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Cause of
M.E. found?
THIS UNIVERSE Trends
Long-term monkey tests back Oxford’s gene therapy |
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Cause of
M.E. found? Scientists say they have made a dramatic breakthrough in understanding the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome – a debilitating condition affecting 2,50,000 people in Britain which for decades has defied a rational medical explanation. The researchers have discovered a strong link between chronic fatigue syndrome, which is sometimes known as ME or myalgic encephalomyelitis, and an obscure retrovirus related to a group of viruses found to infect mice. Although the published data falls short of proving a definitive cause-and-effect, one of the scientists behind the study said last night that she was confident that further unpublished data she had gathered over the past few weeks implicated the retrovirus as an important and perhaps sole cause of the condition. Chronic fatigue syndrome has blighted the lives of an estimated 17 million people worldwide because its symptoms, long-term tiredness and aching limbs, do not go away with sleep or rest. Famous sufferers have included the author and yachtswoman Clare Francis, the film director Lord Puttnam, the pop singer Suzanne Shaw and the Labour politician Yvette Cooper, who has made a full recovery. The condition initially generated much controversy in the 1980s, when it was known as “yuppie flu”, because some medical authorities even doubted whether it was a genuine physical illness. In the absence of a proven cause, many scientists have questioned whether there could ever be one reason behind so many different symptoms, so the latest research showing a strong link to a single virus has generated intense excitement among experts. The study, published in the journal Science, shows that the virus, called murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV), was found in 68 of 101 patients from around the US with chronic fatigue syndrome. This compared with just eight of 218 healthy “controls” drawn at random from the same parts of the US, the scientists said. But the senior author of the study, Judy Mikovits, director of research at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, Nevada, said further blood tests have revealed that more than 95 per cent of patients with the syndrome have antibodies to the virus – indicating they have been infected with XMRV, which can lie dormant within a patient’s DNA. “With those numbers, I would say, yes we’ve found the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. We also have data showing that the virus attacks the human immune system,” said Dr Mikovits. She is testing a further 500 blood samples gathered from chronic fatigue patients diagnosed in London. “The same percentages are holding up,” she said. If the findings are replicated by other groups and the XMRV virus is accepted as a cause of chronic fatigue syndrome then it could be possible to treat patients with antivirals, just like treating HIV, or to develop a vaccine against the virus to protect people from developing the condition, said Dr Mikovits. “We now have compelling proof that a retrovirus named XMRV is present in more than two-thirds of patient samples with chronic fatigue syndrome. This finding could be a major step in the discovery of vital treatment options for millions of patients,” she said. The genetic structure of the XMRV virus indicates that it has evolved from a similar virus found in wild field mice. Dr Mikovits suggested it could have jumped the “species barrier” from mouse to man like many other human viruses, such as HIV, another retrovirus, which is thought to have infected humans from monkeys or apes. XMRV was originally found in men suffering from prostate cancer and it was this discovery that led Dr Mikovits and her collaborators at the US National Institutes of Health to test blood samples stored from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. “The discovery of XMRV in two major diseases, prostate cancer and now chronic fatigue syndrome, is very exciting. If cause-and-effect is established, there would be a new opportunity for prevention and treatment of these diseases,” said Professor Robert Silverman, of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who worked on the fatigue syndrome study. However, other researchers emphasised that the numbers published so far are too small to conclude anything about the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. “It’s spectacular but needs replication. And I hope that no one is thinking of prescribing anti-retrovirals on the basis of this,” said Simon Wessely, professor of psychological medicine at King’s College London. “It’s very preliminary and there no evidence to say this is relevant to the vast majority of people in the UK with the condition.” —By arrangement with
The Independent |
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THIS UNIVERSE According to Big Bang Theory, matter was condensed to the size of a dot. As the matter had very high density, it would consist of neutrons and protons only. If so, then how did electrons originate? If man develops a technique to trigger “cloud bursts” then it can be used as a deadly weapon causing large scale destruction without any pollution. Can this be done? Let me try to briefly answer both your questions. Firstly about the problem of existence of atoms at the moment of the Big Bang. I do not think any one talks of existence of atoms or molecules at that moment. Indeed you might even question the individual existence of nucleons at that time. Matter as we know it is believed to be a much later happening. You can think of it as exceedingly hot glue with all its possibilities coexisting as interacting potentialities. These potentialities could come into recognisable entities as expansion proceeds and temperature reduced. Even some low mass nuclei like deuteron, helium 3, and tritium could be produced before the glue cools and the density reduced. Stable atoms became possible only after temperature of the fireball falls below a few thousand degrees Kelvin. The picture I have attempted to sketch in the above few lines is only indicative and still under much discussion. One of the happy consequences of this is that one can obtain almost the correct ration of helium to hydrogen ratio in the Universe. Your second question lies in completely unconnected territory. The popular phrase “cloud burst” gives the impression that there might be clouds that are like large reservoirs or lakes of water somehow dammed up in the sky and something suddenly breaks the dam to cause a deluge on the ground. It should be clear that this picturesque way of describing bouts of very heavy rain is not literally viable. Our atmosphere during unusual conditions can be very unstable. A large number of avenues of resolving instabilities can present themselves and catastrophic paths can often be taken. I believe a sudden convection of a large mass of moist air is one of the likely events that might manifest itself as a 'cloud burst". I am sure atmospheric science, using better observation possibilities could warn us about such impending cloud bursts. It may not be beyond human capability to chose periods of potential instability and introduce triggers that might result in catastrophic rain or “cloud bursts”. That could take some doing and the potential aggressor will have to be mindful that a hazard intended for the enemy does not become a catastrophe for oneself.
Readers wanting to ask Prof Yash Pal a question can e-mail him at palyash.pal@gmail.com |
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Trends FRANKFURT: Google plans to launch an online store for electronic books in the first half of next year, offering about half a million books initially in partnership with publishers with whom it already cooperates. The Web search giant said on Thursday it expected to have between 4,00,000 and 6,00,000 ebooks at launch, which could be bought either from Google directly or from other online stores such as Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com. Google's offering will provide strong competition to Amazon's Kindle, the world's most
popular ereader. Unlike ebooks purchased for the Kindle, those bought from Google or its publisher partners will be accessible from any device with a Web browser, including PCs, laptops, netbooks, smartphones and some ereaders. The device need not be connected in order to read the book, after it has been accessed once. “We're not focused on a dedicated ereader or device of any kind,” Tom Turvey, Google's director of strategic partnerships, told journalists at the Frankfurt Book Fair. —
Reuters
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Long-term monkey tests back Oxford’s gene therapy
LONDON: Long-term tests on monkeys using Oxford BioMedica's gene therapy ProSavin suggest it can treat Parkinson's disease without causing the jerky, involuntary movements associated with current drugs, researchers said recently. Parkinson's is caused by lack of the brain chemical dopamine. Standard treatment involves oral drugs that briefly raise dopamine levels-but levels of the chemical still remain unstable, leading to a movement disorder called dyskinesias. — Reuters |
