Prion

BSE, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, otherwise known as mad cow disease refers to the changes seen in brain tissue of affected cows. This disease is normally found in adult cows and it slowly but aggressively affects their central nervous system. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continuingly does testing on US cattle to prevent this disease from spreading to human consumers. There are several ways the disease can affect the human body, there are ways we can treat it, but most importantly

Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease is a prion disease characterized by the degeneration of the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brainstem and spinal cord. CJD is classified into 4 types: sporadic, familial, iatrogenic, and contaminated meat. CJD represents approximately 85% of all human prion diseases . Although it is common in older ages (50-70), both men and women have an equal chance of acquiring the disease. Recently, there has been a new variant CJD that is thought to be from the ingestion

Have you ever heard of the Holocene extinction? Well, I’m sorry to break the news to you but we are in the middle of the Sixth Great Extinction of our planet, “an event characterized by the loss of between 17,000 and 100,000 species each year” (Biodiversity, 2013). Today, I want to inform you about diseases, which is one of the lesser-known aspects of extinction and wildlife conservation. I am knowledgeable on this topic due to a considerable amount of scholarly, research, and from firsthand experience

severe tissue change in the brain (CWD-Info 2013). The lesions can range from harmless to very serious cases (CWD-Info 2013). Infectious parts of CWD are neither bacteria or viruses, but are thought as prions (CWD-Info 2013). Prions are dangerous proteins without nucleic acids (CWD-Info 2013). The prions break down the tissue in the brain to the point that they turn into lesions. CWD is shown by loss of body size, behavioral activities and possible death (CWD-Info 2013). CWD can deduct the growth

Out of the many forms of infectious agents, one that seemingly defies the central dogma of biology is the prion. These types of diseases are created when an otherwise suitable protein is altered in a prion like domain, becomes misfolded, and begins contorting other specimens of the same protein to this misfolded shape resulting in what’s known as an amyloid fiber. This entire replication process does not require DNA, simply more of the non-mutated protein. Recent studies focusing on mutations identified

This particular disease was chosen due to its severity, swiftness with which it ends life, and its ability to exist undetected without symptoms for decades unless one’s family history is known. Fatal Familial Insomnia, (FFI), is a neurodegenerative prion disease classified as a Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, (TSE), meaning that it is genetically transmitted (Belay, 1999, p. 284). FFI is autosomal dominant (Xie et al., 2013, p81-90), meaning that an individual with A or AA alleles, a component

Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals. They are distinguished by long incubation periods, characteristic spongiform changes associated with neuronal loss, and a failure to induce inflammatory response. The proteinaceous infectious particles, prion was identified by an American neurologist Stanley B. Prusiner and colleagues in 1982derived from the words protein and infection

Prions disease has brought many fatal deaths to animals and humans; there are many diseases branching out from prions. Prions disease have also been considered ‘transmissible spongiform encephalopathies’ or TSE. The reason for this name came from the fact of how prions diseases cause holes in the brain making it look spongi. This disease has caused many fatal deaths in sheep's during the 18th century, in humans around the 1950s, and in cattles during the 1990s. We all have this prion protein in

cannibalism has began the pattern of deadly prions that slowly begin to eat away at your brain and cause many life long diseases for many generations. This is all caused by a deadly little prion, which can be referred to as Spongiform Encephalies (Kuru: The Dynamics of a Prion Disease: Dr. Bindon), causes the brain to become spongy and have holes while dterteating the neurological functions along with the body (Kuru: The Dynamics of a Prion Disease: Dr. Bindon). Prions are able to come in many deadly forms

Mad Cow Disease Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better know as Mad cow disease is a relatively new disease. Most sources state that BSE first showed up in Great Britain in 1986 [Dealler p.5] but some say it popped up in 1985 [Greger p.1]. However the official notification was not until 21 June, 1988 [Dealler stats. p.1]. Spongiform encephalopathies are invariable fatal neurodegenerative diseases and there is no treatment nor is there a cure for this disease [Greger p.1]. The recent