Prion Disease
Prion Disease is a lethal thing that does not have a cure. Many people are dying from this and researchers are nowhere near close to finding anything to stop the disease. By making more people aware of this, it can make some that are interested in medicine and science have an drive to help find a cure. Prion Disease is a complex thing to understand completely, especially when there is no prior knowledge about this topic. So explaining the different types and other general information about the disease is important. Some more topics to discuss are cures and symptoms. Some aren’t aware that they have Prion Disease, which can lead to it spreading, and the fact that there isn’t a cure is another problem. Since Prion Disease isn’t a common topic that many hear about daily or even know about. By talking about basic information about Prion Disease and how there isn’t a cure and the symptoms that come with it, people can start to understand how important this really is because many people are dying and by informing society finding a cure with fresh eyes could be done a lot sooner.
Prion Disease is an illness that many have not heard about. This is sad because many have died and are dying from this disease that doesn’t yet have a cure. “Prion Disease is a group of conditions that affect the nervous system in humans and animals… these conditions impair brain functions, causing changes in memory, personality, and behavior; a decline in intellectual function (dementia); and abnormal movements particularly difficulty with coordinating movements (ataxia)” (Genetics Home Reference). This is basically the definition of what Prion Disease is and without going into depth it explains how it affects the person that is affected. “In t...
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...Most of society is unaware about this tragic disease. If more people knew about it, it will leave a greater chance of finding a cure. When a lot of people in society want a cure to be found then more students go and research that to try to be the one to make the big discovery. It is important that society begins to understand what the disease really is and how dangerous it is. The main thing to take away from this that the symptoms are so horrendous that it is painful just to have the symptoms and they are also hard to live with, then adding the pain from the actual disease just makes it worse and then to be informed how there isn’t a cure and how society should strive to change that. Society should be more aware of the tragedies going on around them; not only about prions but other important things that are not on the newspaper but are equally or more important.
What I found astonishing is the fact that constantly had to reiterate the significance of the disease, and it makes me wonder what made the majority of individuals so oblivious to AIDS. Also, Gould pointed out the limited knowledge among individuals regarding AIDS and that was largely responsible for the “mysteriousness” of the disease. Gould continues to say that ignorance served just as big a role as the lack of knowledge for the disease. I feel that this true because the lack of knowledge and ignorance went hand and hand with each other as many individuals thought it could only happen to people with darker pigmentation, and different sexual orientation. In addition, with these ideals being forged into each person’s mind, it led to most individuals ignoring the issue completely, which in turn made each person less and less aware of the severity AIDS. This allowed the disease to contaminate much larger portions of the population because AIDS could spread in many ways, and the majority of individuals were not aware of it. Piggybacking this statement, I feel that AIDS was so deadly of a disease and that it increased so dramatically due to this ignorance and
In the subsequent essay I will discuss and explain the relative function of the Prion protein. The Prion protein, also known as PrPC, ‘’is a membrane-anchored protein with two N-glycosylation sites and, although it is highly expressed in the nervous tissues, its physiological functions have yet to be well established’’ (Coordination Chemistry Reviews). PrPC/PrP is found in healthy brains in this form, and consists of 250 Amino Acids, yet after a simple misfolding in the secondary structure; this can alienate the PrP and forms PrPsc, which is the abnormal form of the Prion protein. The infectious agent PrPsc causes neuropathological changes in the brain, and instantly places the individual under the category of someone with the prion disease. PrPsc forms insoluble fibres and thus cannot be studied well using Nuclear Mass Resonance (NMR), and it is also more resistant to protease digestion. Furthermore, ‘’ The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) arise from conversion of the membrane-bound prion protein from PrPC to PrPSc, the latter being the scrapie form. Examples of the TSEs include mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, scrapie in goats and sheep, and kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans’’ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904554/. 2014). The following diagram shows the conversion from PrPc to PrPsc:
TSEs or more commonly prion diseases are a group of invariably fatal neurodegenerative diseases that occur in humans and animals . This disease is caused by a protease –resistant protein (PrPsc) after misfolding of a host-encoded prion protein (PrP). TSEs can exist as genetic, infectious or sporadic forms. The diseases are characterized by dementia, ataxia and neuropathlogically due to loss of specific neurons in the brain. Other clinical features include persistent painful stimuli, dystonia, visual or cerebellar problems and gliosis (1).
...nd make people aware that it is more common than people realize and that a rather large part of America has the illness, whether they know it or not. This paper also discussed how the virus, could target certain individuals more easily than others based on the genetic makeup of an individual and families.
The prion diseases that Chronic Wasting Disease is related to are Creutzfeldt-Jakobs disease found in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and scrapies in sheep (3,4). These diseases are grouped together because they share certain characteristics such as long incubation periods, spongiform changes that are associated with neural loss, and cause failure to induce inflammatory responses (Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance).
“But you don't look sick.”. “If you just exercised more you would feel better.” , “It's all in your head.” , “You are just being lazy.”. These phrases are just a hand full of unkind things that people have said to me, simply because they do not understand my disease. Who could blame them? Doctors do not understand it. Researchers do not understand it. My parents do not understand it. My boyfriend does not understand it. Even I cannot understand it. I have Lupus. It is an unresolved disease that millions of people suffer with. Though there are numerous people diagnosed with lupus, there are very few people who know what it is, and how it impacts us from the time we wake up, to when we finally escape our pain with sleep. In this essay, I will explain what we know about lupus, what the symptoms are, and what kind of treatments are accessible for lupus.
Envision a life consumed by grayness and misfortune, slowly weakening the body from the inside with no proof of existence other than symptoms of a common cold. Dwindling away as skin begins to cling to bone, this monster, formally addressed as the Poliomyelitis (Polio) disease, finds its way to the nerves of the body as well as the grey areas of the spinal cord, leaving its host with dreadful affects throughout the body.Since its discovery in 1905, Polio has caused several epidemics throughout the years leaving many permanently paralyzed or even dead. Thankfully, scientists created the polio vaccination which lead to the nearly complete eradication of this disease. However, In order to ensure this disease does not spread as it once did before, people must come to understand Polio’s etiology, history and modern day epidemiology, as well as its proper response to treatment.
The cause of this is caused by a defect on chromosome 4. This gene is in control for building proteins called huntingtin. Chromosome is a construction of nucleic acids and protein. It brings genetic information in the form of genes. The defect on the gene defines that specific proteins are required to make brain substances that can’t be prepared in the brain normally. This is also the result to the harm and loss of brain cells and some portions of the brain. Also there a collection of chemical called dopamine. This also causes movement problems. This damage this leads to the symptoms to the disorder known as Huntington’s disease. (Patient.Co.Uk, 2011).
Today there are many infectious diseases around the world. An infectious disease is defined as an infection which can be caused by the entrance, development and manipulation of microorganisms in the body. Infections are classified as emerging and re-emerging. An emerging disease is a disease that has appeared in a population for the first time, or that it may have happened previously but is rapidly increasing in incident or geographic range. Whereas a re-emerging disease is a disease that has been present at a location in the past and was considered eradicated or controlled. Some emerging and re-emerging disease present today and in the past are, HIV and Aids, Ebola, Hendra Virus as emerging diseases and Malaria, Tuberculosis, and Cholera as re-emerging diseases. In this report the re-emerging disease ‘Poliomyelitis’ will be thoroughly investigated and from reliable research, the effectiveness of the management to prevent this disease in the world will be evaluated. Poliomyelitis, often called ‘polio’ or ‘infantile paralysis’ is an infectious disease caused by a virus. This dangerous infectious disease has been eradicated around the world except for three countries, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a respiratory tract infection characterized by a violent cough. The violent cough incudes a series of severe uncontrollable coughing, hacking, or whooping. (1) Pertussis is a very contagious disease caused by bacteria named Bordetella pertussis, which is transmitted through fluids from sneezing or coughing around a person’s breathing space. The bacteria release toxins, damage cilia, and cause airways to swell.
PD is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases that afflict about 1% of individuals over the age of 65 and its occurrence increases by age. Its symptoms are characterized typically by slow but progressive neurological and non-neurological disabilities such as tremor, memory problems, declining sense of smell, rigidity, drooling, and constipation. PD is also commonly associated with other psychiatric diseases e.g. depression, anxiety and psychosis.
Parkinson’s disease, a chronic, progressive, and neurodegenerative brain disorder affecting body movement, known to have no cure, yet has treatments that will help in managing the disease. This disease is named after James Parkinson, an English physician who described this illness. Approximately one million people in the United States are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (What is Parkinson’s, n.d.). This disease is identified to be slow in progression and symptoms of this will only worsen as time goes on. Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative disease (Simpson, Murray, & Eccles, 2010).
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is an uncommon, deteriorating, consistently fatal brain disorder that is caused by prions. The symptoms of CJD are similar of Alzheimer’s but progress much faster. There are three variations of CJD, sporadic, familial, and acquired. All variations affect the brain the same way and have the same result of death. CJD is an untreatable and incurable disease.
...kinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s.”7 This research is important for future generations and the millions of people who are diagnosed with these incurable diseases.
Clinical manifestations of pertussis in adolescents and adults are often less severe than in infants and children. If previously immunized, a prolonged cough may be the only symptom. Other symptoms may include sputum production, sweating episodes, and sore throat. Complications of pertussis can result in pneumonia or otitis media. A severe cough may contribute to urinary incontinence, rib fracture, lumbar strain, hernia, and rarely stroke, or seizure in relation to hypoxia (Cornia & Lipsky, 2017). Complications of pertussis may be more severe in the elderly, those with other comorbidities, or ones that are immunocompromised.