Wow! I learned a great deal about the evolution of hemochromatosis! I have heard of the bubonic plague and the devastating effects of it, but this is the first time I have heard that Hemochromatosis is the reason some people survived! Amazing, which leads to the first discussion on the author's quote, "Why would you take a pill that was guaranteed to kill you in 40 years?" What does this quote mean to you? Your discussion should include your knowledge of immunity and the information that was written about macrophages.
I also thought the discussion about cystic fibrosis and tuberculosis was fascinating. Cystic Fibrosis is a debilitating genetic disorder that causes mucus and other fluids to build up in the lungs and other organs of the body. Patients are on antibiotics for their entire lives as well as other medication to fight off infection. Discuss this and one other topic you found interesting.
Your post needs to be at least 2 paragraphs and you need to respond to another post in at least 1 paragraph.
This post is due on Sunday, February 3rd. Your next post on Ch. 2 will be due on Next Wednesday, February 6th.
I am looking forward to reading your thoughts.
Why would you take a pill that would kill you in 40 years? To me, you would do that because it would protect you from what is killing everyone else currently and what has killed many in the past. Like it says at the end of the chapter, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. It would allow your body to better develop antibodies and other such means to fight off infection now. You want to live the life you can live, even if it means that you'll die in 40 years as a result of a pill you are taking now.
ReplyDeleteNormal macrophages "Big Eaters" gather up infectious agents to protect the body, inadvertently giving these agents access to iron, which is what these infections, diseases, and cancers feed off of. In people with Hemochromatosis, their macrophages contain much less iron than normal, while all the other cells have too much iron. These macrophages picking up the infectious agents essentially starves the infection to death. Thus making Hemochromatosis a good and bad thing to have.
Cystic Fibrosis is the second most common genetic disease in Europeans. It is caused by a mutation in the CFTR gene; two copies of the mutated gene are needed to cause the disease. A person with only one copy is known as a carrier of Cystic Fibrosis. Most people with Cystic Fibrosis die young and usually from lung-related illnesses.
I also found the section on Bloodletting/Phlebotomy very interesting. Although it can be helpful as a source of temporary treatment, I do not think it can be used as a permanent treatment. Bloodletting clearly helps victims of Hemochromatosis because it releases some of the copious amounts of iron from your body, thus relieving some of the pain associated with the disease. It could also be bad, because the doctors did not stop draining the blood until the patient became dizzy and feinted. It let them know that they had taken enough blood. Bloodletting had to have been frowned upon in most societies. It was even suspected that George Washington possibly died as a result of shock caused by blood loss because the doctors conducted at least 4 bleedings in 24 hours. Bloodletting is one of the oldest medical practices on earth, and I believe that it is becoming more popular. It stated in the book, that they are experimenting with bloodletting as a source of treatment for heart disease. And i say why not?
I'm a bit ambivalent with phlebotomy but it seems to have worked somewhat as a temporary treatment. Phlebotomy kind of scares me as it may have caused many deaths in prior years, even the speculated death of George Washington. I think this definitely portrays the lack of intelligence people had back then and how far medicine has evolved, as there are a plethora of other treatments that have been made to cure the simplest of things to the most complex.
DeleteThis chapter contained an overwhelming overload of information for me, however I have learnt a great deal about the evolution of hemochromatosis, ancient medicinal rituals of bloodletting and iron's play in the body and the environment.
ReplyDelete"Why would you take a pill that was guaranteed to kill you in 40 years?" The quote is befuddling and ironic, as a pill's purpose is to prevent a disease from culminating and spreading, i.e preventing death, yet the quote questions if one would take a pill that will undoubtedly kill you in the latter years. My opinion on this statement is that it is better to take a pill that is guaranteed to kill you later, than now or tomorrow, as we want to prolong death as long as possible. Many people rather ''cross the bridge when (they) get there,'' in other words, procrastinating things- in this case, medical issues that are not so prevalent- can be thought and fussed about in another time.
''We're most vulnerable to infection where infection has a gateway to our bodies.'' Open wounds,
and openings of the body enables the body to be susceptible to infections however -thankfully- there are chelators that 'patrol' the openings and prevent iron molecules from being used. The body has it's own iron defense system, which consists of illness fighting proteins in the blood stream, as well as keeping iron locked away from microbial invaders. Ironically, the iron defense system can be at fault if it is 'on' permanently which thus leads to the diagnosis of hemochromatosis. The body continues to intake iron and most cells end up with too much iron, however some end up with a very small amount of it i.e macrophages. These macrophages fight infectious agents, microbes, etc, however those who do not have hemochromatosis have a downfault with their macrophages due to the excess iron it possesses which thus helps infectious agents to feed and multiply. If macrophages lack iron, they can isolate infectious agents and make them starve to death.
Cystic Fibrosis is a profound and abundant gene in the gene pool. Unlike hemochromatosis and anemia, it does not correlate to iron. Interestingly, carrying the gene of cystic fibrosis can offer some protection from the deadly disease, tuberculosis, which massacres and consumes the body from the inside out.
Something which definitely caused a spark in my reading was the fact that global warming could be inhibited in a fast, efficient way. As funny as it sounds, it gives me hope that we don't all melt to death or whatever the inevitable impacts of global warming may bring. If we 'dump' billions of tons of iron into the ocean, it can thus stimulate massive plant growth that will intake the bountiful amount of co2 from the air. The experiment they performed of this was successful as it transformed a patch of ocean near the Galapagos Islands from blue to a healthy green. The question I have to this is why don't we start doing this now?
I believe that we haven't started working on our global warming problem is because a lot of people think the issue can wait. They don't think that global warming is an actual problem, when it is. If we would dare to start dumping iron into the oceans, we would probably see cleaner air quite quickly.
DeleteWhy would you take a pill that was guaranteed to kill you in 40 years? As i first read this question, it puzzled me. Then it started to develop in my mind and I began to form an answer of my own human instinctive mind. I thought to myself, "I would take this pill, because the disease I'm taking this pill for may kill me next week if I don't. But if i take this pill, i will have a guaranteed 40 more years to live." This answer sounded good until I thought about, what if i stopped taking the pill and i lived longer than 40 years? Hmm.... I think this statement will make people think a lot, because it is so contradictory. Pills are substances that are supposed to help one's body to resist or fight off a disease, and essentially to help them live. If a pill is causing someone not to live, the pill is no good. Macrophage are white blood cells that protect the immune system. In Hemochromatosis, macrophages kind of play a good cop/bad cop sort of thing (to go with the metaphor in the book). Macrophages can cause infections to multiply and thrive (bad), while in people with Hemochromatosis their macrophages don't have much iron so infections cannot thrive (good).
ReplyDeleteCystic Fibrosis is a disease that causes excessive mucus in the body. This disease is caused by a gene called CFTR. Unless this gene has two copies, it will not cause the disease- which is good for people with only one copy! The disease is carried by approximately 2% of people of European descent.
I found the phlebotomy procedure interesting also. This procedure was very popular, and it was interesting how doctors would let the person bleed until they fainted. I think this might have caused a lot of deaths! Before reading this chapter, i had heard o doctors using leeches back in the day but i have never heard of them using shark teeth, sticks, and bow and arrows to relieve the blood.
What does this quote mean to you? Your discussion should include your knowledge of immunity and the information that was written about macrophages. The quote to me means that the pill is the other disease that is keeping the person alive from another one which the book was talking about during the time of the black plague. The people who had hemochromatosis survive the plague. This was because the plague attack people who had not as much iron in their body. This iron was like a second immune system for the person. What I am trying to say is that the hemochromatosis helped keep the person alive from the plague but will still kill them over time.
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