I brought up the possibility that multiple streptoccocal infections and their syndromes - rheumatic fever, strep throat, scarlet fever, St. Vitus Dance (chorea) and so forth might have led to indefinable other syndromes with odd symptoms. One of those I mentioned was MS (Multiple Sclerosis). Even in the early 21-st century, MS has a wide variety of symptoms, and many individuals go years without a diagnosis, though they suffer great and varying traumatic and dibilitating symptoms.
Here is a new study, and it clearly points to a virtual 100% certainty that many MS syndromes are environmental only. That is, a geographic region, or some other traumatic (an infection?) environmental impact causes this in one individual, but bypasses another - even when they are identical twins.
We don't know what plagued Lovecraft, nor did he, but it caused him great discomfort and long periods of seclusion and inactivity - though when it subsided he was gregarious and filled to the brim with energy. This appeared even in his early childhood, and became more pronouced as time went on culminating in poikilothermia.
One possibility, with some probability, is that multiple streptococcal infections between the ages of 6 and 19 caused him long term nervous systems stresses - and that these are currently incurable and reasonably elusive today, much less in his era.
Read on ...
DNA comparison of identical twins finds no silver bullet for MS
Research may point to environmental trigger
(Excerpts from a report by Tina Hesman Saey, Web edition Science News, Thursday, April 29th, 2010
A new study has come up empty-handed after pursuing a genetic explanation for why one identical twin developed multiple sclerosis while the other stayed healthy.
{The researchers did a genetic blueprint of a pair of identical twins.}
{The results appear in a report published April 29 in Nature.}
“We looked under a lot of rocks and we found no differences that we could replicate,” says Stephen Kingsmore, a geneticist at the National Center for Genome Resources in Santa Fe, N.M., and leader of the new study. The finding “points to some novel environmental trigger that must be very important to the disease. We don’t know what it is.”
{A technical exposition ensues, implying that a more obscure cell – a so-called B cell - may be implicated. These are responsible for the nervous system cell insulation.}
In multiple sclerosis the immune system attacks and damages the myelin sheath that helps speed electrical communication between nerves, the equivalent of scraping the coating away from an electrical wire. The damage may result in pain and symptoms such as loss of coordination and vision.
In the new study, a pair of female twins were studied. One of the women developed multiple sclerosis at age 30 while her twin remained healthy. The twins are now old enough that the healthy one is not likely to develop the disease.
The team also measured gene activity in three sets of identical twins, including the sisters who had their genomes sequenced. The researchers did find some minor differences, but none could explain why one twin got sick and the other didn’t.
Link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/58731/title/DNA_comparison_of_identical_twins_finds_no_silver_bullet_for_MS
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
More on Sabrina Prouty
This in from researcher and author, David Goudsward.
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Sabrina P. Prouty, daughter of John W. and Adelaide T. Prouty was born 7 May 1868.
Sabrina married Reverend Hazen Albert.Calhoun 3 Jun 1903.
David speculates ..."they met, I hypothesize, because Hazen was also night school teacher in the Providence School System before his ordination in 1900. Right after their marriage, Rev H.A. Calhoun was sent to North Stonington, CT and as is typical with ministerial postings, moved from parish to parish -Conway, MA , Groton VT, Norridgewock, ME, Stamford, VT and by the 1910 census, the Baptist minister and his wife had two children and were living in Bennington, Vermont."
He uncovered these other historical notes ...
1912-1917 found them in Nashua NH
1920 & 1930 census show the family in Woodstock, Connecticut where they put down permanent roots.
The Widow Sabrina P.(Prouty) Calhoun died in Woodstock, CT 17 Mar 1957
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For more on David ... click here!
_____
Sabrina P. Prouty, daughter of John W. and Adelaide T. Prouty was born 7 May 1868.
Sabrina married Reverend Hazen Albert.Calhoun 3 Jun 1903.
David speculates ..."they met, I hypothesize, because Hazen was also night school teacher in the Providence School System before his ordination in 1900. Right after their marriage, Rev H.A. Calhoun was sent to North Stonington, CT and as is typical with ministerial postings, moved from parish to parish -Conway, MA , Groton VT, Norridgewock, ME, Stamford, VT and by the 1910 census, the Baptist minister and his wife had two children and were living in Bennington, Vermont."
He uncovered these other historical notes ...
1912-1917 found them in Nashua NH
1920 & 1930 census show the family in Woodstock, Connecticut where they put down permanent roots.
The Widow Sabrina P.(Prouty) Calhoun died in Woodstock, CT 17 Mar 1957
_____
For more on David ... click here!
Monday, May 03, 2010
Meteor Impacts Jakarta: "Colours" Populace
Per press releases 3 May 2010
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Blast in East Jakarta Believed to Be Meteorite
_____
Police and astronomers are investigating Thursday’s blast from a falling object that damaged three homes in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta --- witnesses claim it was a meteorite strike.
Experts are combing the site, saying that while there was no conclusive proof the damage was caused by a meteorite, it was the most likely explanation.
One house was moderately damage and two adjoining properties suffered minor damage after blast on Jalan Delima II. There were no reported casualties.
No fragments of the projectile had yet been found but the deep crater in the floor of the house, the residual heat footprint and melted items pointed to a meteorite.
_____
The incident comes on the heels of the Lyrid meteor shower, which ended on Monday, but an expert ruled out any connection between the two. “It could, however, be part of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, which peaks on May 7 and 8,” he said. The phenomenon often begins in late April.
“Another possibility is that this wasn’t a meteorite at all, but man-made space debris like a satellite,” Evan said.
Police, meanwhile, are pursuing their own line of investigation. Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said the Densus 88 counterterrorism squad had been called in to search for possible traces of explosives.
_____
Last October, a mysterious explosion in Bone, South Sulawesi, was determined to have been a meteorite that hit the Earth’s atmosphere at a mind-boggling 20.3 kilometers per second.
According to Thomas Djamaluddin, head of atmospheric sciences and chief of astronomy research at Lapan, the blast released energy equal to about 50 kilotons of TNT, more than three times the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II.
A 9-year-old girl suffered a fatal cardiac arrest after hearing the explosion, and shock waves damaged homes in a village.
_____
Blast in East Jakarta Believed to Be Meteorite
_____
Police and astronomers are investigating Thursday’s blast from a falling object that damaged three homes in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta --- witnesses claim it was a meteorite strike.
Experts are combing the site, saying that while there was no conclusive proof the damage was caused by a meteorite, it was the most likely explanation.
One house was moderately damage and two adjoining properties suffered minor damage after blast on Jalan Delima II. There were no reported casualties.
No fragments of the projectile had yet been found but the deep crater in the floor of the house, the residual heat footprint and melted items pointed to a meteorite.
_____
The incident comes on the heels of the Lyrid meteor shower, which ended on Monday, but an expert ruled out any connection between the two. “It could, however, be part of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, which peaks on May 7 and 8,” he said. The phenomenon often begins in late April.
“Another possibility is that this wasn’t a meteorite at all, but man-made space debris like a satellite,” Evan said.
Police, meanwhile, are pursuing their own line of investigation. Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said the Densus 88 counterterrorism squad had been called in to search for possible traces of explosives.
_____
Last October, a mysterious explosion in Bone, South Sulawesi, was determined to have been a meteorite that hit the Earth’s atmosphere at a mind-boggling 20.3 kilometers per second.
According to Thomas Djamaluddin, head of atmospheric sciences and chief of astronomy research at Lapan, the blast released energy equal to about 50 kilotons of TNT, more than three times the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II.
A 9-year-old girl suffered a fatal cardiac arrest after hearing the explosion, and shock waves damaged homes in a village.
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