Auto Immune Diseases and Michael Jackson

I consider a 14ct gold-lined coffin to be an obscenity.

However, if I may say a word or two about the late Michael Jackson's medical condition.

You can research for yourself - it's not well-publicised and little-known, but in several interviews by Mr Jackson and some of his medical team, it was openly admitted that he had two auto-immune diseases, both 4 times more common in African-Americans than Whites.

The first is Vitiligo. This is a condition where the body's immune system attacks the melanin-producing cells in the skin. In mild conditions, the patient ends up with albino-white spots and blotches. In the usual case, the patient ends up looking piebald, like an apaloosa horse, or if African-American, a Jersey cow. In severe cases though, the patient ends up looking like a Dalmation: ghostly white, with some irregular dark spots.

The best cosmetic result in such a case is to try to even out the irregularity with cosmetics, slightly darkening the ghostly palor, and bleaching the dark areas so they don't stand out too much.

A patient with mild vitiligo might look like this:


A patient with moderate to severe vitiligo - with and without makeup - might look like this:


A patient with severe vitiligo, with some of the makeup having worn off during the workday, might look like this:


Sufferers from severe vitiligo get severe sunburn even from reflected sunlight, as do albinos. They wear concealing clothing, gloves, wide-brimmed hats, and dark glasses. They may also have to wear surgical masks, and if visiting the middle east, the most practical clothing resembles a woman's burqa, with 100% coverage.



Sound familiar?

Another auto-immune disease, often associated with vitilis, is lupus. This devastating condition happens when the body's auto-immune response attacks its own connective tissues. This is episodic, and can leave the sufferer in agony, with severe joint inflamation so bad they have to be wheeled around in a wheelchair. Chronic cutaneous lupus also attacks the skin, causing lesions which need numerous episodes of plastic surgery to avoid severe disfigurement.



Again, sound familiar?

A typical patient with vitilis during a lupus flare-up might look something like this:


Since 1986, Mr Jackson had lived a life of increasing pain: unable to tolerate direct or even indirect sunlight, and subject to crippling bouts of agony that required strong painkillers to relieve. Such a situation would prematurely age anyone, makjing them look more like 70 than 50.


One more thing about lupus - it causes damage to the veins and arteries, causing low density cholesterol plaque to stick and block them. It is very common for lupus sufferers to have asymptomatic heart disease, and suffer sudden cardiac arrest without warning in their 40's and 50's.

Again, all these facts are no secret, just not publicised. It didn't fit the image.

HSU Ethics Presentation

Here is a powerpoint presentation by Loren Cannon of Humboldt University, on the subject of Ethics, and those who don't fit into society's arbitrary categories.

The Story of Sandra Laing

* Born in Apartheid South Africa of White Parents.
* Was designated white at birth, but was reclassified as “coloured” just after being expelled from her all white elementary school

Which led to some interesting legal problems...

* “…If Sandra remains ‘Coloured’ does it mean she will have to be registered as a servant in order to live with us?” [Mr. Laing] added. “Or must she move away into a location? Will we be breaking the law if we take Sandra into a tearoom or a cinema, or take her on a train journey with us? And who would Sandra be allowed to marry?”

As well as some real Junk Science trying to coerce reality into fitting a socially constructed model:

These tests included measurements of the nose, nostrils, and cheekbones, and an expert analysis of hair texture. The latter often included the ‘pencil test.’ It was thought that a white person’s hair is not so curly to hold a pencil, whereas a coloured person’s hair could. There were gradations of skin color to be measured in various places of the body including the fingernails and the eyelids; earlobes were squeezed to determine their degree of softness. (It was thought that Black person’s earlobes were softer than others.) Individuals challenging their racial classification before the board would also be asked what they had for breakfast (it was thought only blacks would eat mealie or cornmeal porridge), how they slept on a bed, and what sport they enjoyed (blacks were thought to favor soccer while coloured favored rugby).

Of course such a ridiculous, not to say inhuman, situation could never happen again. Or could it? How about these tests, described in Brain, Child :

The tests--many still used today--strike Burke as Orwellian. In one, a child being tested is asked to draw the figure of a person. Girls who draw boys first, predominately, or in positions of power and strength, are suspect, as are boys who draw princesses or mommies. The Barlow Gender-Specific Motor Behavior test examines such things as how far from the back of a chair a seated child's buttocks are--farther is "masculine," closer is "feminine." All the precision of science was applied in developing these tests to measure such things as the angle between the wrist and the hand, how often a child touched his or her hands together in front of his or her body, and how far the hips swayed as the child walked across the room. Especially damning for boys was a lack of hand-eye coordination.

Any resemblance between the two situations is strictly coincidental of course.

I'm a Software Engineer, so I'm reminded of some of the problems I come across in trying to fit a complicated reality into a necessarily over-simplified model. Things which may seem Bizarre are OK, as long as they work. From Description Is Our Business Keynote Address at the VDM Conference on Formal Development Methods 1991:

What counts as a dog?

A cartoon from Punch, printed in 1869, expounds the essence of the solution to this last question at least. A railway passenger, intending to travel with a collection of pet animals, has enquired about the fares to be charged for her pets. The porter is explaining to her how the formalism of the railway company's fare rules is to be applied in this case.

"Station master say, Mum, as Cats is Dogs, and Rabbits is Dogs, and so's Parrots; but this 'ere Tortoise is an Insect, so there ain't no charge for it!"

Whether Parrots are counted as Dogs or not (solely for the purposes of rail travel) is one thing. It's when the absurdities are used to justify cruelty that we get real problems. We often get such issues when the practicalities get ignored in favour of some irrational ideal. When philosophical correctness is valued more highly than whether something works or not. For example, my UK passport says F for female. My UK Birth Certificate says "boy", so it's not even consistent in the same jurisdiction. Others in similar situations face a knotty tangle of inconsistent and often cruel and inhuman laws with equally ridiculous outcomes.

Getting back to the Cannon powerpoint presentation:

“Taking this situation to its logical conclusion, Mrs. Littleton, while in San Antonio, Texas, is a male and has a void marriage; as she travels to Houston, Texas, and enters federal property, she is female and a widow; upon traveling to Kentucky she is female and a widow; but, upon entering Ohio, she is once again male and prohibited from marriage; entering Connecticut, she is again female and may marry; if her travel takes her north to Vermont, she is male and may marry a female; if instead she travels south to New Jersey, she may marry a male.”

Trying to determine "race" based on softness or otherwise of earlobes makes exactly as much sense as trying to determine sex on the basis of chromosomes.

* Between the years of 1950 and 1966 there were 267,541 individuals who could not be adequately categorized by the apartheid system of racial categorization.
* Estimates for Transgender persons in US
o 97,142 – 301,140 persons.
* Estimates of those with intersex condition
o 150,570 – 200,760 persons

Actually, I'd put the latter figure much higher: from 300,000 to 5 million, depending on the exact definition, and whether obviously symptomatic or not. But the principle's correct.

When faced with a reality that doesn't match the model, the key is to be kind. Not to allow a philosophical ideal to get in the way of common human decency.

Constellation is looking Increasingly Shaky

The news about the Constellation program, comprised of the Ares-1 booster and Orion spacecraft just keeps on getting worse.
From NASA Spaceflight.com :

...Ares I-X has four major issues - one of which relates to the continually slipping launch date, and three related to technical issues. Levels of ‘risk’ range from the smallest on the 25 box risk matrix, noted as 1×1 (GREEN), to the highest, seen as 5×5 (RED) - which list the ‘Likelihood’ the issue would occur x severity of ‘Consequence’ such an issue would have on the vehicle.

Interestingly, Thrust Oscillation (TO), even on the Ares I-X four segment - as opposed to the well know issues with the Ares I five segment - first stage dominates Ares I-X’s Top Risks findings.

This is despite warnings from the Ares I-X Chief Engineer over a year ago - as reported by this site - that TO and vibro-acoustic effects on the vehicle’s Flight Termination System (FTS) required mitigation.

“Requirement: FTS Range frequency - using current Air Force waiver. FTS Components environments exceeded at T+110 seconds - end of burn (Thrust Oscillation condition),” wrote the Chief Engineer on his expansive presentation (available on L2) to the Ares I-X System Critical Design Review (CDR) Phase II meeting in June, 2008.

Yet on the June 22, 2009 “Top Risk” review, “Thrust Oscillation and its affects on the Flight Termination System (Range Safety),” is classed as a 4×5 risk, showing it’s actually increased as a concern.

That increase is related to the time of ascent where TO’s effects on the vehicle’s FTS exceeds rated vibrational input levels, now deemed as starting around T+70 seconds - not T+110 seconds - into flight.

This in turn has placed pressure on obtaining the required Air Force waiver for the range, without which, Ares I-X would not be allowed to launch.

Another waiver will be required on the second “Top Risk” - related to Thrust Oscillation effects on the first stage TVC (Thrust Vector Control) electronics, used to gimble the solid rocket motor’s nozzle during steering commands. This risk, which is listed as 3×5, makes its debut on the Top Risk list.

However, a waiver on this issue is understood to be less of a problem to acquire, due to the knowledge of the “stock shuttle legacy SRB TVC system”, which Ares I-X will be using.

The biggest risk, a 5×5 risk, relates to the “vibro-acoustic environment input to Upper Stage Simulator (USS) exceeding structural margins.”

Very little is noted on this problem, although a recommendation that the USS should receive additional bracing to carry the higher than anticipated loads is noted as an avenue of mitigation. It is not known if that work has already been added to Ares I-X’s processing flow, although no reference has been made on the daily processing notes.

So what does this mean, in simple terms?

That the thing will currently shake itself so badly that it may not work, unless something is done about it. And that "something" will involve extra weight, so much so that it may not work anyway.

Having an unresolved 5x5 risk at this stage of the game is a sign that the whole thing's a mess: because as development goes on, more risks will be found, things we can't predict accurately, just anticipate and plan for by providing safety-margins. The ones originally planned for have all been eaten up, and so now we're de-scoping, winding back requirements, so the thing will do less.

Ares I can launch the ISS version of Orion, thanks to a series of mass stripping exercises - notably the ZBV (Zero Based Vehicle) effort. However, the Lunar Orion’s mass properties - again based on Ares I’s performance capability - is a major challenge, seeing its “score card” mass properties between Orion 606-E (December 2008) and Orion 606-G (May 2009) grow into a RED risk for the program.

Solutions will need to be sought throughout all of the major components on Orion; with the LAS (Launch Abort System), CM (Crew Module), SM (Service Module) and Jettisoned Spacecraft Adapter (SAJ) all trending up in mass - which includes the breaching of the “managers reserves”, set aside for mass growth margins.

Orion is also suffering from problems with its electric power generation and storage margins, which is threatening a redesign of the vehicle’s Solar Arrays/Panels.

According to documentation, the required margins on the ability for the solar panels to generate enough power for storage in the vehicle’s batteries - for use during the Lunar Orion’s flight out of sunlight - is short by 22 percent.

The solutions to this problem would require either an increase in the size of Orion’s solar wings and/or additional battery storage capacity - with both options adding yet more mass to the vehicle. The ISS Orion’s electric power generation and storage margins are understood to be within requirements.
...
Constellation’s management are taking the crew reduction a stage further, by changing Orion’s capability from 0-6 crew (unmanned capability) to 2-4 crew - with a contingency of no less than one crewmember being able to fly the vehicle. Such a change eliminates Orion’s ability to fly unmanned, which could have been utilized in a number of scenarios.

So now instead of being able to carry a crew of 6, and operate with no crew at all, it can carry at most 4, and will need 1 to re-enter.

I've never been optimistic about the Ares Booster, but I wish my predictions weren't being born out by reality. That's engineering though.

Another Part of the Puzzle

We now have even more evidence that hormonal environment in the womb, and chromosomal complexes play parallel but distinct roles in somatic development. And part of that somatic development is the development of gender, as opposed to just genitalia.

Disorders of sex development expose transcriptional autonomy of genetic sex and androgen-programmed hormonal sex in human blood leukocytes : Paul-Martin Holterhus, Jan-Hendrik Bebermeier, Ralf Werner, Janos Demeter, Annette Richter-Unruh, Gunnar Cario, Mahesh Appari, Reiner Siebert, Felix Riepe, James D Brooks and Olaf Hiort BMC Genomics 2009, 10:292

Gender appears to be determined by independent programs controlled by the sex-chromosomes and by androgen-dependent programming during embryonic development. To enable experimental dissection of these components in the human, we performed genome-wide profiling of the transcriptomes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with rare defined "disorders of sex development" (DSD, e.g., 46,XY-females due to defective androgen biosynthesis) compared to normal 46,XY-males and 46,XX-females.
...
A significant fraction of gene expression differences between males and females in the human appears to have its roots in early embryogenesis and is not only caused by sex chromosomes but also by long-term sex-specific hormonal programming due to presence or absence of androgen during the time of external genital masculinization. Genetic sex and the androgen milieu during embryonic development might therefore independently modulate functional traits, phenotype and diseases associated with male or female gender as well as with DSD conditions.

Intersexed people are Nature's Experiments. I know, I'm one of them, and one of the rather less common ones. As such, we can be useful experimental tools for helping the rest of Humanity discover much about itself - the origins of gender during foetal development. Now some of us don't like the idea of being experimental animals. Because that's the way many of us have been treated, not as humans, but as things. Objects.

I personally don't mind in the slightest. I'm a Scientist, and this is one case where I absolutely, positively know the experimental subject has given full and informed consent. Because it's me, and just as I want to help others on a personal basis, I also want to help humanity as a whole advance its knowledge here. I consider myself fortunate to be in this position - though of course, others may differ, and with good reason too. I can only speak for meyself.

Here's what Prof Sidney Ecker wrote to me (and others, such as Prof Milton Diamond) about this paper:

Hi Guys,

Here is a recent article from Germany and Stanford, which makes many of the points we talked about, early embryogenesis of gender identity controlled by androgen or lack thereof and persistence. This is based upon a Human gene subset independent of external genitalia, which is related to the level of early embryonic androgens. These were found in Adult Monocytes of human blood felt to be derived from fetal stem cells. The authors feel if we could find this subset in other tissues such as brain, we could relate these genes to gender identity and gender behavior (functionality) independent of genitalia. This another piece of human evidence continuing in the direction we proposed. Wow! I'll have to read the pdf 3 more times to fully understand it. Happy 4th and the Fireworks in Boston were Spectacular. When you have nothing to do, could you tell me what you conclude?

Thanks, Sid

So I better get reading.

Memory

Between the Flu (so I wasn't allowed to come to Uni) and my home Internet connection going down, there's been a small hiatus. Things should be back to normal again soon.

Touch wood.

In the meantime....

From PopSci:

Scientists have achieved a new milestone in brain imaging: we have seen a memory in the process of being formed. Using brain cells from a lowly sea slug, which actually makes a good model for our brains, images were captured of proteins forming between the neurons. These proteins distinguish the memory as a long-term one rather than short-term, as the proteins solidify the memory in the neurons. This process had been suspected but not visualized until now.




Kelsey Martin's team at the University of California focused their imaging on the synapse, the communication junction between two neuron cells. Scientists first coated certain proteins with a fluorescent dye that starts out green, but turns red when exposed to UV light. They blasted the neurons with UV light and shifted everything to red, just to prove the dye was there. Then they bathed the cells in serotonin, a chemical that can stimulate memory formation. They were then able to watch as new green fluorescent proteins were created as the memory was made.

UPDATE:I spoke too soon - due to a mixup, the technician to fix my ISP didn't turn up, and as they don't work on weekends, I'm in an Internet-Free zone at home. Worse, my Uni Card expired, and so I can't get into the building after hours. This is MOST inconvenient, as I have a paper due soon, and it was going to be touch-and-go getting it in on time even with nothing going wrong.

Oh well, as Boxer said, "I will work harder".

Even if it means using the wi-fi at Mackers. Bringing the textbooks along that I need is tricky, and I'm limited by battery life. *SIGH*

Status Report

Aiding and Abetting

CatholicExchange.com: Launched in July 2001, the Catholic Exchange website has distinguished itself as the premier Catholic portal on the Internet.... We currently receive thousands of visits each day.

From Catholic Exchange:

Legalizing Deception: Why “Gender Identity” Should Not be Added to Anti-discrimination Legislation

Persons who present themselves in public as the other sex say they need such protections because they are afraid of violence. This fear is real. When someone is deceived — particularly in such a personal matter has the sex of an intimate partner or potential spouse — anger is an understandable reaction. Violent acts can never be condoned, but if such legislation is passed those who have been deceived will be denied any legal recourse and the deceivers will be portrayed as victims.

Which is why Trans people should be denied actual rather than nominal legal protection from violent acts. Not that violence can be condoned of course.

Because if violence against Trans people was actually illegal, or existing laws enforced, then the murder victims would be portrayed as, well, victims. And the killers would have no legal recourse, they'd face prosecution for what they did. This is a Bad Thing in the Catholic Exchange's view.

Not that violence can be condoned of course. Just... allowed. Legally, not morally.

If “gender identity” is added to anti-discrimination legislation, the lie of “sex change” will be taught in the schools. It won’t be long before we will have children’s books about how Johnny’s daddy is now Johnny’s mommy and everyone is living happily ever after.

It's Andrew. My son's name is Andrew, not Johnny.

Attack me, it's one thing. Attempt to make my son's life more difficult for having the grave misfortune to have such a peculiar parent, that's another. People may differ in opinions as to my own actions, but this "premier Catholic portal on the Internet" opines that it would be highly desirable that my son be persecuted for that.

And should I get upset by that, it's just a sign of mental illness, "narcissistic rage".It's not enough that we suffer, we must be made to suffer in silence or sustain additional slurs.

Now I'm not saying that all Catholics share the author's views, let's be clear on that. I'm not saying that most do, as I don't believe that either. I'm not even saying that many do, though that's only because I lack insufficient evidence to prove that beyond any doubt. But where is the outcry from those Catholics who deplore these views?

It's called Aiding and Abetting.

Crossposted from the Catholic Answers Forum