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Trail:
Ultra Violet
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Scientific
papers - Ultra Violet - page 3
COLORADO CLUSTER OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE IN CERVIDAE
Along a 100-mile stretch of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in N.
Colorado, 7% of the deer and 2% of the elk are affected with the TSE
chronic wasting disease (CWD) (21,22). Cervidae are overstocked in this
region around the Rocky Mountain National Park and Fort Collins, and,
according to local ranchers and wildlife wardens, the deer have acquired
a taste for consuming pine needles as a dietary replacement for their
meagre food supply. Toxic levels of Mn have been recorded at levels up
to 1886 p.p.m. in the pine needles of this region (23) and more
generally in soil matrices (4), which could be related to the increased
acidification of rainfall falling along the Front Range rainbelt zone
(24) as a result of airborne pollutants arising from the nearbye Denver
industrial conurbations to the south-east (25). These pollutants are
widely recognized to blow onto the Front Range ridges via the prevailing
air currents, whereby the warm air is forced to rise up the foothills
and rapidly cool - the pollutant particulates falling back to earth in
the rainfall. Increased soil acidity unlocks certain soil cations, such
as Mn and aluminium (AI), rendering them more available for uptake into
the vegetation horizon above (26)
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SPORADIC / FAMILIAL CJD CLUSTERS IN SLOVAKIA
Sporadic/Familial CJD runs at a high 1 per 1000 head incidence rate
amongst the residents of a group of neigh- bouring villages (Zuberec,
Malatina, etc.) on the western slopes of the High Tatra mountains in
Slovakia (27-29). Scrapie is also known to affect the local sheep flocks
(30). Analysis has identified toxic levels of Mn in various plant
matrices and human hair throughout the CJD endemic environment in
relation to adjoining CJD-free controls (4). The CJD foci lie approx 10
km downwind of several ferromanganese and a television component plants
sited along the Orava valley (4). Emissions were largely unregulated
during the Communist era, which resulted in serious 'die back' of the
local pine trees - particularly prevalent around the villages affected
by CJD (unpublished survey by V1adimira Popikova). Mn was recorded at
951 p.p.m. in pine needles of the CJD endemic environs and only 59 p.p.m.
in adjoining CjD-free locality (4). Popikova's survey in the
economically deprived vicinity of Zuberec revealed a unique dietary
custom involving the consumption of pine needles as the key ingredient
of a home-made 'syrup' and 'tea' *
Interestingly, two CJD cases contained within a cluster of six cases in
Burlington, Ontario, Canada (3 1) were immigrants who had originated
from the Orava CJD cluster region of Slovakia. Burlington is commonly
referred to as 'Steel City' because of the prevalence of steel factories
in that vicinity.
SCRAPIE CLUSTERS IN SHEEP FLOCKS OF N. ICELAND
The highest international incidence rate of scrapie can be found in
sheep flocks (up to 90% scrapie-affected) which chiefly reside in
certain wetter valleys of N. Iceland around Akureyri (32,33). A
consistent 2.5 times higher concentration of Mn (200 mg/kg on average)
was recorded in the pasture herbage of the scrapie endem ic valleys in
relation to the scrapie-free valleys (80 mg/kg on average) (4).
Mn was presumed to originate from emissions of nearby volcanic eruptions
which contaminated herbage 'down wind', whilst the acidic fallout from
the eruptions would assist in unlocking the availability of soil Mn.
However, the greatly reduced levels of available Mn recorded in the soil
in relation to the herbage indicated that Mn contamination originated
from an airborne/precipitation route (4).
CJD CLUSTER IN A RURAL HAMLET IN CALABRIA, S. ITALY
Since 1995, a cluster of 20 cases of CJD has erupted amongst a community
of rare TSE-susceptible Greek-Italian genotypes who reside in a hamlet
(142 000 M2) located in the south of Calabria in Italy (34). The
majority of these cases involved part-time small farmers who also worked
locally at a railway train/ carriage repair factory where arc-welding of
manganese enriched steel is carried out. This type of occupational
exposure provides a well-known avenue of exposure to substantial doses
of airborne Mn (35), where the metal can be absorbed directly into the
brain via the inhalatory-nasal-olfactory route (36)
Fig. 3 The increased manganese contamination and hyperoxidative assault
of the UK bovine; the aetiological template underpinning the
pathogenesis of new strain TSE-BSE.?
Other CJD victims had worked at a clothing factory where various
chemical dyes containing manganese and other metals are handled.
Cultivation and ingestion of significant quantities of Mn-rich bergamot
oranges and cacti fruit is practised exclusively in this precise region
of Italy. The very poor socioeconomic status of this Greek-Italian
community has lead them to opportunistically ingest unusually large
amounts of these local foods. Soils sampled from the CJD victims'
gardens demonstrated high Mn (71 mg/L) and very low Cu (1.7 mg/L) (Table
1).
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