Yet another day, again without.

Other than that, today was pretty good. All due assignments in, and I actually paid attention in Chemistry and Social Studies.
Bagus. :D


The past few days, on the other hand, have been very ... unpleasant, i suppose. I don't know if it was just me, or if the people living in this house have been deliberately trying to irritate the life out of me. So much to the extent that I nearly displayed it. Mind you, that's a lot considering I've been trained to lock my frustration in and shut the hell up since before I can remember. No, not because it would be very impolite to do so, but because I'd be stupid to slam a door, roll my eyes, cry out in anger, whatever. Nope, wouldn't want that.

Anywaaaaay ..


“Mad cow” is an infectious disease in the brain of cattle. Humans who become infected, usually by eating tissue from diseased cattle, will die of a similar brain disease that may develop over many years.

Abnormal proteins called prions (PRE-ons) are found in brain tissue of diseased cattle. Prions eat away at the brain and create tiny spongelike holes in parts of the brain. These so-called spongy holes cause slow deterioration within the cattle brain, and eventually symptoms affecting the whole body. Death follows. The scientific name for mad cow disease in cattle is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (meaning sick brain) or BSE, meaning a sickness of the cow’s brain; when damaged brain tissue is viewed on a laboratory slide, it has a spongy appearance.

If humans eat diseased tissue from cattle, they may develop the human form of mad cow disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (Jacob! :o) disease (vCJD) or new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD). The disease was named after the researchers who first identified the classic condition. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in its classic form usually occurs in older people through an inherited tendency of the brain to change or spontaneously for no apparent reason. The type identified as occurring from eating diseased cattle occurs in younger people and has atypical clinical features, with prominent psychiatric or sensory symptoms at the time of clinical presentation and delayed onset of neurologic abnormalities. These neurologic abnormalities include ataxia within weeks or months, dementia (loss of memory and confusion) and myoclonus late in the illness, a duration of illness of at least 6 months, and a diffusely abnormal non-diagnostic electroencephalogram.
The transmissible agents that cause the disease in both cattle and humans are “prions.” Prions are not like bacteria or viruses that cause other infectious diseases; rather, they are infectious proteins.

Diseased prions are found in the brain, spinal cord, eye (in the retina), and other tissues of the nervous system of affected animals or humans. In addition, prions can be found outside the nervous system including the bone marrow, spleen, and lymph nodes. Low levels of prions may also be found in blood.

Prions are highly resistant to heat, ultraviolet light, radiation, and disinfectants that normally kill viruses and bacteria. Prions may infect humans who eat meat from infected cattle. Even cooking meat infected with BSE does not eliminate the prions or the risk.

Once infection occurs, there is a long incubation period that typically lasts several years. When prions reach a critical level in the brain, symptoms such as depression, difficulty walking, and dementia occur and progress rapidly.

Scientists believe that BSE is transmitted from animals to humans when humans eat meat from infected animals. The content of infected brain tissue may be higher in some food products than others, and it may also depend on the way the animal was slaughtered. BSE can be transmitted from one human to another through cannibalism or through transplantation of infected tissue.

Infected adult cattle may develop signs of the disease slowly. It may take from 2 to 8 years from the time an animal becomes infected until it first shows signs of disease. Symptoms in the animal include a change in attitude and behavior, gradual uncoordinated movements, trouble standing and walking, weight loss despite having an appetite, and decreased milk production. Eventually the animal dies. From the onset of symptoms, the animal deteriorates until it either dies or is destroyed (cattle who cannot stand are called “downers”). This disease process may take from 2 weeks to 6 months.


Similar symptoms may develop in humans: muscle spasms, lack of muscle control, worsening problems with memory.


Researchers looked at the first 100 people to develop vCJD in the United Kingdom and found psychiatric symptoms in early stages of the disease. These included depression, withdrawal, anxiety, and trouble sleeping. Within 4 months of the disease onset, those affected developed poor memory and an unsteady gait.


There.
Noodles, poodles.



I know you didn't bring me out here to drown.
So why am I ten feet under and upside down?