2000 International Show Breed Council MeetingFriday night of the International show, we held our traditional breed council meeting at 8:00 PM. Even being that late, there were some who did not get out of the show early enough to have dinner and make the meeting. We could order in Pizza or something and make this into a dinner meeting. Any suggestions? We covered three items:
Abyssinian Breed Council Lunch Announcement This year, we will, once again try an Abyssinian Breed Council lunch on Saturday afternoon June 23, 2001 at 12:00 PM. And is scheduled for 2 hours. The price is $20.00 per person, payable to CFA. Please make your reservations before June 15, 2001. The following is a tentative agenda for the meeting:
Mad Cow Cure?
Some of the most horrifying degenerative maladies, including mad cow, Alzheimer's, and Lou Gehrig's disease, share a similar underlying cause. These fatal scourges all work their mischief by smothering cells in agglomerations of misshapen proteins so tough that neither drugs nor the body's defenses can break them down. But two research teams of scientists say they have figured out how to do just that, paving the way toward treatments or even cures.
Biochemist Yair Argon of the University of Chicago has focused on a rare disorder called light-chain amyloidosis, in which malformed bits of antibodies- protein molecules that normally fight disease- form deadly plaques in the liver, heart, and kidneys. Argon found he could prevent the clumping by adding a second protein called a chaperone, which shepherds the misshapen antibodies to cellular garbage grinders. He and his colleagues then designed a small molecule that mimics the chaperone and showed that it can stop protein gobs from forming in the first place. Soon Argon hopes to begin trials to see if the mimic can prevent disease in mice.
Antonio Villaverde, a microbiologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has achieved similar results with microbes. Engineered bacteria, commonly used to produce insulin and other drugs, often go into genetic overdrive and create clumps of tangled protein like those associated with Alzheimer's. Villaverde found that chaperone proteins can pull apart those clumps as well, suggesting the chaperones may be effective against a wide range of protein-misfolding diseases. They could also squeeze more of the valuable drugs out of the bacteria. "We can apply chaperone-containing cell extracts to improve the production of whatever protein is wanted," Villaverde says. He has already patented the process. From June 2001 Issue of Discover Magazine.
Respectfully submitted
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