Discussion Questions:
1) Describe Carleton Gajdusek's appearance. What character does he resembles? (pg 193)
2) How are crystals form and what are some examples of crystals? (pg 194-195)
3) What is EDT? How did it occurred? (pg 196)
4) How is the process of the TSE disease similar to the process of Alzheimer's disease? (pg 198)
5) Who was Dr. Bryon Caughey and what did he do? (pg 200)
6) How is the new cell-free system used? (pg 207)
7) Who was Dr. James Ironside and what did he do? (pg 208 -209)
8) What was Stephen Dorrell's announcement? How did British schools respond to this announcement? (pg 213)
9) What is the number of annual incidence of CJD cases and what did the United States do in order to prevent the spread of BSE? (pg 222-223)
10) What are some behavioral changes that show signs of TME? (pg 224-225)
11) Is it possible for BSE to come to America? (pg 229)
12) How could the United States avoid the BSE epidemic? (pg 232)
13) What is the next major breakthrough in medicine? Who leads this technology? (pg 234)
14) What are some of the disadvantages of xenotransplantation? (pg 238)
15) How does Gajdusek use minerals to explain how an infectiousness disease survive? (pg 240)
Monday, November 26, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Deadly Feasts Ch 10 & 11
Late 1970's
- Patricia Merz collaborates with Robert Somerville on working with the EM
- Merz was able to develop and print pictures of the scrapie samples
- Merz and Somerville reported their discovery in a German Pathology journal named SAF
- Merz began working with Gajdusek and Gibbs
- Prusiner collaborated with Gajdusek and Mike Alpers in working on clinical studies for 15 kuru patients
Early 1980's
- Prusiner visits Gajdusek at Agakamttasa
- Prusiner repeats all the classic scrapie-agent challenges using enriched samples
- The American journal Science published the "Novel Proteinaceous Infectious Particles Cause Scrapie"
- Prusiner's assault on strains anger Alan Dickinson, who has also studied strains
- Dickinson and G. W. Outram proposed an alternative theory for both the viral and infectious-protein theories
- Prusiner and two of his colleagues report that they have purified a protein from scrapie-infected hamster brains
- Merz, Gajdueske, Gibbs, and several colleagues published Merz's important findings of SAF in mouse spleends
- They also reported finding SAF in kuru and CJD brains
- Prusiner closed in on the structure of PrP
- Prusiner demonstrated that PrP was at least a component of the scrapie agent
Late 1980's
- The plague that attack the Fore cannibalism in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea is encounter in British cattle
- Electron mircroscopists are able to demonstrate the spongiform damage and the brown stars of astrogliosis
- Merz defined the new disease of cattle by designating it as "bovine spongiform encephalopathy" (BSE)
- BSE appeared in herds throughout England and Wales, conforming with 420 cases
- John Wilesmith began collecting detailed information for two hundred cases
- Gibbs, Carleton, Gajduesk, and their colleagues reported the successful oral transmission of kuru, CJD, and scrapie to spider monkeys
- Prusiner and Alpers had shown oral transmission through cannibalism in hamsters
- Wilesmith and his epidemiologists arranged three veterinarians to conduct a survey of all the rendering plants in Britain
- A committee was set up to address the epidemic and problems through government action in Britain
- Milk from cows with BSE were ordered to destroy and the government offers farmers compensation for their sick animals
- Britain confirmed 2,185 BSE cases, 1,765 cases more than before
- Southwood Commitee reported BSE cases will rise
1990's
- Britain reported 7,136 confirmed cases of BSE
- The death of a cat caused a national panic in Britain
- Richard Lacey appeared before the British Parliament's Agriculture Committee, who owned a meat-packing company that tried to discredit Lacey's testimony
- Two British dairy farmers died of CJD
- CJD appeared in fifthteen-year-old, Victoria Rimmer
- The death of an eighteen-year-old school boy revealed spongiform change and astrogoliosis
- Southwood reported 143,109 confirmed cases of BSE
- Patricia Merz collaborates with Robert Somerville on working with the EM
- Merz was able to develop and print pictures of the scrapie samples
- Merz and Somerville reported their discovery in a German Pathology journal named SAF
- Merz began working with Gajdusek and Gibbs
- Prusiner collaborated with Gajdusek and Mike Alpers in working on clinical studies for 15 kuru patients
Early 1980's
- Prusiner visits Gajdusek at Agakamttasa
- Prusiner repeats all the classic scrapie-agent challenges using enriched samples
- The American journal Science published the "Novel Proteinaceous Infectious Particles Cause Scrapie"
- Prusiner's assault on strains anger Alan Dickinson, who has also studied strains
- Dickinson and G. W. Outram proposed an alternative theory for both the viral and infectious-protein theories
- Prusiner and two of his colleagues report that they have purified a protein from scrapie-infected hamster brains
- Merz, Gajdueske, Gibbs, and several colleagues published Merz's important findings of SAF in mouse spleends
- They also reported finding SAF in kuru and CJD brains
- Prusiner closed in on the structure of PrP
- Prusiner demonstrated that PrP was at least a component of the scrapie agent
Late 1980's
- The plague that attack the Fore cannibalism in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea is encounter in British cattle
- Electron mircroscopists are able to demonstrate the spongiform damage and the brown stars of astrogliosis
- Merz defined the new disease of cattle by designating it as "bovine spongiform encephalopathy" (BSE)
- BSE appeared in herds throughout England and Wales, conforming with 420 cases
- John Wilesmith began collecting detailed information for two hundred cases
- Gibbs, Carleton, Gajduesk, and their colleagues reported the successful oral transmission of kuru, CJD, and scrapie to spider monkeys
- Prusiner and Alpers had shown oral transmission through cannibalism in hamsters
- Wilesmith and his epidemiologists arranged three veterinarians to conduct a survey of all the rendering plants in Britain
- A committee was set up to address the epidemic and problems through government action in Britain
- Milk from cows with BSE were ordered to destroy and the government offers farmers compensation for their sick animals
- Britain confirmed 2,185 BSE cases, 1,765 cases more than before
- Southwood Commitee reported BSE cases will rise
1990's
- Britain reported 7,136 confirmed cases of BSE
- The death of a cat caused a national panic in Britain
- Richard Lacey appeared before the British Parliament's Agriculture Committee, who owned a meat-packing company that tried to discredit Lacey's testimony
- Two British dairy farmers died of CJD
- CJD appeared in fifthteen-year-old, Victoria Rimmer
- The death of an eighteen-year-old school boy revealed spongiform change and astrogoliosis
- Southwood reported 143,109 confirmed cases of BSE
Monday, November 12, 2012
Deadly Feasts Chapter 7, 8, and 9
By 1970, signs of new life began for the Fores. Local groups around Wanitable had built their own link to the main road between North and South Fore, to facilitate the entry of coffee buyers from the towns of Kainantu and Goroka. In addition, several settlements in the South Fore had their own canteens, stocking canned food, small goods, and clothing. These became local versions of the larger, white-owned trade stores that earlier had introduced Western goods into the Highlands. As a result, the Fores experience an increase demand for cash such that the cost to purchase a chicken in South Fore was more than it would cost in New York. While mornings became startling as small groups of children shout "Good morning" as they hurried to the primary school by the high mountain side.
I found this scene to be significant because it shows the after effects of what happen after the decline of the kuru disease. More adults and children were able to survive because they had given up cannibalism, which was the main cause of the disease. The Fore people were able to continue on with their lives and rebuild a stronger community. I found this situation similar to the potato famine disease that occurred in Europe. The Europeans were able to rebuild their country despite the many lives that were lost from the strange potato disease. Both groups of people eventually were able to move past the disease and live on with their life. Nevertheless, the scene that was describe allows us to visualize how the Fore people live on with their life after the decline of the disease.
I found this scene to be significant because it shows the after effects of what happen after the decline of the kuru disease. More adults and children were able to survive because they had given up cannibalism, which was the main cause of the disease. The Fore people were able to continue on with their lives and rebuild a stronger community. I found this situation similar to the potato famine disease that occurred in Europe. The Europeans were able to rebuild their country despite the many lives that were lost from the strange potato disease. Both groups of people eventually were able to move past the disease and live on with their life. Nevertheless, the scene that was describe allows us to visualize how the Fore people live on with their life after the decline of the disease.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Deadly Feasts: Third Connection
1954
- Bjorn Sigurdsson described an Icelandic form of
scrapie, rida, and proposed that such infections should be called “slow viruses”.
1959
September
- Carleton Gajdusek returns to Bethesda to
find out more about scrapie.
November
- Hadlow and Gajdusek met for the first time
in Washington. They compare notes on kuru and scrapie and discussed inoculating
primates.
1960
Early 1960
- Gajdusek returns to New Guinea and Ziga’s wife
declared herself sick with kuru.
May
- Gajdusek write a letter to Joe Smadel on his results of
his studies on kuru.
Winter
- Gajdusek returns to the U.S. and visits the major
scrapie research centers in Compton, Edinburgh, and Iceland.
1961
- The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to Gajdusek
project.
Summer
- Gajdusek and Joe Smadel tries to recruit Bill Hadlow to run
the primate inoculation program.
End of 1961
- Michael Alpers arrived in the South Fore of Australia
with his family and was assigned for two years as a government physician to
study kuru.
1963
Summer
- The U.S. Public Health Service asked Hadlow to
examine disease mink from a ranch in Blackfoot, Idaho.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Deadly Feasts: Second Connection Discussion Questions
Deadly Feasts: Second Connection Discussion Questions
- What signs of mental illness did Bertha display that show she was suffering from physical damage to the brain? (Page 47)
- Why did neuropathologists consider the “spongiform change” in CJD to be unimportant? (Page 50-51)
- Do you agree that the “spongiform change” should be ignored by neuropathologists? Explain why. (Page 50-51)
- Compare and contrast the two diseases: Kuru and CJD. (Page 51-52)
- How does the brain function similarly to a central telephone switchboard? (Page 53)
- What are the important functions of the cerebrum and how did Kuru and CJD affected the cerebrum? (Page 54-55)
- How are the two diseases (Scrapie and Kuru) similarly the same? (Page 63)
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Deadly Feasts (Chapter 1&2)
Key Terms
1) Cordillera (noun)
a chain of mountains, usually the principal mountain system or mountain axis of a large landmass
Page 21
2) Mortuary (noun)
a building where dead bodies are kept before cremation or burial; funeral home
Page 22
3) Sorcery (noun)
the art, practices, or spells of magic, esp. black magic, by which it is sought to harness occult forces or evil spirits in order to produce preternatural effects in the world
Page 25
4) Surreptitious (adjective)
done, acquired, etc, in secret or by improper means
Page 26
5) Peripatetic (adjective)
walking or traveling about
Page 28
6) Athetoid (noun)
a condition characterized by uncontrolled rhythmic writhing movement, esp. of fingers, hands, head, and tongue, caused by cerebral lesion
Page 29
7) Epilepsy (noun)
a disorder of the nervous system, characterized either by mild, episodic loss of attention or sleepinessor by severe convulsions with loss of consciousness
8) Hemorrhagic (noun)
a profuse discharge of blood, as from ruptured blood vessel; bleeding
Page 32
9) Meningitis (noun)
inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain or spinal cord, caused by infection
Page 39
10) Repugnant (adjective)
distasteful, objectionable, or offensive
Page 42
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