The Hidden Dangers #2: Endocrine disruptors

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Well! Frankly, when we started this series, we didn’t know much about Endocrine disruptors. We thought we’d run you off a quick blog and disappear off down the pub to spiritually prepare for the Easter holidays. But when we opened up our first clicks, the whole thing was absolutely vast. We felt like that Spanish bloke Nuñez de Balboa who crossed a small ridge and suddenly found himself looking at the Pacific Ocean. So- how to summarise it?

An endocrine disruptor is a chemical which can insinuate itself into the human body in such a way that it interferes with your hormone driven functions. The trouble is that these chemicals have become incorporated into an unimaginably vast array of industrial and production processes. Our Chat GPT 4 gave the following cursory over view of the sorts of things we’re talking about and where they might be found:

Atrazine: A commonly used herbicide in crops like corn, sorghum, and sugarcane.
Bisphenol A (BPA): Found in plastics, food packaging, and toys.
Dioxins: Byproducts of manufacturing processes.
Perchlorate: An industrial chemical used in rockets and explosives.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): Used in firefighting foam and nonstick coatings.
Phthalates: Found in food packaging, cosmetics, and fragrances.
Phytoestrogens: Naturally occurring substances with hormone-like activity found in some plants.

If you really want to delve deeper, this report is about as good as it gets, thought you’ll probably need three weeks solid to take it all in [1]

And our take? The real trouble with things like smoking, burning fossil fuels or putting lead into petrol was that the downsides took so long to emerge. That and the fact that many of the residua of past follies are still lying around. The processes we saw above are so deeply woven into the fabric of our civilisation that its hard to say when any useful substitutions can be made, let alone eliminating them from things like the food chain.

[1]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2019/608866/IPOL_STU(2019)608866_EN.pdf

#endocrine disruptor #hormone #plastic #pollution #health #ecology

AI-designed Antibodies: Not another medical breakthrough story?

A 200X photomicrograph magnification of a direct by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Oh no, not another medical breakthrough story on LSS? What happened to all those cocktails? What about all the economics and evolution stuff we used to get? Yet let us remind you of the words of our Founding Charter,* gentle readers: this started out as an antibiotics website, even more so when it was a post on Facebook. Of course when supplementary techniques like bacteriophages and improved antibodies came along, we welcomed those too. Which is why we have to give this new report from Nature Briefings AI helps design antibodies from scratch, front and centre on today’s blog. When you read this, you will understand why

For the first time, an artificial intelligence (AI) system has helped researchers to design completely new antibodies. Creating new versions of these immune proteins, which can be used as drugs, is usually a lengthy and costly process. An AI algorithm similar to those of the image-generating tools Midjourney and DALL·E was trained on thousands of real-world structures of antibodies attached to their target proteins. It then churned out thousands of new antibodies that recognize certain bacterial, viral or cancer-related targets. Although in laboratory tests only about one in 100 designs worked as hoped, biochemist and study co-author Joseph Watson says that “it feels like quite a landmark moment”.Nature | 4 min read
Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)

Once again, we are at the start here. It’s still, at proof of concept stage, and awaits peer review. On the other hand, this is genuine landmark moment which people of the future will look back on. And whatever you are doing now as you read this, remember it. You were there on the day it happened.

a copy of the founding charter is still visible in the flowerbed round the side near the car park, the bit where all the smokers go. Actually, could we clean it up a bit?

Two amazing stories from genetics that woke us up this morning

One of our great pleasures in life is to stand amazed when someone does something amazingly clever. Especially when you get that feeling that what they did was there, waiting to be done, all along. Which is why we bring you two such stories, all gift wrapped up by the admirable Nature Briefings and BBC, for you to click on at your delight.

A Cure for HIV? Anyone who lived through the 1980s will recall the terrible ravages of the AIDS pandemic, caused of course by the HIV virus. Even if you were lucky enough to be in a low-risk group, we all knew someone or a local community organisation who suffered the ravages. Sad. Sad. Sad. Now that old friend of LSS, CRISPR gene editing may actually offer some hope towards the final elimination of the virus from our genomes. It’s early days yet, as both Michelle Roberts of the BBC and the researchers themselves say. Proof of concept and all that. Good, it’s better to be cautious. But if they can “snip” the HIV virus out of your cells, what else might not be achieved?[1]

Ghost DNA made us brainy Talking of embedded DNA, many a 1980s conversation concerned all that mysterious DNA lying around our genomes that didn’t seem to do anything (no, it was mainly about EastEnders-ed) Was it some of it ancient embedded viruses that attacked our ancestors long ago, in some forgotten Permian Pandemic? Well, get this from Nature Briefings, Virus Helped Brain Evolution

Remnants of an ancient viral infection are essential for producing myelin, a protein that insulates nerve fibres, in most vertebrates. Certain viruses insert DNA into the genetic material of the cells they invade. Sometimes, these insertions become permanent and even aid evolutionary processes. Myelin helps nerves to send electrical signals faster, grow longer and thinner so they can be packed in more efficiently. “As a result of myelin, brains became more complex and vertebrates became more diverse,” says stem-cell biologist and study co-author Robin Franklin.Science News | 6 min read
Reference: Cell paper

The implications are rather profound. The idea of the single autonomous gene line, the pure selfish individual at the core of your biological identity is rather compromised, isn’t it? What if the genetic “you” isn’t just “you,” but is you+some (rather random )free riders, who may or may not be helpful? That Natural Selection is acting on several of you at once. and may force you to cooperate? What price The Selfish Gene now?

[1]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68609297

#genetics #dna #rna #hiv #aids #myelin #evolution #CRISPR #medicine

The Hidden Dangers #1:tetraethyl lead

Here’s what lead can do to you:

_{6 mL of tetraethyllead is enough to induce severe lead poisoning.^[89] The hazards of TEL content are heightened due to the compound’s volatility and high lipophilicity, enabling it to easily cross the blood–brain barrier.}

_{Early symptoms of acute exposure to tetraethyllead can manifest as irritation of the eyes and skin, sneezing, fever, vomiting, and a metallic taste in the mouth. Later symptoms of acute TEL poisoning include pulmonary edema, anemia, ataxia, convulsions, severe weight loss, delirium, irritability, hallucinations, nightmares, fever, muscle and joint pain, swelling of the brain, coma, and damage to cardiovascular and renal organs.^[90] Chronic exposure to TEL can cause long-term negative effects such as memory loss, delayed reflexes, neurological problems, insomnia, tremors, psychosis, loss of attention, and an overall decrease in IQ and cognitive functio}n.^[91]

_{The carcinogenity of tetraethyllead is debatable. It is believed to harm the male reproductive system and cause birth defects.} (Wikipedia: Tetraethyl lead [1])

Like it? That’s just tetraethyl lead, Pb (C₂H₅)₄ The brute metal itself has been in use for millennia, and even the Romans knew that it was toxic. For a broader view, try the main Wikipedia article here [2]

Glad you clicked, because now you will know why strenuous efforts have been made to phase out lead from human technology for the last few decades. Admirable; but it leaves two big problems. It’s bad enough that all that lead is still out there in the soil, in the water, in the air, still poisoning us all. But it gets worse when you realise someone is still adding to the pile. Allow us to explain.

Some readers will recall the bright wheeze they had back in the 1920s of adding tetraethyl lead to petrol, as an anti-knocking agent for engines. It worked! The trouble was that the resulting cloud of lead covering the earth was so dangerous that eventually even a cynical world had to introduce measures which have reduced it. Except in one area: aviation. To quote Wikipedia once more

_{TEL remains an ingredient of 100 octane avgas for piston-engine aircraft. The current formulation of 100LL (low lead, blue) aviation gasoline contains 2.12 grams per US gallon (0.56 g/L) of TEL, half the amount of the previous 100/130 (green) octane avgas (at 4.24 grams per gallon),^[84] and twice as much as the 1 gram per gallon permitted in regular automotive leaded gasoline prior to 1988 and substantially greater than the allowed 0.001 grams per gallon in automotive unleaded gasoline sold in the United States today.^[85] The United States Environmental Protection Agency, FAA, and others are working on economically feasible replacements for leaded avgas, which still releases 100 tons of lead every year.^[86] Children living near airports servicing small (piston-engine) aircraft have measurably higher concentrations of lead in their blood.}^[87][1]

Now to us, there can be few pleasures more innocent or admirable than the sport of leisure flying. Exponents of it are personally known to us. But isn’t it time that they, and everyone else, urged their Governments to look for alternatives? And is it unfair to add the phrase “as early as possible”?

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead

#lead #soil #toxin #neurological disorder #pollution

Could your gut microbiome be making you anxious?

We always like intriguing new stories about health and biology here. That’s why we’ve showcased this item from Peter Hess of the Mail, Do you have Social Anxiety? Scientists Find the Condition lives in your gut. Peter reports some results from University College, Cork. Essentially, scientists there have transferred gut material from people with Social Anxiety to mice. And found that they have thereby induced significant changes in the nervous systems of those creatures: specifically, making them more prone to anxiety and fear [1]

The work is undoubtedly interesting, and it’s good journalism to write it up Especially when it’s one of our old tropes, in this case the relationship between the the digestive system and the nervous system (LSS 9 3 23 and passim). Is it the answer to all our woes? It’s too early to say.

Essentially, journalists report two types of science story. Definitive ones, which answer all the questions and close the subject down. Or intriguing ones on early research which opens a subject up and sets the questions for future researchers. It’s our gut feeling that this work belongs in the second category. For one thing, the numbers are small (12 people and 72 mice, if our maths is anywhere near correct) Good start, but we’d like to see replication across much larger numbers. And what is Social Anxiety Disorder anyhow? Psychiatric conditions are notoriously hard to define exactly. Could there be other causes of anxiety, such as war service or growing up with violent parents? They need to be controlled for.

It’s good work in an intriguing area, and we hope these researchers are given more time and money to pursue it. But we still wait and see for definitive conclusions.

[1]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13156095/social-anxiety-gut-scientists-treatment.html

[2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46986709

#diestive system #nervous system #health #anxiety

An apology to Dr Joseph Ladapo,and all our readers: now, will our staff please come in from the car park?

Croydon Tram by Peter Trimming is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

Today we published a blog which discussed the controversies around Dr Joseph Ladapo, [1]the Surgeon General of the State of Florida. We hope that the report was fair to both sides. Unfortunately, we committed one unforgiveable error. We got the name of poor Dr Ladapo slightly wrong, spelling it, for the most part, as Dr Lapado. We hope this oversight, this careless Spoonerism, will not cause unnecessary distress or anguish to Dr Ladapo, and undertake to be more careful in future. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there.

Upon learning of this very understandable error, nearly all the staff have walked out. They now occupy a position roughly between the car park and George Street. Moreover some reckless spirits among them have raised vulgar and garish placards, bearing simplistic slogans like: NO MORE MISTAKES AT LSS WE WANT TO WORK FOR A REPUTABLE BOSS and even PAY RISE NOW . This has excited unfavourable and ribald comments from passers by and has brought the company’s reputation even lower in Croydon. And it wasn’t very high after the Christmas Party.

Okay we’re sorry. It was the Board that got it wrong, not any of you lot. We know we’re paid a lot more than most of you, but that is the market rate for Company Directors. Obviously it’s very different to that for an average worker in ,say, IT, HR, telephone sales, or even comparable professions like nurses, teachers and delivery drivers. And the reason people like us get a lot more is because of the heavy burden of responsibilities we carry as the Directorial Classes. And this would be the same if we worked in, let’s see, a water company, the :Post Office or in a large Private bank, for example. And it’s because of all that work that mistakes creep in, like the one we made today. But look, you’ve made your point. Maybe we can look at new drinks machines and new chairs and tables. Maybe more money could be found to fix that leak in the third floor kitchen. But please come in. Please come back to work. We promise not to do it again. And be kinder and more considerate in the next pay round. Please?

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/03/florida-measles-outbreak-preventable

Florida’s Health Battle heats up

As if the US State of Florida didn’t have enough problems, what with coastline erosion and all that, it has now become the epicentre of of a mighty battle over public health, and who calls the shots over what is, and is not, scientific evidence. [1] This is how the two sides square up, according to Richard Luscombe of The Guardian

In the Red corner: Dr Joseph Lapado [2] Florida’s Surgeon General, whose principle back is State Governor Ron Di Santis, who, as older readers will recall, is a former Next President of the United States of America. In the Blue corner, most of what passes for orthodox medical and scientific opinion. And, before you take sides, gentle readers, note this. Dr Lapado is no unqualified quack, but an eminently learned and trained medical doctor. Who, as an immigrant from Nigeria had no doubt to fight more than his fair share of of prejudice before finding his way to a well-deserved place at the top. The trouble is that some of his opinions, are to say the least, controversial. As our sources report, huge storms are now swirling around his recommendations in matters concerning masks, vaccines the use of various medical and public health literature sources, and certain treatment methods [3] The outcome of many is still unresolved, we hasten to add. But, with Big Ron in your corner, does any of this matter? Everyone has a right to their opinion, as they say; maybe Dr Lapado’s is as good as anyone else’s?

The trouble with opinions is that they get get tested in fact. Now an outbreak of measles among the unvaccinated burghers of Florida is testing Dr Lapado’s practices and beliefs to destruction. And it’s not just matters of Life and Death, it’s more important than that. Florida’s economy depends more than most on tourism and real estate, and the guardians of that economy are beginning to realise this, as Richard notes:

Come for the Sunshine, Leave With the Measles, opined the Orlando Sentinel; “Measles? So On-brand for Florida’s Descent Into the 1950s”, was the take of the Tampa Bay Times.

Only time will tell who is correct, Dr Lapado or his detractors. . But we close with this thought. For a long time now- ten, twenty years-everyone has loudly, aggressively proclaimed their right to hold opinions Fair enough; but they cannot all be right. The one that really was right all along only emerges with the tests of fact and experience. Until they come along, a little humility might be in order for all of us. Otherwise that test might be very painful indeed.

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/03/florida-measles-outbreak-preventable

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ladapo

[3]https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/floridas-surgeon-general-urges-cvs-to-stock-leeches

# joseph lapado #ron di santis #vaccination #measles #florida #public health #empiricism#measles

Antibiotics: Why Keynes was good for your health

article of the week

Long, long ago, back in the 1940s, there was a set of beliefs called Keynesianism. It prized economic growth over financial targets and general welfare over the accumulation of vast quantities of lucre. Its prizing of State intervention and higher taxes won the Second World War, and led to thirty years of prosperity and technological advance. But it had its critics. And they had all the money, and therefore all the newspapers. Poor old Keynes was doomed.

Among the advances of those years of public-private partnership there were many advances. Computers and IT, semiconductors, aviation, space technology….but one has been forgotten. It was these years that Ernst Chain and others were able to take the discoveries of Alexander Fleming and turn them into the first generation of mass antibiotics. It was a revolution in health care. And, it has to be said a great reduction in human suffering. Yet enter the Free market Fundamentalists in 1979, and antibiotic development fell by the way. Why? There’s no money in it. And slowly resistance crept back, slowly at first until today, when we balance on the edge of another great pandemic.

But there is hope. Today Nature Briefings reveals that, by throwing out the profit motive, two exciting new antimicrobial drugs have been developed. Allow us to scrap this from Nature

Successful trials of two new antimicrobial drugs — zoliflodacin for drug-resistant gonorrhoea and an antifungal, fosravuconazole — were conducted by non-profit organizations that were founded specifically to bring such drugs to the market. Most legacy pharmaceutical firms have withdrawn from the field, and many of the small biotechnology companies that picked up the torch have gone bankrupt. These two latest achievements suggest that non-profits could help to solve the problem of drug access, while fending off the rise of drug-resistant microbes, which contribute to almost five million deaths per year.Nature | 10 min read

Now, there is a link there to a superb article by Maryn McKenna, which we honestly think you should read as well. But nothing so sums up the belief of this blog so fully. Wealth is about so many more things than just money.

#antibiotics #jm keynes #research #science #economics

Faith v Reason: Look at the results

We have two stories today, which if taken together, nicely illustrate the difference between Scientific Reason and Blind Faith.

CAR-T Therapy against Multiple sclerosis When we were young , Multiple Sclerosis was a dread disease, Slowly , understanding and therapies have evolved, and now as Nature Briefings explains, a powerful new method using the exciting new CAR-T system looks almost ready for large trials.

And we know how they did it The researchers looked at evidence. They designed and ran experiments . They discarded theories that the evidence showed was wrong. And eventually they came up with this, Engineered Cells for Multiple Sclerosis

The first US trials of CAR T cells to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) have started. These engineered cells could reset the malfunctioning immune system, halting the brain damage that defines MS. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but there’s a prospect here for a one-and-done therapy,” says neurologist Jeffrey Dunn, who is running a trial for Kyverna, a US biotech company. Safety is a concern because CAR T treatments can cause brain toxicity, which can result in confusion, seizures and death.Nature | 5 min read

Alabama Theocracy Over in the USA, the Faith-Based Folks of the Alabama Supreme Court have just outlawed IVF. You can read the full story from Robert Reich here [1] but a little of their motivation may be gleaned from the following

In a concurring opinion in last week’s Alabama supreme court decision, Alabama’s chief justice, Tom Parker, invoked the prophet Jeremiah, Genesis and the writings of 16th- and 17th-century theologians.

Today IVF….tomorrow.? Slowly, the tentacles of the Theocrats will close around every laboratory in the USA, banning this, forbidding that, until the US slips so far behind it can never catch up. It was by the Seventeenth Century trial of Galileo that the Catholic Church ensured its own eclipse by ensuring that thinkers fled to the Protestant lands of the north. Hitler found the same, ensuring that the best Jewish scientists fled to Allied countries, delivering their brains to his eventual defeat. That’s what happens when you discard evidence which the theory says is wrong.

Someone once observed that Knowledge and Belief are two different things. It can be hard to choose, we know. But if you need a little help, it may be worth looking at the outcomes of your choice. We can’t see the supreme court of Alabama coming up with a cure for disease any time soon. Nor will the Ayatollahs of Iran. But we hope the above evidence may help you, gentle reader, to support those who might.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/23/republicans-american-theocracy

#religion #theocracy #christian nationalism #iran #science #empiricism #science

Sexually Transmitted Diseases-new tools needed

The Renaissance brought us massive advances in learning. In Art, the Humanities, in Science and Trade, to name but a few. It also brought us a massive upswing in Sexually Transmitted Diseases. In Europe, Syphilis seems to have started among the troops of Charles VIII of France, who were besieging Naples in 1494. And spread like a forest fire in a drought thereafter. Gonorrhoea seems to have got its big break in the region of Les Clapiers in Paris around the middle of the sixteenth century. [1] Anyway, this wonderful link to Wikipedia will tell you all you want to know.

And STDs certainly haven’t gone away. In both the US and the UK, rates of syphilis have been rising drastically, as this article from the astute Jonathan Neal of the Daily Mail makes clear.[2] But instead of wringing his hands, Jonathan looks possible responses, and , as all good LSS readers will be cheered to discove , from an antibiotics perspective. As some of you will already know, our chief frontline weapon at the moment is doxycycline. Instead of a long course of post- infection antibiotics, why not hit ’em hard, the morning straight after, with a massive pill of the stuff? So say some experts. But there’s always a catch, as Jonathan points out. As you will have guessed, it’s our old friend antibiotic resistance. Which, according to Jonathan’s experts, is already climbing fast among gonorrhoea patients. So what is to be done?

For us at LSS, the conclusion is clear. All public health problems require a mosaic response. Public education, scientific resources, trained staff and above all someone to co-ordinate everyone else are vital. And in a deeper way , that’s true of a lot of other things. Syphilis, like climate change or migration, knows no nations and no borders. Anyone for a World Government?

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexually_transmitted_infection

[2]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13095693/This-STI-morning-pill-beat-rising-rates-potentially-life-threatening-syphilis-UK.html

#antibiotics #antibiotic resistance #syphilis #gonorrhoea #STD #public health #jonathan Neal