Biochemistry of Halloween: Installment 1

By Kristopher Hite

"A Candle in the Dark"

Teeth lengthened by receding gums glow in the shaded valleys of the Carpathian basin. The genetic milieu of the Visigoths, Huns, Carpians, and Slavic peoples have swirled over centuries as granite crags pushed populations into shallow gene pools. A ghoulish thing of legend emerged from Transylvania and has since soaked literature and pop-culture with a reddish froth. Science and medicine have given us reason not to fear for our necks in a story that is truly stranger than fiction...

The glowing teeth mentioned earlier occur because of an accumulation of light sensitive molecules called porphyrins in victims of a rare genetic disease. Porphyria affects one of the steps in heme production. A heme is the chemical group that holds iron atoms in their proper position in hemoglobin (the protein of blood). The name "porphyria" came from the Greek words for purple and pigment. Victims of this disease have an uncanny similarity to historical descriptions of vampires and phenotypes of this disease have been suggested as possible explanation for the origin of vampire legends.

Mal-formed porphyrin molecules accumulate in affected people's skin and teeth. When activated by light these molecules activate oxygen molecules into destructive radicals that can wreak havoc on surrounding tissue. When exposed to light individuals appear to be burned with caustic lesions left on their skin. Enter: Nosferatu's pale countenance shrieking in terror as the sun rises.

Though no blood-lust is reported by sufferers some historians speculate that drinking the blood of animals may have been attempted as a folk remedy in treating the disease. It has since been proven that the heme molecule is in fact robust enough to survive digestion indicating that replenishing mal-formed blood molecules by drinking blood may indeed help those that happen to exhibit anemia in conjunction with porphyria. When watching vampire movies the whole garlic premise never made any sense to me. Why couldn't you use mushrooms, or cinnamon, or toothbrushes to scare away vampires? What was it about garlic. With the Porphyria hypothesis in mind it makes sense however. Garlic has vasso-dilator chemicals and is reported to exacerbate the affects of porphyria. Sufferers may have learned to avoid it indeed!

In the genetically secluded valleys of Transylvania it is not hard to imagine disorders like these occurring more than expected in a diverse population. Before the renaissance and the spread of the scientific revolution a vampire myth may have grown from accounts of these individuals with their glowing long teeth, aversion to sun and garlic, and maybe even sucking blood in the night!

Thanks Nick for your help with this!!! stay tuned for the next installment of the Biochemistry of Halloween when we talk about Haitian Zombies!

Fashionable Science

from Nature 455 23 October 2008
Epigenetic (adjective.)

Helen Pearson

No one denies that epigenetics is fashionable: its usage in PubMed papers increased by more than tenfold between 1997 and 2007. And few deny that epigenetics is important. What they do disagree on is what it is.

“Epigenetics is a useful word if you don't know what's going on — if you do, you use something else.”

Adrian Bird

A lot of money can ride on whether a researcher is, or is not, studying epigenetics: the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) this month started handing out US$190 million as part of its epigenomics initiative and other countries are pouring funding into the area. (The NIH is careful to define the epigenetics it is paying for as including both heritable and non-heritable changes in gene activity, something that Ptashne describes as "a complete joke".) Bird says he remains in favour of a relaxed usage. "Epigenetics is a useful word if you don't know what's going on — if you do, you use something else," he says.

It's Alive!

"They are hunks of dead flesh sewn into the walking corpse of the Republican party"

A visit from Barack

A subtle point ringing out at the beginning

Palin vs Science

WOW!!!
The level of ignorance displayed here surpasses anything I have heard slip out of George W. Bush's mouth yet. Modern genetics is built on the work done on Drosophila Melanogaster aka "fruit flies." This is the same ignorance that perfuses so many minds attached to bodies that vote. The fear and ignorance on display here explain much of the reason the epidemic of evangelism has spread so fervently in the United States over the past several decades. A union of scientists should coalesce around this soundbite of stupidity and rally with all their might against Sarah Palin, I kid you not!



Yeah who cares about understanding the biochemical mechanisms of disease? If someone gets sick or is born with a congenital defect it was God's will. Right?

Who are these people and why do they have any political clout at all?
And what happened to Renaissance statesmen/women?

Thomas Jefferson once said "Science is my passion, politics my duty."
This philosophy is worth reviving!!!

See Keith's take on this.

Ferrell is back!!!

Obama to Speak in Fort Collins, CO Sunday October 26th

Mr.Obama will be in Fort Collins, Colorado this Sunday for a rally at the "oval" at Colorado State University. Admission is on a first come first served basis. The gates open at the corner of West and University Ave. at 1:30 PM. Mr Obama will speak at 3:30 PM. RSVP here.

Listen to Larry

"He sends shivers down my spine talking about that destruction and makes my eyes water. I love seeing old timers who you think would be set in their ways, a republican type, go against the government and protest to what they are allowing. I cant believe the government considers him a threat to national security! I am glad to see he is still out there educating people on what is going on in the environment as the government allows more and more coal extraction and development. That is not the long term solution at all. And since energy is a huge issue in this election, I hope to see his work pay off."
~Jo

My America

A special comment by Keith Olbermann


Also too see Jon's mathematical explanation of this phenomenon

What Tom Paine's Ghost is all about!

What this country needs is more free speech worth listening to.
- Hansell B. Duckett