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

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

#121

Post by nkurz »

0db532a0 wrote: post #51
whiddershins wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nitpick note: The phrase is actually “deep seated.”

Oxford, Cambridge and Merriam-Webster say no.

Why do you say this? And why phrase it so tersely?

Merriam-Webster at least (the only one I've checked) says that "deep-seated" is the only correct version:

  Definition of deep-seated 
  1 : situated far below the surface
  2 : firmly established
  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deep-seated

  “deep-seeded”
  The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary.
  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deep-seeded

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

#122

Post by PeterisP »

ergothus wrote: post #108
dahfizz wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there were a respiratory prion disease that could be much different. Not really. The point your parent is making is that prions themselves don't reproduce like viruses and bacteria. Its basically impossible for a large scale breakout to occur and spread.

Can you explain why? I'm not saying this is wrong, but they definitely replicate (by encountering and warping other proteins), so are you (and grandparent) saying that the replication rate is too slow? If so, why? Are you saying we have no means of transmitting proteins? (that sounds wrong, though I've been wrong before) From my (ignorant, despite being interested in prions for decades now) perspective, you have some…

A prion can't arbitrary replicate from "food" or "host", its replication is more like a damaged version of protein X that can damage that same protein X if it encounters it. In many aspects it stays the same protein - the exact same DNA, the exact same sequence, just folded differently.

A virus can overtake a cell and mobilize its resources to create a bajillion copies of that virus. A prion can transform only as much copies of that protein as that cell has made in its normal processes.

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

#123

Post by theprotocol »

than wrote: post #116

If you're interested in prions and some heavy science, I would highly recommend reading the research blogs of Eric and Sonia. http://www.cureffi.org/ and http://www.prionalliance.org/blog/ > Wife-husband team Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel are on a very personal mission to find a cure to prion diseases. When Sonia was diagnosed as a genetic carrier of a rare disease called Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI), she and Eric…

This is pretty inspiring. Thanks for posting it.

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

#124

Post by jamiek88 »

DennisP wrote: post #107
dahfizz wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there were a respiratory prion disease that could be much different. Not really. The point your parent is making is that prions themselves don't reproduce like viruses and bacteria. Its basically impossible for a large scale breakout to occur and spread.

But they do reproduce, by causing other proteins to misfold. If they didn't reproduce at all, then ingesting a few prions wouldn't cause any problems. They can't reproduce outside of the body, but neither can viruses.

Yes but they can only warp their own specific kind of protein not take over an entire reproductive ability of the native cell.

It’s orders of magnitude less reproduction.

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

#125

Post by nkurz »

In related prion news, does anyone have insight into the recent studies suggesting that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD, increasingly prevalent in North American deer and elk) may be transmissible from infected animals to humans via cooked muscle meat?

In 2017, there was a Canadian study that seemed to show that feeding macaque monkeys raw muscle meat from infected deer was capable of transmitting the disease. I don't think the study has been published yet, but it's described in detail in this Norwegian report (https://vkm.no/download/18.25950e0715e84a118a6ec492/15069251...) and forms the basis of an advisory by the Canadian government (https://www.thetyee.ca/Documents/2017/06/24/Risk-Advisory-Op...) suggesting that consumption of all potentially infected meat be avoided.

Then in 2018, a separate seemingly very similar American study was published (http://sci-hub.tw/10.1128/JVI.00550-18) , saying that no evidence was found for transmission to macaques, even after direct cerebral exposure. The NIH issued a press release (https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-find...) with the headline "NIH study finds no chronic wasting disease transmissibility in macaques".

Suffice it to say, there seem to be contradictory messages here. Is there some overview that would help to clear things up?

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

#126

Post by ffxfire »

OldFatCactus wrote: post #102
cgb223 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating sheep's brain is pretty common in certain parts of India Is it a big issue out there? If I've eaten sheeps brain twice myself, how soon should I plan my funeral?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5052957/ iirc, incubation periods can be decades long. I believe the more you injest, the shorter the incubation period

The research article you linked to is for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, not variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Sporadic CJD has no link to brain consumption.

Honestly there’s a lot of fear mongering in this thread about brain consumption...if anything it’s healthy for you. The main issues are most likely when the animal eaten has participated in cannibalism. For example, Cows were fed bovine blood meal which is what led to the Mad Cow scare, kuru is caused by cannabilistic human tribes, squirrels are known to be cannibalistic, etc. Lamb/sheep don’t participate in cannibalism. No need for unnecessary fearmongering

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

#127

Post by ff7f00 »

nkurz wrote: post #125

In related prion news, does anyone have insight into the recent studies suggesting that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD, increasingly prevalent in North American deer and elk) may be transmissible from infected animals to humans via cooked muscle meat? In 2017, there was a Canadian study that seemed to show that feeding macaque monkeys raw muscle meat from infected deer was capable of transmitting the disease. I don't t…

I don't have studies but I did email the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center asking "is there a breakdown of cases of the individual Animal Prion Diseases by location and possibly by year (i.e. cases of human prion disease acquired by eating contaminated meat)?" and here was their response:

> To date, in the US, there have been no known cases of variant CJD, or human prion disease acquired by eating contaminated beef. Here at the NPDPSC, we have diagnosed 4 cases, but they were all acquired out side the US; 1 case in 2044 acquired in UK, 2 cases in 2006 acquired in Saudi Arabia, and 1 case in 2014 acquired in the middle east.

> In several western US states, Canada, and now South Korea and Norway, there is concern that chronic wasting disease (CWD), the prion disease of elk and deer, may be transmissible to people who hunt, butcher, or eat the affected animals. Although transmission of CWD from animals to humans is unlikely, recent data indicate that the barriers between species may be weakened when CWD has been transmitted from animal to animal several times (as may happen in the wild). The NPDPSC, along with the CDC, Department of Health, and the Game and Wildlife Administration, is carefully monitoring any possible case of acquired CWD in humans.

Asked for extra clarification, "So although there is a concern with CWD crossing that barrier, there still haven't been any recorded cases?"

> That is correct.

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

#128

Post by taneq »

varjag wrote: post #104
prions wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As stated in the parent comments that the likelihood of prions spreading in an infectious disease like fashion is very slim. Articles like this, ironically from a science-oriented publication, really don't help the conversation. Luckily modern medicine is fact based and not fear based.

Is your username… related?

"Prions no threat, nothing to worry about," says Prions. Hmmmmm. :P

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

#129

Post by taneq »

whiddershins wrote: post #33
sandworm101 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also an are where our innate fears, fears that modern society tells us are unacceptable, might have a place. There is a deep-seated fear of diseased people that once kept us healthy. Modern science has given us an understanding of disease that means there is often no need to physically separate paints where we know the disease is not easily transmitted. The shunning of an aids victim, or a child with cancer, is…

Nitpick note: The phrase is actually “deep seated.”

It's an eggcorn!

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

#130

Post by pastor_elm »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #84
mkagenius wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top comment sheds some light on the rarity of the disease and the article just being some sort of fear mongering -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18648393

If you don't eat brains, you're pretty much safe. If you eat brains, your risks go up by multiple magnitudes.

Sounds like PR from the brain lobby.
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