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Subject: Is TB the "real" Guru?
Posted by: Mike D
- Leader [041831612] Fri, Dec 07, 2007, 19:53
Evidence of TB Found in 500,000-Year-Old Fossil
Evidence of TB Found in 500,000-Year-Old Fossil
Finding contradicts belief that disease only emerged several thousands years ago
-- Robert Preidt
FRIDAY, Dec. 7 (HealthDay News) -- The oldest evidence of tuberculosis has been discovered in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey, a finding that contradicts the widely held belief that the disease emerged only several thousand years ago, according to a team of international researchers.
The discovery, made during investigation of the new specimen of the human species Homo erectus, lends support to the theory that dark-skinned people who migrated northward from low, tropical latitudes produced less vitamin D, which can have a negative effect on the immune system and the skeleton.
People with dark skin produce less vitamin D because the skin pigment blocks ultraviolet light from the sun.
"The production of vitamin D in the skin serves as one of the body's first lines of defense against a whole host of infections and diseases. Vitamin D deficiencies are implicated in hypertension, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer," John Kappelman, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the international team, said in a prepared statement.
This specimen, believed to be a male, had a series of small lesions etched into the bone of the cranium. The shape and the location of the lesions are characteristic of a form of TB that attacks the lining of the brain.
The findings are published in the Dec. 7 issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Before antibiotics were available, doctors prescribed plenty of sunshine and fresh air for TB patients.
"No one knew why sunshine was integral to the treatment, but it worked. Recent research suggests the flush of ultraviolet radiation jump-started the patients' immune systems by increasing the production of vitamin D, which helped to cure the disease," Kappelman said.
(Mike D's note----does this mean our very own TB is half a million years old? Is he the "real" Guru?) |
| 1 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 710321114
Mon, Dec 10, 2007, 23:17
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Evidence of TB is found all over these boards.
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| 2 | Ref
Donor
ID: 539581218
Tue, Dec 11, 2007, 15:30
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He is very old indeed. There have been documentaries about him. For instance there are pictures of him
in anchient times
as well as more modern times
But will always be known as...The Guru.
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| 3 | TB
ID: 111048300
Sat, Dec 15, 2007, 04:18
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I don't know how I missed this thread. I was out of town for a bit and have been busy lately, but you'd think I see a thread with TB in the title.
I guess using my initials as my handle isn't the best idea if I don't want to be compared to a disease, eh?
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| 4 | Mike D
Leader
ID: 041831612
Sat, Dec 15, 2007, 09:03
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When you've been around that long, and left your seed in so many places, well, you can't hide from it.
And we know you are really the TB Raiders brutha.
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Post a reply to this message: (But first, how about checking out this sponsor?)
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