Prions Present in Tongues of Elk with CWD

[Kathy]

R2, I have grave concerns for these tranmission studies when, in fact, it was acknowledged at the Prion Symposium in Calgary, AB on Feb 02/06 that nobody doing this kind of research has "characterized" what they are inoculating into the animals. This was verified by co-workers with Dr. Hamir.

Dr. Amirali Hamir has worked in the past on lead toxicosis in dogs, from chronic exposure. The results showed spongiform in the brainstem of dogs fed a high fat, low calcium diet. Yet, Dr. Hamir and his collegues have never analyzed the inoculant for metals???? Why the heck not?

In the past you have stated that lead toxicity is not a disease. I disagree, in part, an acute exposure is considered a poisoning and there are LD50(lethal dose measurements which represent the levels which will kill 50% of the subjects). However, chronic long-term exposure is entirely different from acute exposure. It is the chronic exposure which results in the spongiform of the brainstem and the distribution and accummulation of lead, in this case, in the brain and other parts of the body. These accumulations of metal cause other processes to fail, others to be up-regulated, etc. Chronic lead exposure may indeed result in many other problems besides the spongiform in the brainstem identified in the Hamir research below, done in 1984.

J Comp Pathol. 1984 Apr;94(2):215-31. Related Articles, Links

Neuropathological lesions in experimental lead toxicosis of dogs.

Hamir AN, Sullivan ND, Handson PD.

Light microscopical examinations were carried out on the central and peripheral nervous systems of 9 dogs maintained on a high-fat-low-calcium diet and dosed orally with a mixture of lead chloride, lead bromide and lead sulphate. Microscopic lesions were present in 7 (78 per cent) of the lead-treated dogs. Cerebrocortical lesions comprising spongiosis, vascular hypertrophy and gliosis predominated. These lesions were bilateral, had a predilection for gyri and were located mainly in the parietal and frontal cortex. There were bilaterally symmetrical spongiform changes in the brain stem. The cerebellum had spongiform changes in the roof nuclei and in the lingula there was spongiosis of the Purkinje cell layer and vacuolation of Purkinje cells. Axonal degeneration was evident in a sciatic nerve of one dog. In a second experiment, designed to study the early ultrastructural changes in the brains of dogs with lead intoxication, 2 groups of dogs, one on a commercial balanced diet and the other fed a high-fat-low-calcium diet, were given similar amounts of lead. Cytoplasmic accumulation of lipid was found in the cerebrovascular pericytes of all dogs treated with lead but vascular changes were otherwise not obvious. Quantitative evaluation of numbers of blood vessels by light microscopy revealed an apparent increase in all dogs receiving lead. This increase in vascularity was greatest in the dogs fed the high-fat-low-calcium diet.

PMID: 6736309 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

[Kathy]

We certainly will do that R2.

If you don't mind my asking, do you live anywhere near Richmond, Virginia?

I have noted that there are four nuclear reactors in Virgina; two near Richmond and two near Newport News.

Considering the size of the entire state, you must not live all that far from a couple of these reactors.

Do you have any concerns about these sites? any reported leaks, etc.

I ask this in ernest, and you certainly are free to not answer any of my questions. But I must ask them.

Illinois and Pennsylvania are the two states with the most reactors.

Illinois - 11
Pennsylvania - 9