Can Cannibalism Fight Brain Disease? Only Sort Of.
Can cannibalism fight a rare brain disease? That’s what multiple headlines have suggested this week, but don’t pick up your fork just yet.
A study published Wednesday in the scientific journal Nature found that people of Papua New Guinea’s Fore tribe -- a group that formerly consumed the brains of family members at funerals -- are now resistant to a rare, degenerative brain disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
However, the reason that they developed this resistance to the disease is because their brain-eating practice led to a major outbreak of kuru -- a specific type of CJD -- in the 1950s, Reuters rep...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - June 12, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Could brain-eating cannibals provide the key to treating CJD?
This study used genetically modified mice to test whether this genetic mutation was protective against kuru and CJD. The tests showed that mice with this genetic mutation were indeed resistant to these prion diseases.The results suggest that this mutation could be responsible for the kuru resistance seen in the survivors. It is hoped this finding may eventually help to develop effective treatments for prion diseases, but much more research will be needed to get to that point. Links To The Headlines Eating brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe become disease resistant, claims research. The Daily Telegraph, June 10 2015Eating...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 11, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news
Naturally occurring genetic variation gives complete resistance in prion diseases
Researchers at the Medical Research Council's Prion Unit have identified a naturally occurring variant of the human prion protein that produces resistance to prion diseases such as... (Source: Parkinson's Disease News From Medical News Today)
Source: Parkinson's Disease News From Medical News Today - June 11, 2015 Category: Neurology Tags: CJD / vCJD / Mad Cow Disease Source Type: news
Eating brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe resist disease, research shows
The cannibalistic practice helped the Fore tribe develop genetic resistance to a mad cow-like disease. This is useful for scientists studying diseases like dementiaResearch involving a former brain-eating tribe from Papua New Guinea is helping scientists better understand mad cow disease and other so-called prion conditions and may also offer insights into Parkinson’s and dementia. People of the Fore tribe, studied by scientists from Britain and Papua New Guinea, have developed genetic resistance to a mad cow-like disease called kuru, which was spread mostly by the now abandoned ritual of eating relatives’ brains at fu...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - June 10, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Reuters Tags: Genetics Biology Science Dementia Papua New Guinea Mental health World news Source Type: news
Eating human brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe resist disease, research shows
The cannibalistic practice helped the Fore tribe develop genetic resistance to a mad cow-like disease. This is useful for scientists studying diseases like dementiaResearch involving a former brain-eating tribe from Papua New Guinea is helping scientists better understand mad cow disease and other so-called prion conditions and may also offer insights into Parkinson’s and dementia. People of the Fore tribe, studied by scientists from Britain and Papua New Guinea, have developed genetic resistance to a mad cow-like disease called kuru, which was spread mostly by the now abandoned ritual of eating relatives’ brains at fu...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - June 10, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Reuters Tags: Genetics Biology Science Dementia Papua New Guinea Mental health World news Source Type: news
Genetic variant gives prion disease resistance
Researchers at the Medical Research Council’s Prion Unit have identified a naturally occurring variant of the human prion protein that produces resistance to prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). The findings, published in Nature, could give important insight into other human brain diseases that lead to dementia. (Source: Medical Research Council General News)
Source: Medical Research Council General News - June 10, 2015 Category: Research Source Type: news
Scientists find mutation that protects against 'mad cow' disease after studying cannibal group
Scientists have found a genetic mutation that imparts complete protection against the human form of “mad cow” disease, which could lead to new ways of tackling similar incurable brain diseases. (Source: The Independent - Science)
Source: The Independent - Science - June 10, 2015 Category: Science Tags: Science Source Type: news
Scientists find mutation that protects against 'mad cow' disease
Scientists have found a genetic mutation that imparts complete protection against the human form of “mad cow” disease, which could lead to new ways of tackling similar incurable brain diseases. (Source: The Independent - Science)
Source: The Independent - Science - June 10, 2015 Category: Science Tags: Science Source Type: news
Grass plants can transport infectious prions
Grass plants can bind, uptake and transport infectious prions, according to researchers. Prions are the protein-based infectious agents responsible for a group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in cattle, scrapie in sheep, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer, elk and moose. All are fatal brain diseases with incubation periods that last years. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - May 15, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Goat plague hits poor farmers in Africa, Asia, wider vaccination needed: FAO
ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Goat plague, a fast spreading virus, impoverishes millions of small farmers across Africa and Asia, but a campaign to eradicate it has drawn far less support than halting mad cow disease or Ebola, a U.N. veterinary official said on Wednesday. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - April 22, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: healthNews Source Type: news
Mad Cow Disease In Texas Man Has Mysterious Origin
It's only the fourth case of the deadly disease in the U.S. And it has doctors on an international hunt. How did a disease linked to contaminated beef in the U.K. more than a decade ago get to Texas?» E-Mail This (Source: NPR Health and Science)
Source: NPR Health and Science - April 16, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Michaeleen Doucleff Source Type: news
'Mad Cow' Disease In Texas Man Has Mysterious Origin
It's only the fourth case of the deadly disease in the U.S. And it has doctors on an international hunt. How did a disease linked to contaminated beef in the U.K. more than a decade ago get to Texas?» E-Mail This (Source: NPR Health and Science)
Source: NPR Health and Science - April 16, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Michaeleen Doucleff Source Type: news
Amid Pollution Problems, China's Health Food Industry Blossoms
At first glance, the World Health Store seems like any other health nut’s paradise: Shelves are cramped neck-high with supplement bars, whey protein for bodybuilders, Nature’s Bounty Evening Primrose Oil and Navitas Naturals Chia Powder. But this is Beijing, and the store that used to serve almost entirely a health-conscious foreign clientele now has so many Chinese customers that they’re nearly outnumbering foreigners. “Questions around the safety of water, food and air in China have made people much more health-conscious,” says Howard He, a store manager.
That growing fear of China’s dangerously dirty enviro...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - March 27, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
China imposes trade restrictions on Canadian beef
OTTAWA (Reuters) - China has imposed temporary trade restrictions on Canadian beef and beef products in the wake of Canada's discovery of mad cow disease earlier this month, Canada said on Friday. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - February 27, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: healthNews Source Type: news
Peru, Taiwan, Belarus ban Canadian beef in wake of mad cow case
OTTAWA/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Three more countries have blocked imports of Canadian beef or beef products, following Canada's discovery of mad cow disease earlier this month, its first in four years. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - February 23, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: healthNews Source Type: news
