrote: post #55
sillypuddy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is alzheimers a prion disease, or maybe just Prions are involved?

I believe Alzheimers is recognized as a metabolic disease now (some have even said Type 3 diabetes). It's in no way related to Prions.

The diabetes/metabolic theory was one pitched theory, and it isn’t even a terribly mainstream one. There is no consensus that Alzheimer’s is a “metabolic disease”. Even thought ApoE is implicated, that association could be explained by numerous mechanism, even viral.

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#63

Post by dv_dt »

barking wrote: post #7

About 20 or so years ago I was feeling bad about my chances of developing the type of CJD associated with mad cow disease because of all the burgers I'd eaten over the preceding years. There were also human cases getting reported at a rate that some suggested matched the pattern for the early days of an epidemic. Luckily that never materialised. Still though having lived in the UK during a certain time period preclud…

There were certain feeding practices that were banned or reduced that were thought to contribute. I.e. many places quit feeding meat and bone meal of other livestock to cattle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_feeding#Mad_Cow_Disease

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#64

Post by travisoneill1 »

dingby wrote: post #58
fallingknife wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Infectious disease is one area where fear of the unknown is rational. We don't just need to defend against existing diseases, but also diseases yet to emerge. Just because CJD is rare doesn't mean that the next prion disease will be, so it would make sense to take measures to prevent transmission of prions now.

Your “next prion disease” is entirely hypothetical. Given that, it is pure speculation how to prevent its transmission. Why would you assume specific precautions taken would apply?

The same way standard protocols are used to prevent transmission of viruses & bacteria. Apparently they don't work on prions:

> In a particularly vexing twist, prions are also nearly impervious to destruction, even when attacked using a strenuous combination of disinfectants, heat, and pressure.

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#65

Post by Balero »

ryanmercer wrote: post #48
Balero wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of ways that a protein could be mis-folded. There is a lot of bumpiness in a cell (though this is unlikely to lead to this). A random mutation (through some sort of radiation) could change a piece of DNA or RNA, causing the protein to be made incorrectly. All of these are frighteningly unlikely. But happen so often they are almost certain to do so in a large enough time, with a large enough populatio…

>It is not known what causes the normal protein to misfold Second sentence of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion >Prions don't really suggest that life is a simulation. To you, to me they do. I imagine with the logic you're using, nothing suggests we live in a simulation. I however recognize this as one of dozens of things that are like "hey wait a minute". No where in my replies have I stated "THIS IS IRREFUTABLE…

To be blunt. I think you are jumping to conclusions with saying this implies/suggests life is a simulation. You are completely right to point out that is is a bit weird. But then there are a bunch of logical steps (such as looking for a more likely solution) to take before starting to think this would suggest life is a simulation.

There are a bunch of things I think that are more indicative (though, all have other possible, plausible solutions) of the simulation hypothesis. Some of the reasoning behind reality being a hologram (which I am not 100% on understanding).

For the corrupted blood, I wouldn't call it a bug. There was no problem with the software, just a wayward pet.

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#66

Post by travisoneill1 »

arkades wrote: post #21
fallingknife wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Infectious disease is one area where fear of the unknown is rational. We don't just need to defend against existing diseases, but also diseases yet to emerge. Just because CJD is rare doesn't mean that the next prion disease will be, so it would make sense to take measures to prevent transmission of prions now.

We take measures now, for tissues where prions are a possible transmission risk. The article mis-represented that. But: (1) there are only so many resources to go around. Should we be devoting them to vanishingly rare things rather than things that might actually affect you? (2) prions will never be a wildfire plague. They have little or no tranmissive ability, by nature of being absolutely naked protein. One step up…

The example in the article has very little transmissive ability because it grows in the brain and eyes. If there were a respiratory prion disease that could be much different. By nature of being a protein they are simpler and harder to eliminate than bacteria or viruses:

> In a particularly vexing twist, prions are also nearly impervious to destruction, even when attacked using a strenuous combination of disinfectants, heat, and pressure.

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#67

Post by CompelTechnic »

arkades wrote: post #10

Prion disease is exceedingly rare. CJD is the most common, with an incidence of 1 per 1,000,000 person-years worldwide, inclusive of all transmission vectors (including medical procedures). Iatrogenic transmission is a rarer subset still: the riskiest transplants (with respect to CJD) are in the central nervous system. The UK tracked their transmission rates from 1970 to 2003 (a long period is needed because surgical…

The article does a good job of mentioning small likelihoods but large stakes, and is intellectually honest in doing so.

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#68

Post by jelling »

tshannon wrote: post #55
sillypuddy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is alzheimers a prion disease, or maybe just Prions are involved?

I believe Alzheimers is recognized as a metabolic disease now (some have even said Type 3 diabetes). It's in no way related to Prions.

No expert, but the latest studies have been about the correlation with the herpes virus and how the plaque build-ups that are part of Alzheimer's may be the immune system's attempt to protect the brain.

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#69

Post by honestoHeminway »

I guess, this is the weapon of choice for any patient spy unwilling to send a message. One pinbrick, and the nuclear scientist/dissendent/oppossitional spy has half a year to write his/her memoir.

Are there statistics on Creuzfeld-Jakobs in Langley?

Re: Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims

#70

Post by Retra »

fallingknife wrote: post #18
arkades wrote: post #10

Prion disease is exceedingly rare. CJD is the most common, with an incidence of 1 per 1,000,000 person-years worldwide, inclusive of all transmission vectors (including medical procedures). Iatrogenic transmission is a rarer subset still: the riskiest transplants (with respect to CJD) are in the central nervous system. The UK tracked their transmission rates from 1970 to 2003 (a long period is needed because surgical…

Infectious disease is one area where fear of the unknown is rational. We don't just need to defend against existing diseases, but also diseases yet to emerge. Just because CJD is rare doesn't mean that the next prion disease will be, so it would make sense to take measures to prevent transmission of prions now.

The fear may be rational, but the response to it needs to be rational as well. That means treating the things that are known to do the most damage currently, while maintaining containment procedures that can handle your black swan epidemics.
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