HOSA State Study

Mutant

altered sequences of DNA (typos in code)

Rebels

aberrant proteins (people that bring code to life)

Invaders

unwelcome in brain (obstacles that block train tracks)

Evaders

not there when needed (fuel required to move train)

Dr. Friedrich Meischer

discovered DNA in pus

no one believed it

Scientists studied proteins instead

Dr. Oswald Avery

Tested how bacteria could adapt and pass down traits

Discovered that DNA had traits, not protein

How many nucleotides long is DNA?

over 3 billion nucleotides long

Huntington disease

involuntary movements and loss of voluntary movement

Creates protein that clogs brain cells

Medicine created to stop dangerous proteins from being synthesized

Nancy Wexler

Had a chance of Huntington disease

Researched how to find the gene

Cut up DNA like beads to compare

Tags

Used to find specific parts of the genome

Normal DNA (vs Huntington)

CAG repeat <35 times

Huntington DNA

CAG repeat 40+ times

La Bobera

early onset alzheimer’s in a family in Colombia

Largest cohort of people with familial alzheimer’s

Why did researchers want to study la bobera?

In their 40s so other diseases couldn’t affect research

Consistent decline

Dr. Alois Alzheimer

studied Auguste Deter

discovered Alzheimer’s disease

Camera Lucida

light-bending tool that reflected the images from a microscope onto a flat surface

Auguste Deter’s brain was..

a fraction of the size it should’ve been

Tangly substance and plaque in her neurons, way more than dementia patients

What was in Auguste’s neurons?

Tangly substance and plaque in her neurons, way more than dementia patients

Tubingen

university where DNA and Alzheimer’s were studied/discovered

Presenilin 1

gene that la bobera has mutated to cause alzheimers

(GAA → GCA)

Causes waste to not be able to be taken out of the brain

Chromosone 21

extra of this (down syndrome) almost all develop alzheimer’s

Piedrahita

first la bobera to survive alzheimer’s to age 70

Danny Goodman

died of frontotemporal dementia

became hypersexual

gave no privacy

Arnold Pick

german psychiatrist

Found that dementia could be focal and not just diffuse

Found different types of focal diseases

Anna Jirinec

left half of brain was 13% smaller

Left temporal lobe

mediates language

Focal processes

affect particular part of the brain (tumors and strokes)

Diffuse processes

attack the whole brain (senile dementia)

Picks Disease

frontotemporal dementia

Chromosome 17

GRN gene mutation for Pick’s disease, C instead of T

3 parts of proteins

albumin, fibrin, and gelatin (all contain nitrogen)

Proteins

cut, merge, transform other molecules and structural support and mediate cell division

Coup d'etat

proteins attacking our own brain cells

Lauren Kane

NMDA receptor encephalitis

antibody stuck to her NMDA receptor, caused similar effects to PCP

PCP: phenylcyclohexyl piperidine (aka sernyl)

affects limbic (emotional) system

Ovarian tumors are found in 50% of _____________ cases (⅕ have a relapse)

NMDA receptor antibody

Mike Bellows

whole body contractions and agitation

Dr. Grey McCarthy

discovered antibody that stuck to glycine receptors

Santiago Ramon y Cajal

discovered that nervous system wasn’t continuous (individual neurons)

Otto Loewi

discovered messenger molecules for long distances between neurons (neurotransmitters)

Neurotransmitters

adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin

Glycine

neurotransmitter that lets us relax

Kuru

mystery disease in Papua New Guinea, wilted neurons

laughing and tremors

Dr. Vincent Zigas

researched Kuru

Dr. Daniel Carleton Gajdusek

compared Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie and found they were all contagious

Joe Holloway

damaged brain tissue, died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

deadly, caused difficulty w/ movement, language, and behavior (people acted celebratory)

Alfons Maria Jakob

discovered Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

scrapie

causes sheep to scrape wool off

Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie

all were contagious, had microscopic similarities of Spongiform encephalopathies

Spongiform Encephalopathies

neurons melting away leaving spongy brain

Encephalopathy

derived from Greek work meaning “brain suffering”

Fore tribe

women and children ate brains of deceased (spread Kuru specifically in the tribe)

Once cannibalism stopped in fore tribe…

Kuru went extinct

Spongiform Encephalopathies had ____ traits

herculean (could survive heat/time/pressure)

Dr. Stanley Prusiner

sifted through brain and discovered protein that caused Spongiform encephalopathies

Prion

infectious proteins (all people have it but different shape between healthy and SE)

healthy prion

extends in stiff helices (stretched frozen slinkys)

unhealthy prions

unfolded helices and protein crumples onto itself (cause healthy prions to become SE to multiply)

SE diseases

mad cow disease (UK meat eaters), fatal familial insomnia (sleeplessness that causes death)

Dr. Sonia Vallabh

researching DNA-like molecule that could cure prions

small molecules

no more than 50x the size of a water molecule (can freely go in and out of cells)

Francois Magendie

he proved that what we eat is important (thought we just needed protein)

Casimir Funk

found deficiencies from missing molecules

Vitamine

vital + amine (arrangement of N and H atoms)

Why was E taken away from vitamine

not all vitamins have Nitrogen

Vitamin B12 deficiency

weight loss surgery or vegetarianism (smoldering confusion, limp limbs, difficulty sensing where the arms and legs are in space)

vitamin b6 deficiency

medications (seizures, dementia, confusion)

vitamin b1 deficiency

(false memories)

____ of all americans have a prescribed medication

half

___% of americans fill more than 5 prescriptions a month

12

__% of pescriptions are made of small molecules

90

biologics

medications made from proteins and DNA-like molecules

small molecules are…

more heat stable, simpler to purify, and easier to package in pills

Small molecules in medicines can have

bad side effects

Parkinson’s disease medication can cause

compulsive gambling

seizure medication can cause

word finding difficulties

abraham lincoln

rage caused by Blue Mass

blue mass

mercury (Hg) used as medicine

⅓ Hg by weight

Licorice root

Glycerol

Rose water

Honey

Hibiscus petals

Norbert Hisschhorn

he researched lincoln and the blue mass pills

First emperor of Qin dynasty died of __, resting side with rivers of _, not explored

Hg - mercury

Lewis and Clark

took thunderclappers, mercury deposits found from diarrhea

Calomel

mercury used for teething kids

“_ pints of saliva per day from Hg”

3

Mercury

Changes calcium levels of neurons making them fire when they shouldn’t

Some can change shape of neurons

Causes nervous system to sabotage itself

mercury given to children

wild behavioral changes, insomniacs, depression, hallucinations

year that less than 1% of calls to poison control were about mercury

2019

disease of celebrities

high levels of methylmercury from fish

arsenic

debunked medicine for leprosy, psoriasis, and malaria

gold

debunked medicine for tuberculosis

Lisa park

lost ability to walk well, began getting fake memories, alcoholic, low thiamine levels (34 nanomoles per liter)

She got the same medicine as Lauren Kane and Mike Bellows to stop toxic antibodies but it didn’t work

multiple neuritis

Dr. Sergei Sergeievich Korsakoff

researched multiple neuritis

Arkady Volkov

arms and legs weakened, couldn’t remember anything, fake memories, alcoholic

multiple neuritis

nerves between spine and limbs were destroyed so arms and legs had become weak, multiple bc affected lots of neurons throughout the body, caused by lack of thiamine

Korsakoff’s syndrome

strange cognitive profile that sometimes accompanies multiple neuritis, fake memories and memory loss

Christiaan Eijkman

studied multiple neuritis on chickens (got sick after eating only white rice and got better after brown rice)

Late 1800’s: outbreak of ____ in Dutch troops

18 men died a day

multiple neuritis

dedek

stuff taken out of brown rice to make white rice had nutrient

aneurin

anti-multiple neuritis product in brown rice, changed to thiamine bc of sulfur

Thio

greek word for sulfur