That the birnessite family of minerals possessed the capacity to degrade prions was a surprise, Pedersen says. Manganese oxides like birnessite are commonly used in such things as batteries and are among the most potent oxidants occurring naturally in soils, capable of chemically transforming a substance by adding oxygen atoms and stripping away electrons. The … Continue reading Common soil mineral degrades the nearly indestructible prion
Prions
Could diabetes spread like mad cow disease? | Science | AAAS
At first glance, type 2 diabetes, in which people lose the ability to control their blood glucose levels, doesn’t seem to have any connection to prions or neurodegenerative diseases. But in people who have this form of diabetes, cells of the pancreas amass clumps of a protein known as islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), which is … Continue reading Could diabetes spread like mad cow disease? | Science | AAAS
New method accurately detects prions in blood | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The scientists next tested whether the technique could be used to detect prions in blood samples from 14 people with vCJD and 153 controls. The controls included healthy people as well as people with different neurological or neurodegenerative disorders, including sporadic CJD, the most common form of CJD. The assay flagged all the vCJD samples … Continue reading New method accurately detects prions in blood | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims – Scientific American Blog Network
The diseases they cause are grim. Mad Cow Disease is the most famous, but kuru also possesses a certain notoriety thanks to its unorthodox mode of transmission. Although uncommon, prion diseases are incurable and bring dementia swiftly followed by death. In the case of spontaneous Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (sCJD), the most common prion disease, half of patients are dead within six months of … Continue reading Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, Seed the Eyes of Victims – Scientific American Blog Network
Infectious ‘Prions’ Found in the Eyes of Patients with Fatal Brain Disease | Live Science
The researchers detected prions in the eyes of all 11 patients. What's more, they found prions in all eight regions of the eye that were tested, including the eye's cornea, lens, ocular fluid, retina, choroid (a part of the eye that contains blood vessels and connective tissue), sclera (the white of the eye), optic nerve … Continue reading Infectious ‘Prions’ Found in the Eyes of Patients with Fatal Brain Disease | Live Science
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